Santa Clarita Half Marathon (1:23:25) 15th place!

This picture was taken at sunrise on Saturday morning, again from my front door!

The Santa Clarita Half Marathon was this Sunday morning. Clay had talked about running on Friday at work but, when I didn't hear from him on Saturday I figured he opted out. Then I got a text Saturday night that said, "see you at the starting line at 6:50am." I quickly replied, "Awesome!" We stayed down in Santa Clarita at a Hotel with my mom and step-dad who came out to visit and run the 5k!

The race started at 7:00am so I set my alarm for 5:30 thinking that my cell phone would automatically "fall back." I awoke to my alarm and got dressed and ready, then realized it was still dark out and no one else was up. I went back to bed for an hour, and was ready to go.

The starting temps were in the 50s! Perfect! Standing around I was wishing I had my arm warmers, but once the race started I was glad I didn't have them. My inital plan was to start conservatively at 7:00 pace for 3 miles and then pick it up depending on how my leg felt. I followed the plan, sort of.

It is hard to keep even splits at the beginning of the race. There were way too many slower runners up at the front and I'm sure I elbowed a few people just trying to break free the first quarter mile. The entire first mile is uphill and the second mile is down hill. My splits there were 6:37 and 6:22. This was not 7:00 pace but every time I looked at my watch it said around 6:30 pace and it felt very comfortable so I continued on.

The next 4 miles are fairly flat and the splits were 6:18, 6:13, 6:19, 6:22. I got a few sharp zingers of pain in my calf during these miles and forced myself to hold back. Looking back, I am amazed that I was able to hold this kind of pace during these miles. When I felt the calf I started to think, "oh boy here we go again." After that I didn't get any sharp pain the rest of the race.

It was at this point where the race really started to get fun. A female runner caught up to me and I tried to stay with her for a while but felt like I was pushing a little to hard and fell back. This portion of the race is slightly up hill to mile 9, then you turn back down the other side of the wash and run downhill to the finish. After about a half mile I caught up with this same girl and we were running stride for stride. I find myself running with women at some of these marathons and half marathons because they tend to be really good at keeping an even pace. Looking ahead I could see two other female runners. We passed one quickly and the other was farther up ahead. It was then that I said to her, "that girl is coming back to us, lets go get her" and we slowly reeled her in just before the nine mile mark. Miles 7 to 9 were 6:24, 6:25, 6:22 and I said, "If we can make it to mile 9 we have some downhill waiting for us."

I was taking gatorade about every three miles and felt good about it. I carried two gels but did not use either one. We were really cruising down hill and there were people on the course cheering for this girl running with me, "Go Holly!" "You are the first girl!" I tried to make sure she stayed with me. We had passed the last girl really strong and I knew we were quite a ways ahead. Miles 10 and 11 were 6:04 and 6:08 and Holly was really breathing hard. I told her, "relax and settle down, we still have 3 miles to go!" At one point to keep her motivated I ran through and aid station yelling, "Go Holly!" and pointing behind me. All the kids there started yelling, "Go Holly!" It was awesome.

With two miles to go Holly started to fade and I was getting pretty tired. We had gone through the 10 mile mark at 63:26! At this point I was trying to hold on myself and would occasionally yell, "c'mon Holly" behind me. The last mile is tough because you have to go over 2 bridge walkways before the finish. My last two mile splits were 6:14 and 6:26 for a final time of 1:23:25 (avg pace 6:22). I turned around to see Holly finish behind me as the first female finisher in 1:23:46! When the official results were put online I found her name Holly Kopp and after a quick "google" found that she is from Alaska, 19 years old, and runs cross country for The Masters College in Santa Clarita! Congratulations Holly!

I was very pleased with my time. I was 4th in my age group (tough age group). I remember a man calling out places at about the 5 mile mark and I was 35th, I ended up 15th! I was hoping to just break 1:26. After reading this some of you may not believe me when I complain about my calf and that it is only 90% but it really does not feel equal to the left side. I did not have the strength there to push in the last mile and was passed by a runner at the finish line. Normally I would not let that happen. I have learned how to manage the calf tightness over the past month. It is more sore and definitely tighter than the left right now.

