Big Day of Running. Big. Lots of running. Wow.
Today's runs: Warm up run of 1.3 miles at 9:48 pace. 10k Race. Cool down run of 7.8 miles at 8:57 pace.
43 miles this week. Marathon is 14 weeks from today!
If you didn't read yesterday's post, you might want to for the context.
Warm Up
I got to the park with just the right amount of time to register, change my mind about short sleeve versus long sleeve (long), stretch, and do a light warm up run. On my way back, I saw the end of the Zippy 5K, which I knew Thomas was running. Man, those guys were going fast! Thomas was in the second bundle of runners, and though I was clapping for all those guys, I didn't get my voice out to call out encouragement specifically to Thomas. He looked very focused and part of me didn't distract him by having him look up to see who was cheering him on.
The 10k Race
The San Francisco Dolphin South End Runners Club puts on small races in various locations around the city just about every weekend. They played gracious hosts to this race at a time and place that suited me well. Thanks, DSE!
I was hoping to finish in 42 minutes, which would represent a personal record (PR) of over 40 seconds for me. This was only my third 10k I've ever run.
We assembled under the overpass of Crossover Drive:
And after a few too many announcements as we cooled off before the start, we were underway!
(I had some trouble getting my stopwatch to start.)
Here is the race route:
If you click and zoom in, you can follow along a little better.
A quick course description: We started in the middle of the map, where the blue line intersects with Crossover Drive. We headed East on JFK drive and did a clockwise loop as shown in blue, taking us past the De Young Museum and around the far side of Stow Lake. We rejoined JFK and turned West, coming back under the overcrossing and then taking the Western loop counter-clockwise, returning via MLK Drive, Middle Drive and Overlook drive.
Race strategy: Go out slower than my overall hoped-for pace, at 7:00 per mile, for the first two miles. Pick it up in the middle of mile three and average 6:40 for the rest. Come in at 42:00.
I had to go by feel, rather than by my watch, once I realized that there were no mile markers on the course (I was distressed by this a bit). I started out at a reasonable pace, trying my best not to push very hard. Quickly, a pack of about 15 runners coalesced ahead of me, but I knew they were probably on pace to finish 5 minutes ahead of me so I resisted my urge to compete and just let them stay there. However, there was one fellow, whom I'll call White-Shirt Guy, who was just ahead of me and behind that pack. I decided to trail him, keeping him about 20 feet in front of me.
A pack of Zippy runners, doing their cool down, headed in our direction, and Thomas was amongst them. He cheered and called out my name. Thanks, Thomas!
At times during the East Loop, I felt like I must have been going too fast. I checked my time on my watch and it showed my heart rate at 182, and I worried that this was too early for me to be working this hard (something like 13 minutes in). Coming around the bottom of that loop, I just worked on trusting White-Shirt Guy's pace, and while that can be a dangerous tactic, it felt like it was working for me. However, at this point, I could feel the heart rate monitor strap starting to slide down. It wound up just above my waist shortly. Moderately distracting.
Back on JFK, heading West, I knew that we'd shortly be facing a long stretch of downhill. I brought White-Shirt Guy in a bit as we caught a sprinkle of rain.
And when the downhill came, I decided I needed to work the downhill. We were certainly at the point I wanted to start working harder, and so I took White-Shirt Guy.
(Click to enlarge. The spot in the middle is a raindrop. I'm on the right, with White-Shirt Guy to my left. Also take note of the two runners to White-Shirt Guy's left.)
With White-Shirt Guy behind me, I focused on No-Shirt Guy about 30 feet ahead of me. A couple of minutes went by, with my strides long and the downhill allowing for some speed, and I heard two voices behind me. I resisted the instinct I formed in High School Cross Country races to take a look back (since it just didn't matter at all how I finished relative to other people in this race, but it would in a Cross Country race). In another couple of minutes, the two guys above passed me. I'll call them Bead-Necklace Guy and Senior Guy. They quickly left me behind and caught up to No-Shirt Guy.
Despite my knowledge of the roads on this course, running them just about every weekend, I got fooled, looking ahead and seeing Chain of Lakes Drive and thinking it was where we were to turn. When the three guys ahead of me didn't turn, I realized my mistaken notion and did what I could to maintain my pace for the rest of the downhill. Finally at the turn, we hooked onto Bernice Rodgers Way, then, to the uphill of MLK Drive.
At this point, only No-Shirt Guy was in reach. I worked on keeping him close, slightly surprised I still had the energy to be climbing uphill. I was breathing hard, but I could still summon the legs.
