Author: rrunnin234

The masters 10K championships in Massachusetts last weekend were neither positive nor negative for me, I didn’t race. So tl:dr a net loss. However, socially the trips was good and worthwhile.

I just had a day and a half to decide whether to make the trip to Boston and New Hampshire, where I had planned to visit a long-time friend. For about a half day I was leaning no, and was pretty sure my hamstring would not hold up for a hilly 10K road race on Sunday. But when I considered the other aspects–seeing friends–with the hope that there might be a chance to line up and race I decided to make a go of it.

Friday, travel day, was long (10 hours of car, plane, and bus) but it all went smoothly. Soon after arriving in Concord I tried my first jog in 3 days since tweaking the muscle. The first 12 minutes went better than expected. But soon after turning around on this relatively flat run, it started to get tight. So I walked for about a half mile while it worked itself out, and was able to jog on the pavement. 20 minutes total, and 9 minutes a mile. With less than two days before the race the outlook did not look good. Nevertheless, had a great visit with my friend, his wife, and another friend, sitting out by a fire until nearly 10 (only 8 my time) before turning in for the night.

On Saturday I took the bus back to Boston and met my teammate at the airport. We schlepped around the city and made our way to the suburbs in time for a shakeout run to the bib pick up, 2 miles each way. I felt okay heading out, but as a final test did 3x 20 second pick ups, and a moderate (maybe 15K effort) pace. Achh, it got tight and I decided right then not to do the race, even if it felt good on Sunday. It would just be too risky, and with the May 25K still a possibility, and the World Masters races in August on the schedule, I just did not want to lose 3-6 months on rehab and re-build.

Although I did not get to race the 10K I had some more good visits at the race. Did a pre-race 5 miler (no pain) with an online friend, and then met up with a couple of long time online friends, one whom I have known since the the 1990s and had never met and we talked for nearly an hour before I peeled off to find my teammates and to have a beer.

The flight back to Denver on Monday morning was a little dejecting, but I’ll take it as a lesson learned (trust your own training, even if it might be flawed).

Starting May a little bent but not broken. Ended up running 50 miles, pain free, this week and ready to move ahead.

Following the half marathon race last month I took an easy week to recover and rethink plans for the rest of the year. I have really achieved most goals over the past six or seven years, in fact far exceed any expectations I would have had at any time prior to 2018.

In 2017 I achieved my first 90% age grade, extended my sub 3 hour marathon span to 34 years, and set the state record for the half marathon. Twice, with a 1:19 in August and a month later a 1:18. And then I capped off the year with an age group bronze medal at the USATF 15K road race championships in Tulsa, OK and placed top 3 in the age grade category, as well as an age group 5th place at Club Cross Country–at 59, at the far end of the age group just two months before turning 60.

If I had ended the quest there, that would have been my best year as runner. But I kept going and things got better and better. The only thing that escaped me however, was the sub 3 marathon. I’m still at it.

So after rebuilding in the end of March I made a big change. After 43 years of self-coaching I decided to contact a coach to see if I could step up my training and bring my marathon time in line with the shorter distances–which indicate that yet another sub 3 is possible.

After some email exchanges and a couple phone calls to discuss the possibility I sent my first month’s payment with anticipation but also trepidation. Would this coach–who is recognized nationally, authored books, and has coached elite runners for decades–be the right fit. He has a reputation for prescribing hard schedules. Nevertheless, in our discussions he said that considering my age he would typically schedule two easy days between harder workout. He was also encouraged by my recent mileage (nearly 65 miles a week in March, including a cutback and recovery for the half marathon), and said my goals (25K in the spring at sub 6:30 pace, half marathon in the late summer in low 1:20s, and sub 3 marathon in the fall) were ambitious but attainable.

April 1 to 22 the shift

He sent some strength and stability exercises by text and the workouts on Final Surge. The exercises were about 50% new, especially standing stability and strength routines. In the past have dabbled in these but not consistently, now they are part of my weekly routine. I was more familiar with the core work and mobility, as well as the drills.

