Chicago Marathon 2015-Race Recap

Shirts and bibs, all ready to go

I had planned on running the Chicago Marathon last year in 2014, but due to work scheduling I ended up having to travel the weekend of the Marathon.  My wife and my brother in law both ended up running in 2014 and had a great time, you can read about that run here on her blog.  Since, I didn't get to run I contacted the race directors and they were nice enough to allow me to transfer my registration to the 2015 race.  I didn't think it would be as easy as it was but a few emails later and I was rolled right in without needing to do the whole lottery process again.  My wife decided to try her luck with the lottery again so she entered and got a bib for the second year in a row!  It doesn't seem like the lottery is all that competitive, after all, it looks like we have gotten a number every time somebody I know of has tried.  So with that here goes for the race recap of my second marathon this year.

The Train up:

Kim and I used the same standard train up plan with the First method of training with the "three quality runs"  although this time it was a little different.  We both raced in the Pittsburgh Triathlon about 8 weeks prior to this race so we had a sort of hybrid triathlon/marathon training plan for the first 8 weeks and then a different plan for the last 8 weeks.  Overall it was pretty successful, I had planned on running a 4 hour marathon and I tried to tailor my training towards that, but trying to work full time and raise a 2 year old while race training started to get too much.  Towards the end of the train-up I changed my goal to a 4:30.   Although that four hour marathon is somewhere in my future I'm sure....

Pre-Race:

Marathon Expo

We learned from our past mistakes and got to Chicago early for the expo.  We flew in Friday morning and were on one of the first shuttles to the event center that held the expo.  A note to those picking hotels, the expo and the start/finish lines are not close to each other.  We picked a hotel close to the start/finish and opted for one of the many shuttles bringing people to and from the expo.  We got to the expo shortly after it opened and found it to be one of the best expo's we've seen.  Overall a great experience.  Kim said that last year was too crowded to see much, but since we got there pretty early and on a Friday we avoided most of the crowds and had the chance to see all of the vendor

booths that we wanted.  There were tons and tons of different booths handing out all of the normal bits and pieces of race nutrition as well as a bunch of local running companies.  They also had a few really cool displays up for the Marathon itself which included a giant CHICAGO that you could write on, that same sign made it out onto the course right near the end when you needed a boost.  Pretty cool if you ask me.  After we left the expo we headed back to the hotel and spent some time out in the city sightseeing.  We were staying at the Hyatt Centric The Loop hotel which was located pretty close to everything we wanted to see.  There are hundreds of hotels in the vicinity but this one was great for the price and location.  We were organized enough also to have made reservations weeks in advance for a few restaurants which made meal selection a little easier when you are jockeying with 45,000 other runners for a pasta dinner the night before the race.
The Morning of the race was pretty easy, we woke up around 5am and ate a quick breakfast at the hotel before making the trek down to the race start.  We made our way following the hoards of other runners to our corrals without any problems at all.  Despite the fact that there were more people than I had ever seen for a race the whole process went pretty smoothly, they even wanded us all down with metal detectors, but it didn't seem to slow it down that much at all.

The Race:

Kim and I both started in Corral E but despite the crowds it only took us about 18 min to get to the start after the gun went off.  We moved right along and though the course was pretty crowded it wasn't unbearably crowded.  Our plan was to run together for the first 13 miles and then depending on how I was feeling I would either pull ahead or not.  Kim planned to run approx 10 min miles the whole time so it worked out pretty good for us.  The first few miles seemed to fly by, we seemed to be passing mile marker after mile marker and before I knew it we had already knocked out the first 10k.  The crowd support was incredible too with great crowds along nearly the entire course.  Right around 6 miles or so Kim's legs didn't really want to run anymore and she was struggling.  It was compounded bythe fact that her watch (a Garmin Fenix 3) had all but become useless in the city.  It kept posting crazy times, like 4 min miles followed by 12 min miles it was really all over the place.  Kim relied on me to keep pace for her because for some reason my Garmin 310xt didn't seem to
have nearly as many problems.  From miles 6 to about 17 Kim continued to struggle and I kept trying to keep her in the race (while also trying to keep myself in it).  But at mile 17 I looked back to find her and I had lost her in the crowds.  From there on out it was a pretty straight forward run.  I kept up the 10 min mile pace for a few more miles, but then as it always seems to happen to me, mile 20 hit.  I seem to have this mental block with mile 20 where once I step over that line I lose all ability to run normally.  I honestly think its more mental than anything else but from mile 20-26.2 I had an inner struggle.  I started walking through water stops and running in between and my times gradually slowed down into the 11s.  Not the kind of run I was looking for.  But finally I was into the last mile and... with the finish line in sight... I started throwing up.  I mean really my body couldn't hold out for another half mile?  O well.  I finished with a final time of 4:34:19.  Not a ground breaking time, and not what I was looking for but a PR nonetheless.

