beer 30
Footballguy
Bout time you got off your ### and did somethingWhoops, fixed. I couldn't copy/paste so typed it in.
Yes, I just signed up for a 50 Miler coming up in 6 days.
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Ran a 10k - Official Thread (15 Viewers)
- Thread starter Ned
- Start date
tri-man 47
Footballguy
Way to go, Ivan!!!
NREC34
Footballguy
Running at Central Park yesterday was awesome, I'll never forget it. I got there and there was a race going on so I ran with that for part of it and some around the reservoir at the end. I guess I was so pumped up about running there that it just seemed really easy. Ended up running 9.54 miles in 1:19. I felt like I could've done a lot more but I had to stop and take the family around the city some to try and keep them happy.
MAC_32
Footballguy
Broke Man's Half Marathon
Throughout the last week plus I constantly felt like I was having too much water, honey lemon tea, and water heavy veggies like cucumbers and celery. Despite that I've been dehydrated the whole time. All the weeks and months of prep and it felt like it was all going to be wasted. I kept telling myself I'd give it my all anyway, but the devil side kept creeping in over that angel's voice saying you're going to fail. It's sucked.
Anyway, I pushed the boundary as far as I could with sleep Sunday morning. It was the first morning in 11 days without drugs, so I wanted as little awake time as possible before the race began. I finally got out of bed at 7 and scarfed half an everything bagel with almond butter, a banana, my vitamins, a few swigs of coffee and just crossed my fingers that I'd get it out of my system before the 8:30 gun. It was 8:24 when I emerged from the bathroom a 100 meters from the start/finish line, so - mission accomplished. You really couldn't have asked for much better racing conditions - 51, partly cloudy, and very little wind at the start and if it crept up to 60 by race end's it was barely there. This is a new race and it's 2 weeks before the main Columbus race, so we didn't expect much turnout but by our count if there weren't 1,000 it was very close. About 90% were probably in their 20's and 30's. Very good atmosphere.
Sorry, rambling, the race...I had some plans in mind on how to approach this, but I really didn't want to commit to a plan until after I started to see how I felt. I've done nothing but slow runs since the 10K two weeks ago, so your guess is as good as mine about how I'd feel. The only word to describe that feeling once we started - weird. I instantly felt very fresh, but my thighs...they were somehow both heavy and light at the same time. Maybe one of you have experienced this, but I hadn't. The only thing I could think of was that while I felt dehydrated from the neck up, perhaps I over hydrated my leg muscles but since I hadn't been running much my legs felt fresh too. Whatever, pick a comfortably uncomfortable pace and just roll with it. Re-eval later.
Apparently that weird leg feeling led to a fast first mile. Too fast as it turns out. It's probably a good thing I did not know this until I was reviewing my results afterwards on Strava because it'd have gotten in my head early but it's something to remember for future races. Once I settled in towards the end of mile 1 things went according to plan miles 2, 3, and 4. This part was all on an all purpose trail along the river north from downtown Columbus towards the university's campus. We turned around and followed the same trail in reverse for miles 5, 6, and 7. The first mile was fine, but then the bug I've been fighting reared its ugly head. Energy levels began to fade and my mouth went from I could use some water to a desert to on fire over the course of maybe 5 minutes. A swig of water every mile with chews constantly in my mouth helped with energy levels some, but had no impact on my hydration. Everything was fine from the neck down (for now), but I was fighting a losing battle from the neck up. The only thing keeping me going was the 1:35 pacer had not caught up to me. As long as that was the case maybe I could get through this rough stretch and find a second wind late. Well, white shirt coasted by me soemtime during mile 8 and a feeling of defeat took over and slowed me down for a good few minutes. I finally gave myself a pep talk and convinced myself that while 1:30 is not going to happen there can still be some positives to take away from this. Get your head out of your ### and go. This lasted...maaaaybe a mile. That's when the physical toll caught up to me. Was it the fast start? the bug? the lack of distance running the last 3 weeks? Whatever it was, I knew the only positives I could takeaway at this point would be battling to the finish and maximize my PR. I have been battling over active hamstrings for a long, long time and when the problem emerges it usually leads to lower back tightness. Welp, it took over in a hurry. We finished the multi purpose trail portion shortly before mile 10 and the climb on the last bridge before finishing the trail portion is when it really hit me. The only reason I didn't mentally cave is when we got to the road we headed east straight into a refreshing breeze. Like any head wind, it slowed me down, but it also cooled me down. I just spent the next 10 minutes trying to enjoy the breeze, so I could finish this thing without doing a walk/run last 3 miles like last time. It worked. I was getting steadily picked off by others since my pace was noticeably slower with a stiff back and barking thighs/hips/glutes, but just focusing on the breeze got me tot he final mile back on the trail. It was a miserable final mile, but once you're that close you can't start walking. Just 8 minutes of pain for a more satisfying look back on the race. I don't think I've ever jogged through the finish line of a race, but to get to the massage table without something tightening up so bad I'd stop I felt like I had to. The masseuse started on my back and didn't find much wrong, but the second she got to my right ham - 'did you run the whole race like this?!" "Well, the last 5 miles or so, yes." "Uhh...how?" I felt like that described this race in a nutshell.
6:28
6:54
7:10
7:02
7:19
7:26
7:21
7:30
7:38
7:49
7:54
7:50
7:48
Unofficial 1 hour 38 minutes. A PR by about 5+ minutes and somewhere between 25th and 30th place, I think. There was a timing snafu, so I'm not sure if I will get an official time or not. Race director said she would post today what times and places they have, so hopefully I get an official one but the race was somewhere between 0.1 and 0.2 miles long anyway.
All things considered, a lot of positives to take away. I'm concerned that the over-active hamstring problem resurfaced, but it's certainly possible it was caused by dehydration from the bug I've been fighting. I'm very encouraged that I was able to stay under 7:30 per mile despite this bug until the hammy problem appeared. I'm also happy that instead of letting the physical ailments derail my race like last year's half I fought through it and maintained the pace that I did despite basically everything breaking down for the last third of the race. Probably most importantly, my GAP (grad adjusted pace) was a 7:09. If I do another half this year it's pancake flat, so despite all those issues I did an estimated 1:33+ on a flat course. Maybe 1:30 is within reach...
Throughout the last week plus I constantly felt like I was having too much water, honey lemon tea, and water heavy veggies like cucumbers and celery. Despite that I've been dehydrated the whole time. All the weeks and months of prep and it felt like it was all going to be wasted. I kept telling myself I'd give it my all anyway, but the devil side kept creeping in over that angel's voice saying you're going to fail. It's sucked.