Here is what the mile splits look like together. 6:37, 6:22, 6:18, 6:13, 6:19, 6:22, 6:24, 6:25, 6:22, 6:04, 6:08, 6:14, 6:26.

I saw Clay finish in 1:40 and was suprised to see David Weary finishing right with him! Sounds like they had a fun race together too.

My father-in-law Don Crane finished (with a cold) in just under 2:06, good for 6th out of 23 for males 60-64! Nice work Don!

My mom and brother-in-law both finished the 5k in 31 minutes, and my step-dad Brad who was competing on the 2nd anniversary of his back surgery, finished the 5k in 49:28 (a PR by over 10 minutes!)


My pal Ron Gallagher fought some nasty headwinds on the bike at the Silverman half ironman but finished faster than last year in 8:08!


The New York Marathon was this morning and the highlight for the US was Shalane Flanagan's debut in 2:28:40 for a 2nd place finish and US Marathon Champion! She is one tough cookie! See her post race interview here.
Meb was 6th and Dathan was 8th, but the big news for the men was that world record holder Haile Gebrselassie dropped out at mile 16 and, in a post race press conference, retired from competitive racing. It was an emotional announcement and a sad day for the running community.

Leona Valley Trail Races Half Marathon

I set out today to measure and map out the half marathon course for the Leona Valley Trail Races next October. The course is easy to follow. The start is at the Lake Hughes Community Center. There is a fire road to the right of the community center where the starting line will be. You run up the Lake Hughes Truck Trail or 7N05 for 3.4 miles where you come to an intersection with the Leona Divide Fire Road or 6N04. There you make a hard right onto the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and run down the switchbacks 3.3 miles to the aid station at a clearing right before Lake Hughes Road. There you turn around and retrace your steps to the finish line. The course is 13.4 miles, a little long but incredibly close.

Clay met me this morning with his dog Aurora to run the course. We started running together up 7N05. I also wanted to mark the 1.55 mile turn around for a 5k. I kept checking my watch and there was a lookout spot up ahead with an incredible view toward Lake Casitas that turned out to be exactly 1.55 miles. So the 5k is from the community center to the lookout and back.

I left Clay soon after and continued on my own. I have a little problem when I am running by myself. That is, I start to push the pace a little, then a little more, by the time I realize it I am really cruising on the trail. This can also happen on the road or the aqueduct. I started picking up the pace once I got on the PCT. I made it to the turn around in just over 57 minutes, then started back up the switchbacks to the aid station and back down 7N05 to the Community Center finishing in 1:53:35 (averaed 8:30 pace over the mountains. Mile splits: 10:20, 9:05, 8:46, 8:10, 8:36, 8:00, 8:19, 10:12, 9:41, 8:23, 8:06, 7:08, 6:28. Can you tell which miles were uphill and which were downhill?

Elevations are as follows: Community Center 3250ft, highest point 4085ft, and Lake Hughes Rd 3000ft. So there is about 1000ft elevation change every 3 miles! That is an AVERAGE grade of 6.3%.

Surf City Half Marathon?

My friend Ron from Las Vegas and his wife, along with a few of their friends ran the Surf City Half Marathon today. I knew he was going to try and run a PR and maybe even break 2 hours so I called him this week and asked if he wanted company and someone to help pace him. He liked the idea so I told him I would meet him at the 3 mile mark and run until about 12.5 miles with him.

I got up this morning to leave at 5:00am and made it to Huntington Beach area by 6:45! I parked at a Ralph's parking lot and ran to the 3 mile mark. It turned out to be a 2 mile warm up. I got there in time to see the lead runners go by. It was a beautiful morning at the beach. Completely different from the down pour yesterday and many of the runners and spectators were commenting on how nice the day was. On the advice of Clay, I bought a Los Angeles Dodgers balloon to help Ron find me through the crowds. We found each other easily and I hopped in with him. I have never been a bandit at a race before but it didn't bother me too much. The marathon and half marathon were sold out at 20,000. I took no fluids and tried to stay straight down the middle at all aid stations. Ok, I did take some "sharkies" but no one else was taking them! Ron started to struggle around mile 10 and we missed the sub 2 hour mark, but he did PR and was under 2:10 for the first time today with a 2:07! Congrats Ron! I got to run the last 10 miles with him. After talking with some of the others in his group from Vegas it sounded like almost everyone ran a PR today! It was a good day to do it. There was virtually no wind, but the sun was fairly intense and temperatures nearly reached 70 degrees.