Overall Impression:

I would highly recommend this race.  It is one of the world Marathon Majors and for good reason.  There is a lot to love about this race, it is well organized, well supported, and well attended.  The city does a great job of getting everything in place.  And, to boot, the course is flat, the flattest I have seen on a Marathon course.  The Expo was a great event and the post race party was pretty good too and in a good location with plenty of space for people to sit down after the run.  The swag was pretty good too, I liked the medal they handed out at the end and the shirts are pretty good.  The shirts are the nike dri-fit tech t-shirts but the design on them I am a little ambivalent about.  Not my favorite shirt but not the worst by far.  Overall a great experience!

Pittsburgh Triathlon- Race Recap

Pittsburgh Triathlon 2015- Race Recap

Well, it was my first race since the Pittsburgh Marathon and I can say that even though I didn't have an incredible time, I was pretty happy with my performance on the Pittsburgh Triathlon.  This was only my second Triathlon ever and my first Olympic (international) distance Tri.  So I was really just happy to finish.  Going into this race my only two goals were, and in this order:  Number one; not drown on the swim and end up washed downstream to Emsworth Locks and Dam, and number two;  Finish the race.  Mission complete!  So here goes for the race recap.

The train up:
 Kim and I are still really new to the Triathlon scene so the train up for this race was a lot of trial and error.  Add to that the fact that we had just come out of Marathon training for the Pittsburgh Marathon and were also training for the Chicago Marathon later this fall.  So we needed to get a good plan together.  We ended up going with a Balanced plan of two swims, two bikes and two runs a week.  We also went with a plan that was based on training load vs mileage which was a new concept for us.  Essentially with training load you are looking at using time based workouts where you will increase by 10% each week for three weeks and then have a recovery week where you scale it back by 40%.  It sounds complicated, and it was when we got started but overall it was pretty successful. It was definitely a change though and as we got later into the plan and the times for the workouts increased it got increasingly more difficult to accomplish.  I mean, who has time for a nearly three hour workout mid week when you work full time and have a toddler?  I will do a separate post on how we worked through those issues but needless to say we had to get creative.  For me the most difficult part was getting my swims in, biking and running are pretty accessible (especially when you have a treadmill and a trainer in the basement but the swims are harder to swing.  We ended up getting a membership to a local pool which had 25m and 50m lanes which helped a lot.  Kim was a competitive swimmer growing up so she was comfortable in the water, me...... lets just say the swim is something I need to work on.  Anyway if you are interested here is the train up plan we used.

8 15 JUN	35-Swim 5x(kick 1 length, rest 15 sec, swim 1 length, rest 30 sec)	Off	58-Swim	Run- Sprint workout 3x1600 (400 RI)	Run- Tempo 2 Miles Easy 2 Miles ST     2 Miles Easy	Off	Long Run- 8 Miles at MP+30	6h 13m
	70-Bike 10 min easy, 15 min tempo, 5 min easy, 10 min tempo, 10 min easy, 15 min tempo, 5 min easy							373m
7 22 JUN	38-Swim kick 2 lengths swim 20 min kick 2 lengths	Off	Run- Tempo 1 Mile Easy 5 Miles MP 1 Mile Easy	Run- Sprint workout 4x800 (2 min RI)	128-Bike	Off	Long Run- 9 Miles at MP+45	6h 49m	10%
	77-Bike 17 min easy 17 min temp 8 min easy 8 min hard 10 min easy 10 min tempo 7 min easy							409m
6 29 JUN	42-Swim	Off	70-Swim	Run- Sprint workout 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400 (200 RI)	Run- Tempo 1 Mile Easy 5 Miles LT 1 Mile Easy	Off	Long Run- 10 Miles at MP+45	7h 30m	10%
	85-Bike 20 min easy 10 min tempo 10 min easy 10 min tempo 10 min easy 10 min tempo 5 min hard 10 min easy							450m
5 6 JUL	25-Swim 10x(kick 1 length, rest 15 sec) swim 10 lengths non stop	Off	Run- Tempo 1 Mile Easy 4 Miles MT 1 Mile Easy	Run- Sprint workout 5x1000 (400 RI)	85-Bike	Off	Long Run- 11 Miles at MP+45	4h 30m	-40%
	51-Bike 10 min easy 5x(3 min hard 3 min easy) 11 min easy							270m
4 13 JUL	42-Swim 5x(swim 4 lengths, kick 1 length, rest 1 min)	Off	70-Swim	Run- Sprint workout 3x1600 (400 RI)	Run- Tempo 2 Miles Easy 3 Miles ST 1 Mile Easy	Off	Long Run- 12 Miles at MP+45	7h 30m
	85-Bike 20 min easy 10 min tempo 10 min easy 10 min tempo 10 min easy 10 min tempo 5 min hard 10 min easy							450m
3 20 JUL	46-Swim 3x(1 length fast, 1 length easy; 2 lengths fast, 2 lengths easy; 1 length fast, 1 length easy) rest 1 minute between sets	Off	Run- Tempo 1 Mile Easy 5 Miles MT 1 Mile Easy	Run- Sprint workout 2x1200 (2 min RI) 4x800 (2 min RI)	155-Bike	Off	Long Run- 14 Miles at MP+45	8h 14m	10%
	93-Bike 10 min easy 30 min tempo 10 min easy 30 min tempo 13 min easy							494m	Peak
2 27 JUL	37-Swim	Off	62-Swim	Off	124-Bike outdoors	Off	Run- Tempo 1 Mile Easy 6 Miles LT 1 Mile Easy	6h 36m	-20%
	74-Bike outdoors				37-Run			396m	Taper
1 3 AUG	23-Swim	Off	39-Swim	78-Bike outdoors	Off	Off	RACE DAY- Pittsburgh Triathlon	3h 30m	-30%
	47-Bike outdoors			23-Run				+Race	Taper