The workouts, were different though. I had run 25 km on Sunday the last day of March at a pretty decent clip (sub 8 minute miles) so I was a little tired. Tuesday’s workout was a 5 mile tempo at 15K effort. I texted and said that I’d prefer to move that to Wednesday, and do the subsequent mid-long run of 12 miles on Thursday, thinking of the two days of recovery between harder efforts. He called back immediately and said that he was hoping for an “adaptation week” where the workouts would be a little more compressed to build some fitness. But assured me that this wouldn’t be common practice and the point was just to go through the motions.

So I did it. And ran just over 6:30 pace for the 5 miles and actually felt better than I had expected. The next day of 12 was tough (actually did a slow 11.5), however. After an easy hour on Thursday, Friday’s session was a 4 mile uphill tempo, starting at 7300 feet and climbing 1000 feet, followed by 200 m reps. I felt that I was on the verge of an injury after that workout, closest I had felt in the four and a half years since my hip problems. But I backed down over the weekend and by my next hard workout (17 miles with a challenging progression to sub marathon pace ) I was feeling good again.

The track session three days after that went well, and I felt back into the groove. After recovery, a few days later I had another hard workout, an hour long progression and afternoon hill reps. I overdid it on the afternoon session, misunderstanding the instructions and thought that was supposed to be a tempo effort for 5K when actually it was meant to be moderate pace (learning the shorthand the hard way!). But I took it super easy for the next two days and felt pretty solid by Wednesday’s long progression–which I didn’t run as hard as I had the previous week.

Okaayyy.

After two days of recovery, I was feeling better and last Saturday’s session was 8 minute repeats, getting progressively faster. The weather and running surface were terrible (bridle path, saturated with water and snow, at 30 degrees), but the effort was there. It was still good though, and I was pretty happy with the workout.

I was a bit concerned about Sunday and Monday–there was no two day recovery. A 90 minute mid-long effort on Sunday (recommended rolling hills), which I had to do on pavement because of the weekend snow, and Monday was another hard progression, this time 70 minutes.

On Monday it was unseasonably warm (45 degrees above Saturday’s chill of 30), and I took it easier, running marathon pace plus 15-20 seconds for the first 35 or 40 minutes, and I didn’t pick it up to marathon pace or under until the last 4 miles. Still it was a really hard effort and I was a bit discouraged that I was running that much slower than pace but not feeling good about it. We talked briefly about this on Monday night and agreed to ease into next weekend.

Tuesday the 23rd was an “10 miles easy-moderate” but I set out to do an hour very easy, and if I felt well maybe try for the 10 on Tuesday.

April 23 I hope it’s not day of personal infamy

I slept somewhat poorly on Monday night and woke up tired on Tuesday, and allergies precluded me from wanting to go out for my run before work, but I figured it would be warmer in the middle of the day. However a string of meetings precluded me from getting out the door before 3, but at least it would be the warmer part of the day (high 50s) and my allergies were not bothersome.

I drove to the open space park where I typically run several times a week and started at 3:30. I had meant to put on half tights because it was a little cool and they fell better on tired legs on such days. But I forgot and didn’t turn around, just kept going. I felt really sluggish (but often do on recovery days) and ran the first bit at 11-12 minute/mile pace, barely more than a walk. At about 6 minutes I slowed down and did some dynamic stretches, also typical. I like to wait until I have run a bit and have had some blood flow. All’s good.

I was starting to feel decent and was dropping into the mid 8s, figuring I would do 6-7 miles at in the 8:20s-30s and be good with it. At a trail intersection I could go straight on a fairly flat 10-foot wide fitness path, or drop down a steep pitch (10-12%) for about 30 meters and catch the other end of the path, which leads to a fun creek path. Like the half-tights, perhaps fatefully, I turned left and went down the steep path, but very slowly. My watch buzzed 1 mile (10:03), and just a second later, as I reached the bottom of the hill and made a slight turn to the right onto the flat path, I felt a ping (less than a pop) on the back of my right leg–I knew that was my hamstring–but paid no mind, I’d be fine. Ran a bit, maybe 30 seconds, and all was good. Bit then just a few steps more, I could feel some pain and tightness building in. I stopped and walked back on the flat path for a few minutes. It started feeling better so I tried to run again. I got less than 200 meters and nope, had to walk home.