Anyway, I pushed the boundary as far as I could with sleep Sunday morning. It was the first morning in 11 days without drugs, so I wanted as little awake time as possible before the race began. I finally got out of bed at 7 and scarfed half an everything bagel with almond butter, a banana, my vitamins, a few swigs of coffee and just crossed my fingers that I'd get it out of my system before the 8:30 gun. It was 8:24 when I emerged from the bathroom a 100 meters from the start/finish line, so - mission accomplished. You really couldn't have asked for much better racing conditions - 51, partly cloudy, and very little wind at the start and if it crept up to 60 by race end's it was barely there. This is a new race and it's 2 weeks before the main Columbus race, so we didn't expect much turnout but by our count if there weren't 1,000 it was very close. About 90% were probably in their 20's and 30's. Very good atmosphere.
Sorry, rambling, the race...I had some plans in mind on how to approach this, but I really didn't want to commit to a plan until after I started to see how I felt. I've done nothing but slow runs since the 10K two weeks ago, so your guess is as good as mine about how I'd feel. The only word to describe that feeling once we started - weird. I instantly felt very fresh, but my thighs...they were somehow both heavy and light at the same time. Maybe one of you have experienced this, but I hadn't. The only thing I could think of was that while I felt dehydrated from the neck up, perhaps I over hydrated my leg muscles but since I hadn't been running much my legs felt fresh too. Whatever, pick a comfortably uncomfortable pace and just roll with it. Re-eval later.
Apparently that weird leg feeling led to a fast first mile. Too fast as it turns out. It's probably a good thing I did not know this until I was reviewing my results afterwards on Strava because it'd have gotten in my head early but it's something to remember for future races. Once I settled in towards the end of mile 1 things went according to plan miles 2, 3, and 4. This part was all on an all purpose trail along the river north from downtown Columbus towards the university's campus. We turned around and followed the same trail in reverse for miles 5, 6, and 7. The first mile was fine, but then the bug I've been fighting reared its ugly head. Energy levels began to fade and my mouth went from I could use some water to a desert to on fire over the course of maybe 5 minutes. A swig of water every mile with chews constantly in my mouth helped with energy levels some, but had no impact on my hydration. Everything was fine from the neck down (for now), but I was fighting a losing battle from the neck up. The only thing keeping me going was the 1:35 pacer had not caught up to me. As long as that was the case maybe I could get through this rough stretch and find a second wind late. Well, white shirt coasted by me soemtime during mile 8 and a feeling of defeat took over and slowed me down for a good few minutes. I finally gave myself a pep talk and convinced myself that while 1:30 is not going to happen there can still be some positives to take away from this. Get your head out of your ### and go. This lasted...maaaaybe a mile. That's when the physical toll caught up to me. Was it the fast start? the bug? the lack of distance running the last 3 weeks? Whatever it was, I knew the only positives I could takeaway at this point would be battling to the finish and maximize my PR. I have been battling over active hamstrings for a long, long time and when the problem emerges it usually leads to lower back tightness. Welp, it took over in a hurry. We finished the multi purpose trail portion shortly before mile 10 and the climb on the last bridge before finishing the trail portion is when it really hit me. The only reason I didn't mentally cave is when we got to the road we headed east straight into a refreshing breeze. Like any head wind, it slowed me down, but it also cooled me down. I just spent the next 10 minutes trying to enjoy the breeze, so I could finish this thing without doing a walk/run last 3 miles like last time. It worked. I was getting steadily picked off by others since my pace was noticeably slower with a stiff back and barking thighs/hips/glutes, but just focusing on the breeze got me tot he final mile back on the trail. It was a miserable final mile, but once you're that close you can't start walking. Just 8 minutes of pain for a more satisfying look back on the race. I don't think I've ever jogged through the finish line of a race, but to get to the massage table without something tightening up so bad I'd stop I felt like I had to. The masseuse started on my back and didn't find much wrong, but the second she got to my right ham - 'did you run the whole race like this?!" "Well, the last 5 miles or so, yes." "Uhh...how?" I felt like that described this race in a nutshell.
6:28
6:54
7:10
7:02
7:19
7:26
7:21
7:30
7:38
7:49
7:54
7:50
7:48
Unofficial 1 hour 38 minutes. A PR by about 5+ minutes and somewhere between 25th and 30th place, I think. There was a timing snafu, so I'm not sure if I will get an official time or not. Race director said she would post today what times and places they have, so hopefully I get an official one but the race was somewhere between 0.1 and 0.2 miles long anyway.
All things considered, a lot of positives to take away. I'm concerned that the over-active hamstring problem resurfaced, but it's certainly possible it was caused by dehydration from the bug I've been fighting. I'm very encouraged that I was able to stay under 7:30 per mile despite this bug until the hammy problem appeared. I'm also happy that instead of letting the physical ailments derail my race like last year's half I fought through it and maintained the pace that I did despite basically everything breaking down for the last third of the race. Probably most importantly, my GAP (grad adjusted pace) was a 7:09. If I do another half this year it's pancake flat, so despite all those issues I did an estimated 1:33+ on a flat course. Maybe 1:30 is within reach...
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Juxtatarot
Footballguy
A few people here have tried Maffetone and had frustrations. I won't say you shouldn't do it but you'll also get better with increased volume and mixing the intensities. Plus, the latter is a lot more fun.
tri-man 47
Footballguy
And way to go, MAC! Way to fight through all of that.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Congrats Mac! I look forward to reading about you crushing your next half!
2Young2BBald
Footbaldguy
Tri guys, if you are looking for a very unique, bucket list type vent for next year, Epic Racing is bringing back The Battle of Waterloo 10-leg survival tri in 2016: http://epicraces.com/event/battle-of-waterloo/
I've done this three times and its an insane adventure and swimming across three different lakes with your shoes tucked in your tri suit is rather surreal. If you scroll down a bit on the page linked above there is a link to a YouTube vid that shows a bit of the event from 2014. I am way too out of shape to register now, but am going to see where I am at around Christmas to decide if I want to go for another one.
I've done this three times and its an insane adventure and swimming across three different lakes with your shoes tucked in your tri suit is rather surreal. If you scroll down a bit on the page linked above there is a link to a YouTube vid that shows a bit of the event from 2014. I am way too out of shape to register now, but am going to see where I am at around Christmas to decide if I want to go for another one.