Pre-Race:

The race expo was held at Point State Park which is also where the actual race started and finished.  It was also where the transition area was set up.  This was nice in that you could get an idea of where things were going to be when you showed up at O' dark-thirty to get ready for your race. The expo was really small, and kind of lackluster.  There were a couple of booths and a station to get your bike inspected.  They also had a newbies meeting with a really good Q&A for those that had never done a TRI before which was a nice touch but with the size of this race combined with the Sprint and the Adventure race I expected a better expo.  The few vendor booths they had set up were really just not that impressive.  One thing that they did have which Kim and I didn't partake in was a swim session in the River so that you could get a feel for the water.  I thought that that was a really good idea and, had we not been having childcare issues I probably would have taken them up on it.

 

Since we live right on the light rail line and since it worked out so well for us during the marathon we had planned to ride the T into the race on race morning.  Little did we know that the T doesn't open up early enough to get in in time before the transition area closed.  The transition area closed at 6:15 and the first train leaving our stop didn't leave until about 5:45.  I wasn't going to try to cut it that close so we chose to pay the $10 to park and drive into the city.  The good news was that at 5am on a Sunday there was no traffic and we cruised right in.  

We got to the transition area and got checked in.  They had a pretty good security system with your race number on everything to check in and out of transition and we posted up our bikes and running equipment with plenty of time to spare.  We even had time to take a selfie. 

The race:

Swim:

The race itself was really well organized I think.  We walked out to the swim start, since there was a pretty small field (about 150 participants) for the International distance Tri they only had two waves.  The first was all of the men and 5 minutes later was all of the women.  It was an in-water start, so with about three minutes to go the race officials started having folks jump into the water.  I have to say this was a little nerve wracking as it was about a four foot drop from the bank into the river but There was plenty of water there to keep from hitting bottom.  I, not wanting to tread water for three minutes waited until they made the announcement that they needed ALL the swimmers in the water and I made the plunge.  Shortly thereafter they called for the start and we were off and swimming.  Now this is by far my most difficult event.  In fact up until about two years ago I didn't even know how to swim with my face in the water and swimming one length of the pool  was a struggle for me.  Since then I have come a long way but I still swim more like a rock than a fish.  The swim started off upstream on the Allegheny river and then crossed under all three of the "Three Sisters Bridges" before we saw our turning buoy and made the turn to head back downstream.  Once heading downstream we were further out into the river which made it more difficult for me to sight the buoys but overall it went relatively smoothly.  I was keeping with my race plan and keeping pretty good easy strokes and really focusing on my breathing.  I also hadn't drowned yet when all of a sudden, BANG!  somebody ran into me hard.  I looked up and saw Kim's tri suit and her Pink goggles.  She ran into me just under the last of the Three sisters.  What are the chances that out of the 150 people in the water she would run into me.  I was actually pretty happy about it though because that meant that Kim was having a really good swim.  At that pace she was on track to pass a good portion of the men even though they all had a 5 min head start.  The rest of the swim was uneventful and I made it safely back to shore without drowning.  Success!

Transition 1:

The Swim to run transition was a really long one.  We had to run almost a quarter of a mile from the Swim out point to the transition area.  This was all on a hard concrete surface so it was pretty hard on the feet nothing impossible but not the greatest either.  When I got into the transition area I knew just how poorly I had done on the swim when I only say a few bikes on the racks on the men's side.  As it turned out I came in 132 out of 156, so it was a truly bad performance.  I had a decent transition coming in at just about half way for the field in just over four minutes, which considering the run in, I think was pretty good.  One thing I did forget to do though was to switch my watch over to biking so my transitions/biking stats area  little off on Garmin Connect.

