Celtic Solstice 5 miler & Patterson Park Beer Mile 12/13/14

I've been lazy with my race reports so here's a bit of a late recap of our second effort at back to back races we did in 2013.  We really liked the Celtic Solstice 5 miler, especially the awesome race swag so we signed up again.  This year's swag was an awesome Brooks running jacket with the race logo, worth the $80 signup fee for a 5-miler.  Behold:

Back design of the  jacket

We had Adam pick up our race packets early since we wouldn't get to Baltimore late Friday night.  All we had to do was show up and run this year which was nice.  The weather was nearly identical to 2013's event- somewhere well below freezing.  We arrived with plenty of time to park and get to the starting line and stand around in the cold among the thongs of 3000+ runners. 

I wished Kristen good luck and Adam, our friend Jeff Damiano and I worked our way to the front of the herd.  We started about 10 rows back, and it worked out extremely well.  We did have to pick our way around a few clusters of people in the first tenth of a mile but we had a nice smooth start. 

My target for the race was to maintain a stead pace as close to 7 min/mi as possible.  I felt pretty good about that target and felt pretty strong.  Aside from the cold air, it was a good day for an aggressive run.  I hit mile #1 right on the money at 6:59.  Just like the prior year, at about mile 2, I saw the leader coming back and going into mile 3, just killing the race.  After the 4th mile I really started to drag and was starting to see a lot of runners pass me.  I finished as strongly as I could and did far better than the 2013 race.

I crossed the line 187th / 3060 runners at 36:47 officially, dropping a few minutes of my time from last year.  Jeff was 58th with a 32:48.  The post-race spread is pretty awesome.  Lots of normal stuff but the hot soup and hot mulled wine is pretty fantastic.  We lingered for a little while but we packed into the car to sit for half an hour in traffic to leave and prepare for the 2nd Annual Patterson Park Beer Mile.

With the first ever Beer Mile World Championships only 10 days prior, I had visions of grandeur where I ran an 8 minute beer mile.  It was going to be awesome!  We even made trophies for the race.  Our field grew by 66.7% this year.  We had 3 men and 2 women this time!  Big field of athletes!  Trophies all the way down to 2nd place, too!!

Second place trophy ("I POOPED TODAY" plastic cup) not pictured

I turned in an almost exact repeat performance and retained the title.  It's really amazing how hard it is to drink any of the beers after the first one.  

HAT RUN 50K 3/21/2015

I was told my ultra-runner membership had expired soon after my DNF at Ironmasters last year so I felt like rather than letting it go, it was time to punch that card again.  I chose the HAT 50K, in Havre de Grace, MD for my race back in November.  I'd volunteered at the 2014 HAT run and had an awesome time watching Adam and all the other runners and helping them refuel at an aid station.  Scoping out the course, it looked like a great race to tackle myself.

This winter had been a little rougher for training outdoors with the amount of ice on the trails and roads.  Even with my Ice Trekker crampons, I had a few un-enjoyable, difficult trail runs on the Wissahickon that I still believe would've fared much better if I'd had ice skates.

I'd had a few decent runs, although mostly much shorter than I'd prefer leading into this distance.  My longest run was 10 miles 2 weeks before the race and I felt pretty strong during and after.
My goal was sub-6 hours.  I was on pace to beat that at Ironmasters last year, a much tougher course, I think, so this should've been a breeze.  The biggest obstacle to that goal was probably my lack of significant, long training runs, despite a 25K race on Jan 3.  I got a little lazy with the training but ran outside when I could and tried to compensate with some bike rides on the trainer.

The weather was looking pretty good for the race: mid-40's, sunny.  A late season snow-storm came through Friday dropping 3-4 inches in the area, making for a soft first lap, as expected.  Not enough snow to make the course too difficult.

The start was unique to any races I've done so far: all the racers lined up across a field to await the start signal and with it, charged like a scene from Braveheart.  There's a good amount of running before we get into single-track but it was a great way to spread the course out and not cause too many pile-ups.  One 5K loop back to the start/finish area and aid station where I shed my vest and hat and then into a 13 mile loop for the second and repeat for the 3rd loop.

After one of 4 water crossings and killing it... sorta.  not really.

