Easter SunRun 10K Race Review

Easter weekend I ran a 10k.  In past years, I opted for the 2 mile race that follows the 10k, but this year I was climbing back from injury, and I thought it best to go for the extra mileage without the lung busting, muscle burning pace of a 2 miler.  Instead of going into great detail about the race, or who I saw and where, I am going to shift focus to a self reflective analysis of how temperatures can affect your race performance.


Let me just come out and say it right off the bat...  I set a 10k PR that day (by 21 seconds) when I thought I had no business coming close to one.  Some of you might recall my injured hip flexor that kept me from running the first 2 months of the year.  Well, the Easter SunRun came a little over a month after I started getting my running legs back to pre-injury form, and I still have a ways to go.


In fact, the week of the SunRun I did a test where I kept my heart rate at 175 bpm for about 8 miles and compared that to an identical run I did last fall.  The results indicated my pace was currently 30 seconds slower.  So, how did I manage a PR when I wasn't in top form?  My only explanation is the weather, just ask those who ran Boston this month.


As far as 10k's go, I really only do the same one every year, and it occurs more towards Summer.  Temps for all my previous 10k's have been in the 70º to 80º range.  Temperatures for the Easter SunRun this year were in the mid 50s with cloudy skies.  There have been plenty of articles published about why and how heat affects runners, so I won't go into much detail about the science here.  My hope is that my recent experience and the statistics I've recorded can serve as a good real world example of how varying temperatures can affect you.


Now I will concede that I made some decent progress between my previous 10k's and my injury, so an argument could be made that by taking "two steps forward and one step back," I still end up 1 step ahead.  However, I have one more point to make.


One week prior to the SunRun, I ran 2 legs in a relay which were on average 0.7 miles shorter than a 10k.  The temperatures for the relay started out in the 70s, and ended in the mid 80s.  It was a struggle for me to maintain an 8:00 pace.  In comparison, a week later at the SunRun 10k, I averaged a 7:04 pace.  Notice in my charts below the 10k is the longer race yet my pace is faster while my heart rate is lower.


Here's my Garmin Data from my last leg in the 84º Brew to Brew Relay 04-01-12:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg HR	Max HR
1	08:08.3	1	188	197
2	07:49.7	1	193	196
3	07:54.9	1	197	200
4	08:05.1	1	199	202
5	05:36.0	0.73	202	203
Summary	37:33.9	4.73	195.8	203

Here's my Garmin Data from the 55º SunRun 04-07-12:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg HR	Max HR
1	06:55.0	1	174	186
2	07:09.0	1	186	190
3	07:16.4	1	190	195
4	07:09.4	1	191	195
5	07:06.1	1	193	198
6	06:55.4	1	197	200
7	01:24.0	0.23	200	203
Summary	43:55.0	6.23	189	203

2Slow4Boston Easter SunRun 10k
Chip Time	43:54 (PR)
Overall Place	68/689
Age Group	6/37
Average Pace	7:04

I'll leave you with a few pics from the SunRun:

I wonder if the guy in red looks as awkward in motion as he does frozen in time.

Headed down home stretch.  HR = 203

All smiles post race while pitching a different kind of tent.

Brew To Brew, Relay Race Review

Back on April Fools Day I ran my first ever relay, a 44.4 mile race called "Brew To Brew."  It's called Brew To Brew since it basically runs from Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, Missouri to Free State Brewery in Lawrence, Kansas.  It is also called Brew to Brew since there is a lot of drinking (besides water) involved before/during/after the race. Kinda ironic that a relay race, where teams have to drive in the vicinity runners for half a day, picked beer and drinking as its theme, but hey, someone has to do it.


It is a very informal race.  First off, there was no expo which is to be expected for a non-marathon event.   Participant t-shirts were only available for those who paid extra, and they only handed out 2 race numbers for the entire team (a clue that wearing bibs are optional).  You only needed to wear a number to help label the official photographs, or have your time recorded when you crossed the finish line.  There was no prize money involved, but you will get some notoriety for being the last team to cross the finish line.