I liked the course but that out and back on the PCH seemed to go on forever and you couldn't see the turn-around until just at the last minute. I would like to go back to run the whole thing some day.

I said my goodbyes while they waited for a few other finishers and I ran back to my car. I made one right turn when I should have made a left, but discovered my mistake in about a quarter mile and made it back to my car in 4 miles with no map!

Total mileage for today ended at 16!

Total weekend mileage ended at 36!
I think that is my all-time record for total weekend mileage. I ran 34 miles in two days the weekend of my 30 mile birthday run!


Speaking of half marathons, my dad recently sent this picture of me at the finish line of my first half marathon. I was 15 years old and the race was in January of 1995. The race was called the Las Vegas "Mini" Marathon. It started on Las Vegas Blvd and ran down the old Lake Mead Rd which is now St. Rose Pkwy. and finished with a right turn up Water St. into downtown Henderson. Yes, I was running in blue cotton Russell sweatpants and a baseball cap. My official time was 1:32:32. I think my long run was 8 miles before that day and I went out way to fast and struggled in the second half. I ran by myself. I don't remember why I wanted to do the race. I don't think anyone else from my team ran it. Fun memories though. I didn't run another half marathon until 2002 when, in my first year of physical therapy school, I ran the old downhill course Las Vegas Half Marathon with Andi in 1:33:21. I finally broke this PR set in high school in 2003 at the LV Half Marathon with a time of 1:21:09. I lowered it again the next year with a time that still stands as my PR in 1:20:00. I remember being so disappointed that I didn't break 1:20. I ran this course one more time the following year, 2005, on a very windy day in 1:23:49. The only other comparable half marathon time I have was in 2006 at the Santa Clarita Half Marathon where I ran 1:22:42.
Based on number of entrants the Running USA conference showed that the half marathon is the most popular distance in the country. There are many great half marathons in southern California. Many that I would like to try. Running Times Magazine listed the Fontana Days Half Marathon, Rock n' Roll San Jose, and the Bizz Johnson Trail Half Marathon on their list of "fastest half marathons in the country." Los Angeles Sports & Fitness Magazine listed the top 10 half marathons in Californa as Carlsbad, Buffalo Run (Catalina), Chesebro (Great Race of Agoura), Orange County, Palos Verdes, Laguna Hills, Fontana, America's Finest City (San Diego), Disneyland, and Rose Bowl. Of those 10 I have run the Buffalo Run (1:30:30) and Orange County (1:27:22). You can also see a list of half marathons in California here (there are a ton!) and they are listed by city.

What are some of your favorite half marathons?

Half marathon time trial with Dan (1:31:04)

A college friend of mine, Dan Ham (who is also running CIM with a goal of sub 3:10), came up last night to run a half marathon time trial with me. Both of us wanted to run a half marathon as a tune up for CIM and were unable to find just the right one so I invited him to come up and run on the aqueduct. I told him I would pace him to a 1:30:00! It would be a long marathon pace run for me and a race effort simulation for Dan.

We started at 60th and the aqueduct and went east for 3 miles out and back. We left fluids on our cards for quick water stops. We then headed on the west side 1.5 miles to 70th and turned around again for another water stop at mile 9. I told Dan we could go out a mile and back twice for one more water stop, or out for two and back to end at 13.1. He said he was ok to go out two and back for the finish as he was carrying some fluid on a fuel belt. The last 4 miles were tough for Dan but he dug down deep to pull through in 1:31:04, an unofficial PR by 9 minutes!

We ran very even. Our splits were: 6:54, 7:00, 7:03, 6:54,6:49, 6:52, 6:52, 6:47, 7:06, 6:58, 6:58, 7:07, 6:56. Awesome Dan!

