So I am late getting to this post due to various other things in life but here it is.
I ran the Cowtown Half Marathon today. The course is mostly flat but there are several hills to note.
I started off doing pretty good running a 10:00/mile pace. I wanted to start off slower in order to save myself for the end. It was right around the 6 mile marker that I started to have problems where I started walking. Just after the 8 mile marker I started to walk almost exclusively. When I got towards the finish line I started running again even though my legs were completely dead and I was hurting pretty bad.
Right around the 4 mile mark there is a small hill with an elevation gain of about 45 feet or so. The largest and most challenging hill was just after the 9 mile marker and it is a pretty big hill. You go from an elevation of about 515 feet to about 620 feet in about a tenth of a mile. There was a another small hill right before the 11 mile mark with an elevation gain of about 25 feet. You wouldn't know it but as you run across the Lancaster bridge you are running a gentle downhill and after you come across you start another gentle uphill.
This wasn't my best race as I finished with a time of 2:41:20. I ran the day before the race and with the way I run, which is towards the top of my capabilities and it killed my legs. I just couldn't keep them moving later on in the race. I also fault the fact that I didn't have any time to eat something to give me that extra boost of energy that I have started to depend on. Another thing I wasn't ready for was the warmer temps. I had been training with temps in the 30s to 40s and it was something like 55 at 7 AM.
After looking at my time, it is actually only four minutes slower than my first ever half marathon which really speaks to how having a bad race only puts me four minutes behind my first ever race.
It's always discouraging to have a race like this but I wasn't going to drop out. Even if I feel somewhat defeated when I have to walk it is way better than quitting. Maybe it's a good thing to have a bad race which helps make you appreciate the good races you do have.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Week 7 - 11.1 Miles
I had a very good run this morning. I had restarted cross training this past week since I was able to breathe again and that went well so I had plenty of motivation coming into the weekend. I had been sick the last two weeks with a cold and have tried very hard to not let that get me down. Everyone gets sick and it always seems to be at the worst time.
It was cool but not cold this morning so I didn't get decked out in all of my colder winter running gear. I ate a granola bar before leaving the house and that always seems to give me that extra little kick I need to have a solid run. After seeing the benefits of fueling before a training run or a race, I just need to get used to forcing my body to eat a little something even though I am generally not hungry at that time.
I did have any issues with heaves while running but I did get a huge cramp in my side near 9 mile marker, which was right before a water stop thankfully. I drank some water and it seemed to help. I felt pretty good throughout the run. My average pace was somewhere around 9:30/mi, which is what my comfortable running pace is right now.
I'm running the Fort Worth Cowtown Half Marathon next weekend and with today's run I feel like I could easily set a new PR. If I run a 9:30 average pace I could finish the race around 2:04, which is well under my goal of finishing my next half marathon under 2:10.
I'm still learning my way around my Garmin FR 620. At the 6.5 mile marker I reset my watch and so I have two different entries saved. Oh well. While I was stopped I wanted to scroll through my stats to see how I was doing but instead saved my run. Next time I'll try pressing the three horizontal lines on the watch face and see what that does. I'm working on a blog entry for my new watch and plan to post my review by the end of the month.
11.1 miles Pt. 1
11.1 miles Pt. 2
I have a little more below on running form if you want to read my thoughts on that. It's by no means the absolute right way to run but it might help you in case you don't have the best form.
It was cool but not cold this morning so I didn't get decked out in all of my colder winter running gear. I ate a granola bar before leaving the house and that always seems to give me that extra little kick I need to have a solid run. After seeing the benefits of fueling before a training run or a race, I just need to get used to forcing my body to eat a little something even though I am generally not hungry at that time.
I did have any issues with heaves while running but I did get a huge cramp in my side near 9 mile marker, which was right before a water stop thankfully. I drank some water and it seemed to help. I felt pretty good throughout the run. My average pace was somewhere around 9:30/mi, which is what my comfortable running pace is right now.
I'm running the Fort Worth Cowtown Half Marathon next weekend and with today's run I feel like I could easily set a new PR. If I run a 9:30 average pace I could finish the race around 2:04, which is well under my goal of finishing my next half marathon under 2:10.
I'm still learning my way around my Garmin FR 620. At the 6.5 mile marker I reset my watch and so I have two different entries saved. Oh well. While I was stopped I wanted to scroll through my stats to see how I was doing but instead saved my run. Next time I'll try pressing the three horizontal lines on the watch face and see what that does. I'm working on a blog entry for my new watch and plan to post my review by the end of the month.