Nigel
Footballguy
I've got three weeks to train before leading up to my half. Last week was not a good one, left Wednesday for a golf trip to Pinehurst NC. Weather was awful and ended up playing a total of 14 holes of golf, was supposed to play 3 or 4 rounds. Spent the rest of the 4 days in bars. Did manage two short runs while down there (one a 3 mile treadmill run immediately following a 6 beer bus ride from Pinehurst to Durham, that was interesting) but only 18 for the week. I did feel fresh on my 6 miler this morning so maybe the rest wasn't the worst thing.
I need to make the most of these next three weeks though. I haven't been running with much of a plan lately but want to have one leading up to 10/25. Trying to figure out what it should be.
I need to make the most of these next three weeks though. I haven't been running with much of a plan lately but want to have one leading up to 10/25. Trying to figure out what it should be.
Hang 10
Footballguy
I actually remember reading that warm beers have less carbonation. Sucks to have drink em warm though.
El Floppo
Footballguy
whoa.
there's one in NY called Survival of the Shawangunks (SOS) that seems similar- a lot of my tri pals used to do it.
congrats on the PRs, people.
and good work to everybody else still doing this- unlike me.
pbm107
Footballguy
Great racing guys, Ivan I hope this isn't your last marathon but if it is going out with a 5 min PR is a nice way to do it. MAC it is amazing you are able to achieve the results you do with so little mileage.
I have now set weekly mileage PRs on back to back weeks, I am tired.
Mon: 6.2 @ 8:36 137. It was supposed to be a double but life got in the way and I couldn't get the 2nd run in.
Tue: 8 @ 8:41/139.
Wed: 15.32 @ 8:12/143. The suck index was in the 140s so this wasn't the most comfortable run.
Thu: 12 with 7 a tempo. This was supposed to be a recovery double and the tempo was supposed to be on Friday but the weather forecast for Friday was poor. It was kind of a risk to run one of the toughest workouts of the plan the day after a 15, but it worked out fine. Averaged 6:13/169 for the tempo miles.
Fri: 6 @ 7:59/127 and 4 mi on the treadmill. The 6 miles were faster than they should have been but I was cold and wet.
Sat: 8 @ 8:56/123.
Sun: 24 @ 8.05 137. This run was just a grind, legs were tired from the beginning. Longest training run ever, and longest run ever over time.
83.64 for the week, new weekly PR.
I have now set weekly mileage PRs on back to back weeks, I am tired.
Mon: 6.2 @ 8:36 137. It was supposed to be a double but life got in the way and I couldn't get the 2nd run in.
Tue: 8 @ 8:41/139.
Wed: 15.32 @ 8:12/143. The suck index was in the 140s so this wasn't the most comfortable run.
Thu: 12 with 7 a tempo. This was supposed to be a recovery double and the tempo was supposed to be on Friday but the weather forecast for Friday was poor. It was kind of a risk to run one of the toughest workouts of the plan the day after a 15, but it worked out fine. Averaged 6:13/169 for the tempo miles.
Fri: 6 @ 7:59/127 and 4 mi on the treadmill. The 6 miles were faster than they should have been but I was cold and wet.
Sat: 8 @ 8:56/123.
Sun: 24 @ 8.05 137. This run was just a grind, legs were tired from the beginning. Longest training run ever, and longest run ever over time.
83.64 for the week, new weekly PR.
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2Young2BBald
Footbaldguy
Waterloo is a qualifier of sorts for SOS. In past years, as I recall, the top male and female finishers from Waterloo receive free entry into SOS. If either or both decline, they do a bib raffle for the entry. I would love to do SOS some time, but from what I hear its a ##### to get in.
Hang 10
Footballguy
I'm feeling quite burnout lately. The past 2 weeks battling the weather and sickness have finally broken me down. (Decided to go back to the alegra D, PBM) At this point, I don't even really care about my marathon. I'm sure I'll change my mind once I start feeling better but I had an AWFUL long run on Saturday. Just pure misery. Took yesterday off...taking today off as well. Hoping some cooler temps tomorrow will be what I need.
El Floppo
Footballguy
crazy. I never did it, but the coaches of my tri club lived up there and did it every year- felt like they were begging people to go up and do it.... 10+ years ago.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
pbm - You've put in a great stretch these last few weeks. That tempo is even more impressive when you consider your overall mileage! I'm confident your dedication and hard work will pay off!
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SFBayDuck
Footballguy
SFBayDuck
Footballguy
True, and room temp beers are just easier to drink in general when trying to slam. Back in college we used to do Beer Olympics pretty regularly, with a bunch of different events including a variety of beer slams. If they were cold we'd run the beers through the kitchen sanitizer to warm them up prior to the slam.
I still haven't tried a beer mile yet. I know I can still throw down a 12 oz can or four with the best of them, but that won't make up for my complete lack of speed.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
We've all been there to varying degrees. For me it usually just takes one good workout to get my mojo back. And with cooler weather and a healthier body, you'll get that soon.
ChiefD
Footballguy
I hear ya brother. I had a couple of runs just a couple of weeks ago with SI's in the 140s. Just so damn tired of it.
Finally cooling off here, and the last 2 weeks have been good. Hang in there Hang10.
MAC_32
Footballguy
This will probably be the deciding factor on whether I race again this year or not. I need a good solid 4-6 weeks with more miles to give myself a realistic shot at my goal. With a kid on the way in November I'm not sure that's going to happen. It's a big reason I didn't run as much in August and September as I had planned as I've had to do more around the house, for obvious reasons.
Thanks for all the support, fellas. I was thinking about you guys out there!
Ned
Footballguy
Incredible week, dude. That HR over 24mi is very impressive. Not to mention putting down that tempo run after 15mi the day before.
El Floppo
Footballguy
hey- saw you posted in the NYC thread... where in the park did you end up running? I was going to make some recommendations...
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
Great job, MAC. That sounds like really brutal day, but the big PR makes it worthwhile.
NREC34
Footballguy
Started at the west side of the reservoir then quickly got on the main road and headed south. Ended up looping a couple times on the south part. I think the finish line of the race messed me up there. After I started seeing some same stuff twice I tried to get my phone out and figure where to go and ended up on some side roads around terrace and east drive. Finally I got my bearings right and headed north. I didn't quite do the whole loop up on the north part because needed to get back to the reservoir to find my family. Took shortcut through Central Park drive. Got back to the reservoir and looped it over once before I finally found them and ended it. After running we ended up walking on some main part lined with trees where there were different people doing shows and magic tricks which was pretty cool. Not far from there we exited the park.El Floppo said:
El Floppo
Footballguy
North end of the park is where the hills are- and far less people. But it's all nice, and sounds like you hit up some good parts (reservoir, south loop- and that tree-lined walk is one of my favorite parts- more of a boulevard pathway than the other meandering parts of the park). Glad you had a good time. another couple of weeks and we'll get the leaves changing.