Bike:

The bike was my best event this race.  The course was an out and back and was two loops.  I knew that coming out of the water I was way behind so I tried to push hard on the bike. Pretty quickly I started passing people so I knew that I was on the right track.  What I didn't realize was that the bike course had a monster climb on it.  It wasn't that steep, but it was essentially a six mile climb and them a six mile descent for the first loop and then over again for the second.  I ended up picking off quite a few people on the climbs which was nice but then I would get passed again by a few on the descents.  I was wearing a regular buike jersey and I was on a standard road bike so the folks in tri suits and on tri bikes with aero bars could just get more aerodynamic than me.  Lesson learned for next time.  I did the best I could on the downhills though and got deep into the drops and kept pushing my biggest gear at around 90 rpms.  With that it put me at right around mid way in the field.  Considering this was my first race of this distance I was really happy with that time.

Transition 2:

The Bike to run transition was pretty easy.  It was at the same location as the swim to bike so all o f my gear was already set up and I had already been there a few times so there was no confusion over where to go.  Really nothing to report here, it was just a matter of slipping off the bike shoes and sliding into my running shoes and I was off.  It took my just over 1:30 to complete the transition which put me at right about half way through the field again.  Same as my first transition, which considering I haven't really worked on any strategies to make this go faster I figure is pretty good.

Run:
As per usual  for me, coming off the bike my legs felt like a ton of bricks. I started running anyway and headed off to start the 10K.  It was one of those sort of runs where you start bargaining with yourself.  It started with the "I will stop to walk at the turn around point", and then  once I reached the Turn-around, "I will stop to walk at the 4 mile mark", and then I reached the four mile mark and all of a sudden I was feeling pretty good.  I wasn't moving along at a blazing speed but I had passed a few people and it got my energy going again.  In fact a women I had been going back and forth with on the bike with  I had caught back up to on the run.  I then made it my goal to pace off of her and pull myself through to the finish.  The course was a really pretty out and back along the riverfront so there was plenty to look at, although I don't think I actually looked at any of it.  I was pretty focused and determined just not to give up at the end.  I ended  up finishing with an average time of about 9:30 miles.  I know I can run a lot faster next time but at the beginning of this thing I only had two goals.  Not drown...check, and finish...check.  I can say I went out and did both of those with a smile.  An added bonus was that I finally beat my wife on a long distance course.  I almost always win when it is a shorter race (half marathon or below)  but she has always won on the Marathon distance.  This time I came out on top.  Pretty good day for  everyone!

Overall Impression: 

The race itself was really well put together and well organized.  There was good support on the run with water stops and the bike course was laid out so it was easy to understand.  The Swim had plenty of support from life guards and the buoys used were easy to spot.  The major gripes that I have with the race were in the details that surround the race.  The expo was severely lacking.  There wasn't much in the way of vendors and it was kind-of a big letdown.  The finishers medals and the shirts were really boring as well.  This must be a Pittsburgh thing because the finishers shirts for the Pittsburgh Marathon were boring too.  Now those two things don't really matter for the race itself, and I would much rather have a well put together course than a nice shirt but it is definitely something they could work on for next year.  The only major issue I had with the course was that the bike was mostly on the HOV lane of the  Highway.  Pittsburgh is a great city and there are lots of places that would be nice to show off and to see.  The Pittsburgh Marathon did a great job of this and the swim and the bike routes were great in showing interesting parts of the city, but the bike route while not a bad place to go out and ride really didn't add anything extra to the experience.  One thing I might add that the sponsor of this race is the Friends of the Riverfront, who built both the three rivers water trail and the three rivers heritage trail.  Next time lets do the bike on the trails.  I understand that this might be a logistical problem in closing off a popular trail but I am sure it could be done.  I look forward to seeing what this race has in store for next year.

Pittsburgh Marathon 2015- Race Recap

If you have been reading the Blog you know that my wife and I just recently made the move the Pittsburgh from Colorado Springs.  We had come off of a pretty good train up and race season in 2014 completing 3 half marathons and Kim completed Chicago, less than a year after having a baby.  Pretty impressive if you ask me.  I was supposed to run Chicago with her but alas work got in the way, again, so I did the train up and didn't get to run.  As we were making the move we started looking at local races in the area and thought that the Pittsburgh Marathon would be a great way to get acquainted with the local area.  A side benefit was to be able to train at altitude and then run near sea level.  All that extra oxygen should pay off for us.  OK, so here we go for the recap!