When we turned onto Middle Drive, I mistook it for Overlook Drive and thought we were getting close to the finish. (This was silly: Galen always describes this route as "three hills", and I was clearly on the second one.)
Second mental mistake, but again in my favor, since I was able to maintain pace. I pulled No-Shirt Guy in at the start of Middle Drive. He said something to me but I don't know what it was. I left him behind me and started working the uphill hard. When I realized my mistake, I just redoubled my efforts, knowing the end of the race was near. I started to think about all the hill training, the cross country home course that was nothing but hills, the hills I ran on where I grew up, the hills around my home I ran on, and the fact that I had been up these hills many times before. I own this! This course is made for me! I thought.
At Overlook Drive, I saw Bead-Necklace Guy and tried to drag him in, mostly just closing the gap a bit. I pushed and knew the race was near the end. I saw the finish line, and the clock. Someone was walking past it, but I saw that it said 41:xx. 41 minutes? The clock came into focus and the guy at the finish line called out 41:35 as I crossed, saying "nice finish!".
41:35! 25 seconds ahead of my goal for the race. A PR by over a minute! I'm so pleased!
The Cool Down
I had to put the cool down out of my head completely for running this race. I just couldn't think about running more than the distance I had covered in the race after the effort I was going to (and wanted to) put in. So after a little sports drink, a little water, a cookie, a kiss for my wife (who was a champion, dragging herself out of bed and taking these pictures!), and retrieving my water bottle from my car, I headed out for nearly 8 miles more.
The route to the edge of the park feels much shorter when you start where I did!
Along the Great Highway, I had a few really nice moments taking in the ocean view. I reached my turnaround point and headed back, having maintained a moderate heart rate (150 bpm) and felt like I was keeping it slow.
However, at many points in the last 2 or 3 miles, my legs were certainly tired and I felt like I could just stop. I didn't, though. I started to think about the race again, and darn it if I didn't speed up. I slowed down again, and I put the steps together to make it back to my car. Exhausted, I drove home.
My champion wife was waiting for me, having a delicious hot breakfast ready when I got there. She's the best.
Ice and Advil, here I come!
43 miles this week. Marathon is 14 weeks from today!
If you didn't read yesterday's post, you might want to for the context.
Warm Up
I got to the park with just the right amount of time to register, change my mind about short sleeve versus long sleeve (long), stretch, and do a light warm up run. On my way back, I saw the end of the Zippy 5K, which I knew Thomas was running. Man, those guys were going fast! Thomas was in the second bundle of runners, and though I was clapping for all those guys, I didn't get my voice out to call out encouragement specifically to Thomas. He looked very focused and part of me didn't distract him by having him look up to see who was cheering him on.
The 10k Race
The San Francisco Dolphin South End Runners Club puts on small races in various locations around the city just about every weekend. They played gracious hosts to this race at a time and place that suited me well. Thanks, DSE!
I was hoping to finish in 42 minutes, which would represent a personal record (PR) of over 40 seconds for me. This was only my third 10k I've ever run.
We assembled under the overpass of Crossover Drive:
And after a few too many announcements as we cooled off before the start, we were underway!
(I had some trouble getting my stopwatch to start.)Here is the race route:
If you click and zoom in, you can follow along a little better.A quick course description: We started in the middle of the map, where the blue line intersects with Crossover Drive. We headed East on JFK drive and did a clockwise loop as shown in blue, taking us past the De Young Museum and around the far side of Stow Lake. We rejoined JFK and turned West, coming back under the overcrossing and then taking the Western loop counter-clockwise, returning via MLK Drive, Middle Drive and Overlook drive.
Race strategy: Go out slower than my overall hoped-for pace, at 7:00 per mile, for the first two miles. Pick it up in the middle of mile three and average 6:40 for the rest. Come in at 42:00.
I had to go by feel, rather than by my watch, once I realized that there were no mile markers on the course (I was distressed by this a bit). I started out at a reasonable pace, trying my best not to push very hard. Quickly, a pack of about 15 runners coalesced ahead of me, but I knew they were probably on pace to finish 5 minutes ahead of me so I resisted my urge to compete and just let them stay there. However, there was one fellow, whom I'll call White-Shirt Guy, who was just ahead of me and behind that pack. I decided to trail him, keeping him about 20 feet in front of me.
A pack of Zippy runners, doing their cool down, headed in our direction, and Thomas was amongst them. He cheered and called out my name. Thanks, Thomas!
At times during the East Loop, I felt like I must have been going too fast. I checked my time on my watch and it showed my heart rate at 182, and I worried that this was too early for me to be working this hard (something like 13 minutes in). Coming around the bottom of that loop, I just worked on trusting White-Shirt Guy's pace, and while that can be a dangerous tactic, it felt like it was working for me. However, at this point, I could feel the heart rate monitor strap starting to slide down. It wound up just above my waist shortly. Moderately distracting.
