Semiannual and Marathon Review

Hi world!  Sorry I been away for so long, but I am not quitting yet!  I was just being careful with my running after two years away because of an injury.  Last Saturday morning, I ran my first marathon in two years. 

Let me tell you all about it.  In the beginning of the year, I was planning to run Shires of Vermont Marathon on May 15; when I was ready to register in March, it was cancel for no reason.   That forced me to pick a race within a reasonable time fame and I decided to run Horse Capital Marathon (HCM) in KY.  When I sign up for HCM, I learned it has a hilly course from previous year participants’ review.  So, I adjust my training around with hill focus.  

Looking at my log, I had several butt-kicking workouts.  One of the hardest workouts was a sixteen miles tempo run on Mormon Temple neighborhood in Kensington.  One retired teammate from my former team told me long ago that, ‘… if you do hill workout twice per week, you can should be able to run a sub-3 marathon …’ I remember that and added it into this race’s training.

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Weather leading up to the race day was super wet, rain almost every day in May for area expand from Kentucky to Delaware.  However, I was surprise see the sun on May 19 during our drive to KY.  But as soon as we arrived to KY, water started pour down on us.  It continue to rain on and off on Friday.  As you can imaging, it was super wet and humid on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, we rose early and drove out to Fasig-Tipton – a horse auction house and the starting area.  The starting area is very straight forward, you park in the lot on the right side of starting line, and will finish less than hundred yards from the line. 

Before horn went off, I got to speak with few guys, and they all agree to go easy on the first half, then will press after first loop/halfway – it is two loops course with consisting rolling hills in theKentucky horse country. 

http://www.horsecapitalmarathon.com/index.php/race-information/marathon

When horn was blow at 07:00 on Saturday morning, I was off with a pack of seven guys, four of them were half marathoners, and they separated from us three quickly within the first mile.  Probably because of the rainy weather leading up to the race day, mile markers were off.  For majority of runners that may not be big deal, but that just a pain in the rear for an old fashion runner like myself still training with Timex Ironman 30-lap watch.

Anyway, I clocked the first mile at 5m’45 and I was saying ‘wtf’ in my head; then I clocked 8m’21 for the second.  I immediately get confirmed with someone next to me that both marks are off.  Then I clocked 7m’48, 6m’51, and 5m’35 for mile 3, 4, and 5, respectively.  I knew my pace is reasonably even and I won’t be jumping around like that.  By mile six, I stopped looking at my watch and just run.  

Another weird thing, the course didn’t have any indication for the half-mark when I was running it, so I estimated the half marathon split around 1h’28m’ or so.  But somehow they had a hidden chip reader on the course and gave me a 1h’31m’30s’ split at 13.1 miles. 

Mile markers somehow reappeared after mile 19, so I decided to hit some splits as I run by.  I got 6m’51, 7m’38, 6m’19, and 7m’44 for mile 20, 21, 22, and 23, respectively.  Around mile 23, I passed one runner, but got passed by two guys.  Then I dug deeper to follow those two and hope for the best. 

After 23 miles of hills running, legs were sore and screaming loud and clear, but I bet my competitors were in the same boat as I was.  I clocked 6m’44, 6m’54, and 6m’50 for mile 24, 25, and 26, respectively – those time average out at 6m’50 pace.  

At the end, my effort paid off (part of), I caught Andrew Bolt of Nicholasville KY within the last 0.2 mile to the line; but missed Raj Hathiramani of NYC by 32 seconds.  I finished with a Boston Qualify time of 3h’05m’01s’, seventh place overall and gender, and first in my age group.  

Overall, I think I was more than ready physically; but mentally I wasn’t.  This double loop course just tough.  Maybe I can run an indoor marathon to ge my mind going or not going.  Wife asked me, ‘what’s next?’ after the race on our drive back.  Well…  I don’t know.  I’ll see what’s summer bring me.  Stay tone.