The aftermath today, and the future

I logged in zero exercise minutes today, just rested, iced it, wrapped my leg, and took ibuprofen. It’s a little difficult to elevate the leg at work but at home I have had it up on a chair while I sit on the couch typing. I’ll self-treat for a week or two in the hope that it will get better.

I know I set myself up for this, and have pondered some woulda coulda shoulda. Primarily, maybe I didn’t need the coaching change. I thought I would have some blind spots and training weaknesses, and probably do (like I found that these types of progression runs are tough). This coach’s philosophy is sound but maybe not feasible for a 66 year old. That said, I could just say no to stacking the workouts–sure there is some benefit from supercompensation, but it’s not worth the risk. I’m not sure if I’ll continue with this coach, it’s too much and I think injury is inevitable with such a schedule. On my own, I know I would have run an easy hour or less on Sunday (not 1:34), and Monday also would have been an easy day. And with a fairly big race coming up on the weekend (now in extreme doubt) Tuesday would have been a light-moderate session of something like 4X 800 or 3X 1000 with some pick ups. Not a hammering 10 mile progression with no recovery from the preceding two days.

I don’t know if it made a difference, but would the half tights have helped? A different course (smooth tow path instead of a single track), and had I gone straight on the path instead of that descent maybe my legs would have warmed up enough and the hamstring would have held up. But I didn’t do these things and there is no way to know.

So the future? Get healthy and hope that I can resume running soon, within a few days or a couple weeks. Or at least if I can jump onto some cross training for a while and maintain fitness into the summer. If the rest of spring is a wash, that’ll be acceptable I guess. I learned some things and learned some lessons. Having a trashed summer and fall would be very tough, I had a big year planned and know that there aren’t too many more to go. I enjoy the training and after all these years still get a kick out of racing.

I have wanted to do the Canyonlands Half in Moab Utah for 25 years now. Well, maybe discounting the 10 years in Alaska, but even then I would sometimes check the results online. It just never worked out in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when many of my friends from Fort Collins would race there. For the past 9 years since returning to the Lower 48, it seems I have always had something else on the calendar. With no USATF masters races on the calendar in March or early April I considered traveling out to one of the big half marathons, or maybe the Shamrock 8K in Chicago to be held next week. However, we drove through Moab on our way to Flagstaff in December, and I thought that 2024 would be a good year to check this one off the bucket list and to check out the scenic and venerable race (ongoing since 1976).

Training

Training has gone well since the Atlanta 5K last month, with a couple 9-10 hour weeks and a decent mix of tempo runs, a couple of CV sessions, and solid long runs. For the weeks leading up to the race I maintained roughly 9-10 miles a day until last Wednesday. My Wednesday through Friday runs were 7, 5, and 4 miles what I call a cutback (too short for a taper). That’s my standard for a race like this–one you want to do well, but there is not a lot on the line. It is not a race that you want to have much of a taper because you want to save taper for the championship-type races or ones where a time is really important. My final big training session was couple weeks ago when I did 2X 5K on the bike path, averaging about 6:35 per mile. I was hopeful that if I could do that at 5500 feet elevation I could run sub 6:30, maybe 6:25 pace at 4,000 feet on a course with a net downhill.

How’d that work out?

Travel and Pre-Race

Every week this winter we have had a weather system bringing some snow, and usually it has been on the weekends or late in the week. Last week’s weekly snowfall ended up being more than the normal. This was the big one for 2024, if not the decade!

Forecasters predicted 2-4 feet of snow in our area on Thursday. Our plan was to leave on Friday morning, but fearing that if it snowed that much we might not even get out of our parking lot let alone up I-70 and over the passes to Western Colorado and into Utah. So on Tuesday night we made a quick decision to leave on Wednesday morning before the weather turned bad (things were forecast to get ugly by 4 PM, and it would snow for something like 36 hours).

We hit the road at 8:30 on Wednesday and drove to Grand Junction, catching some flurries along the way and a snow squall in Glenwood Canyon. Grand Junction was cool, damp, and breezy, but there was no snow. Meanwhile the Front Range was getting pounded. I-70 was closed by early evening, so good thing we got out when we did.