The train up:
Kim  had been using the FIRST training method for her last few races and we both did the Half Marathon plan for the Colfax Half last year.  It is designed to work off of "three quality runs" vs simply logging a ton of miles.  It works for us as we are both working full time and trying to fit in runs around raising a toddler who is constantly into everything and always on the go.  We worked out a pretty good rhythm while we were in Colorado with me running in the mornings right before work and Kim running after work for the sprint and tempo runs and then we would do our long runs on the weekend as a family run with me pushing the stroller.  This worked really well for a long time until life got in the way.  This train up hit us right in the middle of some major transitions, during the train up all of the following happened (though not necessarily in order).  Kim got out of the Air Force and transitioned to being a civilian again, I changed jobs twice in the Army, our son was teething, we moved halfway across the country, Kim had oral surgery, I was diagnosed with a baker's cyst in my knee, and we both started brand new jobs in a new city.  Needless to say, there were weeks that we didn't get all of our runs in.  Despite all of that though, we did our best and were both feeling really good about our fitness going into this race.  We had completed both our 18 and our 20 milers (me pushing a stroller on both) and the rest of our runs in Pittsburgh had gone really well.  That extra oxygen was really starting to feel good in the lungs.  We started our taper a few weeks before the race and we were both really excited.  That was until the very last training run, a mere three days before the big race when I went out on an easy 5 miler and about half way into the run had a sudden shooting pain through my left calf.  I stopped immediately to stretch hoping that it was just a tightness and nothing more.  After about 5 minutes of stretching and massaging I soon realized that I had actually just hurt myself.  I'm still not sure how I did it, or what really I did.  I think that somehow I managed to pull or strain a muscle in just the right way to tear something.  I was hosed, I spent the next few days foam rolling and icing and stretching and hoping that it would feel better.  By race day I had convinced myself that it wasn't that bad and that I could run on it. 

Pre-Race:
The race expo was held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and was pretty well organized.  We made our way through packet pickup pretty easily though the bibs and shirts were given out right at the beginning and the bags at the very end. That was a minor inconvenience when I comes to collecting swag at the various booths but we were equipped with our stroller anyway so not a big deal for us. On the plus side they did have this really cool bridge replica in the middle of the expo, so that was cool.

 

 

The rest of the Expo wasn't anything special, but was well spread out so that it didn't get too crowded which was a nice plus.  They also had a really cool wall that had all of the participants names etched on it. That was something I had never seen before and I thought it was pretty cool.


It had your typical booths so you can taste test various types of race nutrition, and places to buy shoes etc.  One thing that I found lacking was a section for race specific clothing, I really only saw some cheesy hats and none of the jackets or shirts that you would expect, they may have been there and I just missed them but if they were there they weren't easily found.  I was also really really underwhelmed by the shirts.  They were a long sleeve tech shirt but the logo looked a lot more like something you would expect out of a 5k than a marathon.  In fact the volunteer shirts were pretty cool, if they had switched it up that would have been fine, I would have been perfectly happy with those shirts, the participant ones were just boring looking.

 

The race:
This was probably the easiest race morning I have ever had.  The new house that we moved into is walking distance to a T-stop (Pittsburgh light rail trolley system)  and the race corrals and bag drop are right off of a T-stop on the other end.  The trolleys got pretty crowded and it was standing room only on the way there but all things considered it was awesome to not have to fly, drive, park, and/or walk significant distances to get to the race.  It was probably only 30 minutes door to corral for us.  You can't beat that for convenience!  The bag drop was also really well organized as were the directions to get to the corrals, and surprisingly there were plenty of port-a-pottys in and around the start so there were minimal lines.  Once in the Corrals (we were in B) there was plenty of space to stretch so there wasn't that normal "packed in" feeling that you sometimes get but it did get pretty crowded.  For this race they lump all of the half marathoners, full marathoners, and marathon relays into the same starting times so until around mile 12 when the half splits off it kept the course crowded.  Not so crowded that you can't pass at all to run your pace but enough that it would make it a bit of a challenge to do so for the first few miles or so.  They also stagger the starts of the corrals which helped a bit with the congestion, that seemed like a good move to me.  At the gun Kim and I took off running and right off the bat I knew that I was going to have trouble with my calf.  I was getting a decent amount of pain through it with each step.  Our race plan was to run together until mile 12 where the hills start and then I would split off if I was feeling good.  We stuck to that plan and kept about 10 min miles or so for the first 12 although I am not sure I could have run any faster if I wanted to.  At right about 12 miles it felt as though my leg was starting to warm up and I decided to pick up the pace just a bit through some of the hills, I kept that pace for a while until the pain came back with a vengance.  By mile 18 I was in serious pain and not only walked for a little but actually stopped all together to stretch for a little.  I then decided I would run to each aid station and walk through the aid station and stretch a little.  By mile 20 this plan started to unravel and my walking sections lasted longer and longer until around mile 21 when Kim passed me.  I ran with her for a little bit and then told her good luck and let he go ahead as I stopped to stretch again.  It just wasnt going to be my day.  Around mile 23-24 on the big downhill I was having serious trouble but knowing that the end was so near I was able to keep moving forward.  Finally, and it felt like forever, I saw the 25 mile marker and I pushed myself to run the last 1.2 miles in without stopping.  I crossed the finish line at 4:40:14 significantly slower than I was hoping for but I was still proud that I finished after all that pain.  I was really proud of Kim as she came in with a marathon PR of 4:32:17 .  She continues to amaze me. 