… On, Off, and On Again …

hopefully I will be on for little longer this time around.  Since my last (running) post, I ran EastCounty 8K and that was one awful race.  I am sorry Tom, but it was so terrible since you made us circling around MLK Park like a merry-go-around carousel; however, I think you did a great job in the last minute after learning the County didn’t finished their trail work in time for you.  Overall, it was one challenge race.  Then I was off to East Asia and return as a married man. 

I picked up running after I return to MD in late September.  So far, I am doing well the training.  I completed five races since.  I ran 22m’29 in XC on the Farm 5k on October 25 with two weeks of training after five weeks off.  Two more weeks later, I ran Candy Cane City 5K with a time of 20m’05.  The day after my 37^th birthday, I ran Tidal Basin Mile in 5m’28.5 and the 3K in 11m’48.24 during lunch.  

First Thanksgiving as a married person has too much to thankful for and was so much fun with friends and family.  The Saturday after Turkey Day, I ran the annual MCRRC Turkey Burnoff Ten Miles.  I completed well and in-line with what I was hoping for.  I finished with a time of 1h’07m’11.55s (split: 6m'24.59, 6m'39.82, 13m'10.14, 13m'37.7, 13m'51.64, 6m'35.48, 6m'52.18).  I can’t complain with the effort and next race is Jingle Bell Jog 8K on December 13.  

In summary, I logged following miles in the last few weeks:

Week of September 28: 13 miles
Week of October 5: 23.6 miles
Week of October 12: 36.4 miles + 60 miles on bike commuting
Week of  October 19: 26.8 miles + 90 miles on bike commuting
Week of October 26: 43.0 miles + 60 miles on bike commuting
Week of November 2: 36.0 miles + 60 miles on bike commuting
Week of November 9: 41.0 miles + 60 miles on bike commuting
Week of November 16: 44.1 miles + 60 miles on bike commuting
Week of November 23: 36.0 miles + 15 miles on bike commuting
Week of November 30: projecting to run 46 miles + 30 miles on bike commuting

Since June 8, 2015

In the previous blog, I told y’all that I was running strong and recover well from yearlong injury.  I honestly felt very well after that weekend.  I uptick my mileage the following week and logged about 46 miles – highest for the year.  I was clearly tire on June 14, but I decided to go run Greenway Trail with the MCRRC Sunday trail group.  Then the nightmare began within two miles into the run, I hopped off a log, and my left foot land on a patch of green leaves – looked safe at the time.  But when my foot touch down, we heard a popping sound from my ankle, and I scream “#$%&”.  It felt a little tight up, I rubbed it for about a minute and it start to fade off.  I thought it wasn’t anything major and continued onto the trail with everyone else for about 10 miles.  I felt fine after the run and rest of the day.  After dinner, I felt something puffing on my ankle while I was talking on the phone that evening.  I looked down and saw my foot was swollen like a golf ball, “$hit!” 

I texted Dr. Firestone and he suggested me to stop by his office first thing in the morning.  Next day, I went and learn that I was pulled a ligament and put on bench again – six weeks.  There I was, on the bench, again, just like before.  Because of it, I only logged 85 miles for June.

Six weeks without running wasn’t too bad, considering the fact that was out for seven months.  I bike commute almost every day of the week and did a lot of foot exercises to strength the foot. 

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Five weeks went by and I felt I can run again, but I told myself to listen and be patient. 

Sunday of July 26 was the beginning of seventh week, I laced up and jog out my front door.  I jogged for 32m’34s’ for about 4.5 miles and felt very heavy.  The next day, I ran 31m’42s’ during lunch hour in thunder storm.  Tuesday was off from running, but bike commute.  Wednesday and Thursday were double down on bike commute and 5-nish miles run during lunch.  For July, I put down just 21 miles. 

I felt strong and jog lightly on the first day of August.  August 2, weather was super nice, temperature was at low 60, and I drove out to Germantown MD for Riley Rumble Half Marathon.  I wasn’t plan to race, I planned to run it was a long run, do it as 5k at a time, and target to finish around 1h’45m’. 

Like I said, weather was great and I ran out too hot at 6m’15 pace at the first mile.  I dialed down and clock second mile at 13m'49.09s’.  I really felt great and clocked 14m'10.9s’ at mile four.  I started to debate myself whether or not to run the whole thing and disregard the original plan. 

