Lebanon VA 5K

The weather for this Saturday morning is forecasted to be in the low 60's, a perfect temperature for a run.

I typically do not like to run a race on consecutive weekends, because there's not much progress to be made in the week between the races. I did not pre-register for this race.  I'll have to register for the race Saturday morning.  Fortunately the race fee is only $18.  In many cases, you will pay $25 or more if you register the day of the race.


I would like to finish this race in 22 minutes and 30 seconds or average 7 minutes and 15 seconds per mile.   My magic quarter mile split time will be 1:48.  If I can hold a 1:48 per 1/4 mile split for thirteen consecutive quarter miles I will reach my goal.  I will have my omnipresent Garmin GPS watch set to give me the splits on Saturday.


The Lebanon VA 5K and the PA DUI Assn 10K will serve as my  beginning of the summer benchmark races.  I will train for the entire summer and then run the Beach to Beacon 10K and the Tim Russell Memorial 5K in August.


The URL for this race is http://www.va5k.com/.

Climbing a Mountain

I have recently surpassed running over three hundred miles among races and training this calendar year. Occasionally I will come up for air and ask myself why am I running as much as I am.


I  have come a long way from the ten minutes and eleven seconds it required to run my first mile last year when I began training. I have progressed from running a mile in 611 seconds to only 355 seconds in fourteen months. In order to get to the next level I need to become 45 seconds faster, running a mile in about 5 minutes and 15 seconds

There are parallels among climbing a mountain and training.  If you choose to climb a smaller mountain it will not take you as long to get to the peak.  I have already climbed the mountain I have set out to climb.  Completing a mile in less than six minutes is something I have never done in my life, not even as a skinny teen.  This mountain required 14 months of training.  I have run over 135 hours and 850 miles during this time.

As I stand now and ask myself if I want to continue to climb the mountain or climb back down, I can't help but desiring to keep trekking.  I am still setting personal records at each race.  I have not plateaued yet.  I am training smarter, doing less training and getting better results. To get to the top of the mountain you have to progress at a reasonable measured pace, i.e., enjoy the climb as you go.

I have always believed I would need to train for about three years before I can enter races and actually race against others. (The prospect of discovering I was a promising runner at age 46 and after years of a sedentary lifestyle was not realistic. I knew I would have to work hard to get in shape.)  This year I choose a target pace for a race and then adhere to it, regardless of what is transpiring around myself.  I would like to climb this mountain for one more year and then re-assess where I am on the mountain.

I would like to run the Lebanon VA 5K his Saturday morning.  The best runners from Lebanon county will be there.  I won't finish in the top ten, but I should have a shot at besting my personal 5K record of 22 minutes and 48 seconds.  My training program is customized for a 5K, not the one mile I recently ran.
.

Millersville Mile Results - Broke the Six Minute Mile

Sunday May 23rd was a very cloudy but comfortable day with low humidity and temperatures in the low 70's. During the entire day it appeared as it was going to rain at a moment's notice.  I did not want to subject my wife and kids to a downpour for the race so I decided to go the race alone.  As my sons get older we will brave the elements.

This race was on the Millersville University campus in Lancaster.  I have never set foot on this campus.  It's a beautiful campus with some really interesting architecture.  I believe school was out for the summer so there were few students to be seen.

The majority of the race is run on North George Street, which is ironic because a street of the same name is a major thoroughfare in the city of York.  I drove the race route to get to the race headquarters at McComsey Hall.  I was very enthused about running the course as the first quarter mile was uphill, but the remaining three quarters of a mile were downhill. 

About fifteen minutes before our heat was to begin at 6:30pm, it begin to rain very hard.  I was not looking forward to running in the rain, but it would have been an experience.  Fortunately a race official knew the rain would be out of the area quickly.

The race went off at 6:30pm as scheduled.  I was running with boys aged 8-14 and men aged 40 and above. As the starting gun went off, a young man immediately to my left, slipped and fell on the road due to oils which had accumulated on the surface of the road.. I made a mental note to be conservative when making changes in direction during the race.  I did not have any issues with footing during the race.

I had memorized where I wanted to be at each quarter mile split, 1:30, 3:00, and 4:30.  A nice feature of this race was someone was present at each quarter mile to call out your split times.  At each split I was six or seven seconds ahead of where I wanted to be.

In spite of achieving the splits I had planned upon, a quick scan revealed I was further back in the pack than the top ten.  I was somewhat dejected throughout the race because of my relative position, although this was more than offset by the excitement of getting closer and closer to breaking my six minute per mile goal for this race.

Unofficially, I finished the race in five minutes and fifty-six (5:56) seconds.   The official results will be posted at http://millersvillemile.homestead.com/

My training appears to be effective.  My prior personal one mile record was 6:26 at the Stiegel Mile in Manheim last October. I was able to shave thirty seconds from my one mile PR.  I would like to run the Miller's Mutual Mile in Harrisburg in late July.  The mile run in Harrisburg is a slight uphill during the entire run.  I will be very lucky to break 5:50, but we'll see what happens then.

