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By BrianFlash, on December 31st, 2009
Team Flash’s 2009 Race Wrapup
|
5K |
10K |
12K |
10M |
13.1M |
26.2M |
PRs |
| Brian |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
| Jason |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
| Kathy |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
| Rocio |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
This impressive showing dwarfs Team Flash’s 2008, where we collectively ran in a grand total of 7 races (five half marathons, one 10K, and one 5K), setting 6 PRs along the way.
2010 looks to be impressive on paper. The team is already committed to four marathons, five half marathons, one 15K, two 50Ks, and two 56 milers. And that is just thru May! We hope to run as many as six marathons in the fall, along with some 5K and 10K races sprinkled thru the second half of the year. 27 PRs though – that’s going to be tough to beat. We may have to run some additional odd distance races to pad those PR totals. A St. Patty’s Day 4 miler? How about Bay to Breakers in San Fran? One other possibility is adding members. Over the holidays I heard (started) a rumor about some additional members added to the rolls for the Billiken 5K – who knows?!
On Tuesday I did my last hill repeats for 2009 – cold, 24 degrees, no head wind, no tail wind, sunny. My repeats were one .30 (longest ever!), two .29s, four .28s, and three .27s. That fast one was a 6:33 pace while the slowest was a 7:28. No more hills until after the Goofy Challenge! I may squeeze in 90 minutes on the treadmill today; a cold front has arrived and the weather will be high 20 each day thru the weekend. That would save me one long run in the ice box.
By BrianFlash, on December 28th, 2009
Before the Frostbite 10 miler, I did a little visit to my ancestral homeland for Christmas. Once there, I handed over loot to my neice and nephew.
 
As can be somewhat seen in Danielle’s photo (the pink bag on the center right), our gifts were contained in hand-crafted canvas bags. Each child received a bag designed by Kathy and manufactured (mostly) by yours truly. By manufactured, I mean that I ironed on the decals where Kathy told me to put them after being shown the proper use of a standard household iron. We then put goodies inside the bags, mostly books and/or stuffed animals. Danielle is the real winner of the gift sweepstakes since she loves bags. I can’t wait until she grows up to see how many purses she will have in her closet!
I headed down to Forest Park on Saturday morning for the St. Louis Track Club’s frostbite 10 miler. I was the solo representative from Team Flash, due to the other team members’ previous committments, so I had to put on a reasonable showing. But this was going to be a pure training run for me – keep the heart rate in line and run it as a 90 minute exercise. So my goal was to knock out nine minute miles. This isn’t easy – the gun goes off and I feel like I should give it my all. But no!
The run was extremely successful for me – I finished in 87:54, keeping my heart rate at an average of 157. That’s a little higher then I would typically have during a training run, but the 8:48 pace is a little faster then I would normally run. The weather wasn’t too nasty, 27 degrees, but it was a bit windy. At least I thought it was only a bit windy. We did a two loop course. From mile 2 to 3 and mile 7 to 8 the course went up two inclines and exposed us to some serious gale force winds! Cold city. Other then those two miles, the race was pretty nice.
Again, the rabbits came out for the run. A total of 420 runners ran and I finished behind 230 of them. My final placing was 180th among the men (out of 231 male runners). But I could have easily run ten minutes faster so I award myself 100th place (which is where I would have finished). That’s legit right? Oh well, I’ll take the PR and note that I should be able to beat it pretty easily when I run another 10 miler.
After the run, I went down to Kathy’s family for more gift giving. Here’s our nephew opening a gift with our bag in the background:
We had a collection of Doctor Suess books in that bag, including such beloved characters as the Sneetches, Horton, and the Lorax. After Aidan opened it, he exclaimed “There’s nothing in here!” So those books didn’t exactly hit the gift spot  . But that didn’t matter to me – I’m all about his childhood development and he’ll eventually like the good Doctor and learn to juggle or I’m not doing my job as an uncle.
This song will probably show itself on my iPod during tomorrow’s hill repeats. While it might not be his best work, I love the video.
By BrianFlash, on December 23rd, 2009
I hope all my loyal blog readers have a great holiday with their families and get whatever their hearts’ desire!