Storm brewing on the West Slope on Wednesday afternoon.

We arrived in Moab mid-day on Thursday and I had to telework, which did sort of dampen the vacation feel, but it wasn’t so bad.

Thursday midday snowfall totals; it would snow another foot before the storm subsided.

I did a couple easy runs Thursday and Friday. I was not feeling super (legs were a little tight) but otherwise not bad. On Friday I ran an easy out and back from the finish to about mile 11 and then we drove the rest of the course to get a feel for the terrain.

Scoping the spectacular race course on Friday.
Race Day

We got up early on Saturday and I had a couple cups of tea, some coffee (race days are the only day I drink coffee), and a bagel. It was still quite dark, and raining, when the shuttle bus pulled away pulled away from the park, for the 15 mile trek to the start, and it was just getting light when we arrived at the start area at a little after 7:30. So about 40 minutes before the start. I put on my plastic disposable poncho and waited with some friends before embarking on a chilly 0.5 mile warm-up jog.

It was 40 degrees and raining when we started. For attire from head to toe, I wore a baseball cap, a merino wool long sleeve top under my singlet, half tights, longer socks, and my older Vaporfly 2s. I was planning to wear light gloves but they were soaked 10 minutes before the start, so I tossed them in my bag and slapped some gobs of Vaseline to stave off the chill. Clothing worked well. Not 100% sure about the shoes on the wet pavement. This was the first rainy race that I have worn these shoes. I have heard they don’t do as well on slick pavement, who knows.

We lined up in the rainy chill at 8:15 and were off! I was in about the 3rd row in the narrow starting chute (they had a rolling start), and quickly settled into about 25th place, so fairly near the front of the 700 or so starters. We headed east for a half mile, then turned around and down the canyon for the next 12.6 miles. My hands were cold for about the first mile but after that, didn’t give it a thought.

My race plan was to run about 6:30 for the first few miles then to push to run 6:20s for as long as I could hold it, and then maybe close in the 6:10s, for a 1:23-1:24. I was fairly confident I could do that, based on workouts and last month’s 5K which indicated I was in as good as shape as last year when I ran 61 for 10 mile in Sacramento an 1:24 for the half on a hilly course in Syracuse, on a hot day. In hindsight I think I underestimated the Canyonlands course, as well as running at 4000 feet elevation. It was not like running at sea level. Maybe a little easier than in Lakewood or Denver (5200-5500), but was working pretty hard to run my first 3 miles at 6:40 pace (fairly good climb in that second mile).

For the first few miles I ran in a semi-pack of runners, about five or six of us had been strung out over 30 meters or so, three ahead of me 10 or 15 meters and a couple 5 or 10 meters back. Even though the miles weren’t coming easily, after three miles I picked up the effort and pulled away from that group. I set my sights on three runners, also sort of strung out about 5 or 10 meters apart, with the closest about 20 seconds ahead. The footsteps behind faded, and those ahead got a little closer maybe 15 seconds up, as I had picked up the pace to low 6:30s. Each mile was about 10 seconds slower than anticipated. Nevertheless, the effort seemed sustainable, and while I wasn’t gaining ground I wasn’t slowing down or struggling to breathe. Riding the edge, which is what you want to do in a half.

Map of the race route.

The rain had let up after about 15 or 20 minutes of running, but the pavement was still wet. Miles 4, 5, and 6 were fairly flat, with just a few small rises, and probably the easiest running of the day of the day and my splits were 6:30, 6:32, and 6:34. At mile 6 we had completed the horseshoe shaped “Big Bend” part of the course and would head southeast for most of the remainder of the race. Here it got hillier, nothing really radical but a series small hills and drops of 20-40 feet. The gap of runners ahead stayed at about 20-30 seconds and I did not make any progress at closing in. As I passed the aid stations I could hear the runners behind were about 20-30 seconds back. So I was really in a no-man’s land.

I tried to maintain a high tempo and not to overstride, it felt like I was pushing hard but my splits dropped off to 6:40, 6:43, 6:42 from 7 through 9 miles. However, I did notice that two of the runners ahead had come back a little, now they were maybe 15 or 20 seconds ahead. Mile 10 was a net uphill and my slowest of the day at 6:50. Nevertheless, I was gaining on a woman who I presumed was first or second female overall. I caught her just after 10 miles and said good job. She stayed close, only a few meters back. It started to rain again.