Here's where things get a bit confusing.  Your relay team can consist of anywhere from 2 to 10 people.  If your team donates over $200, you become a "generous" team, meaning you can buy a handicap so that your recognized finish time is faster than it really is.  If you donate enough to charity, you can actually finish before you start.  If you're not in a generous mood, then there are about 7 other divisions to be in including 2 person, female only, male and mixed, military, racewalking, scratch, and six leg special (only run first 6 legs) teams.  There are 10 total legs of different distances all under 6 miles.  So is all that clear as mud?


I drove up to K.C. with 4 other friends from Wichita.  We ended up in the male and mixed teams division which uses a handicap based on age (as do some other divisions).  We each picked two legs to run.  I selected legs 3 and 10 which are two of the longer legs totaling about 11 miles.  I didn't realize it at the time but I picked the flatter sections of the course, while the other legs are shorter, but hillier.


I'll try and keep my experience with the race brief.  I knew days before the race that it was going to be a hot one.  Turns out the temps got into the mid 80s by the time we were done by 2:30p without a cloud in the sky.  I can honestly say that I have never raced in weather that hot before, and I think I've only done one or two training runs above 85º.  When I did the 5.9 mile third leg in the morning, I ran it hard and I overheated, but it was probably only in the low to mid 70s, and that's not really enough combined time or heat to make it a health issue.


However, by the time my tenth and final leg came around, the Sun was at its apex with no cloud cover and the mercury read 84º.  On top of the early leg I ran, I had been constantly exposed to the elements since we hung around outside waiting at all transition points.  I applied sunscreen twice during the morning in an effort to ward off skin cancer someday, and some of it eventually found its way into my eye mixed in with sweat.  What I'm getting at is that I didn't have much going for me.  So off I went on the last leg of the day, a 4.7 miler.  Soon after, I was running between a 7:30 and 8:00 pace, and my heart rate was starting to red line.  As I saw my HR get to 200 with about 2 miles still to go, and my body temp as high as ever, I wondered to myself if I should back off.  It's one thing to have a HR of 200 when it's 65º, it's another sensation to have a HR that high when it's 20 degrees warmer.  I decided to walk until my HR came down a bit.  I probably walked a couple hundred feet before my HR got down to 195, and I started running again.  I wondered to myself if I was experiencing heat exhaustion, and if the way I felt was cause for concern.  I tried to tell myself that I was just hot and to finish as best as the conditions would allow.  When I saw the finish line, the adrenaline shot through me and I was able to finish strong, but it took a lot longer than usual to recover and compose myself.


One word of wisdom I would pass on to anyone running this race in the future is to figure out how fast your team is going to run each leg.  If the pace is going to be much less than 8 minute miles, then it could be difficult to make it to the next transition point on some legs before the runner you're meeting up with gets there.  In the case of our team, the runner beat the rest of us to the rendezvous on 3 of the legs.  This caused a delay in our time, and since one of those times was crossing the finish line we missed out on that photo op. On the other hand most teams aren't there to run fast and they have time to enjoy some beer or toss a Frisbee while waiting their turn.  We waited until the race was over to partake in the alcohol, but still had a great bonding experience during the relay.


Not that stats matter in this race, but we finished 42nd in our division out of 344 recorded teams.  Official time was 5:51:28 for 44.XX miles, with an adjusted/handicap time of 5:43:28.  Two of our guys were running a sub 7:00 pace.


Finally, I present to you some obligatory pictures from the day.

Team "Joggers And Lagers" at starting brewery.  From left to right: Brant,
2 Slow 4 Boston, Eric, Todd, and Chuck.

Yours truly after my first leg.
We are on a non sectioned off highway

Between KC and Lawrence, a farm served as a transition
area.

Farm #2 complete with port-a-potties in the driveway.

Still at Farm #2, notice the girl in green with the open container
waiting her turn.

Post race photo with the finish line in the background.

My HR chart.  I combined both legs, so the dip in the middle is where I started
my second leg.  The peak HR was 202 when I finished, then it still took almost 8.5
minutes for my HR to get down to 134 (thanks to over heating) which is where it was when
I finally stopped my watch.