MAC_32
Footballguy
You're beat up. Pick a hard workout sometime in the next week to axe (maybe even two), replace with a recovery run, then shuffle the deck accordingly.
tri-man 47
Footballguy
I'd say play it by ear, but plan on a run. Maybe cut the total mileage and shorten the repeats to 800s ..if that seems too hard on your weakened system, reduce them to 400s and at least stretch the stride out without pushing the endurance aspect.
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
Now that I'm back home, I should write up a race report from yesterday.
This is my third Twin Cities Marathon, and even still I'm so impressed by the course. The entire 26.2 miles is gorgeous. It's not as fast as Chicago and I think any intelligent pacing strategy has to allow for a modest positive split because of the tough leg from mile 18 or so through mile 22, but the course has great visual variety and is nice the whole way through. Previously, I've stayed at a hotel at the finish line. This time I stayed a couple blocks from the start. Such a luxury to take care of the morning's business in my hotel room and casually stroll outdoors 30 minutes before the gun. The weather was nearly perfect: about 42 at the start, upper-40s at the halfway mark, and low-50s at the finish. Personally, I prefer it a little colder, but that's just personal preference and the actual weather was great by anybody's standards.
My previous PR was 3:50:09, and I thought that was pretty soft -- the last 10K of that race was my fastest leg, and I felt like I had some left in the tank after finishing. Training went well this time, so I decided to go for 3:45 (8:35 pace). I was prepared to back off and readjust if necessary around the 5 or 6 mile mark. As an "A" goal, I thought I might be able to turn it on a bit toward the end and come in a couple of minutes faster. There was a 3:45 pace group, so I lined up them. I have mixed feelings about pacers. I had one very good experience with a pacer several years ago in a tune-up HM, but I've had some bad ones too. More generally, I hate how people feel obliged to glom onto the pacer. Yeah, you have a rabbit to chase, but you're running in traffic the whole time which is tiring and counter-productive. I decided I would just hang back 100 feet or so from the rest of the group. Close enough to watch the balloons, but also out of the pack. This worked out pretty well, except for water stops. The pacer generally blew past them, which is fine with me, but it led to a bunch of people nearly sprinting past me after each one to get right back in the pacer's back pocket. Clearly that was important, because it's not like gradually catching back up over a mile or so is a viable strategy in such a short event.
I do have to give to give some kudos to this particular pacer. I had my Garmin set to an "elapsed time only" screen specifically because I didn't want to obsess over my real-time pace or worry about Garmin distance vs. official USATF distance. Instead, I just went with the timer and a 3:45 pace band. First of all, the pacer absolutely nailed the first 10K -- every mile was within one second of pace. We got to the halfway point about 40 seconds early, which is perfect for this course. He kind of took off around mile 21 or so; I should have finished 30 seconds behind him, but he was actually nowhere in sight as I approached the finish. Again, that's okay though. 3:45 is a BQ for some women, so I have no objection to him getting them in with a cushion.
More importantly, this guy's approach to hills was exactly what I wanted. He slowed down quite a bit on uphills, rode the downhills hard, and made up for any lost time on even ground. This is ideal. Slowing down on uphills -- even effort, not even pace -- isn't losing time. It's investing time. You give a few seconds now, and you get it back with interest during the final stages of the course. I'm always baffled at how many people fly past me on early hills, when they've got 20+ more miles to go. The thing is, it's easy for a pacer to maintain even pace up a hill because this is an easy pace for him. But it torches the people who are trying to run with him and basically sabotages their race. This guy deserves lots of credit for not doing that, and still nailing his splits.
Anyway, my official splits pretty much exactly describe how my race went, so I'll just go with those:
5K: 8:36 pace. Feels stupidly easy, as it should. Why are MP runs so hard and demoralizing in training, but that same pace is so easy on race day? It's unreal how big a difference that taper period makes.
10K: 8:36 pace between. Completely dialed in.
13.1M: 8:26 pace between. We bank a small amount of time during a relatively easy portion of the course. As we should. Still fresh, all things considered.
30K: 8:39 pace between. The segment from about mile 12 to about mile 18 is as easy as the course gets. I always feel like I should bank a little more time here, but I know what's coming, and holding back a bit is probably the right the thing to do. Really I am just following the crowd though. Timer only, not watching my Garmin splits very closely. As we pass into St. Paul, I am getting pretty tired and beat up, and it is clear that any plans to "turn it on" during the last 10K are not going to materialize. Okay otherwise.
21M: 8:37 pace between. There are a couple of unwelcome climbs as you go from Minneapolis to St. Paul. Then you hit Summit Avenue for miles 21 and 22, which are entirely uphill. At this point, I'm reminding myself that this is why I conserved energy earlier in the race, and this is why I did all those mid-week MLRs.
24M: 8:54 pace between. As it happened, I wind up giving back about 50 seconds on Summit Avenue, which is on the very upper end of what I'm okay with. More problematic though was that I can't get back to goal pace after the course leveled out again at the 23 mile marker. This isn't a blow-up or a wheels-coming-off catastrophe. I am just very fatigued and my legs have had just about enough of this. The good news is that even as I'm fading, I'm still passing people right and left, which is fantastically motivating and takes one mind off how bad this hurts. I spend the last several miles doing the "lasso" thing with fellow runners who were having a worse go of it than I was.
Finish: 8:43 pace between. This is as fast as I can go at this point. I keep reminding myself that this is my last marathon and I want to finish strong. The fact is that I am on fumes, but that's how it really ought to be anyway.
My official time is 3:45:30, which I will happily take. Honestly, I could not have squeezed 30 seconds out of the last 10K. Maybe slightly more conservative pacing early on could have gotten me to sub-3:45, but I'm not going to worry about that. My Garmin tells me that I ran 26.45 (normal for this course; you lose a quarter mile very early in downtown Minneapolis under a bridge or something) for an 8:30 "Garmin pace."