The first half of the race felt pretty good.  It started out pretty easy and my pace felt solid but gradually wore down after the first third.  I distinctly recall mile 15 being miserable and being the first of several lousy miles.  After that it was a lot of running when I could and hiking the hills.  By the second loop, the snow had mostly melted and the trail was a mud pit; not too bad, really, even a little fun, but not ideal for speed.

 As the miles ticked off, the pace crept up, the race dwindled and I crossed the finish at 6:44:31, a lot later than I'd hoped.  Despite the slow race, I felt pretty great during and afterwards.  I had a coffee, a protein shake and a little gel before the race.  I carried my handheld and my Nathan belt with 2 flasks during the race.  In one flask was Hammer Gel, the other Hammer Perpetuem, and in my handheld, I kept a fizz tablet or just plain water, refueling only my fizz bottle at the aid stations.  I was typically in and out of aid stations in a moment, just topping off my handheld, grabbing a handful of candy or fruit at the major aid station and heading back out quickly.  The aid stations were well stocked and staffed by great volunteers.  And the SWAG!  Look at this bounty:

Hat (duh), shirt, soft cooler and yes, that's an umbrella.

I had a great time.  I would certainly sign up for this one again and aim again for that sub 6-hour 50K.

Fall Fest and Across the Bay Bridge 10K Run 11/8-9/14

Running multiple races in a weekend is a lot of fun.  I imagine it's a good test of resilience to be able to race and bounce back.  Of course it's all dependent on the level of exertion and I admit I didn't go 100% on the first few but I did have a nice recovery and great race on Sunday.

Saturday was Fallfest 2014.  The culmination of the Special Olympics' Long Distance Running and Walking (LDR/W) season.  Kristen was active with the Young Athletes Program and I was present as a Unified Partner, racing with our team's athlete Nathan.  Nathan was pretty psyched to have me run with him again as we did pretty well at the Bucks County meet a few months back, netting him a few golds.  Nathan's a quick runner on his own and I knew from the Bucks event, we were up against some strong competition again in their coach/athlete duo.

I was also excited to race.  Bucks' coach Tim is a great runner and would  be a good competitor to race against.  I only chased Tim once in the 1500m and was about 20s slower.  I had yet to race in the 5k and 3k.

The day's events went in the order of longest to shortest.  We practiced at the course a few weeks prior to be familiar with the course set up at Villanova.  It's not very flat so I knew I wouldn't be around 20 minutes.  I also expected to beat Tim and just be content with that so I could conserve for my 10K on Sunday.  I led the 5K for almost the first full mile.  Tim took me down and I couldn't keep him within reach so I settled down and finished with a 22:10.  Not too bad.  Nathan made up for my 2nd place finish and our combined times were good enough for gold.  (Unified teams are placed by total combined time)

The 3K was next, with about an hour of rest, we were at it again.  Almost a carbon copy of the first race but now with a new competitor.  An athlete, Kyle, raced out to the front and stayed there almost the full race.  Tim made his move at about the same spot and passed us both on a downhill.  Kyle stayed out ahead of me and I took 3rd but again, Nathan picked up my slack and we took another unified division gold.

Almost an hour of rest and we hit the course for one final lap around 'Nova for the 1500m.  It's so great to see the competitiveness of all the athletes we coach line up and put forth a great effort  Again we lined up, I chased Kyle, Tim passed us late and we finished 1-2-3 again to conclude the days' events.

The Montco team did well and it was a perfect day to race.  I look forward to track and field in the spring back to just being a coach.

With a quick stop home to shower change and pack, we shot down to Annapolis at the Navy Marine Corps stadium for packet pickup for the Across the Bay 10K (and apparently an unadvertised fun run).  We picked up our packets, a (total BS) parking pass for $10 and wandered the mini expo before doubling back to Baltimore where we fueled up on lasagna and beer at Adam's.  We were up early for a quick breakfast but in no rush to get out to the race.  We'd decided we'd drop back to the final wave.  I was seeded in wave 1 based on my expected finish time of 47 minutes.  Kristen was in wave 3, Adam... wave 10.  The race officials were insistent that no one would be permitted to advance their start time but it was cool for anyone to drop to a later wave.  Even special requests were denied.  It turned out, there would have been no way at all to police that rule.  The joke was on us but it was a fair way to seed runners.  We knew we'd be finding ourselves winding through a herd of runners the entire course.

