Big Hit Half Marathon Wrap Up and Bourbon Chase Preview

On Sunday, I ran a half-marathon.  A late course change turned this into a very flat course where I thought it would be a great chance to complete my first sub-2 hour half-marathon.  Initially, I was going to go out with the 1:50 group and leave myself a little wiggle room.  However, I changed course on race morning and decided to stick with the 2 hour group and then leave them at the 10-11 mile mark if I was feeling good.

The pacer told us he would try his best to keep a 9:10 pace the whole time, necessary for a two hour finish.  In the first couple miles of the race, we go under the expressway for a bit and that caused the pacer's (and mine) Garmin to lose signal so we weren't entirely certain on our pace.  The best we could do was check each mile split.  I walked through a couple aid stations but immediately hooked back up with the pacer to keep on target.  Everything was going great until we hit the mile 10 marker.  Both of us were confused as there was no way it was a full mile.  That meant the course would be short (more on that later).  We think that the late course change to eliminate a bridge and hence a hill, caused the problem.  We kept to our pace or even a bit faster than required until we reached the baseball stadium, as the race finished at home plate of Louisville Slugger Field.  There was really no point in leaving the pacer any point since we were just ahead of our pace. Once inside the stadium, I sprinted as best I could to the finish.

The course, by most estimates was about 12.9 miles, and my total time was 1:56:31 at a pace of 8:54.  I was very happy about the result and even ran the second half slightly faster than the first.  If I extrapolate to the 13.1 mile distance, I still get a time of 1:58:27, well below my previous PR of 2:05.

The next event for me is this weekend's Bourbon Chase.  Long story but I'm no longer on my original team but now running with the Louisville Landsharks instead.  I have a total of 11.8 miles over 3 legs.  The running is really secondary as last year wasn't very fun so I just want to enjoy the event, have fun, be silly, etc.

If you'd like to track my team, you can do so here.  My team number is 476.  Beyond just having fun, I'd like to run 9 minute miles or better and continue to work on my speed.  Update to follow on Sunday.

If the Shoe Fits...

I've worn size 13 shoes since I can remember.  Probably since late middle school.  However, I guess I was wrong.  More on that later.

This Sunday I'm doing a half marathon that finishes at home plate at Louisville Slugger Field.  It's a very flat course (map), so I'm hoping to break two hours for the first time.  This translates to a 9:10 pace per mile.   Today, I ran 5 miles and tried to see if I could meet that pace and still breathe, keep my heart rate at a decent level, etc.  I ended up at an average of 8:40 per mile so I succeeded on that front.  My goal for Sunday is to try for a steady 9 minute pace.  That leaves 10 seconds per mile to walk through an occasional aid station, etc.  As I've heard someone say, you'll never know your limits unless you reach them.

Back to the rest of the shoe size story.   About mile four, I could feel a blister developing on the side of the ball of my right foot.  I've been fighting with hot spots on the balls of my feet for most of the spring/summer but thought it was just the heavy miles I was putting in.  But after only four miles and getting a blister, I knew something wasn't right.  So I took the shoes I normally wear and went off to a local running shop.  It took the owner, Jeff, about thirty seconds to diagnose the problem.  My shoes are too big.  In essence, every time I struck the ground, my foot would slide forward a bit in the shoes and cause friction. Friction = blisters.  He had me try on several different stability shoes (the kind my running style require) and I settled on these, Nike Lunarglide 4:

The size? 12.5.  The big test will be this Sunday but I'm hopeful.

Rev3 Cedar Point Recap

I guess the subtitle of this post is "Coulda, woulda, shoulda" which I'll discuss in my report.

The weekend started with a Friday morning drive up to Sandusky, Ohio for check-in, etc.  Along the way, the skies began to darken, putting a lot of worry into Sarah as the only reason she was coming was to ride the 17 roller coasters at Cedar Point amusement park, where the event was being held.   Of course, as soon as we rolled into the parking lot to check-in, which was in a tent outdoors, the rain began to pour down along with a massive lightning storm.  Luckily the storm passed pretty quickly and we were soon on our way to the park.

I don't think I'm exaggerating in saying that during the 4 hours we were in the park (with the first hour being early entry people only), I rode more roller coasters than I did when I went to this park on a normal 12 or 15 hour day.  The weather and it being late in the season meant we had lines of maybe five minutes at most.  That is in contrast to a sometimes two hour line in the height of the summer.  My only complaint about Friday evening was the beating I took on a roller coaster called Maverick.  I've never been so jostled and jolted on a coaster.  More on this later.