I like distance running, and I perversely enjoy much of marathon training, but the actual marathon itself is pretty punishing and I don't enjoy it the way I enjoy HMs, which don't require as much recovery. Both hamstrings and both calves are all messed up right now, and I can tell I won't be running much if at all this week. (We're taking my son on his first college visit this weekend, which scrubs the super-easy 10 miler I would normally look forward to the weekend after a full). Tentatively, I would like to use this training cycle as a springboard for a sub-1:40 spring half, but we'll see.
This is my third Twin Cities Marathon, and even still I'm so impressed by the course. The entire 26.2 miles is gorgeous. It's not as fast as Chicago and I think any intelligent pacing strategy has to allow for a modest positive split because of the tough leg from mile 18 or so through mile 22, but the course has great visual variety and is nice the whole way through. Previously, I've stayed at a hotel at the finish line. This time I stayed a couple blocks from the start. Such a luxury to take care of the morning's business in my hotel room and casually stroll outdoors 30 minutes before the gun. The weather was nearly perfect: about 42 at the start, upper-40s at the halfway mark, and low-50s at the finish. Personally, I prefer it a little colder, but that's just personal preference and the actual weather was great by anybody's standards.
My previous PR was 3:50:09, and I thought that was pretty soft -- the last 10K of that race was my fastest leg, and I felt like I had some left in the tank after finishing. Training went well this time, so I decided to go for 3:45 (8:35 pace). I was prepared to back off and readjust if necessary around the 5 or 6 mile mark. As an "A" goal, I thought I might be able to turn it on a bit toward the end and come in a couple of minutes faster. There was a 3:45 pace group, so I lined up them. I have mixed feelings about pacers. I had one very good experience with a pacer several years ago in a tune-up HM, but I've had some bad ones too. More generally, I hate how people feel obliged to glom onto the pacer. Yeah, you have a rabbit to chase, but you're running in traffic the whole time which is tiring and counter-productive. I decided I would just hang back 100 feet or so from the rest of the group. Close enough to watch the balloons, but also out of the pack. This worked out pretty well, except for water stops. The pacer generally blew past them, which is fine with me, but it led to a bunch of people nearly sprinting past me after each one to get right back in the pacer's back pocket. Clearly that was important, because it's not like gradually catching back up over a mile or so is a viable strategy in such a short event.
I do have to give to give some kudos to this particular pacer. I had my Garmin set to an "elapsed time only" screen specifically because I didn't want to obsess over my real-time pace or worry about Garmin distance vs. official USATF distance. Instead, I just went with the timer and a 3:45 pace band. First of all, the pacer absolutely nailed the first 10K -- every mile was within one second of pace. We got to the halfway point about 40 seconds early, which is perfect for this course. He kind of took off around mile 21 or so; I should have finished 30 seconds behind him, but he was actually nowhere in sight as I approached the finish. Again, that's okay though. 3:45 is a BQ for some women, so I have no objection to him getting them in with a cushion.
More importantly, this guy's approach to hills was exactly what I wanted. He slowed down quite a bit on uphills, rode the downhills hard, and made up for any lost time on even ground. This is ideal. Slowing down on uphills -- even effort, not even pace -- isn't losing time. It's investing time. You give a few seconds now, and you get it back with interest during the final stages of the course. I'm always baffled at how many people fly past me on early hills, when they've got 20+ more miles to go. The thing is, it's easy for a pacer to maintain even pace up a hill because this is an easy pace for him. But it torches the people who are trying to run with him and basically sabotages their race. This guy deserves lots of credit for not doing that, and still nailing his splits.
Anyway, my official splits pretty much exactly describe how my race went, so I'll just go with those:
5K: 8:36 pace. Feels stupidly easy, as it should. Why are MP runs so hard and demoralizing in training, but that same pace is so easy on race day? It's unreal how big a difference that taper period makes.
10K: 8:36 pace between. Completely dialed in.
13.1M: 8:26 pace between. We bank a small amount of time during a relatively easy portion of the course. As we should. Still fresh, all things considered.
30K: 8:39 pace between. The segment from about mile 12 to about mile 18 is as easy as the course gets. I always feel like I should bank a little more time here, but I know what's coming, and holding back a bit is probably the right the thing to do. Really I am just following the crowd though. Timer only, not watching my Garmin splits very closely. As we pass into St. Paul, I am getting pretty tired and beat up, and it is clear that any plans to "turn it on" during the last 10K are not going to materialize. Okay otherwise.
21M: 8:37 pace between. There are a couple of unwelcome climbs as you go from Minneapolis to St. Paul. Then you hit Summit Avenue for miles 21 and 22, which are entirely uphill. At this point, I'm reminding myself that this is why I conserved energy earlier in the race, and this is why I did all those mid-week MLRs.
24M: 8:54 pace between. As it happened, I wind up giving back about 50 seconds on Summit Avenue, which is on the very upper end of what I'm okay with. More problematic though was that I can't get back to goal pace after the course leveled out again at the 23 mile marker. This isn't a blow-up or a wheels-coming-off catastrophe. I am just very fatigued and my legs have had just about enough of this. The good news is that even as I'm fading, I'm still passing people right and left, which is fantastically motivating and takes one mind off how bad this hurts. I spend the last several miles doing the "lasso" thing with fellow runners who were having a worse go of it than I was.
Finish: 8:43 pace between. This is as fast as I can go at this point. I keep reminding myself that this is my last marathon and I want to finish strong. The fact is that I am on fumes, but that's how it really ought to be anyway.
My official time is 3:45:30, which I will happily take. Honestly, I could not have squeezed 30 seconds out of the last 10K. Maybe slightly more conservative pacing early on could have gotten me to sub-3:45, but I'm not going to worry about that. My Garmin tells me that I ran 26.45 (normal for this course; you lose a quarter mile very early in downtown Minneapolis under a bridge or something) for an 8:30 "Garmin pace."
I like distance running, and I perversely enjoy much of marathon training, but the actual marathon itself is pretty punishing and I don't enjoy it the way I enjoy HMs, which don't require as much recovery. Both hamstrings and both calves are all messed up right now, and I can tell I won't be running much if at all this week. (We're taking my son on his first college visit this weekend, which scrubs the super-easy 10 miler I would normally look forward to the weekend after a full). Tentatively, I would like to use this training cycle as a springboard for a sub-1:40 spring half, but we'll see.
FUBAR
Footballguy
Great stuff IK and mac!
Beach running may not be smart. It was peaceful but now my hips and lower back hurt. Pretty sure that's from running on a slant. So tomorrow I'll stay inland and see if I feel better. Could also be a different bed, biking and body surfing with the boys.
