Keep Stepping 6-20-2012

Dawsonville HM 2012

To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.

Chinese Proverb

Second Wind, 6-13-2012

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. ~William James

Morning Motivation 6-6-2012

http://oregonfarm.blogspot.com/2012/02/morning-run-with-my-man.html

Methinks that the moment my legs began to move, my thoughts began to flow...

Only while we are in action is the circulation perfect.

Henry David Thoreau, American author and philosopher

The Brookhaven Bolt 5K May 19 2012

What an awesome day.  The weather was beautiful, the race was organized flawlessly, and I ran faster than I thought possible.  My goal for this was to finish 3 8:30 miles for a total time of around 26:25 that would have been 30 seconds faster than the Boulder Dash I had run the previous month.  I really wanted to go for this one though, it was basically my home course as it is run in my Brookhaven neighbourhood on the streets I train everyday on, so I was very familiar with the course.

My wife was also walking this one for her first organized event.  I wanted to finish as fast as possible and double back to support/finish with her.  I started out nicely and settled into a good breathing pattern.  I felt really good and had the adrenaline pumping from the time I woke up.  I had decided not to worry about going out "too" fast but to try to just keep my breathing even and not "sucking wind".

When I got to the first mile marker, I hit my watch at 8:11, faster than I had thought for how good and easy I felt I was running. The middle stretch has a small net downhill.  I tried to simply maintain what I was doing in hopes of sustaining that pace as far as I could go.  As I got close to the end I tried to speed up the pace somewhat.  The starting line was at the stop of a steep uphill and I tried to sprint as much a possible to get there.  Seeing the clock gave me a little burst and I finished the race in 25:19.  It was awesome.

Info
Date:	5/19/2012
Type:	Race
Course:	Brookhaven Bolt 5k
Distance:	5 kilometers
Duration:	25:19
Pace:	8:09 / mile
Equipment:	New Balance M730 (Black 730)
Weight:	186.8 lb
Misc:	Quality: 10/10, Effort: 10/10
Field Placement:	206 / 1216 (16.9%)
Age group:	40 – 49
Group Placement:	25 / 104 (24%)
Weather:	65° F, Sunny
Statistics:	Calories: 439 VO2 Max: 37.7

Intervals (Brookhaven Bolt 5K)
	Type	Distance	Time	Total Time	Pace
1	Interval	1 mi	8:11	8:11	8:11
2	Interval	1 mi	7:55.69	16:06.69	7:56
3	Interval	1 mi	8:32.64	24:39.33	8:33
4	Interval	0.1 mi	0:40	25:19.33	6:40

TriCities 10k/5k May 5 2012

My brother called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I wanted to run in a free race in "the hood" as he calls it.  He lives in College Park, a suburb of Atlanta where Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is located.  My family has deep roots there.  My grandfather lived and preached there for combined over 30 years, helping to create Southside Baptist Church then later returning to pastor there through their move to Fayetteville, GA.  My mother went to College Park High School for  a short time and my father when to North Clayton High School, long since turned into airplane runway.  So I was looking forward to running through some memories of years past.
The race was truly a community event, not as polished and commerical as other runs which added to the experience.  The temperature was the hottest I had experienced since beginning to run in Oct.  It was 71 and 85% humidity at race start  (8:00AM).  That fact and my "need for speed" proved to work against me.  Of course, I had pace problems again.  I wanted to simply run 9:30 second miles and be consistent.  No dice.  I ran the first 3 miles ( there was not 1 and 2 mile markers) at an 8:33 pace.  Way to fast, but the silver lining is that I can run 3 miles that fast.  My best was the week before when I ran 5k in 26:54 so I would have been close to a 26 flat 5K (I'll save that for the Brookhaven Bolt).  After that the wheels fell off a bit and my pace slowed drastically.  I was really feeling the sun beating on me.  The route had no shade to speak of as it ran down the 4 lane main roads of the 3 cities of College Park, East Point, and Hapeville.  These have been turned into urban sprawl years ago and outside of a few historic neighboorhoods and city buildings, they have become a collection of strip malls, apartments, and warehouses.  The heat was particularly bad along the 3 to 5 mile section as we ran over and back across I-85 and all of its 16 lanes. It was a little like running in a furnace.  I know why they had such an issue with heat at the Boston Marathon and it was in the 80's.  There is a drastic difference in just 10 or so degrees when running.  I still really enjoyed the run.  I made a barefoot running friend who was competing barefoot for the first time and I got to hang out with my brother after the race which is always cool.