My clan has no huge plans, just some family get together time. This is the second Christmas in a row that Kathy and I will spend the bulk of the holidays apart. Her mom had knee replacement surgery last year and Kathy stayed with her for two weeks over the holidays to help her thru the initial rehab. This year, the titanium went in the opposite knee and Kathy went up there Sunday to help out again. She’s being a good daughter!
My plan is to spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning with my mom and dad and most of my siblings. Jason being the lone exception as he is in Guadalajara spending Christmas with Rocio’s family. I’ll give the niece and nephew their gifts from Kathy and I. However, my own sack will be empty this year. But weep not for me! I continue my policy of mutually assured non-gift giving with my family. No gifts you say?! I know it sounds very Scrooge-like, but it makes the holidays so much more pleasant and stress free. No worrying about getting gifts for eight extra people and having them pretend to like whatever I buy. And why just hand gift cards back and forth? Besides, time with me is worth more then all the gifts money can buy.
After getting back home on Christmas, I’ll spend the rest of the Lord’s birthday probably playing ‘Fallout 3’ on the Xbox 360. Very celebratory! On Saturday I run the St. Louis Track Club’s Frostbite Series 10 miler. Come on now – easy run only – nine minute miles darn it! I’ve got to restrain myself. The weather is supposed to be 20 degrees and snow flurries so the race has that going for it. Later that day I head out of town to spend a couple days with Kathy, her brother and family, and mom-in-law. More gift giving – a nephew has to be sated! After that, the remainder of the holiday week is for getting some stuff done around the house. Hopefully, Kathy will be able to get back home no later then Wednesday or Thursday and then we spend the rest of the break together.
Then, the first week back from a nine day break from work is only four days long! We take Friday as a vacation and fly to sunny Florida to bask in the glow of the Magic Kingdom and run 39.3 miles. Not necessarily in that order…
Training update
Tuesday Tempo – 5 miles at 7:22 pace
Wednesday Hills – I am a major league wuss. It was 48 and drizzling (and not a hard drizzle) and I packed it in for hill repeats. I stayed inside and did the ten hills on the treadmill. I didn’t get wet or cold, but inside on the treadmill is its own form of torture.
Thursday I do 140 minutes before heading off to the ancestrial property. Hopefully that will translate to about 15.5 miles. (Update: My math must have been terrible. I ran 14.8 miles in the drizzly rain and I was more then happy with the effort.)
College Basketball Update
Yes! The Missouri Tigers end nine years of frustration against Illinois in the border rivalry! Kim English throws 24 in against the hated Illini (at least I hate them) and Mizzou prevails 81 to 68.
By BrianFlash, on December 22nd, 2009
“Number nine, number nine, number nine…”
John Lennon
This Saturday I did my last ‘easy’ hill repeat workout. Only nine climbs up Mt. Flash. From here until Comrades, all the hill repeat workouts are 10 x 2 minute ascents. So for my last easy workout I needed to give a good effort.
My results were outstanding! .29, .29, .29, .29, .29, .28, .28, .29, .28. Six of the nine climbs hit my .29 goal! Quite a huge improvement, but somewhat illusionary I think. Two major positive factors played into this. First of all, I actually ran this in the daylight (on Saturday) so I could see where I was going. Secondly, I had a tail wind for the climbs. That definitely didn’t hurt.
The downside is that on Sunday I was supposed to run two hours. Instead, I went to the St. Louis Rams game with my cousin Steve. No miles were run. Definitely not a good thing there. The most important runs of my training are the long runs, so missing them is a big no-no.
This week, the holidays intervene a bit, so only four runs. My normal tempo run, a hill repeater, the long-long run (140 minutes), and the long run (90 minutes). I’m ditching the 40 minute recovery run. Then its a short taper before the Goofy Challenge!
By BrianFlash, on December 18th, 2009
Every runner has their quirks. One of mine happens to be spitting. Not in the act itself but in where I direct my saliva.
When I started running a couple years ago, my first routes were thru my neighborhood. Where I live, the street is like most other subdivision streets: wide for its height, silent for its size, and drowsy in the dullest degree. And my neighbors like to keep it that way. Like all runners, at times I have the need to release some saliva into the world. The last thing I wanted to do was to turn my neighbors against me by filthing up the street. So I strove to spit where people wouldn’t be walking.