Finally Complete!

After the finish we made our way through the chutes to get our Medals and to grab some food and water.  The Medals were HUGE, I mean you could really hurt someone with those things.  I guess I should have expected that out of the steel city but I was taken aback by just how heavy those things were, what the race organizers got wrong on the shirts they made up for in the medals for sure.  We then reunited at the family area, which they organized by last name which I thought was really cool.  It takes the guess work out of finding your loved ones in a sea of 30,000 other people.  Finally we made our way back to the T and back home for some lunch and that was that.









Overall impression:
This was a great race for a smaller city Marathon.  This will never be a race on the Magnitude of Boston or Chicago but they got a lot of things right.  The course was tough with the hills in the second half but it wasn't impossible and it was really well marked with good course and crowd support.  It is the sort of race that I am really glad I did, but not one I would be jumping up and down to do again.  For sure it is a race to check out if you are looking for a spring Marathon though

2015 Pittsburgh Marathon Medal Front

2015 Pittsburgh Marathon Medal Obverse

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Pikes Peak Ascent and Triple Crown of Running 2014- Race Recap

I completed the Pikes Peak Ascent last year in 2014 and never got around to writing a race recap for it but I figured that a lot of people would be starting their train-up for the race this spring and might be interested.  It is a really incredible race, and one that is truly different from anything I have ever done before.  I usually stick to road races and have done my fare share of 5k's, 10k's, and half marathons but running up a mountain sounded crazy to me.  But I found out I would be leaving Colorado soon and that mountain just kept staring me in the face so I decided to sign up for it.  I also convinced my wife, Kim, to sign up as well.  She wasn't too excited to begin with but I think as the race got closer we both were pretty happy.  Kim had a qualifying time already but this race fills up REALLY quick so we missed the registration window for her to sign up with qualifications.  I was deployed to Afghanistan the year before and hadn't done much running previous to this attempt so all of my 1/2 Marathons or Marathons were out of tolerance for the qualifications.  Because of this we ended up registering through the Triple Crown of running series without qualifications which uses your Garden of the Gods 10 miler time as a qualification and then you need a completion (no time requirement) for the Summer Roundup Trail run.  I will say that I am glad we both did this option.  Even though the Ascent is cool on its own the whole series was really a well put together event.  If I was still going to be in Colorado I would definitely be signing up for the series again.  Now the qualifications are pretty strict so if you aren't sure you meet them make sure you check and double check before you shell out cash.  The race officials will check online results for races to ensure you can actually complete the race (so don't try to cheat the system).  Race qualifying details can be found Here, and Triple Crown of running info can be found Here. I can definitely say that this entire series wasn't easy but I learned a lot of good lessons about training and running by trying different types of races.

Garden of the Gods 10 Miler:
The first race of the series was the Garden of the Gods 10 Miler.  This race, if you look up the TCR option without qualifications, requires you to complete it in less than two hours.  Kim and I were pretty confident as we had been training pretty good all summer for the Chicago Marathon in the fall but on a whim decided to do a training run in the park.  It quickly became evident that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park.  The Garden of the Gods is EXTREMELY HILLY, now even though Kim and I were in pretty good shape we struggled with that first run in the park.  We eventually decided that we needed to train specifically for this race or we wouldn't make the cutoff time for the Ascent, which was  our primary goal.  This was a really important lesson for me.  I have never really trained on running the same course as a race before so starting to learn where I could push myself on hills and where I needed to take it easy were invaluable on race day.  I really came up with a race strategy for this one and it worked out great.  Kim and I started by working 5-7 mile runs through different segments of the park each weekend as our long run and then were really able to map out the hills that were going to be difficult.  It also helped that I trained by pushing the baby stroller so on race day I literally felt 30lbs lighter. 

