As promised, some snaps from the Disney Marathon weekend (and one from eagle watching thrown in). Disposable camera so the quality is not exactly stellar, but there you go.
Hover over the picture for the description!
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Today I ran the St. Louis Track Club’s Half Marathon in Forest Park. Going into the race, I planned to set a new PR since my previous one was kind of stale. My running plan was to go for max possible and if I broke, I broke. No harm done. So the original idea was to try and stay somewhere in the 7:30 – 7:45 per mile pace. Weather conditions were near perfect for a fast run – 43 degrees, not much wind, and a light mist in the air. Before the race started, Jason had an absolutely genius idea. He set the virtual partner on his Garmin to his 9 minute per mile goal pace. Sweet! I had totally forgot about this feature on the watch because when I initially got my Garmin I was using Mr. VP to try and go faster on every training run. Bad BrianFlash, bad! So I turned him off and had pretty much forgot about him. But now was the time. So I turned Mr. VP back on and gave him a 7:30 pace. Right before the race start, some sense of good judgement came to me and I backed him off to 7:35. I mean really… The beginning of the race was a little bottlenecked, but I quickly got loose of the crowd and up to speed. First mile in 7:15 – 20 seconds ahead. After the third mile, Mr. VP was 38 seconds behind me. But he is relentless. Never slows, never fatigues. And miles 3-5 contained the rolling hills on the course. They weren’t that much trouble because I was fresh, but this was a two loop course. So miles 9-11 were going to be a little rough. Miles four and five I gave up 10 seconds to the tireless bastard. But I more then held my own in miles six and seven so I was over half done and ahead of Mr. VP by 32 seconds. But my race plan began to take its toll. The legs were tiring and there was literally nothing I could do. I didn’t outpace my partner in any remaining mile (other then the last little remainder at the end of the race). I was able to keep it together enough that I stayed below 8:00 in all but miles 10 and 13. Mile 10 being mostly up hill and mile 13 because my blood vessels in my eyes threatened to pop. At least that’s what it felt like. I figured a slightly slower time was preferrable to blood pouring out of my eye sockets. That’s never a good thing. Also, and this is no exaggeration, I didn’t pass a single runner in the last five miles of the race. I wasn’t passed by too many people, but there were a few. So in the end Mr. VP took me down by 1.5 minutes. And I missed my ultimate goal time of 1:40:00 by 1:22. But don’t get me wrong – a new PR more then six minutes better then my old one is worth celebrating! Given the hilly course, I think I turned in a truly epic performance. As always, St. Louis’ fast runners came out for the SLTC. My nearly superhuman effort only put me 13th in my 40-44 age group!? Damn these genetic mutants! My overall place was 119 out of 464 runners, including being defeated by 16 girls. I finished almost 31 minutes behind the winner, world record stroller pushing marathon guy. But be fair – he wasn’t pushing a stroller in this race. I may have been chicked and geezered, but I was not prammed! Jason also rocked the course. I can no longer call him slow because he set a new PR and broke two hours in the half. In fact, he rolled in at 1:57:30! Impressive effort! Only one more St. Louis Track Club event left – in two weeks we get to do a nice little 15K thru the park. I will not run that race full out. I have to marshall all my strength and energy for Little Rock so I’ll be ready when the chicks, geezers, and prammers come out to play! OK – there is a race on Saturday. The fourth race in the Frostbite Series, 13.1 miles in distance, hosted by the St. Louis Track Club, aka ‘The Rabbits.’ I’m pretty sure Jason is joining me for this run with Kathy a possibility for the four miler (depending on the weather). I’m planning to run this full out – my first completely hard race effort since the US Air Force Marathon back in September last year. That is discounting a fairly serious effort in the Halloween 10K but I carried a wiffle ball bat and wore a funny hat during that race so I can’t say it was all out. My decision to go full out in this race is based on three major factors. First of all, I have a pesky goal to PR every distance I run in 2010. And given my marathon schedule, this could be my last half of the year. So I have to PR this bad boy. Secondly, at the start of my Comrade’s sub-nine hour training program, I downloaded the recommended training plan from the Comrade’s website. As stated in the plan introduction, “You should be capable of running a 1:45:00 half marathon before starting this plan.” At the time I hadn’t demonstrated that I could run that speed, but I like to think I was capable. The only half marathon I’ve actually raced was in Memphis at the end of 2008, where I did my 1:47:54. Both halves since then were run as training runs, not as races. And surely I should be capable of better then that after my 1000 miles of training since then. Finally, I’m trying to judge my fitness level before the Little Rock Marathon. In order to get my best possible seeding at Comrades, I need to be able to go sub 3:40 at Little Rock. According to McMillian’s calculator, a 3:39:59 marathon translates to a 1:44:18 half marathon. For some reason I have a high level of confidence of being able to go 1:44 (or even faster), but I’m scared to death of the 3:40 marathon. Maybe actually demonstrating that good half race will help put my mind right for the 3:39:59 full banger. There is a deeply personal reason as well that I want to put up a good showing. I need to protect my current series standing in my age group. I’m in lucky thirteenth place overall and holding (or improving) my position is vital In my final run before this half, I went out in the cool and mist tonight and banged out 6.61 miles in 60 minutes. Average HR 152. Very good easy run. After 21 very happy days where I didn’t do hill repeats, it was time to go back out and punish myself by running up Mt. Flash at a high rate of speed. But I’m modifying my hill repeats slightly due to advice from ‘Running Times.’ That’s right – the magazine for crazy competitive people. I’m normally a ‘Runner’s World’ guy, but I found myself with the January/February issue of the magazine for fast people. Basically, the article talked about three different versions of hill workouts: 1) Short, Fast, Steep: This is 12 to 24 repeats of no more then 100 meters up the steepest hill (10% grade) you can find. These are all out sprints. I have not done, and have no plans to do this type of workout. Pure torture. So I decided to back off the intensity of my hill climbs just a bit because I was pushing past my 5K threshhold. As a result, my ten repeats today were half at .28 miles and half at .27 miles. The fastest per mile pace was 7:06 and the slowest was 7:23. My new goal is to be able to keep them at .28 for the 10 climbs. The best part about the evening workout was that I covered 10.06 miles in 87 1/2 minutes. You loyal readers will note that my 10 mile PR, set in the Frostbite run a few weeks ago was 87:54. So during a training run where I abused myself by doing hill repeats, I beat my PR (and that’s keeping the heart rate below 90% during recovery and warm-up/cool down). So I’m a superstar. It is amazing to me that I can struggle to lift pace after a 10 minute per mile workout one day, then be able to do 9:30 pace recovery after each hill and 9:00 miles during warm/cool. Workouts like this make me think that a 9 hour Comrades is doable! Saturday, Team Flash did go out and see the eagles frolicking along the Mighty Mississippi. Our first eagle viewing location was to the Chain of Rocks bridge, historically famous as the highway crossing over the Mississippi River for Route 66. Also locally famous for being the bridge in the movie ‘Escape From New York.’ As an aside, most of that movie was shot in East St. Louis – they needed run-down urban settings and East St. Louis was (and continues to be) rich with those. The eagles weren’t very active – they were spending most of their time sitting in trees. So we decided to take a break for lunch. Time for a visit to Fast Eddie’s Bon Air, self proclaimed ‘Best Bar in the Midwest! It is an institution in Alton, Illinois with cheap but excellent food and inexpensive beer. We partook of the twenty-nine cent peel and eat shrimp, the ninty-nine cent Fat Eddie burgers and ninty-nine cent brats. Also, ninty-nine cent basket of fries, and the $2.99 Hot Chick on Stick. Killian’s, Blue Moon, Amber Bock, and ice tea to wash it all down! I’m already pining for a return visit to chow down on a Big Elwood. Just remember – counter service only for your food – look for the line as soon as you come in. It might be long but it moves quickly. Then find a table and a waitress will quickly find you and get your drinks. After lunch we went to Melvin Price Lock and Dam for more eagle viewing. We watched them sail over the river (along with all the gulls). As we were leaving, they began fishing which was quite impressive. Now that the bald eagle population has recovered we have these guys every winter along the Mississippi and Missouri river systems. They are always worth a visit. On Sunday, Jason and I went out for a 140 minute training run. We met up at our normal location, the History Museum, for a jaunt around Forest Park. Instead of the pure perimeter route, Jason showed me the ‘perimeter w/hilly extension’ route. The hilly extension includes a run around the Art Museum which basically makes you climb the big Forest Park hill twice instead of once. We were trucking around in cool temperatures at just over 10 minute per mile pace, normally a very doable pace for me. But my cold, my four days of non-running, and the extra hills took a toll. When we had just a little over fifteen minutes left to run, I told Jason I was going to pick it up to 9:30 to finish off my run. And off I went. But my legs weren’t real happy at that pace and after just a few minutes, I heard footsteps. Here comes Jason charging past me. And it isn’t because I’ve slowed back down, he has just lifted the pace. Inconceivable! So I try to pick up the pace again, but the legs just don’t want to respond. So I reluctantly give him the small victory. I’ve definitely been a positive influence on improving his running. In the past he wouldn’t have the legs (or the mental fortitude) to pass me and show me up. He is improving dramatically from where he was as a runner two years ago. He is still gaining speed and endurance – things he will need when taking on South Africa! It is confirmed – I have a cold. A nasty little germ fought its way past my white blood cell defenders to infect me. I’m guessing the 39.3 miles (plus all that waiting time in the cold) was enough to soften up my reasonably stout immune system. Nothing serious – I went to work, but it did impact my running. I rested Wednesday and Thursday and I might even skip Saturday. Team Flash is tentatively planning a group outing on Saturday which might get in the way of a run. Its January here in St. Louis so it is time to go see the eagles! Due to overwhelming reader requests, here’s a picture of the Disney bling. The Donald is the traditional half marathon medal and the Mickey is the traditional marathon medal. The special one is the Goofy medal on the right – special because this was the fifth time they hosted Goofy.
Not quite all our pictures were taken using the ancient ‘disposable camera’ technology.
Jason and I entered the Goofy club this weekend, finishing both the Disney Half Marathon and Disney Marathon within the required cut off times. Kathy also brought home her medal for completing the half. Our achievement means that Florida has fallen to Team Flash in our assault on the fifty states. You can see our overall progress here. The two races together represent 70% of a Comrades Marathon. Unfortunately, there’s a 20 hour rest in between. So in order to try and make the fatigue more extreme, we spent Saturday after the half marathon cruising around the Magic Kingdom. The absolutely risible weather kept the crowds down which kept the lines down. So pretty much any ride we wanted to get on we could with minimal wait. Disney does a great job with family oriented entertainment and the rides were pretty cool, but I’m warning everyone now. “Stich’s Great Escape” is a bizarre experience. There are many more descriptive and entertaining reviews of the Disney races all over the internet, so I’ll just give you my impressions of the weekend in bulletized form – the laziest way to supply information
Overall, it was a great weekend. At some point, I’ll post some pictures. There will be a delay because we took them on these disposable cameras and we have to find some mid 20th century craftsman who still knows the ancient art of photo developing to take care of them for us. My running goals for 2010 – in priority order: 1) Run Comrades Marathon Plus, foremost, I want to continue having fun doing this whole running thing! Brian’s Planned Comrades Marathon Training – January thru May 1 – 89K run (Comrades!) |
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