But these are peoples’ yards, their kids’ playgrounds for goodness sakes! So where to hock the loogies? Not on the sidewalks for sure. And not on the grass – kids run barefoot in the grass. Maybe the flower beds. So for a time, I added my own irrigation to the flower beds. But making sure my spit lands in a flower bed three feet away and near the ground is no challenge at all. And running is all about challenges. So I started aiming at trees. You spit on the side of a tree and who is going to inadvertently step in that? Maybe the local squirrel, but not a fifth grader.
As I trained my legs, my aim also started improving. Trees, particularly mature ones, were easy. So sapplings began getting hit. And then lamp posts, street signs, and guard rail posts. There are lots of variables in the way of getting good at this – the wind, running speed, fatigue, the viscosity of the saliva, among others. After dedicated time spent at this, I’ve become something of a spitting deadeye! Now, I almost always direct my expectorations at vertical surfaces in order to ensure no one steps in it. Totally altruistic behavior. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.
This quirk is good for the world. I’m happy and my neighbors are happy.
“Now, I return to this young fellow. And the communication I have got to make is, that he has great expectorations.” – Charles Dickens
By BrianFlash, on December 16th, 2009
Tonight I ran my 5 mile tempo. Yeah, it is supposed to be on Saturday, but I thought with decent weather tonight, I’d get the tempo knocked out so I could do hill repeats on Saturday when it is supposed to be cold. That way, I can run my hills in the daylight for a change. My philosophy for training currently is that I have five workouts a week. I can do any one of them on any day, as long as I get the runs in. So I mix it up a bit based on how I feel.
Back to the point of this post. Below is my comparison of my tempo during the Frostbite race to tonight’s effort:
Warmup Mile 1 Mile 2 Mile 3 Mile 4 Mile 5 Cooldown
Avg HR (Frostbite) 156 174 173 175 176 177 170
Avg Pace (Frostbite) 8:14 7:29 7:14 7:16 7:18 7:18 7:49
Avg Pace (Tonight) 8:46 7:38 7:25 7:29 7:25 7:17 9:17
Avg HR (Tonight) 146 164 169 170 170 171 158
Tonight was my fastest non-race assisted tempo so far (7:27 pace) and my average HR was only 169. Yet, when I was running it, I felt like I wasn’t doing that well. But I was doing pretty darn good – just not as fast compared to the race. But I might not be bringing it enough – 95% heart rate effort for me is about 171.
In closing – tonight’s tempo running iPod playlist:
Strobe Light – The B-52′s
Everybody Wants You – Billy Squier
Dr. Bones – Cherry Poppin’ Daddies
Whip It -Devo
Jesus He Knows Me – Genesis
Gear Jammer – George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Letterbomb – Green Day
Workin’ For A Livin’ – Huey Lewis & The News
Freeze-Frame (2005 Remaster) – The J. Geils Band
Rockin’ In the Free World – Neil Young
Run Devil Run – Paul McCartney
Black Betty – Ram Jam
Runnin’ Down A Dream – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Panama – Van Halen
Got Me Under Pressure – ZZ Top
Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down
By BrianFlash, on December 13th, 2009
Saturday was the big day. Team Flash showed up at the Forest Park visitor’s center for the St. Louis Track Club’s 12K, the first race of this season’s frostbite series. The weather was dreary but not too cold – mid 30s. My plan for this 12K run was do to my normal Saturday tempo effort, 1 mile warm up, 5 miles tempo, and the remainder cool down. As is fairly typical with my race plans, I didn’t follow it as I should have.
This is a pretty big, small event. A total of 540 runners completed the long run (the 12K) while 507 more did the short run (3K). While the club doesn’t do a lot of frills, the packet pickup and registration was easy. There was a fairly organized start (confusion on the actual start line, but that was all sorted out by a guy with a megaphone that no one could hear). We also had finish mat timing and water, animal crackers, pretzels, and cookies post race.
