2011 Mercedes Marathon

My thoughts on the 10th annual Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, AL…

Mercedes Marathon
February 13, 2011
www.mercedesmarathon.com

My Run:  Overall, the Mercedes Marathon was my eighth full marathon, and third in the last 90 days (Rock n’ Roll San Antonio on 11/14, WDW Marathon on 01/09).    Coming into this race, I had been trying to temper my expectations because of my heavy race schedule this winter, and due to missing significant training time from a series of illnesses (influenza, sinusitis, lung inflammation, stomach virus).  I had set my PR of 3:24 at the Rock n’ Roll San Antonio, and then basically ran the WDW Marathon with the flu, and finished in 3:43.  For the Mercedes, I was hoping for just under 3:30, and really didn’t want to push it any harder.

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2011 Walt Disney World Marathon

My thoughts on the 2011 Walt Disney World Marathon…

Walt Disney World Marathon
January 9, 2011
http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/rundisney/wdw-marathon/

My Run:  Overall, the Walt Disney World (WDW) marathon was my seventh full marathon, and my third in the last 14 weeks (Twin Cities Marathon on 10/03 and Rock n’ Roll San Antonio on 11/14). This race was originally planned as the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge, which would also have included the half marathon on Saturday, January 8th.

Unfortunately, on the Tuesday before the race I came down with flu.  This included a fever of 100 to 102, body aches, chills, exhaustion, etc.  My family and I still traveled to WDW on Friday morning, but as of Saturday morning my temperature was still around 101.  Because of this, I ended up skipping the half marathon, and really did not think the full was going to be an option either.

However, late in the day on Saturday I began to noticeably feel better, and my fever broke.  Even though I knew I would be nowhere near peak condition, I decided to give it a go.  I decided to stick with my same strategy I had originally planned for the Goofy, to run a very smooth race and come in under 3:45 (current PR is 3:24 from San Antonio in November).

On the morning of the race, I did a 5-minute warm-up run followed by 4 x 100m stride outs. During the warm-up, I could tell that my energy level was low, but otherwise felt ok. I did have some sinus congestion and a cough, but neither of these flared up during the race.

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2010 Running Year in Review

2010 Training Stats (2009)

  • Total Distance:  1,550 Miles (1,075)
  • Total Time:  220 Hours (166)
  • Average Pace:  8:34 per mile (9:13)

2010 Race Stats

Full Marathons Completed – 4

  • 28-Mar-10  Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon    3:39:12 (PR)
  • 24-Apr-10  Country Music Marathon  3:52:55
  • 03-Oct-10  Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon        3:25:38 (PR)
  • 14-Nov-10  Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon    3:24:13 (PR)

Half Marathons Completed – 2

  • 08-May-10  One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon  1:42:46 (PR)
  • 16-Oct-10  Murfreesboro Middle Half  1:31:00 (PR)

Other Races

  • 26-Nov-10    Boulevard Bolt (5 Miler)    0:32:22 (PR)

2010 has been a break-out year for me in running, with new PRs in every race but one.  There have been many factors which have contributed to this improvement, but the biggest ones include (1) Great running group / running partners (2) P90X (3) Better Diet (4) Increased emphasis on track and speed training.

Looking forward to another year of running in 2011, with the Goofy Marathon and a Half Challenge in just over a week.

The Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon

My thoughts on the 3rd annual Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon in San Antonio, TX…

Rock n’ Roll San-Antonio Marathon
November 14, 2010
san-antonio.competitor.com

My Run:  Overall, the Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon (RnRSA) was my sixth full marathon, and my second in the last six weeks (Twin Cities Marathon on 10/03).  At Twin Cities, I was going for a Boston qualifying time of 3:15, but came up short. Even so, I still set a new PR of 3:25. For RnRSA, Boston was no longer a priority since it is already sold out for 2011. Additionally, my expectations were scaled back due to lingering problems with patellar tendinitis in my left knee, and IT band pain in my right hip. Because of this I did not run at all during the 4 days immediately preceding the event, and decided that I would wait until Sunday morning to determine my pace based on how I felt. I knew from the expo that there would not be a pace group for 3:25, but only for 3:20 and 3:30. Based on my injuries, I felt like 3:20 would be very aggressive, and really didn’t want to jeopardize the race just because I like running with pace groups.

On the morning of the race, I did a 5 minute warmup run followed by 6 x 100m stride outs. During the warmup, my right hip felt fine, but my left knee was very sore and stiff. I was worried that this would end up being a big problem for the race, but was determined to give it a go regardless. I decided to start out the race at 3:25 pace (7:51 per mile) and see how that felt. I was not wearing a pace band, so my focus was mostly on just making sure that I did not get too fast, and not so much on any specific goal finish time.

Even though the race time was posted as 7:00am, it did not start until 7:15am. Not sure why it was delayed, but this messed up the timing of my pre-race gels, and my knee started to get stiff while waiting in the coral. I tried to keep stretching, but it was hard to move around. However, the weather was perfect with overcast skies and temperatures in the low 50s at race start and high 50s at the finish. That’s about all you could hope for in San Antonio.

As the race started in downtown San Antonio, I did not feel good at all. My knee was sore, and for some reason my heart rate shot up into the mid 170s during the first two miles. Considering that I was hoping to keep my heart rate in the low 160s during the race, this was somewhat alarming. However, after 2 miles my heart rate settled down to my normal race range. Not sure what was going on during the first two miles. Could have been nerves, or could have been the caffeine in the gels I took before the race.

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The Murfreesboro “Middle Half” Marathon

My thoughts on the 4th annual Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon in Murfreesboro, TN

Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon
October 16, 2010
www.themiddlehalf.com

My Run:  Overall, the Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon (Middle Half) in Murfreesboro was my sixth half marathon, and my second long-distance race in the last two weeks (Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on 10/03).  This was the second time I have run the Middle Half, which is capped at 2,250 runners.  Actually, the Middle Half in 2008 was my first long distance event ever.

I went into this race with absolutely no goals.  Being two-weeks out from the Twin Cities Marathon, I just wanted to do this one by feel.  On top of that, I also had a stomach virus the previous weekend where I lost 4 pounds from my already low post-marathon weight.  With this in mind, I decided to do a 10 to 15 minute warmup before the race, including some stride-outs, and then see what pace felt comfortable.  On race morning the weather was absolutely perfect and I felt surprisingly good.  I decided that I would start the race around a 7:00 to 7:15 min per mile pace, and then go from there.

There were a number of members from my regular running group who also ran in this race.  Many of these are gearing up for the Marine Corps Marathon in two weeks, and were using this race as a good solid tempo run.  My buddy Paxton even turned this into his final long run before Marine Corp, by adding miles before and after the race.  He ran 20 miles in total.

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