I decided to run it all, but kept that idea in mind in case my body tells me to stop; so I pressed forward and wonder how long I can last with that pace.  At mile six, I clocked 13m’42.49, 14m’24.66 for mile 8, 14m’30.36 for mile 10, 14m’27.93 for mile 12, and 7m’46.16 for mile 13.1; I finished the race with a time of 1h’32m’52s’ on one of the hilliest half marathons in the region.  That time was a total surprise for me.

Legs were sore the next day and I ran easy the following few days, while I was in a conference without much time spare for running.  On Friday of August 7, it was Going Green Track Meet.  Again, I wasn’t tried to race hard.  I just want to get a reasonable good workout in.  At the end, I ran 11m’59.2 (6m’ + 5m’59.2) the 2-mile and 5’45.2 for miler.  Both times are way off my personal best, but given the amount I been training for, I really can’t complain.  I took Saturday off and ran 10 miles on Sunday.

Week of August 10, I took a week easy and only logged 28 miles with four runs; nothing really special to report.  Week of August 17 is the last week before my long trip; I took Monday off after weekend long runs.  Tuesday morning, I got up early and dressed lightly, I jogged down my street around 06:00 and toward my office – I was run-commute.  I done that run when I first transplant here several years ago, I didn’t know where I was going, and did that run around two hours.  This time is different; I know the area well and ran the whole thing within 1h’37m’45, it is 13.125 miles door-to-door.  That was awesome.

I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would be on Wednesday morning; but I had something to deal in the morning, so I skip the morning run and joined the Wednesday Track in Rich Montgomery HS.  The last time, I did a reasonable workout was too long ago to remember.  The workout plan was run 16 x 300m with 100m recover; I plan to run it around 6m’ pace.  I think executed it pretty well: 1m'05.80s', 1m'04.43s', 1m'03.44s', 1m'04.38s', 1m'05.05s', 1m'03.55s', 1m'02.72s', 1m'03.82s', 1m'00.65s', 1m'02.58s', 1m'01.10s', 0m'59.81s', 1m'01.31s', 1m'00.93s', 1m'00.05s', 0m'58.05s'; that was average about 62s’ per 300m or about 5m’32 per mile.

I have one more race before my trip, East County 8K on August 22.  After that, I will be on vacation and I am not sure I will log any miles, but I will certainly try.  Please come back and visit my blog, I will post my messages by email. 

y’all have a good summer!

Update: February 2 – May 31, 2015

Recently after reading friends’ training blog and make me wonder I really should keep up this blogging.  Well then, here is a somewhat brief what I have done in the last several months. 

February 2 – 8: 36 miles; heel was sore after Country Road 5 Miler, but runnable without workouts.

February 9 – 15: 26 miles; heel felt better and did a 10x30s’ pick up on parkway trail. Family was visiting from oversea and excused myself to run.

February 16 – 22: 0 miles; weather turned to absolutely cold with visiting family, I couldn’t find a better excuse to run.  2015 RRCA Ten Miles Challenge was canceleddue to snow and ice; it worked out well for me.

February 23 – March 1: 34 miles; weather warm up some, family left, and I ran five days. In February 2015, I ran 102 miles.

March 2 – 8: 38 miles; ran five days with one workout (first since April 15, 2014).  The workout plan was 8x800m at miler effort; I ran 3’10.56, 3’05.86, 3’08.39, 3’10.61, 3’09.86, 3’10.81, 3’17.40, and 4’53.29 (ran 1200m instead in the last set).  I was very pleased with it; even splits were not close to what I wanted. 

March 9 – 15: 39 miles; ran five days with one workout.  The workout plan was 3x2 miles at 5k effort; I ran 13’38.09, 13’08.79, and 13’10.51.  My heel started feel funny day after.

March 16 – 22: 30 miles; ran five days with one race on Sunday.  I ran Piece of Cake 10K in 40m'46.44 (6:25.16, 13:04.36, 6:43.63, 6:33.69, 6:33.71, 1:25.89).  I was reward with Volunteer of the Year for 2014 in MCRRC Award Brunch.