We went through 5 miles in 34:42
We went through 10 miles in 69:21
Finished in 1:31:04 (avg pace 6:57).

His VDOT based on today is 50.24 and predicts a marathon of 3:09:53! He is right on track.

I know he wanted to be closer to 1:30, even possibly under, but the last 4-5 miles were tough. He really had to grind it out and I ran a few steps ahead to pull him along. He got a nice ice bath afterward and we talked about how to best utilize his last 5 weeks of training. We decided he needs two 20+ milers and at least two more marathon pace (7:15) runs of 8-12 miles. He will be running easy this week and attempt a 20 miler next Saturday.

Temps were great but it even got a little warm towards the end. My car said 72 degrees afterward. I felt really strong today and could have continued at that same pace. I too need a few more long runs, fast finish runs and MP runs (6:40 pace).

43 days and counting.

Andi's Big Bear Half Marathon (1:57:27)

(collage courtesy of Bill Schneider)

Sorry for the lack of posts this week but the truth is I haven't had anything to post about. I basically took the week off to give the left leg a rest. I attempted a run on Wednesday morning but lasted a mile and called it quits.

This weekend was the Big Bear Half Marathon for Andi and her friend Dawn. We arrived Friday and picked up bib numbers and got all the race info. It was a late start (8:30) and the course is fairly brutal at 6500ft elevation with some good hills around the lake and high temps (it was in the high 70's when the girls finished). Dawn's husband Bill and I watched all five kids while the girls ran and we met them near the finish line. Here is a picture of the cheering squad.
Andi ran with Dawn for the first seven miles and then Dawn told her to go ahead as she was struggling a bit. Andi finished 94th overall (4th in her age group) in 1:57:24 (avg pace 8:54). Her splits were 9:11, 9:19, 8:47, 9:11, 9:36, 9:48, 9:32, 8:21, 8:32, 8:24, 8:23, 8:35, 8:18. Dawn finished 195th in 2:14:58 (not bad for having a baby 6 months ago and not getting any sleep the night before due to the same baby). The next day Bill and I went for an easy jog on the bike paths on the north shore. We ended up running 10k in 53:40 (avg pace 8:40) my knee did bother me a little in the first two miles but we picked it up on the way back. We both commented that we could "feel" the change in altitude from home. Once we reached the car I decided to test the knee by opening it up over the next quarter mile at around 6:30 pace. Yep, it still hurts with every step. It was achy the rest of the day but feels a little better tonight. We'll keep you posted.

Andi was not sore at all the next day. The marathon training is going well. Both girls said it was a very well run race and they heard that the race almost didn't even happen when the previous organizer backed out. A local realtor put up $100,000 to get the race back and guaranteed that amount over the next four years to keep the race going. Amazing!

The kids got some running in too!

OC Half Marathon 1:27:22

My regular blog readers are probably wondering how the right calf felt today. Well, the best thing I did for it over the past week was to NOT run. I did run on Thursday for 5 miles but after that did nothing but stretch, massage, and ice. By Saturday night it was feeling fairly good but I had no idea how it would feel once I started running.

Clay drove Dale, Neil, and I down to Newport Beach on Saturday afternoon and we went right over to the Orange County Marathon expo. It was the last few hours of the expo and ended up being a great time to go if you were interested in buying merchandise because everything was 50% off. It was not a great time to go if you were picking up your race shirts because all they had left was XL shirts. I figured this was not going to be a super fast race so I wasn't interested in buying an OC marathon mug, towel, or poster. I did get some coolmax socks and a headband for Andi.

We got to bed early in our hotel room which was right down by the starting line. The race started at 6:30 so I was up around 5:30 and heading down just after 6:00am. Clay was running with Dale, who was running the full marathon, and had a goal of sub 3:20. The marathoners ran with the halfers until about 12 miles. Neil was hoping to break 1:20 for the half. We met up with Dave (55-59 age group) who was shooting for a sub 1:30 half. I decided to start with Dave and see how I felt. If the calf cooperated then I could pace him and he might win his age group.

