Progressive Run

0, 03mi, progressive run

Start Time: 4/22/08, 6:15pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 3 miles
Average Pace: 8:31min/mile
Total Miles For April: 9.5 miles

I’m now on the “pick one of the following workouts” regimen so Tuesday’s run was “2-4 miles progressive run, each mile faster than the previous.” I headed out to the W&OD Trail and made a big mistake—I started on a downhill. So I finished the first mile and that’s when I realized why this was a bad thing. First, I took that mile too fast because of the downhill. And second, it meant the return would be all uphill. Whoops. I decided that as a result I’d just run 3 miles instead of 4, and knowing that mile three was the last one gave me a nice kick even though it was still slogging back uphill. Oof! Next time, I start on the uphill. (8:47, 8:37, 8:10)

Return to Group Training

0, 01mi

Start Time: 4/19/08, 7:30am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1.25 miles & 4x100m
Total Miles For April: 6.5 miles

I took two weeks off of running after the Cherry Blossom disaster, which felt really nice. I did a lot of rowing, elliptical, and spinning to stay active, but stopped pounding the pavement. But, last Saturday everything started back up again. We ran about a mile and a quarter in our warm-up (including up and down the bleachers! Ugh!) and did a bunch of drills (butt-kicks, knee-highs, cross-overs). We then ran four 100m drills, each one faster than the previous, which was fun. (22:88, 19:94, 16:56, 14:11) The plan was to then run a timed 1-miler, but another group was also using the track and it was too crowded so that part was postponed until next week. Oh, darn.

Cherry Blossom 5-miler

0, 05mi, dnf, race, sick

Start Time: 4/6/08, 7:50am
Location: East Potomac Park, mostly
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:58min/mile
Total Miles For April: 5 miles

Bleah. This was an important lesson—when to not run a race. I was still feeling a little cruddy from the National Half Marathon eight days earlier, and when I woke up it was cold and raining on and off. With 20/20 hindsight, I should have just stayed home and scratched the race. But my pride got the better of me, and suddenly I was on the last possible train downtown to get to the start on time. Now, at that point what I should have done was just run the 5K instead, I think I might’ve enjoyed that a lot more. But instead I hopped into my corral right as the one in front of it was starting, and headed off into the crappy weather.

Well, how I felt matched the weather quite nicely. Within a mile I was regretting running. Within two miles I began to seriously wonder why I was there. And at mile three I was trying to remember when the course swung near the start again, so that I could quit. This was the first time I’d ever quit a race and gotten the dreaded DNF (did not finish). And I won’t lie, at the time I was utterly destroyed by it. I felt horrible, and down, and just… yeah, really really bad. Looking back on it now, the fact that I was in fact in the middle of a full-blown cold (and not just allergies like I’d thought) certainly wasn’t helping matters. But it was absolutely the right thing to do. The fact that about five minutes after I quit, it started raining again? A bit of vindication.

So, my first and hopefully last DNF. Next time? If it comes down to that I hope I was smart enough to not even start. (8:49, 8:44, 8:42, 9:02, 9:34)

National Half Marathon 2008

0, 13mi, half marathon, race, statistics

The National Half Marathon

Start time: 3/29/08, 7:00am

Location: Washington DC

Distance: 13.1 miles

Finishing time: 2:00:17

Average pace: 9:11min/mile

Miles for March: 57

Just realized I’d never gotten around to posting this. So, the disappointment that was the National Half Marathon this year.

A year earlier I ran the race, had an extra quarter mile tacked on by accident, and finished with a 1:58:17. This year? Two minutes slower, but without the added distance. So what happened? A few things. I hadn’t trained as well, something I knew going into the day. My longest run beforehand was a 10-miler, and looking back to the previous year (as well as this year’s splits) having a 12-miler under my belt really had helped. (I felt soon after hitting marker 10 like I’d run out of gas.) A mistake I won’t make again. In general, though, I just wasn’t feeling as excited about the race, and that can be a bad thing.

It’s also worth noting that this year’s course was much steeper than last year’s for the half-marathon. That climb up through mile 8? It wiped me out, and then once I hit new distance (as you’ll see below) everything just sort of crashed and burned. There was also some self-sabotage going on with what I can best term “bad math.” I remember finishing mile 11, seeing the split, and thinking it was impossible to stay under 2 hours. Well, that wasn’t really the case at that point, but it certainly seemed like it. And I am sure that given a mental defeat, my body followed along rather stupidly.

(I’m also kicking myself for needing a minute long bathroom break during mile 3. Had I just peed in the parking lot right beforehand like I’d contemplated, at least being sub-2:00 probably would’ve been in the bag. Oh well.)

Live and learn, live and learn. And hey, it wasn’t a personal best, but I did finish and it was faster than my 2006 time. I’m really glad I ran it.