11.1 miles Pt. 1
11.1 miles Pt. 2
I have a little more below on running form if you want to read my thoughts on that. It's by no means the absolute right way to run but it might help you in case you don't have the best form.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Week 6 - Hot Chocolate 5k/15k
Today I ran in the Dallas Hot Chocolate 15k. It was a cool 30 something with an overcast and a little wind. Overall it is a nice course with one or two hills. The largest hill is in the middle of the course between the 5 and 6 mile markers that has a elevation gain of about 80 feet in 0.2 miles. Something to be aware of is that the first 3.1 miles or 5k is a gradual uphill. I have run parts of this route going the other direction (Dallas RnR and Big D (Half) Marathon) so it was something a little different.
The only criticism I really had was that the first Gatorade stop (not the first water stop) before you got to the 4 mile marker had run out of Gatorade when I got to there. There was plenty of water but I prefer to drink some type of sport drink for this type of race or longer.
There were tons, and I do mean tons, of volunteers at the event and I found all of them to be very helpful. There were also quite a few at the finish line and we giving me words of encouragement and congratulations. I really wish more of the larger events were run this well. I really liked the fact that there records splits at the 5k and 10k marks plus they had race clocks at every mile.
I ran just slightly slower than my desired training pace which is anything under 10:00 per mile but I will gladly take 10:09/mile since I am still recovering from a cold. I also think part of the reason I struggled with this race is that I didn't eat something before hand and so I started out the race with a half full tank. I guess this further proves I Must eat something before a training run or a race even if I don't feel hungry.
Official Time: 1:34:30
5k Split: 29:33
10k Split: 1:01:53
Garmin GPS Stats
This was the second run I have done with my new Garmin Forerunner 620. I still love this watch but since I downloaded the 2.5 update the watch didn't record mile splits. It was cycling through the different screens which was cool to look at while running. If Garmin were to see this post, I'd hope that in the future they make sure the watch gets defaulted to factory settings
The only criticism I really had was that the first Gatorade stop (not the first water stop) before you got to the 4 mile marker had run out of Gatorade when I got to there. There was plenty of water but I prefer to drink some type of sport drink for this type of race or longer.
There were tons, and I do mean tons, of volunteers at the event and I found all of them to be very helpful. There were also quite a few at the finish line and we giving me words of encouragement and congratulations. I really wish more of the larger events were run this well. I really liked the fact that there records splits at the 5k and 10k marks plus they had race clocks at every mile.
I ran just slightly slower than my desired training pace which is anything under 10:00 per mile but I will gladly take 10:09/mile since I am still recovering from a cold. I also think part of the reason I struggled with this race is that I didn't eat something before hand and so I started out the race with a half full tank. I guess this further proves I Must eat something before a training run or a race even if I don't feel hungry.
Official Time: 1:34:30
5k Split: 29:33
10k Split: 1:01:53
Garmin GPS Stats
This was the second run I have done with my new Garmin Forerunner 620. I still love this watch but since I downloaded the 2.5 update the watch didn't record mile splits. It was cycling through the different screens which was cool to look at while running. If Garmin were to see this post, I'd hope that in the future they make sure the watch gets defaulted to factory settings
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Week 5 - Texas Half Marathon
So this morning I ran the Texas Half Marathon. Temps were in the mid to low 30s, winds in excess of 10 mph. Chance of rain. Not ideal conditions for a run if you ask me. Add in that I am currently fighting off a cold. I still finished the race, all 12.6 miles. If you're scratching your head wondering what happened to that last half mile, I'm wondering the same thing.
The course is relatively flat with only a few hills where you are running on the streets on the front half of the race. Once I got close to the 6 mile marker we got onto the Champions Trail which is very flat. The last time I ran on that trail was for the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon where it was raining, which resulted in portions of the trail being flooded. Thankfully this wasn't the case this time around as I wanted to keep as much of me as possible dry so I don't get any worse off on dealing with this cold. Before I got to mile 11 we got back onto neighborhood streets and finished the course.
There were parts of the course that were not a lot of fun to run as there was a bitter cold wind blowing into your face. Running on the trail was nice as it seemed to be more protected and so you weren't always dealing with a stiff wind.
I can't say it's a bad course because of the weather and is a race I'd consider running again in the future. The weather (namely the cold wind blowing in my face) is what made the race one of my less memorable races I have run.
I didn't finish with a time that I am the most happiest with (2:26:05) as I really wanted to finish with a time under 2:10. I did still finish even with my cold slowing me down since I didn't want to get winded and then suffer a cough attack while on the course. I am hopeful that I will eventually get over this cold and maybe can do much better when I have another race in a couple weeks -- The Cowtown Half Marathon.