The temp was in the mid 50s at the start and it was deceivingly humid. Why is humidity such a silent killer? Not only do you sweat a ton leading to a dehydration, but if there is little wind like today then there is no way to cool you down, your core temperature rises quickly, and the body starts to shut down for fear that you will do permanent harm. The amazing human body has its own emergeny stop switch.

I let Dave go for the first mile so I could test out my right calf. It felt surprisingly great so I caught back up with him and said, "Let's go!" We cruised down the PCH and I told him we were ahead of schedule. I felt a little "twinge" in the right calf at about 2.5 miles but it didn't cramp and didn't get any worse so I continued with Dave. We already had about a 2-3 minute cushion by 6 miles (I think our 10k split was around 42 min) and Dave started to fade. I didn't realize he had been walking around Disneyland the day before. He told me to take off and so I did and settled into a nice pace around 6:20ish. There was a steep short hill at mile 9 and I was able to shorten my stride and push off more mid foot to avoid stressing my calves. My right calf finally started to tighten on a longer gradual hill between mile 11 and 12. I gutted out the last 2 miles with a nice closing mile of 6:14 and a total time of 1:27:22 (6:40 pace) good enough for 33rd place and 9th in my age group. I was able to get an ice pack from the med tent afterward but had no way of holding in on so I sat down and placed it under my leg for a few minutes.

As a physical therapist, I tend to watch everyone else run during these longer races. Today for some reason I saw a ton of supinators or underpronators. It is much more common to have the opposite problem. The supinator has a very high arch, rigid and tight foot and ankle, and runs on the outside of their foot. This can lead to 5th metatarsal fractures, plantar fasciitis, and joint pain from inadequite shock absorption (the reason for normal pronation). They require a neutral cushion shoe to help absorb as much ground reaction force as possible. They typically require new shoes more often as they wear out the later side of their shoes quickly. See video. And another here.

My mile splits today were 6:58, 6:35, 6:21, 6:48, 6:53, 6:46, 6:36, 6:22, 6:23, 6:29, 6:21, 6:48, 6:14. I was pleased with the time considering the amount of training and the recovery from my right calf strain. I was happy to be under 1:30.

I have 6 months now to build up my training enough to be able to maintain that pace for twice the distance. The goal is 2:55 at the California International Marathon on December 6th.

Neil ended up running a break through race in 1:19:05. Dave faded to 1:36 but was still good enough for 2nd in his age group. Had he ran under 1:30 he would have won his age group.

Clay helped pace Dale to a 1:40 half as Clay came through in 1:40:45.

Dale had a rough second half which included high humidity, heat, a freeway overpass late in the race, and two gnarly blisters (one on each arch) leading to a bloody shoe. Check them out here. He ended up 3:38:25.

Other local participants included Chuck Fieland who ran the full marathon in 3:17 at 50 years young, good enough for 2nd in his age group. Congratulations Chuck! A great time on a tough day.

Happy New Year Aqueduct Half Marathon (1:37:52)

Dale Lister, a fellow High Desert Runner, is running the Surf City Marathon in one month. We had been planning to run a half marathon time trial on January 1st for over a month, and lately the intensity of the run was under discussion. Clay decided to run the second half with us and meet us with water (thanks Clay). Clay is running the Surf City Half Marathon. I was just looking for a nice long run and to help out Dale on one of his hard effort training runs. See Clay's blog and Dale's blog for some pictures and other commentary.

The weather was perfect this morning. The temp was in the high 30s at the start with absolutely no wind. I was overdressed in my running pants and skull cap (I ditched my gloves after about 4 miles). I let Dale set the pace for the first half and let him know that we were already under his 8 minute marathon pace (for a 3:30) after the first few miles. We were talking and he didn't seem to be laboring with the pace at all. We hit our turn around in 50 minutes where Clay joined us on the way back and the pace began to quicken. We hit just under 7:30 pace most of the way back and were at 8 miles at 1 hour, then 1:15:18 at the 10 mile mark. With 5k to go I picked up the pace by just 10-15 seconds per mile and everyone hung on for a solid effort. Total time was 1:37:52 (avg pace 7:28), a PR for Dale!