Since the weather looked threatening for much of the day on Saturday, Sarah and Jessica decided to drive home a day early. They had already planned on heading home Saturday evening so Jessica could go see the Pats play the Titans and Saturday was going to be another day of roller coasters for Sarah.  Turns out they made a good call as after they left the weather turned nasty again.  So much so that the Saturday Rev3 events, including the practice swim and kid's tri, were cancelled.  Had me a little worried for Sunday but turns out we had nothing to worry about.

As I said last year, the night before the night before is the key night of sleep as I know I won't get great sleep the night before the event.  I got a good 9/9.5 hours of sleep and woke up feeling well rested.  The first item for me on Saturday was to knock out a one mile run to keep my running streak going (today makes day 108 in a row of running one mile or more).  I headed out and almost immediately, I felt a pain in my hip/quad that I thought was a bruise from Maverick!  I finished up the run as I thought maybe it was just stiff but it didn't feel much better.  My friends and I had to head over to the expo to pick up or timing chips anyway so while I was there, I saw one of the free massage therapists that Rev3 has for us and after a quick five minutes with him, I felt better almost immediately.  WHEW!

Next was bike check-in, then some chill time as it was time for us to get off our feet and relax for the big day.  One of the little perks Rev3 provides is a personalized name plate at your bike

A nice little touch!  Bike check-in was nice and smooth so I went off to try to find the Michigan State football game on TV (no luck) so spent a few hours relaxing with my iPad and keeping up with the game.  We then headed to Olive Garden for the must-have pre-event pasta.  After returning to the hotel, it was time for one last check of all the gear bags and an early bed time followed by a 5 am alarm.

After the weather the last couple of days, even though the forecast was awesome, we were all anxious to see the Sunday morning weather.  Well, here's what we saw as we stood on the beach waiting for the swim to start

 

So our weather worries appeared to be unfounded as a gorgeous day unfolded.  

This event would be significantly different from IMKY as the course is almost entirely flat, the weather is much cooler, and the number of athletes is much smaller.  This helped shaped the goals I posted in my preview.  I felt good about achieving them.

The swim was wetsuit legal, unlike IMKY and the water looked very calm.  Kept my heart rate down, relaxed and enjoyed the swim.  Because it was two loops we came back close to shore to the start the second lap and that meant a few hundred meters of water running.  The only rough spot I encountered was at the start of the second lap, the waves or current (maybe the tide?) were coming in a bit stronger so I had to work a little harder to get out to the first turn on the loop.  Otherwise, no issues.  Swim time:  1:31:26 compared to a goal of 1:40 with a stretch goal of 1:31.  Right on target.  My transition goals were 10 minutes each and hit 10:38, so still mostly on target.  

The bike started and I couldn't believe how fast I was riding without killing myself.  Yes I knew the course was flat but I was riding 18/19 and it felt like I wasn't doing any work.  We had some headwind in places but it didn't seem to slow me down much.  The miles kept ticking away, my nutrition was good, so was hydration and I was still averaging just over 18 mph.  Then disaster struck at about mile 48.  I heard a loud noise and then the sound of metal hitting the ground.  Had my chain broke? My drivetrain?  With the help of another athlete, I figured it was a spoke, so I nursed it to special needs and had a volunteer call for race support.  That's when I met this volunteer...

 

This guy is named Caleb, and he is my all-time favorite tri volunteer.  Since I was waiting for race support, he asked if I needed anything.  I was really ok on fluids and such but he was so eager, I asked him to top off my aero bottle with some Gatorade.  That's when I really got to know Caleb.  He loves to ride his trike,  he even wrecked it but got back up and kept riding.  I assume he has some medical issue to ride a trike but he was so eager, friendly, sincere, honest, and was helping anyone he could.   Just a refreshing sight when you're pissed off at the world over a silly broken spoke.

I then began waiting (and waiting and waiting...) for race support.  I asked a volunteer to text Jessica as she was tracking me and probably freaking out when I was stopped for so long.  The minutes passed. I had a volunteer call race support again.  Still nothing.  Now I was really pissed but I wasn't going to let this end my day.  I told the volunteers to send race support down the road when they came and started walking.  Part of the reason I got moving again was Caleb.  I couldn't have all his hard work go to waste.  After about a mile walking and still seeing no race support, I was really pissed.  I rigged my now wobbly rear wheel as best I could, opened the brakes and started riding.  I rode the last 62 miles, mostly alone and NEVER saw a race support vehicle, draft marshall, etc.  My pace was obviously hampered and the best guess was I stood still at special needs for 43 minutes.  End result:  16.92 mph/7:15:19. The goals were 16 mph/7 hours or 17.23 mph/6.5 hours.  