I was expecting a fairly easy course.  Adam had driving it a few weeks ago on his way to the beach and told me the climb was rough.  I thought it couldn't be as bad as the Ben Franklin Bridge run.  When we approached the bay, we could see that the bridge was far less arching than the BF Bridge.  It would be much easier, aside from the "fun runners" that were milling about all over the bridge.

With races like this, it's hard to take a wave of 2000+ runners and order them in any fashion based on speed.  We just moved along with the pile of people and worked our way to the starting line at that weird half walk - half jog because you have nowhere to go.  The column of people took up the entire width of the road so it was very challenging to get to the bridge itself at a running pace.

Once on the bridge, Adam, Joe and I were finding more room to run.  The next 5+ miles was nonstop dodging walkers and people that inexplicably stop to take in the view or take a picture.  It was mostly like running a 5 mile bridge while navigating 10,000 zombies milling about.  Kudos to them for signing up for the a 10K.  I'm sure their fees went to a great cause.

I happened to finish at the same exact time as the previous week's bridge run and it was kinda fun, almost like an obstacle course. I'll focus on the trail runs and smaller races... except for the Nashville Rock n Roll Half in April.

3/1/2015 Garsoe-Schermerhorn Memorial Masters Swim Meet Pentathlon

After nearly 15 years, I have finally competed in a swim meet.  I signed up for a really cool meet in Bensalem, PA, about an hour from home about 2 weeks prior to the event.  It seems like there's not very many meets nearby based on what I can find on usms.org or the local area's site: http://www.dvmasters.org/events.php.

The Pentathlon meet  is as simple as it sounds, entrants can sign up for whatever they want but are encouraged to complete a full 5-event series comprised of one race of each stroke (at 50, 100, or 200 SCY) and an IM (100, 200 or 400).  I opted for the sprint distances of 50yds of each stroke and the 100yd IM to not bite off more than I could swallow with very little training or preparation.

To enter, I had no recent race results to submit as seed times.  I had to guess on all of them.  I thought a while on most of the times and settled on a few times that I thought were reasonable.  I seeded myself at :27 in the free, :27 in the back, :29 in the fly and :31 in breast, and 1:15 in the IM.  Lo and behold I pick up my heat sheet upon arrival and I'm seeded fastest in 2 events.  I realized a :31 in 50 breast was something I've never been capable of even in my peak years.

Lay off the crackpipe, Aaron, you've never been fast at breaststroke.

The event was held at Pennsbury High School.  The venue felt nostalgic since 99% of all my swim meets had been at high schools.  I realized I'd really been missing this.

Watching the rest of the competitors warm up after I felt like my 250 yd warm up was sufficient.

 My events started with back.  I wasn't feeling pretty unsure of my speed getting ready but felt confident once I hopped in and for not having practiced a back start in many years. The first race felt invigorating.  The rest of the events were equally awesome, some slower than I'd hoped but some were also quicker that I'd expected.

Yep, I took 2nd in my age group... out of 2.  It was a small meet.  It was also the first of many.  I'm beyond excited to get back into more competitive masters swimming events.  Bring it on!

North East Olympic Triathlon, 8/24/14: Race Report

I enjoy triathlon.  It's a hard sport to finish a race in, harder even to be competitive.  I want to be competitive and in the top 10% of amateurs.  What I have come to understand after this weekend is that there is not much room in deviating from a training plan, no matter how loose.

I started a new job, which yanked me back into the professional world, demanding a full work week plus a commute.  What a nightmare.  I'm good at the new job, it's demanding and it's really cutting into the rest of life...  so between the new job and the mountain bike crash a while ago, I've cut back significantly on training, mostly because I haven't made time for it.  About 2 months of no training aside from about 70 total miles of riding and maybe one long run and I was already pretty terrified of this race a week before it started.  The thought of dropping down to the sprint distance had crossed my mind but I figured, I got myself into this mess, take care of it.  It would be a good measure of what happens with cutting training out for about 2 months and I'd take it kind of easy, more of a training race than a competitive one.