I start too fast of course. This was supposed to be a warm-up mile and halfway in I’m running faster then 8:00. So I slow up somewhat. At about eight tenths in, Jason catches me! Holy smokes he is burning up the course. We have a quick chat, with me complementing him on his speed. When the Garmin kicked over to one mile, off I go on my tempo.
Having people to run against really lifts your game. Also, it was very good for me to see runners ahead to catch. So I go into the ‘passing runners’ phase of my race. I’m tempoing along very well, feeling good for the most part. One side stitch around the second tempo mile not withstanding – I ran thru it and it went away. My five miles took 36:35 an average pace of 7:19 at an average HR of 175.
By the end of my tempo section I was feeling a little gassed. Per my race plan, I slowed up. And I felt significantly more comfortable, but a few people started to pass me. I knew this was going to happen but it didn’t exactly make me happy. The war between slowing up and getting passed verses holding my pace and position was at full swing. I was running faster then my normal cool down pace, but I refused to review the Garmin until about 1/2 mile in. 7:50! Wow – again I’m amazed by how slowing 30 seconds per mile makes everything feel so much better. So I told myself to slow down a bit more, just because my plan said to, but people continued to pass me. So I didn’t really slow down anymore, and in the last half mile, no one else caught me. During that slower mile, fifteen people passed me, including a 14 year old girl. I passed Megan about 30 seconds before my tempo section ended. About the time of my passing, a friend of hers was passenger in a van that pulled up near her. They exchanged some greetings and gave her some encouragement. Who can have a conversation on the course at that point in the race?! Megan – you ran a great race.
I finished a very nice 131st overall in 56:28. New Personal Record! I waited around at the finish for my compatriates. Jason comes in at 65:03 – an excellent performance and a New Personal Record! As we wait for Kathy, he states that he was giving it his all around mile 6.5 and group of people around him break into Christmas carols! That has to hurt. Kathy rolled around the corner and finished in a very respectable 72:58 and a New Personal Record! She averaged quicker then 10 minute miles running in the cold weather with a dodgy heart. So nothing to complain about there.
The St. Louis Track Club events bring out the rabbits. In order to break into the top three in my age group, I’d have to run six minutes faster. Ouch – not going to happen. I need to get older without losing any speed. The three of us stood around for a bit eating our cookies and getting cold so we decided to head for the car. Then, the best part of the day happened. A tall women walking out next to us said, “I read your blog.” You could have knocked me over with a crow bar! This is one of my blog milestones that I’ve been dreaming about. I knew from her blog that she was going to be at the race, but really didn’t expect we would run into each other. Quick introductions all around and then we headed off to our respective lives. Thanks for saying hello, it made my day!
By BrianFlash, on December 11th, 2009
The Team Flash squadron is going to perform an attack on this winter’s first Frostbite Race scheduled in Forest Park Saturday morning. Jason, Kathy, and I are going to go down and take on the 12K challenge. The weather forecast is for mixed clouds, 35 degrees, and 10 mph winds at 9 AM race time. So for this time of the year, it is going to be perfectly normal. My strategy is to run this as my normal weekly tempo workout. One mile warm up, 5 miles tempo, and the remainder as a cool down. Will this result in the fastest race I’m capable of running? No, but it will result in a PR – I’ve never raced 12K before.
The St. Louis Track Club has conveniently scheduled a series of five races in December, January, and February that provide some training motivation during the cold time of year. Most of the races are not standard distances, except for one race which is the standard half marathon. I am running the half, along with a 10 miler and a 15K. The latter two are guaranteed PRs since I haven’t raced these distances before. So, anyone can continue setting PRs. Just race distances that you haven’t run before!
I’m missing the third race of the series. I’ll be in Florida doing a little event called the Goofy Challenge (Florida defeated by Team Flash!). But I signed up for the whole series for two reasons: 1) Only runners who signed up for the series get a shirt (long sleeve performance fabric!) and 2) It was cheaper to sign up for the series then the four races individually.
Jason and Kathy are missing the second and third races of the series for their own reasons, so they get to play the other two races of the series by ear. If weather or life intervenes, they can opt out. Not me! If there is a blizzard on January 23rd it doesn’t matter. I paid my money so I’ll be toeing the starting line!