By about mile 11 the runner ahead, looked like a masters runner, was struggling a bit. We were shunted off the road and onto the bike path. I gained, very gradually and passed him with just over a mile to go. Soon however, I heard fast footsteps behind–was he or the woman runner coming back? I was hurting pretty bad by this time and just tried to relax. I felt that I was running faster all out and breathing was difficult.

Screen shot with a mile to go.

With about 3/4 of a mile left, a runner from that first group I had been in in the initial 3 miles went by quickly. I matched his stride for as long as I could hold it, maybe a minute, and then eased up a bit. His gap grew, but those behind me were not catching up and I knew I should be able to hold this pace and place to the finish. The footbridge at the mouth of the canyon was less than a quarter mile ahead and I knew the finish line was less that 100 meters after that. On a course with no turns to speak of for 13 miles, we hit a few meandering twists into the parking lot and to the finish. My last three miles were 6:31, 6:39, and 6:27.

The finish time was 1:26:20, about 2 or 2.5 minutes slower than I had hoped. Nevertheless, I finished 19th out of nearly 700 entrants, and was 5th masters (40 and up) and 1st in my age group by 7 minutes. Although I had hoped for a 90% age grade or better, I ran 87.5% (1:06). That was second best for all runners on the day. I can’t really complain about that either.

Post Hoc

Although I did not run the time I had aimed for and was off by 10-12 seconds per mile, I was delighted to have done this race, after wanting to all these years. My self assessment, I am fairly happy with the execution and effort. As planned I ran at a moderate effort for about 3 miles and then tried to pick it up to a pace that I could hold. Three mile splits were 19:56, 19:36, 20:05, and 20:00 and my last mile at 6:27 was the fastest.

I underestimated the course and the altitude. I knew it was a net downhill but only 128 feet, with a lot of rolling hill some taking several minutes to crest. Moreover, 4000 feet of elevation seems low when you live at over 7,000 feet and do most of your training at 5,500-7,400 feet. However, it’s still altitude and unless it’s going downhill you’ll be running 8-10 seconds per mile slower than you would at sea level. That’s physics and physiology, and puts me in roughly 1:24 shape for a sea level half.

To be competitive (into medal shape and to contend for the win) at World Masters next summer I’ll need to improve my fitness and find a way to get those 8-10 seconds per mile because I think it will take a sub 1:21 or 1:22 to win and 1:23 to medal. This was a good test, and a fair appraisal of my current half marathon fitness.

To close, Tamara and I really enjoyed our extended trip to the Colorado River, instead of two days it was four. Although the weather wasn’t perfect, we were glad to get out ahead of the massive snowstorm that dumped 3.5 feet at our place, and up to 5 feet higher up. The canyon was spectacular, Moab was a fun place to visit for a few days, and the race was well managed–I think everything went off without a hitch.

The scene back home three days after the storm.

After what I felt was an off day in Virginia in January, I spent the following month getting ready for the USATF masters 5K in Atlanta. It took another week or so to recover from the 8K and lingering symptoms of a cold. However, workouts went well and I managed to get in some decent training volume.

For the ensuing four week I did one double threshold-type workout on Tuesdays and then repetitions (2-5 minute) on Fridays. The Tuesday morning workout was 4-5 miles of tempo-effort repeats, aiming to be just be low threshold. I started at 4X 6 minutes and built to 6X6 minutes by mid-February. The afternoon session was shorter, maybe just 30-40 minutes total and I did hill reps of 4-6X 1.5 to 2.5 minutes, with a jog down for recovery. The effort for those was a little more, like CV (critical velocity) to V02 max. The Friday workouts on the track ranged from reps of 600 m to 1200 m, or by time if off the track. Those all went pretty well and on paper it seemed I was ready for something in the 19 minute range for an altitude 5K or 18:30 or so at sea level.