Beach running may not be smart. It was peaceful but now my hips and lower back hurt. Pretty sure that's from running on a slant. So tomorrow I'll stay inland and see if I feel better. Could also be a different bed, biking and body surfing with the boys.
ChiefD
Footballguy
So... I am going to try to be a bit lighthearted with these two race reports, but it may also ramble a little bit and I am kind of tired so I probably won't spend a ton of time/effort in cleaning it up. My apologies in advance.
Rock n Roll San Jose:
In the 2 years since I have lived in Colorado Springs, I have done a 3-mile/5K tempo the week of a half-marathon race that I was peaking for. I had done this for 7 races, and with the exception of one race with terrible conditions (140+ SI) and one race where I ended up sick, I have ended up running 7-12s/mi faster at my half-marathon race at sea level than I have for this tempo run. When I ended up running 5:06 pace for my tempo leading up to this race, I knew I was ready to race well this weekend.... barring intervention from mother nature or other unforeseen circumstances...
On race day I woke up and went for a quick shakeout run. As my shakeout run was ending my Ipod started playing "The Final Countdown", fitting but about 2 hours too early. I went back to the room, had some coffee and a light snack and then hung out until it was time to go for my real warmup with my roommates for the weekend. (first guy was basically one of my best friends from high school who lived in Sacramento and drove up for the race, the other one was my training partner from back home). On our way back from the shakeout we see a skinny dude in Skechers doing drills, he gives us a head nod and a quick "good luck guys" and we return the gesture "good luck Meb". My training partner remarks that it's really humid out and he's sweating a lot, but I just tell him it's cuz he's got a jacket and pants on. "don't worry Kenny, race forecast is 60 degrees, humidity is only a problem if it gets warmer". (remember this part for a good laugh in a couple of minutes)
We make it to the line with plenty of time to spare, I even manage to find a spot in a nearby alley to take care of some last minute prerace business. After an inspiring national anthem performance we are off. The fast dudes immediately take off and most of the guys in the next group that I was hoping to run with (aka the OTQ chase pack) let their adrenaline gets the best of them. I can tell before I even look down at my watch that those idiots are running too fast, but I know I can't run in no man's land forever, so I work my way up slowly. Despite being at least 3-5 steps behind the last person in that pack I still go through the mile in 4:56, another 4:58 mile later I am finally sitting in the middle of that pack. However, a second later I realize that the original "OTQ pack" had splintered and I was running with the stragglers that were already falling off. I move to the front of this pack to go after the guys that are still running 4:57s, which caused the two guys who were leading the straggler pack to surge as well. We run a 4:59 and catch up to the pack ahead, but shortly after 5K we took a turn and a combination of physical/mental issues hit me simultaneously and my race is basically over before I realized what the hell happened. For the next two miles I am just running along in limbo, trying to figure out what the hell went wrong until we ran by one of those digital clocks/thermometers outside a building that read "69 degrees". Then my thoughts turned to whether I should just drop out and save myself for another attempt in 2 weeks, but then I realized I had planned on running Rock n' Roll Denver as a workout in 3 weeks so I should at least finish the race before I email them the next day to ask for another comped entry. While I was daydreaming, I go through the 10K in about 31:30 and realize that pretty much everyone in the original OTQ pack that had left me behind for dead at 5K was coming back.
(the 2nd half of a meaningless race, when I realized I might be bipolar). Upon seeing people coming back, I flipped back onto "race mode" again. I run a 5:04 then a 5:12 for my 7th/8th miles, and pick off one guy after the next despite running about 10s/mi slower than my original planned pace. I was competing, I was beating people, then I thought "argh, what the hell, this isn't going to do crap for me and I have to race again in 2 weeks". I hit the 8 mile marker and just decided I didn't care anymore, I watched my garmin slow to 6:00/mi pace, then hold steady there for awhile and all the guys I had blown past the last 2 miles are streaming by, until my training partner finally catches up and tell me "come on Steve, at least get a workout out of it". I can tell he's hurting, and figure I would help him along for a bit. From running half a mile with him I finish this mile in 5:32, then we run a 5:24. I was feeling pretty good again running about this pace and even try to help him along a bit. When we hit 10 miles in 51:39 I tell him "come on man, a few more 5:15s and we can at least break 68 minutes" which was a pre-race goal of his. I run a 5:18 for the next mile and then turn to give him a few more words of encouragement before I realized he had fallen about 10 seconds or so back. I then got into a pissing match with a runner who was probably also having a bad day too so I run a 5:14 to give him a piece of my mind and dropped him. At this point I just want to get this thing over with as soon as I can so I pick it up a notch, but with about half a mile to go it seemed like everyone I ran by started yelling "go Phil!" and "you look great Phil!". For some reason this pisses me off and all I thought was "I don't know who the ##### Phil is, but he's not passing me!!!". At this point I am running sub-5 minute pace again and looking at the results later I managed to hold off "Phil" by 11 seconds so maybe I didn't need to kick as hard as I did, since I still didn't break 68 minutes.
So, for those of you who saw the strava data and wondered about the up-and-downs, that's pretty much what happened:
4:56, 4:58, 4:59, 5:07, 5:09, 5:13, 5:04, 5:12, 5:32, 5:24, 5:18, 5:14, 5:08, 39s -> 68:00/25th
Run Crazy Horse - Fast 5K:
This past weekend we went up to South Dakota to run another downhill half-marathon that my wife has really taken a liking to. My original plan when I signed up for all these races was to basically race Rock n' Roll San Jose and then use this half-marathon in South Dakota and another half-marathon next weekend in Tennessee as long progression runs / tempo workouts. However, with my day ending so early in San Jose I feel like I am ready for another attempt at the qualifier in Tennessee next weekend, which means a half-marathon even as a workout in South Dakota was a bad idea, especially if I end up having to race someone. I did still want to do a workout, so I forked over $25 for a small 5K they had along with the half/full marathons. I know a lot of people say they have run "small 5Ks", but to show how small this race was, they basically bus all the participants up the highway for 3 miles and then have us race down a dirt trail that parallels the highway back into town, and they only needed one bus for all of us. (There were also a few empty seats). Thankfully I at least found out beforehand that the race would start as soon as we got out of the bus, so I got in a quick 2.5 mile warmup before I boarded the bus.