Structured Training

I have been using the Pete Magill training program for about four weeks.  This training incorporates running steep hills, running intervals (alternating slow jogs and fast running), technique drills and medium and long runs.  He recommends training for about ten weeks before expecting appreciable differences in race results.

Prior to adopting this regimen, my training consisted of runs which only varied in their lengths.  The intensity of the runs were proportional to the distance of the runs - more intense for the shorter runs and less intense for the longer runs. It was a very unstructured regimen.

I should benefit to a degree from this structured training regimen for the Millersville Mile race on Sunday. My primary concern for the race is the chance for heavy thunderstorms.  I will run in the rain, but a thunderstorm could postpone the race to a later time or another weekend.  I probably should email the race organizers regarding this scenario.

My son is supposed to run in a fun run on Sunday also.  I believe when he is older he will run in the rain, but for now,  I won't subject him to running in the rain.

I will predict there is a 90% chance I will finish the mile between 5:50 and 6:10 (six minutes and ten seconds). If I finish any faster, I would have to credit the gain to the training program.  If I finish slower, either it rained or I cramped up and faltered during the race.

I have aspirations of finishing in the top ten in my heat.

2010 Race Schedule

I would like to enter twelve or thirteen  races this year. I ran 21 races last year.  Running this number of races will afford myself much more time for training for each individual race. Because I have been training much more this year I have set a personal record on each outing this year.

5K = 3.1 miles, 10K = 6.2 miles

February 2010
27th - Run for the Cookies 10K @ Berwick PA [51:44]

March 2010
27th - Get the Lead Out 5K @ Ambler PA [22:58]

April 2010
10th - Ridley Run 3.1  5K @ Ridley PA [22:48]

May 2010
23rd - Millersville Mile @ Millersville PA [5:57]
29th - Lebanon VA 5K @ Lebanon PA [21:37]

June 2010
5th - PA DUI Assn 10K @ Harrisburg PA [48:18]
19th - William F Foran Colon Cancer Prevention 5K @ Harrisburg PA [22:04]
26th - Palmyra Friends 5K @ Palmyra PA [21:40]

July 2010
21st - Miller's Mutual Mile @ Harrisburg PA [6:29]
31st - 5K Distance Classic Run @ Shippensburg PA [22:14]

August 2010
7th - Beach to Beacon 10K @ Portland ME [46:56]

September 2010
6th - Quarterback Club of York 5K @ York PA [22:16]
25th - Paxton Fest Two Mile @ Harrisburg PA [14:36]

October 2010
23rd - York White Rose Run (5 mile) @ York PA [38:36]

November 2010
20th - Give Thanks for Lebanon 5K @ Lebanon PA [23:23]
25th - Sticks and Biscuits 5K @ Palmyra PA [22:09]

December 2010
Nothing

[mm:ss] indicates a personal record.

PA DUI Assn 10K Race

I have decided to run the PA DUI Association 10K in early June in Harrisburg.  The run is entirely along the Susquehanna river and is on a very flat trail along Front Street.  Google lists the trail as the Capital Area Greenbelt.


This race will mark my beginning of the summer or baseline ten kilometer time.  I will then have eight weeks to train for the Beach to Beacon 10K race in Maine.  The B2B race will be my featured race of the year. This year's B2B race will have about 6500 runners.

The trail along the Susquehanna river is an awesome run.  I ran along the Susquehanna during the Harrisburg Marathon last year. I don't know if there is a scientific basis for this sentiment,but I feel I derive some energy from the water within the river. I don't believe Front Street will be closed for this event .  Front Street is the road which runs parallel to the trail and river.

I believe the runners within this race are very talented but I also recognize the course will be a very fast one.  Weather conditions permitting, I should be in a great position to set a new ten kilometer personal record.  My current 10K PR is 51:45, which is not a very respectable time.  10K = 6.2 miles

I have not run a race since April 10th.  I am very anxious to line up at the starting line at Millersville this weekend.  There are three one mile heats - one for the old men (myself included), one for the young men and one for the women.

Ten Mile Run - Barely

I decided to see if I could run ten miles at a decent pace this past weekend.   My efforts last year at running this distance resulted in a very slow pace at the tail end of the run.  It was not uncommon for me to exceed a ten minute per mile pace at the end of a long run of this distance last year.

The route that I typically take for my weekend long run begins and end at my home, a seven and a half mile loop about the eastern side of town.  I tacked on a three mile loop through an adjacent development to yield a ten and a half mile route.

I tried to conserve my energy as best possible for the first seven and a half miles.  I did a fairly good job.  However, my pace slowed markedly after I reached my house after the 7.5 mile marker.  The last two and a half miles hurt a bit - my thighs were burning and I began to get shin splints.  I ran an average pace of 8:27 for the first 7.5 miles - a decent pace.  The last three miles I ran at a 9:06 pace.  You could say I have "7.5 mile" legs right now.  As I train more I should get 'longer' more durable  legs..

Fortunately I did not injure myself but trying to run too far.  Had I  tried to run a mile or two more I would have hurt something to the extent I would have been sidelined for a week or two.

I am going to do three workout this week before the Millersville Mile on Sunday.   I will rest on Friday and Saturday to ensure my legs are as fresh as possible.  I have trained a lot for a six minute run.