Mile splits were 7:49, 7:51, 7:32, 7:20, 7:26, 7:30, 7:26, 7:28, 7:26, 7:22, 7:16, 7:16, 7:21.
We did negative split the run by about 2 minutes!

Dale, I think at an all out race effort you could be very close to 1:35. Based on todays run the VDOT calculator predicts a marathon of 3:23:38. I will make my prediction for you and Clay the week before the race. Good job out there, it was fun.

On my way home I spotted Andi pushing the boys in the jogger on 40th to meet her dad and brother. So I drove home, parked the car, and ran out to meet them. It added on another 3 miles to my day. Total mileage for the day was 16! What a way to start off the year.


One thing I have been working on this past year was sending pictures to some of the Olympians that ran in Beijing this summer and other professional runners for autographs. They were not only prompt in replying, but also very gracious and their messages were motivational. I don't know any other sport where athletes respond in this way. I even got thank you notes from Blake Russell and Joan Samuelson. I scanned some of the autographs and hope that they inspire you for the new year.

First Annual Aqueduct Half Marathon (1:24:33)

Since I didn't get to race yeserday, and I am probably not racing any distance over 5k for the rest of the year I decided to do a Garmin measured half marathon on the California Aqueduct this morning. Clay rode his son's mountain bike as support and carried my water (thanks Clay) and we started at 60th W at about 6:15am. The first 20 minutes were in the dark but Clay had his headlamp (thanks again Clay). I thought I would be around 1:26 based on how I was feeling the last few weeks, and the conditions were great. I also wanted to try and run negative splits on the out and back course (the turn around was at 110th W).

I felt great on the way out and settled comfortably around 6:40 for the first few miles. Clay had to yell at me to slow down, but I was able to converse with him for the first half pretty well.

The last 4 miles were pretty tough and it really helped to have Clay on his bike just a few steps ahead of me, pulling me along. I tried to just keep an even pace and then attempted a final push on the last mile finishing in 1:24:33 (average pace 6:27)! I think that is my 5th or 6th fastest half marathon time ever! Although at least three of those times were on the old Las Vegas Marathon course which is mostly down hill. The aqueduct is about as flat as you can get (over the 13 miles today there was a net ascent/decent of 70ft).

My mile splits were:
6:50
6:39
6:38
6:36
6:33
6:26
6:22
6:15
6:24
6:23
6:17
6:15
6:13

The other splits that I remember were 40:30 for 10k and 65:00 for 10 miles.

I was very pleased with the final time, I had nothing left in the tank (I took one GU at mile 7). And I did negative split!
VDOT=55

PS: Last 6 miles was in 37:47!

13.1 mile long run (1:38:58)

On Saturday morning I did my long run for the weekend before leaving to go camping in Carpinteria (see family blog). I ran to Clay's house which is 4 miles away, then we ran about 5 miles together, and then I took the long way home to make it an even 13.1 miles (you can't just run 13, might as well make it a half marathon) which is the distance I will be running next weekend.

It was perfect weather, and in my long sleeves and pants I was almost over dressed. Most of the run was in the dark, so I have been getting good use of my headlamp (yes I am that nerdy).

Mile splits were: 7:56, 7:44, 7:21, 7:31, 8:09, 8:15, 7:42, 7:30, 7:24, 7:17, 7:15, 7:14, 6:53. Average pace was 7:33.

Miles 5 and 6 were mostly up hill with the furthest point from home being M and 70th West.

This week will be full of easy runs in preparation for Saturdays race.

I enjoyed Dean Karnazes blog entry this week and wanted to share it here.

November 8th is our next running clinic on Strength Circuit Training for runners! On that note, there are some great US runners in this years NYC Marathon including Kara Goucher, Abdi Abdirahman, and Chris Graff. A year ago, Chris dropped out of the Olympic Trials Marathon and was all but retired from competitive running. He took up coaching at the University of Maryland. Now he is back racing at the NYC Marathon and says this about his turn-around,"I just started feeling better and better and I wasn't running much but doing a lot of the strength work," Graff explains. "By the end of the summer, I started feeling great on my two-hour runs. I was running two to three days briskly, easy on the others." Amazing what a little strength training can do!