Info
Date:	05/May/12
Type:	Race
Course:	TriCities 10K
Distance:	10 kilometers
Duration:	58:47.54
Pace:	9:28 / mile
Equipment:	New Balance M730 (Black 730)
Weight:	192.6 lb
Weather:	71° F, Sunny
Notes:	TriCities 10K
Statistics:	Calories: 905 VO2 Max: 33.1

Intervals (TriCities 10K)
	Type	Distance	Time	Total Time	Pace	Avg HR	Max HR	Notes
1	Interval	3 mi	25:37.23	25:37.23	8:33
2	Interval	1 mi	9:42.75	35:19.98	9:43
3	Interval	1 mi	10:46.12	46:06.10	10:47
4	Interval	1 mi	10:37.12	56:43.22	10:38
5	Interval	0.2 mi	2:04.32	58:47.54	10:22

Boulder Dash 5K April 28, 2012

The Boulder Dash 5K, a fun little run in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. The race course, which runs from Northside Hospital Forsyth through the LaFarge Aggregates Quarry, makes for a very interesting run.  This was the largest race I have run in so far, with 1200 people lined up at the start.  A lot of the people were walking so my group and field placement are a little skewed from a normal race.  The volunteers were incredible as always.
My goal for this race was to finish around 28:30 with a pace in the low 9's.  Boy I surprised myself.  I tried to start relatively slow but the crowd and the hills didn't really cooperate.  I still have a problem with starting way too fast.  This time was no different.  I let the crowd push my pace and paid for it on the last hill to the finish line.  The run felt really good though.  I crossed the first mile marker at 8:04 thinking "wow that is way too fast and I've got to slow down".  So I slow a bit helped by the steep hill entering the quarry.  Of course I sped right back on on the other side.  This was the site of the finish line about three/quarters of the way up the hill.  The course proceeded around the periphery of the quarry and looped back on the entrance road.  About halfway around the loop was the 2 mile marker,  I cruised by it with an interval of 8:40.  I was fine at this pace for the rest of the loop and then started the climb back to the finish line.  I knew I was going pretty fast but the hill was just a little too much to late for me to tackle without slowing some more.  I missed the 3 mile sign so I didn't get a 3 mile interval time.  I decided here that I was just going to try my best keep my speed going in and see where it ended up.  That was fine until I could make out the numbers on the clock.  The first two number were 2 and 6.  Oh man that kicked in the adrenaline.  I had to finish below 27.  I pushed it in and crossed as the clock said 26:5x something.  I didn't know where until I got the official results.  I was so happy, I forgot to stop my watch also.  My intent was not to run this race this fast, just get a fun run and see where I was at so I could really see how low I could go next month at the Brookhaven Bolt, which is run in my neighborhood on the route that I run and walk everyday.  So we will see how next month goes.
I learned several things this race.  First, PACING, PACING, PACING - a slower first mile would have let me finish stronger.  Its common sense to save some for the end but its so dang hard to let everyone go by at the beginning and I just get too caught up in the crowd. Second, I can go faster than I give myself credit for.  Since I am still learned the details of distance running, I don't have confidence in running fast or letting myself work a little harder.  With a little work on pacing and confidence, I think one day a might be able to call myself a runner.