Mileage Mile Times Total Time Overall Pace Elevation
1 09:27.7 0:09:28 0:09:28
2 08:47.1 0:18:15 0:09:07
3 09:38.9 0:27:54 0:09:18
4 08:30.2 0:36:24 0:09:06
5 09:00.3 0:45:24 0:09:05
6 09:18.7 0:54:43 0:09:07
7 09:25.4 1:04:08 0:09:10
8 08:57.7 1:13:06 0:09:08
9 08:58.5 1:22:04 0:09:07
10 08:55.3 1:31:00 0:09:06
11 09:20.4 1:40:20 0:09:07
12 09:45.3 1:50:05 0:09:10
13.1 10:11.9 2:00:17 0:09:11

Bleah on the percentile drop this year, though. THAT is humiliating, considering I shifted into a new age group. *sigh*

2006: 133/156 (85th percentile) (30-39M)

2007: 117/212 (55th percentile) (30-34M)

2008: 154/226 (68th percentile) (35-39M)

Birthday Run

0, 03mi

Start Time: 3/26/08, 7:50am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail (and friends)
Distance: 3 miles
Average Pace: 8:35min/mile
Total Miles For March: 44 miles

Last pre-race run and it was… eh. Splits were 8:32, 8:57, and 8:14. Not bad at all, don’t get me wrong, but I just have a bad feeling about Saturday.

Never did find any Easter eggs

0, 04mi

Start Time: 3/23/08, 1:00pm
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail (and friends)
Distance: 4 miles
Average Pace: 8:56min/mile
Total Miles For March: 41 miles

I unfortunately wasn’t able to get my last group training run in—I had for plans the night before and getting up that early just wasn’t happening—so on Sunday I went for a spin around the neighborhood that felt rather “eh”. On the bright side, I did take some interesting detours, running north up Washington Boulevard from Route 50 back to my place. So the change of pace, at least, was night.

Yuck

0, 03mi

Start Time: 3/19/08, 7:50am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail (and friends)
Distance: 3 miles
Average Pace: 8:59min/mile
Total Miles For March: 37 miles

That run stunk. Stomach was feeling less than great, plus a lack of energy overall. I finally terminated the run early and headed back home. Sometimes the smart thing to do is to quit while you’re… well, hardly ahead, but at least not too far behind.

The Things We Do To Ourselves

0, 04mi, custis

Start Time: 3/17/08, 6:30pm
Location: Custis Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average Pace: 8:48min/mile
Total Miles For March: 34 miles

Sometimes I really wonder about my sanity. The original plan was I’d leave work and go over to the W&OD Trail, knock out 4 or 5 miles, nothing too big. But I left work a little later than I’d hoped, and as I did so I began to think that maybe instead of taking half an hour to drive to the 3.5 marker on the W&OD, I could just head home and be at the Custis Trail in 15 minutes.

You know, the trail that goes straight up and down, and kicks my butt every time I run it? Ho ho ho.

That said, it wasn’t a bad run. Just a tough one. Considering I expected my pace to drop down into the 9:30 range with those hills, I’d say it was pretty good—doubly so when you keep in mind that back when I used to run this every Tuesday and in Alexandria every Thursday, my Tuesday Custis Trail pace was always a solid 30 seconds per mile slower than Thursday. So, victory. (8:44, 9:05, 9:00, 8:25)

A little better

0, 08mi

Start Time: 3/15/08, 1:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Average Pace: 8:50min/mile
Total Miles For March: 30 miles

When I ran my 10-miler eight days earlier, I was… less than impressed with my effort. It had admittedly been the longest I’d run in quite a while, so a lackluster performance was almost a given. But still. I promised myself that this run (since I’d overslept and missed speed training in the morning) would be better and also run smarter. Thankfully, it was just that—I took the first half at a reasonable pace rather than heading out too fast, and then let myself pick up a little bit of speed for the second half. (9:08, 9:07, 8:57, 9:08, 8:42, 8:31, 8:39, 8:23)

If I can do something like this in two weeks for the half marathon, I’ll be quite happy.

The Frighteners

0, 04mi

Start Time: 3/12/08, 6:45pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average Pace: 8:31min/mile
Total Miles For March: 22 miles

The plan was to step out for an hour and go run five more miles on Wednesday; while it would be the same stretch of trail, instead of running downhill for the first half (from marker 5 to 2.5) and then uphill back (2.5 to 5), I would start in the middle of the strech and vary the course a bit. (Downhill one mile, uphill 2.5 miles, downhill 1.5 miles.) What actually happened was that while it wasn’t a bad run, per se, it wasn’t one where I was feeling great either—I just still haven’t re-found my groove after skipping far too many runs this winter. So, I decided I’d turn around half a mile early (at marker 4.5), just run 4 miles, and call it a day.

Well, there were a bunch of running groups out on the trail and they were doing all sorts of strange sprint drills (something of which I completely relate to!), zipping up and down parts of the trail in a huge pack at times, other times stretched out into a thin line. I was just under half a mile from the end when I heard someone shout… well… something right behind me. I have no idea what. At the time I thought it was a warning along the lines of “move over we’re about to run you over.” In a slight panic, I headed off the trail onto the shoulder and waited for them to pass as I kept running. And waited. And waited.

With 20-20 hindsight what I think was shouted was actually to the other runners in that pack telling them they’d hit their timing mark and they could slow down, because I finally glanced over my shoulder and I was increasing ground between me and them. I’m not sure if that’s what helped contribute to my last mile split or if it was just the tiny downhill grade, but either way I’ll take it. (8:17, 8:41, 8:53, 8:12) Maybe I need to have people chase me from now on?