Although I racing was at that level for much of 2023, I had seemed to fall way off pace following the Chicago Marathon in October. Three poor cross country races, and an okay showing on the track in Colorado Springs in mid-February did not inspire confidence. The best I could hang onto was a 39:15 10K at sea level three months ago, the 5K equivalent to that is 18:41, and and the altitude -converted equivalent to last week’s 3000 m was 18:52.

Nevertheless, I flew to Atlanta hoping to meet or beat the 18:24 I ran there last year.

Atlanta

Our team plans fell apart over the last week. A pulled hamstring and pneumonia knocked two of our guys out. So it would be just me. After more than a decade of being a strong presence of being a strong presence on the USATF masters circuit–usually a podium finisher–the men’s 60-69 group has not fielded a full team for five consecutive races, with our last team score in June of 2023 at the road mile. Injury, illness, age, and moving on.

So I traveled alone, getting in Thursday evening, which gave all day Saturday to ‘relax’ (I still put in 16,000 steps on Friday, schlepping around the town, the expo/bib pick-up, and jogging the course). And my hotel was noisy all day, with families and kids–something big must have been going on–but fortunately, it all quieted down at 10 PM after they closed the atrium swimming pool!

Race Time

The race was early, 7:40 Atlanta time, which is 5:40 in Colorado. I met some friends at 6:15 in the lobby and the plan was to walk-jog to the start, about 1 or 1.2 miles away. Downtown Atlanta has some quirks, and our route was more of a zig-zag, so by the time we got there it was closer to 2 miles. I only warmed up for 14 or 15 minutes, held my groggy breath in the cool morning air (46 degrees and breezy), and we were off.

Mid-packing it off the start line (the John Glidewell is the runner on the right in the Atlanta Track Club singlet). Photo by John Blaser.

I had lined up in about the 4th row from the front, and got bumped a bit and immediately swallowed up by a dozen or so runners. That first stretch was the worst of the race, my chief rivals (all from the Atlanta Track Club) were in front a few meters and it was crowded. Although I stayed on my feet I did not feel good, and was wondering if had made a mistake to travel all that way for a mediocre race.

We made the first turn onto a narrow side street that climbed at about a 5% grade for a quarter mile. I kind of dreaded this, but held my ground right behind Ken who was in my age group and I figured we would be fighting for 2nd and 3rd place figuring that Glidewell was already a ways ahead. After the top of that hill there was a little zig zag with couple of tight turns as we turned onto a long straight stretch on Walker Street. It had a gentle climb. At the first slight downhill, just before the mile I picked it up and never looked back. Another Atlanta runner in the next age class down was 5-6 seconds up, so I focused on keeping up with him. I split the mile in 6:00, not bad for a 60 net gain. I never did catch the other Atlanta but kept the gap between 5 and 10 seconds. We made a hairpin, near 180 degree turn onto Peters Street and then it got fun because we were now going downhill. I was able to stride out and pass some runners.

I was probably about 50th place at the mile and by 3K (officially 11:13 but I think it was more like 11:05-11:10) I was in 44th. There was a pack just ahead, and as we made the turn back west with a little over a mile to go I surged to stay close, so they’d block the headwind on that long uphill (another 60 feet over about a half mile). So I tucked in and if someone passed I go with them. There were about 6 of us in that group. As we passed the giant Mercedes Stadium the course flattened before a nice downhill. Most of the last half mile was downhill. I started surging–and was happy to have the energy to do so! Best I had felt in a race since September.

Back past the start area, with about 400 to go before the finish I held on, and after making the penultimate turn, with about 250 m remaining I poured it on. At the final turn I caught one more runner, from ATC, and sprinted for the final 80 meters.

Sprinting home, just before the final turn, 100 meters to go.

He did catch me back, but I finished in 18:23, for 2nd in my age group behind Glidewell and a 91% age grade. Best result in nearly a year.

The race could hardly have gone better. Yeah, sure winning the age group would have been better but I can’t compete with a 94.5% age grade. I got 2nd in the age group and 3rd in age grading, enough to bring home $300 from USATF.

Afterwards I hung around with John my former college teammate, and other friends including the four guys from the club’s 70+ team, who chalked up another win.

With the BRR 70s team, Jan, Rick, Doug, and Bruce.

One of these days, we’ll hopefully get back together to field some competitive age group teams.