When we got out of the bus, the RD told us to line up on the trail that was about wide enough for 3-4 people to line up on. Thankfully nobody fought me for a spot on the line although there was a pretty skinny/young looking dude in a singlet that seemed like he might be trouble. The RD sounded the horn and we were off, and the young kid was immediately on my heels and breathing ridiculously hard. About a minute into the race and I was starting to worry a little, but pretty soon his footsteps sound farther and farther away and by the time I hit about half a mile I can barely hear him. (According to my strava I covered the first half mlie in 2:18, oops). I am settling in and go through the first mile in 4:44. At this point I am trying to settle into a rhythm, but with all the rainfall from earlier in the day that trail was pretty flooded and it seemed like every minute or so I had to make a decision to dodge a puddle or run straight through, and basically every time my garmin read "5:00" or slower I tried to surge a bit. I hit the 2nd mile in 5:01 but felt like I had a bit more left in the tank so I really tried to bring it home the last mile. Unfortunately running over some slippery bridge kind of killed my momentum before I rallied a little bit the last half mile. Last mile was a 4:58 but then as I rounded a turn towards the finish I noticed my garmin was measuring way short. I crossed the finish line in 15:07 but kept on running until my watch hit 15:16/3.11. A little over a minute later the young guy comes across in about 16:17, poor dude was probably expecting an easy W since the old course record was over 18 minutes.
I had an argument with a friend later about how I think the 15:16 is right but he tells me my garmin is probably off and the course was certified so I should count the 15:07, both of which are PRs anyways. Looking at the elevation data that net elevation loss was probably a few seconds short of making up for the altitude, so this run *may* have been worth a 15:00 at sea level, but that's not accounting for the surface/terrain I ran on, so all I really can chalk this up to is just a solid tune-up for next weekend.
Rock n Roll San Jose:
In the 2 years since I have lived in Colorado Springs, I have done a 3-mile/5K tempo the week of a half-marathon race that I was peaking for. I had done this for 7 races, and with the exception of one race with terrible conditions (140+ SI) and one race where I ended up sick, I have ended up running 7-12s/mi faster at my half-marathon race at sea level than I have for this tempo run. When I ended up running 5:06 pace for my tempo leading up to this race, I knew I was ready to race well this weekend.... barring intervention from mother nature or other unforeseen circumstances...
On race day I woke up and went for a quick shakeout run. As my shakeout run was ending my Ipod started playing "The Final Countdown", fitting but about 2 hours too early. I went back to the room, had some coffee and a light snack and then hung out until it was time to go for my real warmup with my roommates for the weekend. (first guy was basically one of my best friends from high school who lived in Sacramento and drove up for the race, the other one was my training partner from back home). On our way back from the shakeout we see a skinny dude in Skechers doing drills, he gives us a head nod and a quick "good luck guys" and we return the gesture "good luck Meb". My training partner remarks that it's really humid out and he's sweating a lot, but I just tell him it's cuz he's got a jacket and pants on. "don't worry Kenny, race forecast is 60 degrees, humidity is only a problem if it gets warmer". (remember this part for a good laugh in a couple of minutes)
We make it to the line with plenty of time to spare, I even manage to find a spot in a nearby alley to take care of some last minute prerace business. After an inspiring national anthem performance we are off. The fast dudes immediately take off and most of the guys in the next group that I was hoping to run with (aka the OTQ chase pack) let their adrenaline gets the best of them. I can tell before I even look down at my watch that those idiots are running too fast, but I know I can't run in no man's land forever, so I work my way up slowly. Despite being at least 3-5 steps behind the last person in that pack I still go through the mile in 4:56, another 4:58 mile later I am finally sitting in the middle of that pack. However, a second later I realize that the original "OTQ pack" had splintered and I was running with the stragglers that were already falling off. I move to the front of this pack to go after the guys that are still running 4:57s, which caused the two guys who were leading the straggler pack to surge as well. We run a 4:59 and catch up to the pack ahead, but shortly after 5K we took a turn and a combination of physical/mental issues hit me simultaneously and my race is basically over before I realized what the hell happened. For the next two miles I am just running along in limbo, trying to figure out what the hell went wrong until we ran by one of those digital clocks/thermometers outside a building that read "69 degrees". Then my thoughts turned to whether I should just drop out and save myself for another attempt in 2 weeks, but then I realized I had planned on running Rock n' Roll Denver as a workout in 3 weeks so I should at least finish the race before I email them the next day to ask for another comped entry. While I was daydreaming, I go through the 10K in about 31:30 and realize that pretty much everyone in the original OTQ pack that had left me behind for dead at 5K was coming back.
(the 2nd half of a meaningless race, when I realized I might be bipolar). Upon seeing people coming back, I flipped back onto "race mode" again. I run a 5:04 then a 5:12 for my 7th/8th miles, and pick off one guy after the next despite running about 10s/mi slower than my original planned pace. I was competing, I was beating people, then I thought "argh, what the hell, this isn't going to do crap for me and I have to race again in 2 weeks". I hit the 8 mile marker and just decided I didn't care anymore, I watched my garmin slow to 6:00/mi pace, then hold steady there for awhile and all the guys I had blown past the last 2 miles are streaming by, until my training partner finally catches up and tell me "come on Steve, at least get a workout out of it". I can tell he's hurting, and figure I would help him along for a bit. From running half a mile with him I finish this mile in 5:32, then we run a 5:24. I was feeling pretty good again running about this pace and even try to help him along a bit. When we hit 10 miles in 51:39 I tell him "come on man, a few more 5:15s and we can at least break 68 minutes" which was a pre-race goal of his. I run a 5:18 for the next mile and then turn to give him a few more words of encouragement before I realized he had fallen about 10 seconds or so back. I then got into a pissing match with a runner who was probably also having a bad day too so I run a 5:14 to give him a piece of my mind and dropped him. At this point I just want to get this thing over with as soon as I can so I pick it up a notch, but with about half a mile to go it seemed like everyone I ran by started yelling "go Phil!" and "you look great Phil!". For some reason this pisses me off and all I thought was "I don't know who the ##### Phil is, but he's not passing me!!!". At this point I am running sub-5 minute pace again and looking at the results later I managed to hold off "Phil" by 11 seconds so maybe I didn't need to kick as hard as I did, since I still didn't break 68 minutes.