Treadmill Fail... Make That Plural

Those of you who have followed me for awhile know that I have no problems running on a treadmill.  As a matter of fact, last year I logged over 618 miles on one (a quarter of my total mileage).  However, there are people on this Earth who have a problem running on a treadmill, and I'm not just talking philosophically.  Some of them were captured on home video and uploaded to YouTube.  Enjoy!




Hope that brought a smile, or a laugh, or a chuckle (and not a flashback) to your day.  But by all means, if you have a Treadmill Fail, please share.

I'll Get To The Point, With Bullets

1. Friday, I signed up for an Easter 10k run.  Before going into the store to register, I told my 3 and 5 year old kids not to run around when we got in there.  How's that for irony?  No running in the running store.
2. Last week, Nelly posted a link to an inspirational story about a coxwain named Jill Costello.  I found it to be a very compelling narrative that can translate into your own approach for running.  The article also turned me on to a motivational rock song called "Got To Do It" by Andrew W.K. that I am adding to my playlist.  What do you find inspiring?
3. I'm happy to report that my hip flexor that I injured right before Christmas was mostly healed by the beginning of March.  I've been slowly adding miles back to my base, and just yesterday I did my first speed workout of the year (7:24 pace).  My hip seems to have taken it all in stride (I like that pun).
4. I ran 48 miles last week.  That includes a 14 mile treadmill run, which is the first time I've gone over 10 miles since Christmas.
5. I've had 4 weekly sessions with an Active Release Technique (ART) provider for my hip.  Seeing as how he didn't start treating me until 2 months into my rehabilitation, combined with not having gone through this injury before, I'm not sure how effective it was, but I think it helped.  I'll be going back to see him earlier if something like this happens again.
6. I tried but failed to sign up for the Pikes Peak marathon (which goes up and back down the mountain) because it sold out in less than a couple hours.  There's always next year.
7. This weekend I'll be running a couple legs in my first relay called "Brew to Brew."  The race runs from a bar in Kansas City to another one over 40 miles away.  I'm looking at it as more of a social experience than a race.

Running Blog Database Week One Status

It's been about a week since the Running Blog Database started becoming known outside of my own computer.  Thanks to all the bloggers who have embraced the idea and helped spread the word.  After blogs like Tall Mom on the Run, Mission to a(nother) Marathon, and The Studly Runner, to name a few, featured the database, my web traffic count went wild.  I kinda felt like Mark Zuckerberg in the movie 'The Social Network' after he created "Facemash", except for the part of almost getting expelled from Harvard.  And that little detail of becoming a billionaire afterwards.

Am I distracting?

So far, the feedback I've received has been positive, and the database's exposure has exceeded my expectations.  In the last week the database page has been viewed over 1000 times (pretty hefty numbers by my standards), and over 160 new blogs have been added.  As of this writing, the total number of blogs in the database is 664.  Please forgive me if any of my enthusiasm is coming off as boastful.  I'm fully aware that whatever technical skills I have are mostly offset by my creative writing skills.  I am just an engineer after all. ☺ 


It's been kinda nice to have the database to talk about since I haven't been able to do any running while giving my hip flexor more time to heal.  I've spent quite a bit of time this last week improving the database's code, making corrections to blogger data, adding pictures, reading new blogs, and responding to emails; not to mention checking out the latest worthless shows on A&E like "Parking Wars."


Speaking of Harvard earlier...  I've been fascinated with the story of the undrafted New York Knicks guard and Harvard alumnus, Jeremy Lin.  For those outside of New York who don't know, it's an underdog, rags-to-riches type story featuring the first Chinese-American to play in the NBA.  He came out of nowhere, that is, if you consider Harvard nowhere.  Likewise, if you play basketball for Harvard, you've probably never heard of the NBA either.  It's great Jeremy Lin had the NBA to fall back on since apparently a Harvard Business degree wasn't cutting it for him.


Notes:  I hope to eventually have over 1000 blogs in the database.  Do you think there are at least 1000 running blogs in our universe?  I would still appreciate a mention on your blog if you haven't tagged the database already HERE.  Also, let me know if you find any information that's incorrect or that you need me to add, including pictures.  Thanks.

Have you gotten some good use out of the Running Blog Database yet?  How has it been useful?