Earlier today I ran the Cosley Zoo Run for Animals 10K in Wheaton, IL. Though the heat and frequent turns were more than expected, I enjoyed the race.
Applying rare discipline prior to and during the race I set my Garmin Forerunner 405's target pace based on my recent 10K personal record pace (6:42/mile), intending to hold that pace for first four miles, then to finish strongly.
Though sound racing strategy, the flaw in my plan was not appropriately taking into account the weather conditions, which unfortunately were quite similar to Houston's last weekend, i.e. low 70°F with 95%+ humidity. Consequently, while I held the first three miles on-target, I faded in the heat with my splits: 6:28, 6:42, 6:42, 6:54, 7:05, then 7:04. Though disappointed with my total time being a minute off my goal, I was quickly mollified upon seeing the results and noting that I'd won my age group and finished strongly otherwise (top 9% among men and top 6% overall).
This morning I ran the Astros "8th Annual Race for the Pennant 5K" (a highly optimistic name given the Astros horrible season and their firm command of the National League's last place!) The race was miserable - partly due to the race organizers, and partly due to my own decisions leading into the race. Naturally, the organizers have no responsibility for the weather, and I certainly knew what I was in for with the predicted sweat-bath temperatures of 75-80°F, clear sunny skies and 90%+ humidity (made worse by the prior evening's unusual rain storm). What the race organizers are responsible for, however, is assuring that there's adequate water on the course, and providing a festive atmosphere as the runners finish inside Minute Maid Park. In both regards the race was a failure.
Unfortunately the water stations at miles one and two were extremely understaffed, which prevented runners from getting enough water. Though the few volunteers did their very best, which was certainly appreciated by myself and the other runners, it was a shame that they didn't have more help (note to self - the next time that I don't run a local race help out!) Unexpected from prior year's more successful Astro's 5K's was upon concluding the race inside Minute Maid Park (which is very cool since the very end of the race is run down the ramp to the park's playing surface) we were greeted with stone-silence in the cavernous park and were surprised to see the band still setting-up their equipment!
Disappointed by being unable to find water before the race began I surprised myself somewhat by managing an acceptable 6:46 first mile over the very unscenic course (which quickly leaves downtown with two lengthy sections over a seemingly unending rail-yard overpass then grungy commercial warehouse district). Partly due to my growing dehydration and fatigue my pace slowed to a sweat-laden 7:12 second and third mile, following which I slowed even further in the ramp to the finish with an overall personal worst 5K of 22:01, 10th place in my division, and nearly two-minutes slower than the far superior Sprint for Life 5K.
Hopefully in the future the Astros management will do a better job in recruiting volunteers (potentially providing some decent baseball tickets as an incentive) and ideally offer the race earlier in their season - both when the weather is more suitable and there's some residual beginning-of-the season excitement concerning the club's potential.
Earlier this morning I enjoyed running M.D. Anderson's 13th Annual "Sprint for Life" 5K. Though a very experienced runner with numerous marathons, half-marathons and 10Ks under my belt, I'd never before run an officially timed 5K race. Consequently, a P.R. was assured!
In fact, I was somewhat concerned since I was hoping to run faster than my recent 4-mile P.R. pace of 6:40 minutes per mile - however the weather was decidedly uncooperative with a starting temperature of 75°F, clear skies and 90% humidity. Fortunately, I had an opportunity to warm-up beforehand with a fellow KenyanWay runner and to chat with a few friends - which appropriately re-focused me to simply have a good time.
Starting about ten runners from the lead I held my position. However, owing to the heat and my poor pacing I was unable to negative split as I had intended. My first mile split was 6:24, followed by 6:33, 6:44, following which I finished the final 0.11 miles at a 6:30 pace. My overall 20:19 time was second in my age group and 11th place overall.
