Exploring on the highline canal

While running on my local trail I said to myself “I wonder what is down that path over there”, I have run past this turn off probably 100 times because I thought it dead ended at the pond in about a ¼ mile. So I finally took that trail and it was awesome. Instead of dead ending there was a cool rock bridge between the two ponds. Finding a new trail is like Christmas for a trailrunner.

2012 Rock n’ Roll Denver Marathon Race Report

3:26:55 – PR’d by 32 seconds
Really tough day
The significance of this race to me was huge

My Record at the Denver marathon
2009 – Full marathon: 5:19, First full marathon but painfully below expectations
2010 – Full marathon: DNF. My only DNF ever which really hurt and made me take an honest look at myself
2011 – Half marathon: 1:30, I did feel like I got some redemption with this fast half but still I felt like I need to get that solid marathon done.

Early on 0-10 10 miles in 1:17:40 (7:43 pace)
I came into this race with really high aspirations, I was thinking that I could run 3:15. I ran the first 2 miles in 15:03 with some very cranky Achilles. It was about mile 3 or 4 that I saw the 3:15 pacer run by (a friend of mine). After letting the idea of 3:15 go it wasn’t long before I was letting 3:20 go out the window as well. I just thought to myself “let go get a PR”. I slowed my pace to coincide with this new goal. I was really starting to get down on myself thinking that I had blown the whole race in the first few miles. Did I just mess up this race again? I kept setting small goals like “let’s get to 10 miles and see how we feel then” which really helped break this huge task into manageable pieces.

Middle Chuck 11-20 10 miles in 1:19:39 (7:58 pace)
Once I slowed down a bit my Achilles stopped complaining but my calf’s still felt off. It felt as if they could have seized at any moment. This course had a lot of rolling hills and each time on the up I felt as if I was about to go into the red for good but I always recovered just enough on the down hills. I could tell that I was riding the edge on my threshold the entire time. Heading towards mile 20 was my darkest time with miles 19 and 20 being my slowest of the race (8:11 and 8:12). I was really thinking that I had gone out to fast and now I was spiraling towards that dreaded wall. This race was different in one way, I had advertised much more than in the past. I knew that my family, friends, classmates, fellow lost it ‘ers and my cross country team were all pulling for me. It was my invisible cheering section. I couldn’t let everyone or myself down.

Last 10K in 49:36 (8:00 pace)
Mile 20 was about where let go of that pain threshold. That didn’t mean speeding up any but it did mean stopping my gradual slow down that had been going on since mile 3. Later looking back at my HR I could see this moment, up until mi 20 my HR was pretty constant increasing slowly from 150 to the high 160’s. After 20 my HR increased a lot every mile, during this time I felt out of breath like in a 5k. The end of the course had some really long straight that I could bare to look at (I got that far to go still) so I just put my head down and ran. I ran mile 26 in 7:57 with an average HR of 180, which was really good considering they tossed in a nasty hill during the last mile. I wouldn’t say it didn’t hurt but every one of my long runs was on tails with lots of hills so it could have felt worse. Somehow I did have a small kick and managed to run the last 0.2 in at 6:35 pace (all downhill).


Completing my original goal and looking back at 2009 vs 2012
The Denver marathon is very special to me for a couple of reasons. It’s quite literally in my backyard with the nearest section coming within a mile from my house. It’s also where I ran my first marathon in 5:19 which was really below my expectations. But most importantly it’s my anniversary of when I really started to pay attention to my health. The failure of the 2009 Denver marathon started the discussion with myself that I had a weight problem. The next year I lost 10 lbs but got a DNF which drove the point home, I joined lose it 3 days later. Without these failures I would probably still be in denial about my health. Every year at the Denver marathon I assess my goals and look back at my health progress. The year after my DNF (2011) I had lost another 30 lbs but had to settle for the half marathon because of business travel the week of the race. It’s been really frustrating not being successful on this course.

The weight loss was only half of my major goal that I set out to accomplish with the other being successful at the Denver marathon. Well I finally got my redemption this year and ran that same course as 3 years ago in 3:26:55 (the 40+ lbs. I lost along the way helped a bit). While running the course I kept drawing back on that 2009 experience. At mile 14 I was thinking “this is where I had to start walk last time”. At mile 19 “this is where you sat on the curb for 5 minutes”. As much as I hurt this weekend I knew that it was never worse than what I felt back in 2009.

So now I can finally say is all in one sentence:
In the last 3 years I have lost 42 lbs. and taken 1:52:00 off my marathon time.
This has been my goal for the last 3 years, 3 years is a long time.

This isn’t the end of the story, just a chapter. I still dream big and it’s time to set a new 3 year goal.