Training Runs in Garden of the Gods

Training Run in Garden of the Gods

On race day we really felt prepared.  My plan was to try to keep 9 minute miles for the majority of the course and to slow it down on the two really big hills (at miles 2 and 5)  On those hills I would let myself drop to 9:30 miles and had my watch set to show lap pace, that way for each mile itself I wouldn't let myself lose too much time.  I ended up doing almost exactly that and completed the race at 1:31:34 almost a half hour under the required time.  I felt great and actually had some gas left in the tank, I think I could have gone a little less conservative and beat the 1:30:00 time. If you complete the 10 miler in under 1:30:00 you actually qualify for wave 1 on the ascent (which I will get into later).  Kim did great too, and despite giving birth only 5 months before she finished in about 1:50:18 or about 11:00 minute miles on a really difficult course.  The race support was great and I loved the high school water stops (the minions were my favorite) the end of the race also had free beer! and pizza which was definitely welcomed.  The only issue I had with the organization was that the handout of the medals and shirts took forever.  We had to wait in line almost 30 minutes to get ours.  Not something you want to do after running a race.  So that was that and we both were set to conquer the Ascent.  All we needed to do now was complete the Summer Roundup.

Summer Roundup Trail Run:
We didn't train specifically for the summer roundup like we did for the 10 miler.  In fact we really just went back to our Marathon training plan and assumed we would be able to finish.  This was nice as it was a low stress event that we could really just have fun on.  I took off from the start expecting to be able to keep an 8:30 or so pace for the 12k trail run.  This didn't work out quite well as the course was single track for a large portion of the way and passing was difficult. My first mile split was over 10 minutes and then really alternated between 8:15 or so when I could break out and 10:00 when I got stuck on single track behind slower runners.  Overall it was a really nice race and I didn't mind too much getting bogged down. It actually allowed me to enjoy the run a little more than constantly pushing the pace uphill.  I ended up finishing at 1:06:33 or just under a 9 min mile and Kim finished at 1:23:52.  That was it, we were now officially set to run in the Ascent!

Pikes Peak Ascent:
We woke up early on Ascent day and headed down to the starting area as we knew parking was going to be a nightmare.  Manitou springs is notorious for being difficult to park and on this day that was no exception so we got there early enough and grabbed our spot to stretch and get ready.  I wore my Camelbak Hawg and came prepared with a ton of GU's and a peanut butter sandwich.  I knew that on this race I was going to need good nutrition.  This was probably the biggest lesson I learned from the Ascent.  On most of my other long runs I have really run out of fuel, especially during the St. Louis Marathon so I wanted to be prepared here and it worked out well for me.  The build up to the race was really interesting and since we were in wave two we got to watch the start for wave one a few minutes before us.

Finally it was time for us to start.  Now I have heard from a lot of people and through reading race recaps that it behooves you to get out in front early because it slows pretty quick once on the mountain.  I took this to heart and tried to move up in the pack from the beginning as we moved along the streets of Manitou springs.  I may have been a little too conservative though because as he hit the trailhead the group came to a grinding halt and we spent most of the next four miles or so walking until the pack thinned a little. If I had to do it over again I would really push that first mile or two to get to the front of the pack, especially in wave two.  That was really the story for much of the race as well.  Passing becomes very difficult (if not impossible) so if you are behind from the get go you will be stuck with a much slower time throughout.  The race stayed pretty stop and go all the way to Barr camp where I had managed to pass enough people that the field was beginning to thin.  At that point I also began to pass some of the slower runners from wave one which really surprised me.  There were several aid stations set up along the route and I made a concerted effort along the way to make sure that I drank Gatorade and ate something at each one. The race was really well supported despite the difficult access to the trail and each aid station had tons of different snacks and water/Gatorade.  The one thing I knew I didn't want was to run out of fuel.  I had my Camelbak as well and drank all of that water too, I will say though if I was going to do more of these races I would invest in a running specific water source (maybe a vest) as the Camelbak worked but it bounced around a lot and got a little uncomfortable.   As the field thinned I got into a good rhythm of running for a half mile or so and then walking to catch my breath and then running again and I kept this up all the way to tree line.  Once I hit treeline, I don't know if it was a mental thing or the altitude actually getting to me but I felt it was much harder to breath and my run/walk cycle started to turn more into a walk/run cycle.  I continued to push up the hill though and was buoyed by the sound of the announcer at the top.  That was one thing that I really didn't expect, I still had miles and miles to go but I could hear him announcing others finishing and that made it seemed like the end was near.  Above tree line there is a long series of steep ascents and quick switchbacks which helped break up the monotony.  At this point in the race my goal was really just to not stop and take any breaks but continue forward progress at all costs.  This worked out pretty well too as I passed quite a few people who were sitting on the side of the trail.  With about two miles to go I started to get a bad cramp in my right calf but stopped to stretch a few times and was able to keep moving with my walk/run.

Finally the finish line was in sight and I pushed myself to run the last stretch.  My final time was 4:04:11 which I was pretty happy with.  They say on the website that your Ascent time is generally equal to your flatland Marathon time and my goal time for Chicago later that year was 4 hours so I think that was pretty accurate.  I do, however, think that if I had run just a minute and a half faster on the Garden 10 miler I could have gotten a much better time with a wave one start.  I lost a lot of time at the beginning when the field stopped on the trail.  Oh well, with my finish time on the Ascent this time I qualify for wave one next year!  Kim had a really tough race finishing in 5:26:06.  I think she may have had some sort of altitude sickness because by the time she got to the top her lips were turning blue...  needless to say we didn't spend a lot of time at the summit, we snapped a few obligatory pictures at the top and hopped on the next bus down the Manitou springs. 