March 23 – 29: 37 miles; ran five days with one workout.  The workout plan was 4x2mi at 5K effort with 2m' off, felt heel soreness after first, ran three reps just be cautious; the splits were 13’04.41, 12’59.93, and 13’06.65.

March 30 – April 5: 42 miles; ran five days with one workout.  The workout plan was 2x3mi at 5K effort with 5m' off.  During the workout, the wind in Hais Point was angry, I had to cut the recovery time down to 3m’ to maintain the warmness and flexibilities; the splits were 19’56.28 and 20’02.60.  For March 2015, I ran 159 miles – longest since April 2014.

April 6 – 12: 34 miles; ran five days with one workout and one race.  The workout plan was 6x800m at 10K effort.  I ran 3’09.34, 3’08.28, 3’10.46, 3’03.35, 3’00.86, and 2’58.65.  The race was Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile.  My race plan was to run a solid 1h’05m’.  However, due a fatal accident on the course just minutes before the racestart, the course was alter t0 9.39 miles, and my race plan also interrupted.  Long story short, I ran 1h’01m’55 (6’22.94, 6’35.98, 6’26.17, 6’33.68, 9’20.30, 6’36.77, 6’46.53, 6’47.15, 6’26.27).

April 13 – 19: 34 miles; ran five days without workout.  It was an easy week for me.

April 20 – 26: 31 miles; ran four days with one workout and one race.  The workout plan was 12x400m and I ran 1'29.33, 1'26.69, 1'26.75, 1'27.13, 1'26.58, 1'25.75, 1'25.20, 1'31.21, 1'25.82, 1'28.70, 1'28.49, and 1'25.79.  The race was Pike Peek 10K.  Due to White Flint Mall demolition, PP10K course has changed – push the starting line backward for a half mile (uphill), then right turn off the Pike and become a very short and fast downhill at the finish; I ran 5'57.95, 6'11.47, 6'06.88, 6'17.17, 6'15.03, 7'31.59.  It was too tough for me and I felt my legs were dead for nearly two days.  I also bike commute twice with 65 miles.

April 27 – May 3: 25 miles; easy week with 25 miles; legs were sore for most part of the following week, but still manage to run Capital for a Day 5K on May 2.  I bike commute for about 60 miles for the week and ran 144 miles for March.

May 4 – 10: 38 miles; ran for six days with two workouts and one XC race.  The interval workout was on Tuesday and planned for 8x800m; splits were 3'04.62, 3'02.06, 3'01.08, 2'59.16, 2'59.72, 2'58.35, 3'01.58, and 3'30.20.  Tempo workout for Thursday was 4 miles at marathon pace and I ran 6'56.22, 6'51.44, and 13'27.49.  Sunday was Run Aware 5K XC and I ran 21m’13.

May 11 – 17: 34 miles; ran for five days with one workout and one race.  The interval workout on Tuesday was 12x400m with 90s’ recover.  I ran 1'32.93, 1'32.13, 3'03.40, 3'01.97, 1'29.60, 1'26.42, 1'23.63, 1'23.68, 1'22.37, and 1'22.23.  The race was Germantown 5 Miler and I planned for 31 minutes flat.  It was a warm day at high 70s degree at start and I ran 31m’58 (6'04.61, 6'25.39, 6'35.34, 6'39.71, and 6'15.1).  The weekly bike commute miles were 90.

2015 Germantown Five Miler

May 18 – 24: 38 miles; ran five days and one workout during very warm lunch hour.  The workout was 12x1m’ on with 1m’ recover; it was so warm and humid, I only ran 11 instead.  On May 24, I ran the Seneca Ridge Trail with Alan and Ryan; that was an absolutely beautiful trail to run/hike/bike.  If you are in the area, I strong recommend.  The weekly bike commute miles were 62.