Afterward, I visited KenyanWay Sean Wade's excellent MyRunningTimes.com site, which computes WMA age-graded rankings for races and individuals. Age-grading has the effect of adjusting runners' performances as if each individual were at their youthful peak (a fascinating concept by itself!) Unfortunately official race results aren't determined on this basis, as I would have been in 4th overall place!
Summing up, I rate the "Sprint for Life" 5K as an excellent Houston-area race. It is very well organized, fun, provides plenty of support on and off the course to runners & walkers - and most importantly all funds raised goes towards the excellent cause of supporting ovarian cancer research at M.D. Anderson.
Scientific evidence supports the notion that humans evolved to be runners. In a 2007 paper in the journal Sports Medicine, Dr. Daniel Lieberman, a Harvard evolutionary biologist, and Dr. Dennis Bramble, a biologist at the University of Utah, wrote that several characteristics unique to humans suggested endurance running played an important role in our evolution. Most mammals can sprint faster than humans — having four legs gives them the advantage. But when it comes to long distances, humans can outrun almost any animal. Because we cool by sweating rather than panting, we can stay cool at speeds and distances that would overheat other animals. On a hot day, the two scientists wrote, a human could even outrun a horse in a 26.2-mile marathon.
Why would evolution favor the distance runner? The prevailing theory is that endurance running allowed primitive humans to incorporate meat into their diet. They may have watched the sky for scavenging birds and then run long distances to reach a fresh kill and steal the meat from whatever animal was there first.
Other research suggests that before the development of slingshots or bows, early hunters engaged in persistence hunting, chasing an animal for hours until it overheated, making it easy to kill at close range. A 2006 report in the journal Current Anthropology documents persistence hunting among modern hunter-gatherers, including the Bushmen in Africa. “Ancient humans exploited the fact that humans are good runners in the heat,” Dr. Bramble said. “We have such a great cooling system” — many sweat glands, little body hair. The following exceptional BBC video by David Attenborough beautifully depicts the Kalahari Bushmen from Namibia and Botswana engaging in a persistence hunt. This video well depicts the human hunter's ability to engage in an all-day hunt, with all of our evolutionarily-favored attributes being clearly shown, i.e. our: superior cooling, ability to reason (necessary to read the tracks of the prey to discern and deduce its movements) and the type of social and communication skills necessary in the lengthy stalking period leading-up to the chase and in carrying the animal back to the village.
Earlier today I had the pleasure of running the 114th Boston Marathon. It was a great experience!
Having run Boston last year, and being disappointed by my inadequate preparation I incorporated significantly more hills and mileage into the preceding four months of training. My improved strength was clearly evident on Newton's hills, as I avoided last year's walk on the steepest section of Hearbreak Hill. Additionally, in climbing hills I followed the advice by an experienced Boston-area coach who spoke at the Expo on Sunday. He recommended that while climbing you should relax your abs, swing vigorously your arms, shorten your stride, and gaze a maximum of 15-feet ahead (i.e. however tempting, don't look-up to the top of the hill - since seeing the full height of the challenge can cause even a strongest runner to begin walking!)
The weather was a bit of a disappointment, though it was far better than it could have been! The temperature was between 52 to 56°F, with relatively clear skies and initially cross winds from the north, which unfortunately became more of a headwind as the race progressed.
I was very happy with the results as I amazingly managed to exactly tie my prior 3:19:37 personal record that I'd recently just set February in Austin! Having never tied a P.R., it was on the one hand frustrating (since even the slightest added effort along the 26.2 mile course would have given me an improvement to my personal record), but, on the other hand I was content since had I run even one second slower I would have been upset. So, all in all I'm thankful for having done as well as I had, despite Boston's tough course, and particularly in overcoming my nagging right Achilles problem.
On reflection some things worked well while others did not. In the many areas that went well I credit my:
Running on my Newton shoes, which I'm convinced help owing primarily to their light weight, their minimal heel, and the 'spring' action of the forefoot lug;
Increasing my consumption of Gu's Roctane Vanilla/Orange to one packet every three vs. four miles, without bearing any adverse stomach-related side-effects. I'm convinced that the highly glycemic mixed sugars, combined with caffeine and amino acids, pay dividends in mitigating glycogen losses from the active muscles while enhancing my concentration and motivation.