By BrianFlash, on December 8th, 2009
Cold, rainy weather. That’s what was happening today outside my work window all day. And on the day of my most dreaded workout – the hill repeats. There was just no way I was going to make it to the mountain today.
So, I’ve got this wham-a-dyne treadmill in my basement. I haven’t tried to do hill repeats on it before but why not? It elevates and speeds up and slows down. All the functionality of my hill except I’m warm and dry while running.
So, off I went on the road to nowhere. Running on a treadmill is not much fun. Even while watching “The Colbert Report” and then “The Best of Ed Sullivan – British Invasion.” Now, I do that running coupled with hill repeats which are absolute torture for me. I did 20 minutes of warmup, then started the 8 x 2 minute repeats. I did 3.5% elevations and 7:35 per mile pace for the hills. Whoa! Either my real hill isn’t 3.5% (but I measured it with the technological wonder that is the Garmin) or the 70 degree temperature is way too hot for me, but this workout really beat me up. That pace translates to .263 miles per interval and you all know that my goal is .29. But there wasn’t anything left for me to give. In fact, my recovery periods were run v e r y s l o w l y . . . After the repeats I did a final 20 minutes of cool down and then rejoiced in the fact that this workout is done for the week.
Now the weather is supposed to take a turn for the worst. Much colder and windy. But I think I can handle the cold, to a point, but when you throw rain in, that just saps all resolve. I am looking forward to a nice run while it is snowing, but sleet and rain – nope.
By BrianFlash, on December 7th, 2009
Both of my weekend runs centered around Forest Park. On Saturday it was time for my weekly fitness test – the five mile tempo run around the park. Kathy and I went down and met up with Jason. We started at the same time, but then pretty quickly went our own ways. Jason and I ran the psychologically easier clockwise route while Kathy did her normal run in the opposite direction. Jason stayed with me for a warm up mile (8:30! – that’s no warm-up) and then I headed off. My average pace was 7:31, four seconds faster then two weeks ago in Forest Park and my average heart rate was 174, one beat per minute slower. That’s improvement on both sides of the equation so it is all good.
During my cool down mile I ran toward Kathy finishing her circuit. After I met her, I turned around to complete my seven miles. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a quick glimpse of a tall thin guy jogging along. I thought, “That dude running dressed just like Jason today.” On double take, it turned out to BE Jason. Isn’t it funny how sometimes you don’t really notice things happening until all at once. I was a little bit shocked. He has really shed some pounds doing this marathon training thing and that is a good thing. I believe he makes about 35,000 strides during a marathon. (Extremely illogical math calculation hidden to protect the innocent.) So each pound is like 17.5 tons! After our run, Rocio joined the three of us for lunch at the Velocity Café. I am thankful they accepted us in their establishment since they seem to mostly cater to bicyclists and we are just lowly runners.
On Sunday, I met Jason and we ran the new section of Highway 40 from end to end. This highway (which is really I-64, but no St. Louis native calls it that) has been closed two years. The first section was closed in 2008 and the second section closed this year. This artery is one of the main routes into the city and its closure is pretty much a major pain in the rear. So there are some happy commuters out there now. To celebrate the opening, a 5K and bicycle time trials were held in the morning, and the afternoon was opened for a freestyle running and biking session. We skipped the organized race and its entry fee and just ran the highway. We entered at Skinker Road, ran westward as far as we could (to I-170), turned around and headed east to the barriers on that end (just past Kingshighway), and then completed our loop back to the car. 8.71 miles at a very easy 10:07 pace.
Our slow pace did include some stops for picture taking and a walk thru the crowd awaiting the highway opening ceremony. So it was a pretty decent run. I was surprised at how many people were getting their picture taken while laying down on the highway. I just didn’t get what these were about. Since the picture includes a person and some unidentifiable concrete, it could be taken anywhere. No proof that it was taken on a major highway at all. I find out here that it is people faking being run over by cars! Crazy! What a macabre set of people live in the St. Louis area. Jason and I skipped the road kill shots and instead took pictures that included signage so we have proof of our pedestrian undertaking on an interstate highway!
Life is a highway!
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