(Unfortunately, my buddy Caleb had gone home by the time I got around to his station on the second bike loop).

If not for that mechanical failure, I had the 6.5 hour bike split or even better! T-2 was 10:34, another goal met.

As I got dressed for the run, my stomach wasn't feeling great.  Perhaps it was the Tylenol I popped at T-2? Too much sweet/sugary stuff all day?  I knew I had to hunt down something salty/crunchy as soon as hit some run aid stations.  

I started out maybe a little quick as my first few miles were:  10:38, 11:00, 11:03, etc.  But my heart rate was good and I was feeling ok.  My stretch goal was 5:30 so felt good about achieving that.  Due to a relatively small number of athletes, the run was lonely at times but the volunteers each mile did a great.  My only complaint was the inconsistent availability of some items like chicken broth.   Worked some walk breaks in, usually at aid stations and at about the 10-11 mile mark, even walking my heart rate was a little high.  So I slowed but it was still high.  Figured if I could just make it to the halfway point, get my Red Bull, maybe see some familiar faces, I'd be ok.  The odd thing was my heart rate was much better running than walking. I'll leave that to an expert to explain.

Got to the halfway point, saw Ken, grumbled about my bike and the lack of ice at the aid station, saw a killer text message from Jessica and was on my way.  Only 13.1 miles to go.  I was still keeping up with my 5:30 marathon pace.  The last hurdle was a random rain shower that lasted about 5 minutes at mile 15/16 but it actually felt good.  

Got to about mile 22/23 and then the emotions start.  Some tears, some pride, some relief that it will soon be over.  Thinking about all the people who've helped along the way.  The training partners, the supportive family, the tri-club friends, the people on Facebook, etc.  They all played a role.  At the last aid station, the volunteers were cheering so loud, I could hear them for a good quarter mile.  It certainly put some pep in the step.  

The last piece of the puzzle as I neared the finish. What do they call you at a Rev3 event?  They wouldn't/couldn't say Ironman, so what would it be?  I got within a hundred meters and there was Ken. Had to stop for a high-five, maybe a hug, it's all a blur, then the finish was all mine.  "Jeff Johnson, welcome to the revolution!"

 

Marathon result:  5:30:18 with goals of 6 hours/5.5 hours.  Right on target.  Total time for the day was 14:38:16.   Take out that mechanical and I had a sub-14 in my grasp.  I guess I owe this course a beating in the future?

I have 2 half-marathons coming up and the Bourbon Chase.  Updates to follow!

Rev3 Cedar Point Preview

Sunday, the 9th, is my second Iron distance event, put on by a company called Rev 3.  It takes place at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.  I'll be heading up there with my wife, daughter and a couple friends, one of which is also attempting the full iron distance event (2.4 mile swim; 112 mile bike; 26.2 mile run). 

My training all summer has been in some very hot conditions so I'm quite looking forward to an event in bit cooler weather.  The forecast, as of today, calls for a high of 73(23 C) so should be just about perfect weather.  The course is also much flatter than my first Ironman (course profile here) so that should also make for a shorter day. 

I've thought about my goals for the day in two ways.  One, a quite achievable goal and two, a bit of a stretch goal.  I really don't have much fear of not finishing, as my pal Kevin would say, "the hay is in the barn, you've already put in all the training."  So it's really a question of how quickly I can do it.

The swim is in Lake Erie and will be wetsuit legal.  Given that, my two goals for the swim are one hour forty minutes and ninety minutes if I have a good day.  Regardless of swim time, I want to have no more than a ten minute T-1.

My riding has really come along in the last year.  I'm faster, don't feel nearly as spent after long rides, etc.  At minimum, I know I can average 16 mph.  That means a seven hour bike split. If I get a good rhythm going, I should be able to get a bit above that.  Six and a half hours would require an average of 17.23 mph.  A stretch I know but maybe possible.  I have the same goal for T-2: ten minutes.

Finally, on the run, I'm going to pay much more attention to my heart rate and if it gets out of hand, slow down or even walk a bit if I must.  I'm also going to employ my normal walk through the aid stations strategy and try to take it easy for the first half and then pick up the pace if I have it in me for the last half of the marathon.  Achievable goal:  six hours;  stretch goal: five and a half.

Putting that all together....

Achievable goal:  15 hours.
Stretch goal:  13 hours, 50 minutes.

I'm using the same tracker I used last year, but this time the company also has an iPhone app that I used last week to track several friends last week at IMKY.   It was great and easy to use.  You can find it in the iTunes store, for free, if you search for My Athlete Live.