May 25 – May 31: 42 miles; ran five days and one race.  The race was MCRRC Memorial Day Four Miles and I ran 25m’09 (5'58.23, 5'36.54, 6'19.03, 7'15.37).  We tried to repeat the fun on Sunday again on Seneca Ridge Trail, but got lost a few time along the way; however, it was still beautiful and worth.   I biked commute once with 30 miles and logged 159 miles for May.

I am feeling stronger week after week.  I think my plan to return for a marathon this autumn is highly possible.  

I Am Back...

Hello readers! Sorry I stopped blogging since July last year due heel injury.  I was running, but very minimum miles and I had nothing notable to write.  Time went by and my foot finally feel better, I started running once per week in October, then every other two days in November, and then every other day in December. 

By end of December, I logged about 20 miles per week.  I summed up my running log for 2014 and I ran 996 miles – that is not even half of distance I logged in 2013.  Injury sucks!!! But I racked up tone of miles on my bike by commuting to work, 2155 miles!  That isn’t too bad.

As usual, I visited my family during holidays in southern Cal, running two days in a row just before Christmas, and three days in a row started on second week of January.  By the end of January, I averaged 30 miles per weeks and foot stay strong.  I felt good and confidence.

Morning of February 1, I ran MCRRC Country Road Five Miles.  I planned to run easy at 7:12 pace and that was a cold day with icy spot on the road.  I didn’t want to get hurt from it, so I started it easy and tried to hold back on the downhill mile one, but I clocked 6:22.  Road turned into hills and clocked 6:46 for mile two.  We turned around at halfway and I was just seconds behind new MCRRC teammate Sarah, I tried my best to stay with her.  We passed miles three together with a time of 7:03.  Roll around to mile four, we clocked 6:29 and passed her soon after.  I ended up with a time of 33m’29s’ for the race, which averaged out 6:42 pace.  

This took me by surprise.  The race time was far off from my personal record, but my fitness was good enough to put me on track to races.  I jogged two miles with Miles on ICC trail as warm down.  Next race is RRCA Ten Miles Challenge in Columbia and that will serves as a tune up for Cherry Blossom; but I will be traveling the week before and probably hard to squeeze a workout in.  So I’ll see …

 

Boston Marathon Weekend

was start on Saturday morning.  I was planning to spend my weekend at Keith’s (MCRRC teammate) family home in Northern MA and he got a wonderful gig with his company to spend six months in New Zealand, but need to put all his belonging into a storage space before his new assignment.  But the Self-Storage did not allow him to finish packing the night before; therefore I headed out to help him out the Saturday morning and delayed our departure from Silver Spring till 13:30.  Eventually we pulled into the driveway of his parent home in 23:30 Saturday night.  

Sunday morning, we were very tire, but we still manage to get up around 07:30 to do our shakeout jog on a four-mile loop around his home.  We jogged easily and got it in for 31 minutes flat.  We wash up quickly and head down to expo for our package. Keith done couple of Boston Marathon before, but it was my first ever.  I was like a new kid on the first day of school.  I couldn't hold excitement, I smiled like six-year-old, look around for something different, and I spotted several friends from DC area before I pick up my own package.  It was very exciting to see someone you know in such international event.  

We got my number and shirt, headed to the picture section for a photo under a big Boston Marathon banner, and then got ourselves into the expo.  

I spend a fortune and buy myself a bright orange Boston Marathon jacket; I hardly ever spend that much money on clothes.  Anyway, the expo had pretty much the same displays in any other marathon expo; it was just about four times larger.  We randomly looked around and we head out of town.  I spend the rest of afternoon with Keith's family to celebrate Easter, it was wonderful, and I ate a lot.  By 9pm, we returned to our own quarter and get our rest.  Amazedly, I slept fine, although my allergy did bother me a bit, and I woke up twice to clear nostril, but I felt back into sleep without any problem. 

Monday morning, I awoke by the sounds of my alarm at 5:20.  I quickly get my coffee and bagel, and clear the system before we headed out to catch our shuttle in Boston Common.  