RACING RESULTS
Date:	28/Apr/12
Type:	Race
Course:	Boulder Dash - Cumming
Distance:	5 kilometers
Duration:	26:56
Pace:	8:41 / mile
Equipment:	New Balance M730 (Black 730)
Weight:	194.8 lb
Misc:	Quality: 10/10, Effort: 8/10
Field Placement:	166 / 1209 (13.7%)
Age group:	40 – 44
Group Placement:	19 / 83 (22.9%)
Weather:	Sunny
Notes:	Boulder Dash - Cumming Its the official time now!!!!!
Statistics:	Calories: 458 VO2 Max: 35.1

Intervals (Boulder Dash 2012)
	Type	Distance	Time	Total Time	Pace	Avg HR	Max HR
1	Interval	1 mi	8:04.54	8:04.54	8:05
2	Interval	1 mi	8:40.97	16:45.51	8:41
3	Interval	1.1 mi	10:10.49	26:56	9:15

ATC Spring Has Spring 15K April 14, 2012

So Saturday was the big day, the 15K, that's 9.3 miles for those of us metrically challenged.  I was pretty pumped for this one.  It was basically my test for how I was going to fair in the Dawsonville Half coming up in June.  I passed my personal test with flying colors.  I followed my plan exactly as I envisioned it and finished right on my goal time, which because if my metrically challenged state was a little faster pace than I thought. My plan was to run 6 minutes then walk 1 minute from the beginning to the end.  After my 10K where I started way too fast and didn't have any energy to run the hills at the end of the race, I was determined to make sure I was able to finish strong by not letting myself burn out.  It worked, I was able to completely smash the big hill that marked the beginning of the race and the beginning of the second lap (there was an 8k at the same time that finished with just 1 lap). I think I will make the run interval 8 minutes for the Half, which will have me walking about once every mile.  Coming up on April 28th will be the Boulder Dash, a 5K in Cumming, GA that should be a fun run.  I don't have any big plans for it other than finish it and  set a new PR for a 5K which won't be a problem as my training runs are easily faster than my last 5K.  I'm sure that the honeymoon period of setting a new PR in every race will come to an end soon but I plan on enjoying it while it lasts.  In May I am running a 5K on my home course - its in my neighborhood on the roads I run on everyday, so I am really going to go for it then.  Back to the race, I really enjoyed running this one. Special thanks to the Atlanta Track Club for the wonderful race experience.  This race was part of their Grand Prix series so no T-shirts, medals, swag, etc. Just a wonderfully organized race experience.  The course was a little more hilly than I thought from looking at maps.  I had not been to Old Fourth Ward Park, which was the sight of the start and finish of the race. It was the perfect place to rest after a long run.  I didn't save my mile times because my watch was doing the 8/1 interval timing so I am not sure about how much I slowed up during the race but I did feel great but tired at the end.  I drank a bit of water at the second water station around mile 6 but didn't really need it.  As I start getting into the 1:30 - 2:00 runs over the next few weeks, I need to figure out how to handle hydration for the Half.  That's about it, looking forward to the next month of training and getting up to that 13 mile mark.

RACING RESULTS
Date:	14/Apr/12 7:30 AM
Type:	Race
Course:	Spring Has Sprung 15K
Distance:	15 kilometers
Duration:	1:28:59
Pace:	9:33 / mile
Equipment:	Mizuno Wave Rider 14 (Mizuno1)
Weight:	197.8 lb
Misc:	Quality: 10/10, Effort: 10/10
Field Placement:	217 / 316 (68.7%)
Age group:	40 – 44
Group Placement:	21 / 25 (84%)
Gender Placement:	138 / 171 (80.7%)
Weather:	50° F, Sunny
Notes:	Atlanta Track Club Spring Has Spring 15K - Hills definitely take the energy out but finish faster than my goal so it was a total success but boy am I tired now.
Statistics:	Calories: 1394 VO2 Max: 33.8