Tag Archives: USA Track & Field

TCM Training Week 2

Last year I raced the USATF 5000 meter track race at Hamline. I am glad it wasn’t part of the circuit this year! It also served as Foto Friday. Over the same weekend last year was a heart-wrenching 3200m for Nicole Cochran of Washington. You may recall the story, she won the race but was DQ’ed after the fact and then after reviewing some video footage of the race she was eventually reinstated as the state champion. From two years ago, I wrote about running at Westwood Park in New Castle, IN.

Last Year’s Mileage

Run: 26.9 Miles
Bike: 67.0 Miles
Swim: 500 Yards

Monday I went to the YWCA for a short weight session and swimming. I know Higdon’s plan calls for running an easy 3 on Monday, but for now I’m going to keep using it as a cross training session. Maybe as time goes on I’ll switch to running, but I think right now this is good. I used his suggested 6 strength exercises (forgetting 2 of them), which are bench press, lunges, curls, overhead triceps, sitting row, and crunches. I did light weights since it has been a long while! Then I swam for about 300 yards. Towards the end I kept getting water in my mouth, so I just stopped.

Tuesday I did a 30 minute tempo run along the Greenway. Once I got warmed up my foot stopped hurting. I ran a pretty solid workout getting 4.13 miles in during the 30 minutes (7:17 pace) and easily hitting tempo pace. It was 46 and overcast so a nice morning to run. Today was 8th grade graduation promotion at work and I was on my feet running around for most of the day.

I woke up Wednesday with some of the worst pain I’ve had from the Plantar Fasciitis in a long time, so I opted not to run. I got really discouraged throughout the day and at one point even thought about quiting running altogether. I waffled between whether I should run Thursday’s pace workout or not and finally came to the point of saying I’m not going to run again for awhile. I’m tired of my foot always hurting so I’m going to do what I should have done almost 2 months ago – REST.

It is hard knowing that I should be training for the marathon which is now 16 weeks away, but I realized that the chances of me making it through 18 weeks of hard training with a nagging injury are pretty slim. I managed to get through the half-marathon training program, but it seems silly to keep pushing and injuring my body more and more. All that being said though, the MDRA offers a fall-marathon training class which starts June 23 (pdf). So I know I’m not completely dropping the ball – unless I’m still experiencing pain at that point – which I’ll probably just charge right on through if I do.

So a little reassessment mid-stride! I didn’t do any cross-training this week really – just my bike commute – unless you count the Wii Fit. On Tues, Weds, and Fri and I “played” Yoga, Balance, and Strength games. This sounds almost ridiculous to say but some of the things are challenging and really have worked my core/stabilizer muscles. Stop laughing. You should try it sometime and see. You can’t really rely on the feedback about your “Wii Fit Age” because it fluctuates so much – one day I was 40 and then the next I was 26.

Weekly Mileage

Run: 4.1 Miles
Bike: 37.5 Miles
Swim: 300 Yards

Race Review: Brian Kraft 5k

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Monday morning was another near perfect morning for a race. Upper 50’s into the 60’s by race time, overcast, and a slight breeze (a little more than slight at parts!). The sun warmed us up while waiting at the starting line but seemed to disappear as we made the 5k loop around Lake Nokomis.

This event hosted by USATF-MN was pretty well organized and efficient. I arrived early was able to get my bib number and t-shirt within 5 minutes and waited around in my car for awhile. It was cool enough at the time to want to get back “inside” and relax a bit before the warm-up. Sadly, the Nokomis Community Center building was closed for the holiday weekend.

I did a short warm-up, stretched, and waited for the start. The starting line was approximately 1/4 mile away from the check-in/finish area, which we would run by at the start. The event had 506 finishers with times ranging from 14:43 – 51:31. This was gun-time only race. This is a super flat race with the longest “climb” being 17 feet over a 1/4 of a mile, so pretty much negligible!

I finally ran into Nathan the only other MDRA athlete competing at the race so we talked and jogged to the start.

I had trouble figuring out where I wanted to line up, because I didn’t want to be too far forward and get sucked out too fast, but I also didn’t want to get stuck behind a lot of people. I ended up getting a decent spot 5-6 rows deep and had a great start. It took only a second or two to cross the starting line. I took off pretty quickly and a lot of people passed me and it got crowded pretty quickly, but then the road opened up and I was able to settle into a pace that was fast but relaxed. At about the 1/2 mile mark we turned south and picked up some headwind. It didn’t feel super strong, but it was noticeable. Not a lot happened in the first mile, a lot of people were getting settled into their pace. There was some back and forth as we came through the mile in 6:18. I remember thinking that might have been a little fast, but was pretty close to my race plan.