We loaded up Saturday night and were in bed at a about 8 to get up early to head down an hour to North East, MD.  I tried to recall the bike course and how hilly it was but really couldn't remember.  I knew it wasn't quite as steep as the races earlier this year so I had an idea that I'd be 25 min in the swim, 1.5 hr on the bike and I really really REALLY wanted to be under 50 on the run.

Check in was much smoother this time compared to my last race.  It always is when you have your ID on you and don't have to waste your time running back to your car to flip it and look.  We racked up an I sent Kristen off with the sprint-distance racers.  I got to watch last year's runner up destroy the field in the swim a full 3 minutes ahead of the 2nd fastest swimmer.  I learned he'd made the US Olympic team, pretty awesome.  He was in from the bike before the Olympic-distance racers hit the water.

I hopped in a few minutes early to warm up.  The water was comfortable around 76-78.  The crowd wasn't too big and I felt pretty confident in finishing very well in the swim, despite my plan to sandbag it a little to conserve energy for the bike.  With the gun I started chugging through the water at a consistent easy pace, focusing on maintaining a cadence and form.  I am pretty sure I did a good job with that but was having issues sighting the course.  I was consistently drifting away from the planned loop, adding distance, and feeling some discomfort in my left shoulder.  It nagged but never slowed me down or really raised any red flags.

About 200 yards from the finish, the top ladies started passing me.  No big deal, elite girls can easily swim a sub-20 min mile.  I assumed I was going to hit right around 25 minutes as expected.

Just trying to survive the race with a respectable effort, I tried to set no records in transition.  I made it out in about 2.5 minutes onto the bike and was ready to go.  I was loaded with only water and an extra Hammer gel.  I had no Hammer Perpetuem, which I was annoyed that I'd run out and not replaced prior to the race.  I'd consume enough Hammer gels to compensate, I assumed.

I felt pretty strong from the start so I let myself go on and try to ride at somewhere between full race effort and a medium training 25-mile ride.  Early on, I felt some signs of cramps pinching my left calf but they slowly faded as I rode on (I assumed they'd just cripple me when I got off my bike and send me to the ground writhing in agony).  Thankful that the cramps never materialized and riding along, I did learn something.  During this attempt, I discovered whatever part of my brain dictates the amount of conscious control over my level of exertion just doesn't exist.  I feel the need to go way too fast, which is, sadly, pretty unimpressive.  I know I'm a pretty poor cyclist and it takes years to develop strong cycling ability but wow- I was awful for how hard I exerted myself.  I need to resume my TrainerRoad subscription.

I assumed I'd be 1.5 hours on the bike.  I also thought that would be 25 miles, not just 23.  So I averaged 16.6 mph on some pleasant rolling hills, not passing a soul and being overtaken by pretty much everyone.  When I finally rounded a corner that took me into the recognizable town streets and back to transition, I felt relief.  I knew I only had a 10K to go.

Happy to ditch the bike and throw on my running shoes, I eagerly booked it out of T2 and back onto the road.  I was aiming for a 7:30-45 pace and tried to keep myself from outpacing myself from the beginning.  How hard could it be?  The fool that I am, I must have forgotten that the bike trashed my legs and not half a mile into the run leg, I was already pulling aside to walk-run.

I really eked out a finish, just under 3 hours and found Kristen for a minute at the finish line for a quick hug and kiss before getting back in the water to soak a little.  I grabbed some food and we split, pleased that we sucked it up and raced but I was still disappointed in myself.  The course was still awesome.  I would do this race every year.

We got ourselves home, picked up some awesome tacos from the Mexican joint El Limon then hit the bowling alley to try to enjoy the rest of the weekend.  We had a blast and really wound up proud of ourselves for getting out there and sticking to our race despite weak training.  Our reward was bowling, beer, and a little Wild Turkey!

Nations, here I come.  Expectations lowered for performance but I'll make it a fun race with my best season-ending effort.

Ghouls and Fools + Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge 10K's 11/2/14

I've been lazy with my posting.  Thankfully a little less lazy with racing.  With 2 more races to report on, it's been a good 2 weeks.

It's been a while since we've done a trail race which is a shame.  Making the race a nighttime trail run made it pretty awesome.  We had to miss last year's race for a wedding or some other nonsense but Ghouls and Fools is a great time.  It would be the first of three 10K's in 15 days.