13.1 total miles with 5 miles @ threshold

Today I ran another half marathon the day after the men's Olympic marathon. The workout last week included intervals, so today I included 5 miles at threshold pace. Threshold pace is defined as the pace at which your body STARTS to accumulate more lactate than it can clear. They call this "comfortably hard." To improve your lactate threshold you must spend time running at or near that point to improve your body's ability to clear it. It turns out to be the pace at which you can run all out for about one hour, or somewhere between 10k and 15k race pace. It is 88-92% of your velocity at VO2max or heart rate. Isn't it amazing, that a human can run at 90% of their maximum HR for an hour!

There are a few ways to do this type of training. Interestingly, Jack Daniels, PhD states that the ideal duration of a steady threshold run is 20 minutes (from Daniels' Running Formula). You can also break it up into cruise intervals, where you are running many shorter workbouts with a very short recovery. Or you can break up the 20 minutes or so into shorter workbouts also with little rest (I guess this would still be considered cruise intervals). Either way they should all be done at your threshold pace, not faster. Be careful not to go too fast on cruise intervals. If they feel too easy then do more, or shorten the rest.

One of Jack Daniels' runners Magdalena Lewy-Boulet qualifed for the US Olympic team in the marathon. In the last issue of Running Times she states that one of her marathon prep workouts is 5x2 miles at threshold pace. This would equal 10 miles at threshold pace, or very close to an hour at threshold pace.

Today I decided to use the same workout but step it down a bit, since I'm not a world class athlete. I did a 4 mile warm up. Then I did 2x2 miles at threshold pace and 1x1 mile at threshold pace with half a mile (4 minutes) recovery in between workbouts. I finished with a 3 mile cool down back home. The threshold workbouts were on the road around Lane Park, which is almost exactly 1 mile. The first 2 miles was done in 13:17, the second 2 miles was in 12:58, and the last mile was in 6:17. Total miles at threshold pace was 5, total time at threshold pace was a little over 30 minutes. My heart rate during the threshold workbouts was between 165-175. It was a tough workout for sure.

Total time for the 13.1 miles run today was 1:38:28. The HR graph looked totally cool on my new Garmin Forerunner 305.

Based on my last race time (18:20 for 5k) my threshold pace should be about 6:20 so I was very close most of the workout. My body is learning how to clear lactate more efficiently as we speak.


So the men's Olympic marathon was yesterday. I would say that was the most exciting race, for a distance event, in the entire Olympic games, other than the women's 10k. The athletes actually raced from the start!! The temperature was in the mid 80s for most of the race and many runners struggled with the heat. Twenty-one year old Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya won the race, and got the first gold medal for Kenya in the Olympic marathon, in 2:06:32. For the US Dathan Ritzenhein was 9th (2:11), Ryan Hall was 10th (2:12) , and Brian Sell was 22nd (2:16) for respectable finishes. The best recap can be found on RunnersWorld.com.

Video interview of Ritz after the Olympics on flotrack.org. Article here.

OMG, check out video of Brian Sell's race shoes from the Olympic marathon here.

Also, US Bryan Clay, won the gold medal in the decathlon. He is a graduate of Asuza Pacific University (where Andi got here MPT) as was 1992 Olympian Dave Johnson (see APU school records). If you have the newest issue of Sports Illustrated (yeah the one with Michael Phelps on the cover) there is a great interview with Bruce Jenner in which he tells why the winner of the decathlon is truly the world's greatest athlete. Also read here and here. Bryan sounds like a great guy!



Anyone else as bummed as me about NBC's tape delayed coverage of the Olympics? Columnist Predicts Beijing is 'Last Olympics We Will Suffer Through in Tape Delay'

Half Marathon time trial (1:35:40)

I planned on going for 12-13 miles this morning on the aqueduct. I figured if you are going to run 12 you might as well run 13, and if you are running 13 you might as well run the .1 to make it a half marathon. After the first few miles I decided to run the full half marathon. I started at 70th and ran to 110th and back. I did two laps around the bridges on the way back and had to go out an extra .7 and back to make it the full 13.1 in 1:35:40 (avg pace 7:18).