The miles seemed really long. At least compared to other runs around the lakes. Nokomis is shaped in such a way that you can’t really see all the way around the lake, or much of the rest of the lake except at a few spots, which makes it seem like forever around. It may have also been that I’m not used to running at such a fast pace, which tires you out and requires more effort. This second mile was on the West side of the Cedar Ave bridge which seems really far out there and was pretty desolate. There wasn’t a ton of cheering fans anywhere on the course, but especially not on this section. I belive the water stop was here somewhere and I grabbed a quick squirt of water.

The racing was pretty solid through here, not much changes but continuing to go back and forth with a few runners or at least not letting myself fade away from them. I came through mile 2 in 6:27. Oops a little slow!

More of the same continued as we came through the third mile. A couple guys fell off and I started seeing some new people ahead who were fading back a little. They had jerseys that I recognized from the USATF Team Circuit, so even though we didn’t field a team, I thought I should try and get them! I was beginning to get fatigued as well so the increased effort really just kept my pace the same.

We should have had a tailwind, but I’m not really sure if we did or not. As we approached the starting line I remember thinking it was time to start shifting gears a little bit. I started passing several runners and came across the third mile in 6:24.

I was feeling good, maybe a little too good as I crossed the 3 mile mark and made the final kick to the finish. As the finish line came in sight, so did a bunch of runners that looked like they wanted to get passed. I obliged and passed what seemed like quite a few runners. Seeing the clock in the mid-19’s also helped the urge to kick and I came through the last 0.1 miles in 0:30 which is 4:49 pace for the last segment. Yikes. My overall unofficial time was 19:45 and the official time was 19:46.
After regaining my breath and stumbling around a bit I was able to enjoy the post-race bread, bananas, water, and carrot cake! After talking with some of the guys I wandered over to the lake for a nice ice bath. I waded in far enough to cover my knees and enjoyed the cold (but not too bad) water. I felt and feel like I ran a tough race but don’t think I hit 100% effort for the whole 5k. I’m glad to report that my foot and IT band felt fine throughout the race and only a little uncomfortable since finishing.

Overall this is an excellent small race with high quality competition.

Race Plan: Brian Kraft 5k (teamcrossworld.com)

Race Plan: Brian Kraft 5k

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Image from Down the Backstretch

The next race in the USATF-MN series is the Brian Kraft 5k around Lake Nokomis. It should be a very fast race. Last year it was won in 14:47 by Jeremy Polson and 16:52 by Rasa Troup.

My post-collegiate 5k PR is 18:19 at the 2003 Jersey Shore 5k. During which I cramped with a half-mile to go placing 2nd. I’m not in the type of speed shape. My most recent 5k was the Giving Thanks 5k from Thanksgiving where I ran a 20:01. Based on my TC 1 Mile time, McMillan says I should be able to run a 18:49 (6:03).

That seems a little un-realistic. I think I’ll shoot for a 19:30 which is a 6:15 pace. I’ve not done much speed work lately so we’ll see how that goes!

About the Race

This is the 12th edition of the race hosted by the USATF-MN chapter. All proceeds from the race benefit the Arnold S Leonard Cancer Research Fund which supports cancer research at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Arnold Leonard has

devoted himself entirely to cancer research in genetic engineering, boosting the immune system with human interleukin-2 gene, boosted by the use of very high antioxidant oils. An Endowed Scholar Chair has been placed in Dr. Leonard’s name in the Surgery Department at the University of Minnesota, and he has also received the Wangensteen Award for Academic Excellence. Dr. Leonard belongs to all the major surgical societies, and continues to lecture throughout the world on the importance of the immune system and its relationship to cancer plus the importance of nutraceuticals as synergistic to the genetic engineering experiments in reducing cancer. He has written over 250 articles and books.

Who is Brian Kraft?

From the race website:

Brian Kraft was an enthusiastic and talented runner from Bemidji, Minnesota. His running career was cut short at the age of 19 with the discovery of Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, in his back. Brian lived with cancer for 15 years, undergoing chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and countless surgical procedures.

Throughout the years, Brian continued to run. He ran the lakes and parkways and raced with the local running crowd. In spite of all that life threw his way, he kept a positive attitude. Brian attributed his strength in his fight against cancer to his love of running and to the work of his long-time friend, Dr. Arny Leonard.

Two more detailed stories are available. The first is a 2007 article originally published in the Minnesota Running and Track magazine, now available a doc file here. The second is a blog post by the same author at Down the Backstretch, a local blog.