So, for those of you who saw the strava data and wondered about the up-and-downs, that's pretty much what happened:
4:56, 4:58, 4:59, 5:07, 5:09, 5:13, 5:04, 5:12, 5:32, 5:24, 5:18, 5:14, 5:08, 39s -> 68:00/25th
Run Crazy Horse - Fast 5K:
This past weekend we went up to South Dakota to run another downhill half-marathon that my wife has really taken a liking to. My original plan when I signed up for all these races was to basically race Rock n' Roll San Jose and then use this half-marathon in South Dakota and another half-marathon next weekend in Tennessee as long progression runs / tempo workouts. However, with my day ending so early in San Jose I feel like I am ready for another attempt at the qualifier in Tennessee next weekend, which means a half-marathon even as a workout in South Dakota was a bad idea, especially if I end up having to race someone. I did still want to do a workout, so I forked over $25 for a small 5K they had along with the half/full marathons. I know a lot of people say they have run "small 5Ks", but to show how small this race was, they basically bus all the participants up the highway for 3 miles and then have us race down a dirt trail that parallels the highway back into town, and they only needed one bus for all of us. (There were also a few empty seats). Thankfully I at least found out beforehand that the race would start as soon as we got out of the bus, so I got in a quick 2.5 mile warmup before I boarded the bus.
When we got out of the bus, the RD told us to line up on the trail that was about wide enough for 3-4 people to line up on. Thankfully nobody fought me for a spot on the line although there was a pretty skinny/young looking dude in a singlet that seemed like he might be trouble. The RD sounded the horn and we were off, and the young kid was immediately on my heels and breathing ridiculously hard. About a minute into the race and I was starting to worry a little, but pretty soon his footsteps sound farther and farther away and by the time I hit about half a mile I can barely hear him. (According to my strava I covered the first half mlie in 2:18, oops). I am settling in and go through the first mile in 4:44. At this point I am trying to settle into a rhythm, but with all the rainfall from earlier in the day that trail was pretty flooded and it seemed like every minute or so I had to make a decision to dodge a puddle or run straight through, and basically every time my garmin read "5:00" or slower I tried to surge a bit. I hit the 2nd mile in 5:01 but felt like I had a bit more left in the tank so I really tried to bring it home the last mile. Unfortunately running over some slippery bridge kind of killed my momentum before I rallied a little bit the last half mile. Last mile was a 4:58 but then as I rounded a turn towards the finish I noticed my garmin was measuring way short. I crossed the finish line in 15:07 but kept on running until my watch hit 15:16/3.11. A little over a minute later the young guy comes across in about 16:17, poor dude was probably expecting an easy W since the old course record was over 18 minutes.
I had an argument with a friend later about how I think the 15:16 is right but he tells me my garmin is probably off and the course was certified so I should count the 15:07, both of which are PRs anyways. Looking at the elevation data that net elevation loss was probably a few seconds short of making up for the altitude, so this run *may* have been worth a 15:00 at sea level, but that's not accounting for the surface/terrain I ran on, so all I really can chalk this up to is just a solid tune-up for next weekend.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Great report, Steve! It's always fascinating to read how you approach things. And congrats on the 5K PR! I'm not sure what half you're racing in TN but the forecast for the weekend looks good as long as it's not a late start!
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Forecast turned warmer - lows in the high 50s, might be mid 60s by the end. Sunny. 16 mph winds. Not ideal at all but not terrible.
FUBAR
Footballguy
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Out of the SW. Although there are a lot of turns we go east and north a lot during the second half so that's good. This gives me another good reason to stick with the pace group for wind blocking/drafting purposes.
Hang 10
Footballguy
Great reports, Ivan & Steve.
Far from 100% but I felt a lot better this morning. Played it by ear and ended up a local middle school track just under 4 miles from my house. I ended up doing 4 x 800 with a 400 RI. I think this was the right amount of work for me today. Worst repeat was 3 minutes flat, so I'll take it. Overall, I ended up with 10.5 miles and 8:00 (164 bpm). Weather was about 10 degrees cooler than last week and that made a huge difference. Hopefully, I got some momentum going into the rest of the week.
pbm107
Footballguy
Looks like the humidity will be low so the conditions should be pretty good except for the wind. You shouldn't see a suck index over 115.
worrierking
Footballguy
Great stuff, Ivan, MAC, Steve and PBM. I am in awe.
I had an unusual experience on my run this morning. I heard a commotion while running through my neighborhood and saw a cat and an armadillo in a standoff in a driveway. The cat attacked the armadillo and the armadillo, apparently unaware that it was covered in a protective shell, took off running. In fact, the creepy little sucker took off running right at me. He was following me, and gaining. He caught me, adding armadillos to the list of mammals that are faster than me (I think porpoises are the only mammals I could beat in a 5k, provided it was on dry land). I was a bit startled, but kept running in the same direction as the armadillo. Soon, he tired and I caught up to him (apparently he has speed, but not endurance. Perhaps some Maffetone or Hadd training would help him, although I am not sure he could get a good heart rate signal from his strap around that carapace). Now I am chasing him and he is more scared than me. Eventually he ran off into another yard.
Armadillos are disgusting, prehistoric varmints that have been known to carry horrible diseases like leprosy. They should not be allowed on my running route.
This is the weirdest animal encounter since I saw a live crab on my route a couple of years ago. Only in Louisiana.
I had an unusual experience on my run this morning. I heard a commotion while running through my neighborhood and saw a cat and an armadillo in a standoff in a driveway. The cat attacked the armadillo and the armadillo, apparently unaware that it was covered in a protective shell, took off running. In fact, the creepy little sucker took off running right at me. He was following me, and gaining. He caught me, adding armadillos to the list of mammals that are faster than me (I think porpoises are the only mammals I could beat in a 5k, provided it was on dry land). I was a bit startled, but kept running in the same direction as the armadillo. Soon, he tired and I caught up to him (apparently he has speed, but not endurance. Perhaps some Maffetone or Hadd training would help him, although I am not sure he could get a good heart rate signal from his strap around that carapace). Now I am chasing him and he is more scared than me. Eventually he ran off into another yard.
Armadillos are disgusting, prehistoric varmints that have been known to carry horrible diseases like leprosy. They should not be allowed on my running route.
This is the weirdest animal encounter since I saw a live crab on my route a couple of years ago. Only in Louisiana.
Juxtatarot
Footballguy
Armadillos? I only have issues with dogs, geese and (during nesting season) red-winged blackbirds. The rest of the critters up here are scared of me. (Although I'll stay far away from the skunks regardless.)
Edit: I'm yet to see a coyote during a run but they're around.
Edit: I'm yet to see a coyote during a run but they're around.
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