My best time for the G&F 10K was 1:04:35.  I only wanted to beat an hour and have fun.  We made sure we were going to have fun and bring costumes into the mix.  I was considering a few options but went with a Viking.  Kristen was a lovable Hooter's Girl spin-off of my own: a Scooter's Girl.

We lined up for the start and before sending us off, Ron, the RD named his costume winners.  My first race prize in over a year!  He took me for a member of the Mongolian Horde but whatever, it's a win!

Time for business and we started off into the dark woods, always an awesome sight watching the snaking queue of running conga winding through the woods.  something I didn't bother to try to take a picture of because you should go out and see that for yourself!  And it likely would've been a terrible picture.

A minor change in the course just prior to the race inserted a lollipop loop pretty early on that created a tiny bit of confusion.  Some packs of runners went left at the loop, some went right.  I followed the guys ahead of me and we went clockwise, encountering other packs that went the other way.  For most of the mile loop, there was a good amount of time spent dodging runners going the opposite direction on single-track.  Before long, that was over and we were onto the rest of the course and some brutal climbs.  I left my Garmin plugged in the wall at home so I don't have the profile or any normal race data I get to geek out on.  Tough cookies, this time.

I managed to finish in 1:01 and 31st overall which was good enough for me to enjoy a beer and wait around to collect my award.

A week of rest later and a few days of some "maintenance run" and I was feeling great for a road 10K.  The Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge across the Ben Franklin Bridge from Camden to Philadelphia, then back across for the first 5K and another 5K looping around Camden and the waterfront. 

I imagined and planned on running about 47 minutes.  This is based on my lack of confidence in holding 7 minute miles which was my real goal.  But I felt good, I made sure I drank a lot of beer all day the day before to celebrate my dad and sister's birthdays as they were in town to visit and my sister, Mandy, was running her first 10K.  It was a cold day for it around 39 but windy as all hell.  Never have I had the wind physically blow me around while running.  Running a huge arcing bridge with very whirling winds allows me to honestly say we did go uphill both directions with major headwind all the time.  I saw some kid in a sweatshirt get blown like a sail 5 feet to the right when the wind changed.  

I had anticipated a good race.  Closing in on the first mile marker, I could see the clock was approaching 8 minutes.  I thought "no way; starting out at a reasonable pace is a concept lost on me.  I probably ran that in 6:20 and their clock was wrong."  Negative.  My Garmin confirmed the 8 minute mile and I started to wonder how that happened and how I was going to do the rest of this race.  Would I be near my goal at all or should I think about just finishing under 50 min?

The 8 minutes was a little demoralizing but I sucked it up and knocked the next mile off in 7:20, still surprised because it felt like under 7.  It's tricky to really know what that 7-mile pace really feels like.  I got a little closer again the next mile with a 7:02 and I was halfway done.  Maybe I did actually get some tail wind coming back across to Jersey.

I never really noticed how much bridges arch until driving across on our way to start this race...

Running down the bridge felt great, I hoped for some shelter from the 30-40 mph gusts between the buildings.  The last few miles ticked off, I passed a few more runners, got passed by a few others... then hit the waterfront.  Direct, nonstop headwind at its strongest right by the Delaware... I felt like a human sail.  I ducked down to try to give the wind less surface area to push on and powered through.  For a 200 yard run, it felt embarrassingly hard.  I had very little race left to run and I was excited to finish, I tried to continue on and keep the splits descending.  

PR Day!

The course wrapped around a few buildings as we began the return to Campbell's Field and I was amazed I had enough in the tank to have a fast finish.   I must be finally learning to properly run these things!  I clocked in at 45:45 with my chip time, very happy.  I realize now, in November, how far my goal of a sub-40 10K would've been early this spring.

The 3rd of our 10K series is this coming Sunday in MD.  The inaugural Across the Bay 10K should be another fun race.  If being out on the Chesapeake on bridges is anything like this race, it's going to be hard with it's unique challenges.  While inaugural, I think the race is making a return.  The field is huge at 20,000 runners.  Thankfully I'm in wave #1 so I only have to deal with a few hundred of them.   To make it a little harder, I'll be running 5K, 3K and 1500m races the day before because... why not?!

Get out there and run.