Here I am after I finished, only photo I have this year


And for the other data junkies out there…


If you’re interested in reading the race reports from those failed previous years
2009 (5:19) http://allenrunsfar.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009-denver-marathon.html
2010 (DNF) http://allenrunsfar.blogspot.com/2010/10/2010-denver-rock-and-roll-marathon.html

Training on Green Mountain

4 weeks till the marathon and I am consistently putting in around 50 miles a week. I have been running lots of speed work with the high school kids which might actually hurt my time but I am having a lot of fun coaching. Today I ran an awesome new trail which might become my favorite in the future. There are so many different paths that it’s going to take a while to explore the whole place.

Elevation Profile, 2 climbs of about 700’ each, my really tough trail does 1700’ in one 3 mile climb. This trail is nicer because I can run 80% of the time and if it wasn’t hot I probably could have run all the way to the top without stopping.


Here is the trail on my second climb near mile 7. Gorgeous blue sky today!


Here is the top of both climbs I went out over the mountain and down to the bottom on the opposite side and then ran back the same path.

Heart rate data over the years

A lot of people have commented on my low my heart rate while running. I was telling Gregg that my heart rate used to be much higher and I thought I would create a report to see exactly how much it has changed. 2006, 2007, 2008 had a combined 97 runs with a HRM while 2011 had 212 days with a HRM data.

5K race report
3.1 miles - 41:30

So last night my sister calls me as says her friend couldn’t go run the race. The race was at 6:30 pm which was in about 2hrs. I had no intention of running fast because I had plans for a lot of miles over this weekend but I decided it would be a good chance to run with my sister for the first time. She is a new runner and she is around here but never posts anything.

Her PR is around 39:00 but it was 95 F out and the starting line so she settled on the goal of running 42:00. I figured out that we needed to run a 13:30 pace to make it to the finish in this time. We went out way to fast running the first half mile at 10:30 pace which was probably my fault. After that we settled into a more comfortable walk/run routine. Our first mile was still too fast at 12:28.

With the heat and the fast first mile we lost pace in the second and third mile running 14:07 & 14:18. Luckily for us they didn’t tell the race origination that they were going to be watering the grass. The last 0.1 mile section of the park was run through the sprinklers. I felt like a kid again for that short section. I don’t know what was in that water but we hauled ass that last 0.1 mile, my watch said we did it at 7:48 pace!

We finished the race under our goal in 41:30 which I think is Laura’s second fastest 5K. Good job sis.

Mt Falcon

Yesterday was my return to the mountain running I haven’t been up in about 2 months. So I went to my favorite trail (mt falcon) where I spend most of my time running when I do get up to the mountains. The course is tough with about 1700’ of climbing in the first 4 miles (see profile below). These 4 miles feel like a tempo run in slow motion. During this climb I typically average 13:00 pace and a HR of around 160. On flat ground 160 HR would put me at about 7 min miles. Altogether I ran 10.3 mile in just under 2hrs.

Here is the profile of MT Falcon Park. I run a lollipop route so the last few miles are the same as the first few miles. Although my legs are so trashed by then the best I can run down is at 8:30-9:00 pace.


 

2012 RMRR Club 2 mi Race

Our running club has a handicap system were the faster runners start farther in the back. The first person across the line wins regardless of start time. For this 2 mile race my handicap was +7:49 and my proposed finish time was 12:49.

Mile 1 – 6:09 Avg HR 176
I started with one other person, I think about 10 or 15 were still waiting to run after us. This guy looked to only be about 16 and he took off at a crazy pace which I followed. We immediately were catching groups of people in front of us. I passed in at about 0.5 miles and never saw him again. But we had run the first half mile in about 2:55 (where is Olu with his match analogy) I was toast with 75% of the race left to run.

Mile 2 – 6:28 Avg HR 187
I ran the course for my warm up and I knew that the second mile was very muddy. It had been raining for the last few days which was great because half the state was on fire. I expected to run a slower second mile but not this much slower. Basically for me the race was over and I was just coasting into the finish line. Even though I was dying I was still passing tons of people and ended up finishing 14th with a time of 12:37, I beat my proposed handicap time of 12:49 so that was good. Every race your handicap level is adjusted so next time I will have to run faster. Still this small race was a lot of fun.

Post race
After the race I had some snacks and drinks and then I went for a 6 mile run. All I could think about was my future of running and what I wanted to accomplish. For the same effort (training wise) I think I could take a few seconds off my 5K time (or not even get close) or with that same few month train for another marathon farther which sounds like a lot more fun to me. Nearing the end of the run I feel like I came to the conclusion that I have accomplished what I want in distances shorter than 10K. These shorter races just don’t appeal to me like they did before. I am still planning on running the next Club race which is a 5k but treat it more like a hard run from my marathon training.

I am in the blue shorts about to jump that puddle