Back on JFK, heading West, I knew that we'd shortly be facing a long stretch of downhill. I brought White-Shirt Guy in a bit as we caught a sprinkle of rain.
And when the downhill came, I decided I needed to work the downhill. We were certainly at the point I wanted to start working harder, and so I took White-Shirt Guy.
(Click to enlarge. The spot in the middle is a raindrop. I'm on the right, with White-Shirt Guy to my left. Also take note of the two runners to White-Shirt Guy's left.)With White-Shirt Guy behind me, I focused on No-Shirt Guy about 30 feet ahead of me. A couple of minutes went by, with my strides long and the downhill allowing for some speed, and I heard two voices behind me. I resisted the instinct I formed in High School Cross Country races to take a look back (since it just didn't matter at all how I finished relative to other people in this race, but it would in a Cross Country race). In another couple of minutes, the two guys above passed me. I'll call them Bead-Necklace Guy and Senior Guy. They quickly left me behind and caught up to No-Shirt Guy.
Despite my knowledge of the roads on this course, running them just about every weekend, I got fooled, looking ahead and seeing Chain of Lakes Drive and thinking it was where we were to turn. When the three guys ahead of me didn't turn, I realized my mistaken notion and did what I could to maintain my pace for the rest of the downhill. Finally at the turn, we hooked onto Bernice Rodgers Way, then, to the uphill of MLK Drive.
At this point, only No-Shirt Guy was in reach. I worked on keeping him close, slightly surprised I still had the energy to be climbing uphill. I was breathing hard, but I could still summon the legs.
When we turned onto Middle Drive, I mistook it for Overlook Drive and thought we were getting close to the finish. (This was silly: Galen always describes this route as "three hills", and I was clearly on the second one.)
Second mental mistake, but again in my favor, since I was able to maintain pace. I pulled No-Shirt Guy in at the start of Middle Drive. He said something to me but I don't know what it was. I left him behind me and started working the uphill hard. When I realized my mistake, I just redoubled my efforts, knowing the end of the race was near. I started to think about all the hill training, the cross country home course that was nothing but hills, the hills I ran on where I grew up, the hills around my home I ran on, and the fact that I had been up these hills many times before. I own this! This course is made for me! I thought.At Overlook Drive, I saw Bead-Necklace Guy and tried to drag him in, mostly just closing the gap a bit. I pushed and knew the race was near the end. I saw the finish line, and the clock. Someone was walking past it, but I saw that it said 41:xx. 41 minutes? The clock came into focus and the guy at the finish line called out 41:35 as I crossed, saying "nice finish!".
41:35! 25 seconds ahead of my goal for the race. A PR by over a minute! I'm so pleased!
The Cool Down
I had to put the cool down out of my head completely for running this race. I just couldn't think about running more than the distance I had covered in the race after the effort I was going to (and wanted to) put in. So after a little sports drink, a little water, a cookie, a kiss for my wife (who was a champion, dragging herself out of bed and taking these pictures!), and retrieving my water bottle from my car, I headed out for nearly 8 miles more.
The route to the edge of the park feels much shorter when you start where I did!Along the Great Highway, I had a few really nice moments taking in the ocean view. I reached my turnaround point and headed back, having maintained a moderate heart rate (150 bpm) and felt like I was keeping it slow.
However, at many points in the last 2 or 3 miles, my legs were certainly tired and I felt like I could just stop. I didn't, though. I started to think about the race again, and darn it if I didn't speed up. I slowed down again, and I put the steps together to make it back to my car. Exhausted, I drove home.
My champion wife was waiting for me, having a delicious hot breakfast ready when I got there. She's the best.
Ice and Advil, here I come!
posted by Brent at
2:13 PM
2 Comments:
41:30 is a great initial 10k time, especially with the hills at the end instead of the beginning. You'll improve that time by your peak training week.
My book says that a 41:30 10k correlates with a 3:15 marathon. I ran both my marathons slower than my 10k indicator time, but 3:30 should definitely be in the bag if you do the training and stay healthy.
By
Anonymous, at 3:06 PM
Re: hills at the end.
The funny part for me was, by having them at the end, I knew I wasn't going to have the relief of downhill, and so I was just pushing hard all the way to the finish. It is also funny how 3:30 has been in my mind, almost naively, the whole time I've considered running this marathon, and yet, all indicators say it is good goal for me!
By
Brent, at 3:53 PM
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