Conversely, I had two distinct improvement opportunities:
Though I generated a mymarathonpace.com pacing band beforehand, having every intent to use it, during the race I unfortunately reverted to running the course 'by feel' rather than with discipline. I inappropriately ran excessively hard during the first half marathon of the largely downhill course owing to my being overly ambitious in imagining a 4-minute P.R. potential. The adverse result of this fast downhill running was predictably felt in my quads which wouldn't permit me to step-up the pace on the excellent downhill segments running into Boston.
Similar to my recent Houston Marathon experience I was excessively dehydrated upon completing the Boston course. This was despite drinking four or five ounces of Gatorade every two miles. Had I drunk double this amount it would have more closely matched my high sweat rate, and would have strengthened me in the late miles.
As was the case last year, the Boston Marathon spectators were hugely appreciated owing to their being unbelievably supportive and LOUD! While particularly true in the larger towns and cities along the course, and especially so at Wellesley College, I never felt unsupported along the entire course. The volunteers - of which there were literally tens of thousands - did an absolutely first-rate job, and bring huge credit to the most prestigious of marathons. I highly recommend the Boston Marathon to all serious runners! Me crossing the finish line - exactly tying my marathon personal record!
Following the Memorial Park Conservancy's "4 the Park" Fun Run fellow Texas Independence Relay DOGs Laura, Kim and I enjoy some healthy food and beverages. We had ample cause for celebration as each of us placed within our respective age groups in the 4-mile race event - despite very hot conditions (~70°F with 80% humidity).
Pictured are additional DOGs Paul and Rick crossing the finish line.
Post-race thoughts. I was extremely happy upon crossing the finish line to realize that despite the heat I'd set a ~1-minute personal record. Additionally, in extrapolating both today's race result and the recent Rodeo Run 10K using Dr. Jack Daniel's methodology suggests that my Boston goal of 3:15 is realistic.
The bottom-line, however, is the Memorial Park Conservancy's 4-mile fun run was a great event (see overall results); it was fun for the participants, and an excellent money-raiser for a very good cause. I highly recommend this race!
This weekend I ran the 2010 Texas Independence Relay (TIR) with a fantastic group of long-time friends - the 'DOGS'. It was an absolute BLAST!
The TIR is a 203.2 mile long collection of forty "legs", each ranging from three to nine miles in length, and are run by teams consisting of as few as one or as many as twelve individuals (our situation, and the most common). It starts in Gonzales, Texas and finishes at the San Jacinto Monument in a southeast Houston suburb.
In the TIR's vast distance it encompases much of the diversity of Texas - from its rural hilly farm land, to the wide rivers which span it, to beautiful parkland, to upscale suburban west Houston, to Houston's southeast commercial and industrial sights, to the impressive 570-foot San Jacinto monument that is the tallest monument column in the world.
Thanks to the combination of cooler weather than we'd seen last year, and more rest (a consequence of better planning and logistics), we collectively managed to significantly improve by 40-minutes our overall time to 27:32:56!
I had the honor of running the baton to the monument in the final leg, and the caution shared by my team was appropriate - just when you first see the monument (see photo) know that it's going to take a long, long time to reach it! This advice was truly sound, and with my cumulative fatigue of running 23.6 miles at faster than marathon pace in four segments over two days on only three hours sleep I was truly eager to celebrate crossing the finish line - which we did!
This photo captures our happiness at the San Jacinto Monument following crossing the finish line. For additional photos see the Webshots TIR-DOGs (best of collection) or the remaining set (part 1). The entire team is looking forward to doing it again in 2011, and I highly recommend the relay race to anyone interested in having a fantastic time and adventure with a group of running friends!