[tags] Brian Kraft Memorial 5k, 5k, Brian Kraft, Cancer [/tags]

Race Review: 2009 TC 1 Mile

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The mile is an interesting race for a post-collegiate, non-elite runner. You don’t really do much “race specific” training for that distance. Training for a 5k doesn’t even compare for training for a mile, let along half-marathon training! Yet, on May 7th I lined up with about 2,100 other runners and raced 1 mile down Nicollett Mall in downtown Minneapolis.

The multi-wave start meant that there were probably closer to 20-50 runners in my wave – the USATF-MN Team and Open Wave which went off at 7:53pm. Over an hour after the mass wave. I probably should have raced with my age-group so I would have had more competition around me and wouldn’t have gotten passed by a swarm of almost sub-elite women!

This year’s TC 1 Mile also served as the US 1 Mile Championship, featuring runners like Shannon Rowbury, Sara Hall, Jon Rankin and David Torrence.Torrence actually broke 4:00, winning $10,000 and Rowbury missed her money mark by 2 second running a 4:30. Both were great races to watch. I did see Ryan Hall right after the elite women ran by, but he was on his way to see Sara so I didn’t stop him. This also means Flotrack was there so be sure to check out their coverage.

My official finish time of 5:26 is a 1 second PR over last year’s performance so for that I should be happy. I am pleased with that. Asked about my expectations I said “I’m not as fresh as I was last year, but I’ve done more speed work. So somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30.” I hit that pretty well.

I began feeling by quads about a 1/4 into the race – maybe at the top of the initial incline, and maybe because of my 1:17 split. A little aggressive but I was trying to take it out a little easy! My body quickly reacted to the pain of moving so fast and then my mouth became really dry and my throat started to burn. It was 74, dry, with a slight cross-breeze. I came through the 1/2 mile in 2:39 having run a 1:22 second 1/4. I really struggled to keep myself together passing through a ton of cheer zones and cheering people. Half-way through and feeling it. The third 1/4 was 1:26 and the flow of passing women had stopped except for this one wearing green. We ran past 3 guys wearing full green suits who let out a huge cheer and screamed for her. We fought back and forth for most of the rest of the race until I dropped the hammer (albeit a small one) for a final surge into the finish. My last 1/4 was 1:19. For a 5:26 official time.

My throat continued to hurt until mid-day on Friday. We were all coughing and hacking for the rest of the evening we spent relaxing downtown.

Here is a map of the course which is mostly downhill but as you can tell with the below elevation chart it isn’t exactly all downhill. According to my Garmin it does have a net elevation loss of 6ft!

Updated: In the comments Nathan disputed the elevation data from my Garmin. So I looked at MapMyRun.com’s data for the mile stretch and it looks pretty similar. Here is a chart I created from their information.

tc1mile09mapmyrunelevation

Check out the Twitter tag #tc1mile for more fun. And @tcmarathon for more information about TC Marathon related events.

[tags] TC1Mile, TC 1 Mile, Mile, Hall, Rowbury, Road Mile, Torrence, Minneapolis, Nicollett Mall [/tags]

World No Tobacco Day 5K

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Want to help low-income children who suffer from persistent asthma? While running a fast 5k?

Check out the World No Tobacco Day 5K Run to be held on May 31, 2009. Smoke Free Dakota County is hosting this first-year event that will run along the Big Rivers Regional Trail starting in Lilydale. The 5k starts at 8am or take part in the group stretching event at 7:40. Registration begins at $15 before May 1 and tops out at $20 for race day entry.

Their will be prizes for the top 3 male and female finishers along with a Sprint cellphone give-away that is open to all runners.

Diane Tran, race director, summarized her thoughts about the race for me:

We’re so excited to celebrate World No Tobacco Day 2009 with a 5K race on a beautiful trail in northern Dakota County! The course overlooks the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers and will be a lot of fun for the runners. Also, our t-shirts are pretty rad!

From their website:

Join Smoke-Free Dakota for the World No Tobacco Day 5K Run on Sunday, May 31, 2009! The run will benefit low-income children with persistent asthma to attend Camp SuperKids 2009, a weeklong summer camp sponsored by the American Lung Association in Minnesota. Asthma is the leading serious chronic illness in children in the U.S. and is the number one cause of student absences related to chronic conditions. Campers will learn to better manage their asthma and gain confidence through building relationships with their peers to ensure a future of better health!

The USATF-certified 5K Run (Certification # MN-09010-RR) will start at the eastern end (in Lilydale) of the Big Rivers Regional Trail, a nearly flat paved trail built on an abandoned railroad bed overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississppi Rivers.

Check out their “rad” t-shirt design:

[tags] Dakota County, Smoke Free, 5k, Asthma, USATF [/tags]

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