Overall a really well put together race and an awesome series.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge or for something to break up your training with something a little different. 

Colfax Half Marathon 2014: Race Recap

OK, so I had taken a bit of a hiatus from running and this race was supposed to be my comeback of sorts. Running had never really been my thing, but my wife really enjoys it so I started running with her years ago. After I did the St. Louis Marathon back in 2011 I swore I would never run one again, but Kim signed up for the Chicago Marathon this year and I decided that if she could run a Marathon less than a year after having a baby I could suck it up and run one too. We signed up for this run as a way to ease ourselves back into distance running as we were both pretty out of shape.

Denver Colfax Half Marathon Shirt and Finishers Medal

 

The trainup:
My goal for this run was to get a sub 2 hour half marathon. I would have loved to PR my half but I wasn't holding out hope. Especially since this was going to be a half marathon at altitude. I trained using the First training program put out by Runnersworld which consisted of three "quality runs" versus just pumping up a ton of mileage and I have to say I was pretty happy with the overall plan. The three quality runs are one sprint workout, one tempo run and one longer mileage run each week with two cross training days. I tried pretty hard to make sure that I was hitting each of the runs and I focused less on the cross training days and overall it had the desired effect. By race day I was feeling confident and was ready to get out there and make my triumphant return to the world of running.

Pre Race:
The race is in Denver and since we live in Colorado Springs we needed to make a separate trip for packet pickup as there is no race day packet pickup which was inconvenient but not a deal breaker. The Expo was held at Mile High stadium and had free parking which was nice and the venue was interesting for the simple fact that it was at a stadium I had never visited before, otherwise it was nothing to write home about. The actual expo was held on the third floor, which meant lines for elevators and generally just a crowded feel. I expected the expo to be on the field and be a lot bigger but it wasn't. The vendors were your typical try to sell you things vendors and we both walked out with our bibs and some standard race swag (gu's, bars, stickers etc). Overall I was underwhelmed by the expo but I was really there for the race not the expo anyway. On race day the next morning we woke up at the butt crack of dawn and made the trek to Denver, we found parking on street relatively close to the start line and made our way over. We got there in time to watch the full Marathoners take off and waited our turn in the Corrals for the half Marathoners start. There were plenty of port-a-pottys at the start and the corrals were well organized. It was a pretty smooth start, I think the race organizers did a good job.

The race:
The Full Marathon and the Half Marathon don't share the same course which is nice in a lot of ways, that allows the course to stay a lot less crowded which is good because with 5,800 some half marathoners and 1,300 Marathon finishers it could get a little crowded. The route started and ended at City Park and after about a mile or so actually went right through the Denver Zoo, which was really cool. I really enjoyed seeing all of the animals and it made it a much more enjoyable run. After exiting the zoo the route ran by the museum of science and then exited onto city streets and residential neighborhoods on Montview Blvd. You run essentially straight on this road for the next four miles or so on a long gentle uphill before making the turn south towards Colfax ave. The run through the fire station was a nice touch on the route but besides the fire station and the zoo there wasn't a whole lot to say about the route. It was a fairly boring set of city streets and really a tour of the not so nice part of Colfax ave. On the whole, I think they found a decent course but with all of the beauty in Colorado, I wouldn't say that this ranks high on my list of races for scenery. Despite the location my race went really well, I came out of the gate too fast as seems to always be the case with me during races, and spent the first 7-8 miles running between 8:30 and 8:45 minute miles, by the time the 9th mile came around my legs were shot and I slowed way down and ran the rest at 9:30 or so. The worst part was that at mile 12, when I needed my watch the most to keep me on pace it ran out of batteries (I am notoriously bad at making sure it is charged before runs). But by the end of the race I finished at just under my 2 hour goal with a 1:59.00 which left me really happy and was only about two minutes off of my PR pace for a half marathon. Overall successful race. I had read a few reviews about the race in 2013 and they had said that the race was not well supported at water stops but I found the water stops to be well stocked with both water and Gatorade and I had no problem with them, they came at pretty regularly spaced intervals along the course as well. Below you can see my data from Garmin Connect for the run, although the data is cut short grrr.

Overall impression:
This was a decent Half Marathon for a local race although I wouldn't travel to do it over. Many things about it were underwhelming and the vast majority of the positives were things that would be expected of any big city race. Not a bad race by any means and well put together but not a race I would do again. If you are looking at doing this race good luck and enjoy!