For this race I tried out my new Garmin Forerunner 620. It's a pretty sweet watch that tracks way more data points than my Garmin Forerunner 110 did. Two things I really like about it was that it vibrates when you hit a lap and even with it having a touch screen you can swipe to other screens even while wearing gloves. I'm working on a product review blog entry but I need a few more run before I can give a decent review.
The course is relatively flat with only a few hills where you are running on the streets on the front half of the race. Once I got close to the 6 mile marker we got onto the Champions Trail which is very flat. The last time I ran on that trail was for the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon where it was raining, which resulted in portions of the trail being flooded. Thankfully this wasn't the case this time around as I wanted to keep as much of me as possible dry so I don't get any worse off on dealing with this cold. Before I got to mile 11 we got back onto neighborhood streets and finished the course.
There were parts of the course that were not a lot of fun to run as there was a bitter cold wind blowing into your face. Running on the trail was nice as it seemed to be more protected and so you weren't always dealing with a stiff wind.
I can't say it's a bad course because of the weather and is a race I'd consider running again in the future. The weather (namely the cold wind blowing in my face) is what made the race one of my less memorable races I have run.
I didn't finish with a time that I am the most happiest with (2:26:05) as I really wanted to finish with a time under 2:10. I did still finish even with my cold slowing me down since I didn't want to get winded and then suffer a cough attack while on the course. I am hopeful that I will eventually get over this cold and maybe can do much better when I have another race in a couple weeks -- The Cowtown Half Marathon.
For this race I tried out my new Garmin Forerunner 620. It's a pretty sweet watch that tracks way more data points than my Garmin Forerunner 110 did. Two things I really like about it was that it vibrates when you hit a lap and even with it having a touch screen you can swipe to other screens even while wearing gloves. I'm working on a product review blog entry but I need a few more run before I can give a decent review.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Why I Run
I got the inspiration to write this post from the LiveWire Fitness blog, so I wanted to share why I started running which is different from why I still run today.
Let me start off by saying that I never thought I would be one of "those people" you see running early in the morning or in the evening. I thought running was pointless unless it was for some type of sport like football or basketball. My mind would eventually be changed and now I start looking forward to my weekend runs midway through the week.
I first started running around June of 2012 to improve on my cardiovascular fitness and it morphed into something more. I had been doing boot-camp type exercises for several months and was looking for a way to further my fitness journey.
Today, I run in part as a get away from the stress of life and I guess now you can consider me an addict as I ran 6 half marathons (should have been 7!) in 2013 and am planning to run a similar number of half marathons plus a full marathon this spring!
I love the challenge that comes with running. I am always out to try beat my best time/pace. I get excited and motivated when I run a great pace. It makes it that much easier to put on my running gear and go out for another run a few days later.
I also run for the fun of it. Despite the pain I might feel after a long run, I really do enjoy it even if it's not always a good run for me. The best part might be the runners high that I experience when finishing a run.
I'm already signed up for 4 halfs and will likely run at least 3 to 4 more in the fall/winter in addition to my first marathon in May. I have a page with all the races I have run, races I am currently signed up for, and races I want to run at some point in the future.
Right now I do not participate in triathlons but I won't rule that out in the future. The biggest barrier would be that I do not own a bike. I also would need to find a gym where I could do some work on my swimming. I have a gym in mind but I need to see what the cost might be.
Let me start off by saying that I never thought I would be one of "those people" you see running early in the morning or in the evening. I thought running was pointless unless it was for some type of sport like football or basketball. My mind would eventually be changed and now I start looking forward to my weekend runs midway through the week.
I first started running around June of 2012 to improve on my cardiovascular fitness and it morphed into something more. I had been doing boot-camp type exercises for several months and was looking for a way to further my fitness journey.
Today, I run in part as a get away from the stress of life and I guess now you can consider me an addict as I ran 6 half marathons (should have been 7!) in 2013 and am planning to run a similar number of half marathons plus a full marathon this spring!
I love the challenge that comes with running. I am always out to try beat my best time/pace. I get excited and motivated when I run a great pace. It makes it that much easier to put on my running gear and go out for another run a few days later.
I also run for the fun of it. Despite the pain I might feel after a long run, I really do enjoy it even if it's not always a good run for me. The best part might be the runners high that I experience when finishing a run.
I'm already signed up for 4 halfs and will likely run at least 3 to 4 more in the fall/winter in addition to my first marathon in May. I have a page with all the races I have run, races I am currently signed up for, and races I want to run at some point in the future.
Right now I do not participate in triathlons but I won't rule that out in the future. The biggest barrier would be that I do not own a bike. I also would need to find a gym where I could do some work on my swimming. I have a gym in mind but I need to see what the cost might be.
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