We arrived to Hopkinton by 08:45 - about 25 minutes for first wave runners to line up.  We managed to use our bathroom, met a few friends, and then we get to our respective corral.  I waited around, tried to stay loose in lower 40 degree temperature, watch people getting in line, and said quick hellos to a few friends that passing by.  There were no bathroom by the staging area and I needed to go.  By distracting myself, I watch my surrounding and saw there were several snipers/soldiers on rooftopwatch over us with high power binoculars, soldiers armed machine guns patrolling with dogs, volunteers double checks runners’ bib before every corrals, and runners follow instruction orderly.  It felt intense but safe. 

By 9:45 or so, Star Spangled Banner was sung by someone important, four helicopters fly on top of us at the end of it, and then everyone cheer.  It was so much energy in the air and we were all ready.  At 10:00, air horn blew and first wave of nine thousand runners charged forward; by 10:02 and about 250 meters from the starting line, countless male runners served the duty to fertilize the nature, and I partaken it.   

Anyway, I never completed in a race with that many full marathoners and was a total new experience for me.  I just couldn’t remember every single piece of the race.  I only remember a few; I remember people were everywhere, there were runners running all around me, specters cheering at me everywhere I looked.  When I ran by some section, a neighborhood family put their stereos out on the lawn and was playing YMCA, while runners danced YMCA with their hands.  It was a very fun scene and felt more like in a concert.  When I ran by Wesley, female students cheer for us, they screamed on the top of their lungs to me as I am Ryan Hall, and offer kisses as temptations to get us run faster and stay strong.  When I ran by Boston College near Brookline, I saw people were cheering and called out “MCRRC” from my jersey.  Everywhere I ran, I saw little kids put their tiny hands out for high/low fives.  I never had that many fives in one setting.  I saw so many single and double amputee runner kept it going, it was very encouraging.  Overall, it was absolutely amazing. 

Before I get into the race, I thought I was training alright, even though I did not have a prefect training, but I think was about 85 – 90% marathon peak shape before the race and thought that should be good enough for PR.  I tried to hit split every mile, but I missed a few and here is what I have from my Ironman watch:

Mile	Split
1	06:59.23	Excluding pee stop
2	06:45.04
3	06:40.66
4 + 5	13:31.43
6	06:42.30
7	06:42.95
8	06:48.05
9	06:53.82
10	06:55.14
11	06:59.33
12	06:52.62
13	06:55.80
14	06:53.33
15	07:09.53
16	06:51.10
17 + 18	14:48.67
19	07:14.43
20	07:29.18
21	08:00.47
22 + 23	15:03.47
24	07:43.25
25	07:42.53
26.22	08:55.19
Total	3:06:37.52

And here is 5K interval splits from BAA:

5k	00:21:38
10k	00:42:38
15k	01:03:46
20k	01:25:23
Half	01:30:04
25k	01:47:05
30k	02:09:43
35k	02:33:03
40k	02:57:04
Finish	03:07:08	Including pee stop

In which, I have following split between each 5k:

	Pace between each 5k
	Time	pace
5k to 10K	21:00.0	06:46.00
10k to 15K	21:08.0	06:48.00
15k to 20K	21:37.0	06:57.00
20 to Half	04:41.0	06:58.00
20k to 25K	21:42.0	06:59.00
25 to 30K	22:38.0	07:17.00
30k to 35K	23:20.0	07:31.00
35k to 40K	24:01.0	07:44.00
40k to finish	10:04.0	07:23.00

I know… I need that additional 10 – 15%.  My plan to PR on the street of Boston failed terribly.  However, many people I spoke to after the race was also had a bad day due to fast warm up weather.  When the race started, it was in the low-40s, then by noon, it jumped up to mid-60s.  Maybe that was the weather play the role of my failure.  Whatever that was, I still finished my fourteenth state in Massachusetts and 21^st marathon in Boston.  I couldn’t complain any and only be very proud to be part of the history to known that Meb broke the 30 years drought to win in Boston as an American.

I caught a ride with a friend and storm out of Beantown within three hours, and took the following day off from work.  On Wednesday, I wore my orange Boston jacket proudly to work; I felt so terrible in legs and knees, but the stiffness and soreness weren’t matter – I am so proud to be part of 2014 Boston Marathon.