There was quite a bit of cloud cover when I started and even though it was 80 degrees, the light breeze made it fell cool. It stayed like that until about mile 9 and then I lost the clouds and could feel the sun beating down for the last 4 miles. The temp jumped 8 degrees by the time I was done. I'm sure glad I brought my camelback with me!

Wild life included two wild horses and a coyote. I was wearing a new Brooks sleeveless yellow shirt that attracted a few dozen bees for about 2 miles!

Mile splits were pretty even 7:32, 7:23, 7:26, 7:21, 7:08, 7:26, 7:10, 7:22, 7:01, 7:12, 7:18, 7:24, 7:13. I was pleased with the consistency of the run. The last 4 miles were tough, but mostly because of the heat.

Easy runs and strides for the rest of the week before Thursdays 3 mile cross country race.

Late Addition to post:
I was going through some paperwork etc today, filing things away and ran across all the newspapers that I bought in Boston after the Marathon in April. I was looking through them trying to decide which ones to keep when I came across this photo. I did a double take when I realized it was ME! I made the Metrowest Daily News on Tuesday April 22, 2008. I couldn't believe that I missed that picture before, but there I am wearing my thrift store sweats and jacket, and I'm carrying my yellow collapsible chair I bought in Boston.

13.1 miles brings weekend total to 21 miles

I ran a 6.5 mile loop course twice this morning. It is still windy around here (Vegas), but not as bad as yesterday. The positive take was that the uphill portions had a tailwind. I ran the first loop with Andi. She is really coming along with her running and is planning on running a 10k on April 26th. The second loop I picked up the pace, specifically pushing up the hills running about 7:00 to 7:20 pace most of the way. The last two miles down hill back home were under 7:00.

Average pace on the whole run was 7:35.

6 weeks until Boston.

Half Marathon 1:32:44

Today was a little test to see where I was at and if I had lost anything after being sick. I learned that I am progressing, but I still have a lot of work to do as it was not as easy as I would like it to be.

I ran a half marathon course that is overall uphill for the first half and downhill and flat for the second half. I ran my first mile in 7:30 and decided that I would go for a sub 1:35. My mile splits were 7:30, 7:09, 7:20, 7:22, 7:23, 7:17, 7:04, 6 :54, 6:51, 6:45, 6:57, 6:49, 6:39. You can definitely see a first half and second half there. I was pleased with the evenness of the splits.

I pushed close to my limits on this one and have some mild lateral right foot pain afterward. It is good to know that my speed is improving, but I need the endurance to sustain that pace for twice as long. 26 miles is no joke.

Average pace was 7:05. I should be able to run a 1:30 fairly easily as I will have to repeat that performace to run a sub 3 hour marathon. Also, Boston has a fairly hilly second half so negative splits is unlikely.

I am looking forward to getting back into my 4 day per week running routine and strength training programs that have slipped last week. If I feel good I may do some interval work on Tuesday.

Clay and I had our free running clinic yesterday which was a success. We had 28 people show up and although our video did not work the demonstrations were probably more effective.

Over the hills and through the wind

Ran 13.1 miles this morning. It was early for me. I left at 6:30am. I have to get up early to get four runs in a week. The first 6.5 miles were mostly up hill and into the wind. There were some pretty good gusts but no rain.

For those of you that know the area my turn around was o-8 and 5oth near the golf course. The total miles ended up being about 12.5 so I ran around the neighborhood for a complete half marathon.

My total time was 1:41:13. The first six miles were 49:13 the second six miles were 44:25 and the last mile was 6:56. Mile splits (8:26, 8:25, 8:24, 8:03, 8:10, 7:44, 8:00, 7:27, 7:14, 7:16, 7:13, 7:11, 6:56). Average pace was 7:44.

I took the camelback with me but no carbs. I feel pretty good this evening. We'll see how I feel in the morning.