Nation's Tri 9/7/14: Salvaging a Race

This weekend was my final race of 2014.  When I signed up for it, I knew it would be end the tri season for me for the year so I had a lot of ambitious plans for it in the year leading up to it.  I'd bike a million miles, establish a consistent sub 40 minute 10K in the books and get to an easy 20 minute mile swim.  I had BIG plans.  Much of which never materialized.

Anyhoo, I was not really that psyched leading up to the race.  I wasn't sleeping well (which I attribute to some anxiety that I'd race poorly) and since the last tri, North East, I only ran a few times.  There wasn't much to do anymore so what is it you really do in this case?

Drink beers.

I had lined up the weekend to stay with some of my best friends in Alexandria, VA.  So after swinging by the Etihad Airways sponsored Expo at the Hilton and dropping off my bike at transition Saturday morning, we headed over to our friends' Drew and Lisa's house.  We unloaded and started to unwind after the drive and catch up on everything.  Being friends of mine from Penn State, we cracked a few beers to start watching the Penn State football game.  As comes with being Nittany Lions, the beers kept flowing.

I kept the drinking in check and managed a bed time of 10pm with a 5:00 alarm.  Another light night of sleep but I was ready to rock at 5.  Drew dropped me and Kristen off at 6 and I said my goodbye to Kristen and made my way to transition to prep for the swim and leave my gear with my bike.

Reppin'

Adam and I ready to finish the season.

 Adam was racked 15 feet away.  Pretty impressive in a 2000+ person race.  We had our transition spots in order and we headed out making small talk.  I started to put on my pink swim cap and Adam asked if I was seriously wearing that.  Well, duh, yeah, we have to...

Not when the swim's canceled!

Adam asked if I was still drunk and explained to me that in the previous evening's rain, the Patomac got a little poopy so the swim leg was canceled and that he knew about it by 11:00 the previous night and texted me about it at 3:30.  Holy crap dude, at least try to sleep.  I didn't bother to check my phone for any messages or emails from the race regarding any news.  We had such a small amount of rain I couldn't imagine it would impact the race.

The ONLY leg of a race I have an advantage over most of the field and I don't get to do it.  That only meant one thing to me: Bloody Marys about 30 minutes earlier than previously planned.

Pre-Brunch post-race bloody with grilled cheese garnish.  Courtesy Evening Star in Alexandria.

So we lined up in our corrals and in time trial start, headed off in packs of 9 from the swim exit to T1 and onto our bikes.  Having counted on my swim as my warm up, I managed to keep a less "erratic" pace than I usually do in the first 5 miles before really getting into gear.  I wanted to not repeat North East tri and save my legs for the run still so I settled in and stayed fast but comfortable, sipping at my Hammer Perpetuem and focused on maintaining a solid ride.

Notable about the course: as I mentioned, 2000+ racers and a double loop course means it gets crowded.  With roads shut down, the course was mostly navigable and fun but a few pinch points and one could imagine a few fights break out due to some carelessness of some riders to not keep right.

Leaving for the bike

Finishing... behind some dude in a t-shirt.  

I felt great during the ride, hopped off the bike in a 1:13 and realized, "holy crap, if I could skip the swim, I might be able to compete with the pros!"  The great time and the ride itself were very lifting and I sailed through T2 and into a steady trot on a crazy flat run.  After the first half mile I saw Kristen and stopped to give her a kiss before going on the last 5.7 miles.

Finding Kristen in the crowd and headed in for the kill.

I really wanted a sub 50 run.  I pulled off one sub-8 mile and tried to hang in there for the rest of the race.  I hit 4 water stations, during the run,slowing momentarily at each for only a few seconds.  It really didn't add that much time but I just couldn't keep close enough to 8:00 miles.  Still, I felt great on the run.

I finished in 2:10 according to my chip and imagine if I'd swam it would have been around 2:47-2:49.  We'll never know.  I was roughly just ahead of mid-pack in my division which is OK, not great but I was very pleased with my race after starting it in a pretty down mood about the whole thing.

My fan base was pretty unimpressed with my race.

Just a badass you should see.

Adam giving it hell and finishing strong

Done for 2014!

I'm shifting my focus to running now for a few 10K's coming up.  It's a relief to be done with the triathlon season.  I'll work out next year's plan soon but I'm excited to think about going for my first half iron distance.