Race Report: Universal Sole Lakefront 10 miler

It was a cool and mostly cloudy morning on Sunday, with temperatures in the 40s, but very little wind. Really nice weather for a long-distance race actually. Erik, Cassie and I were running the Lakeshore 10 miler. The course began at Montrose and Simmonds Dr., went north on Simmonds to Bryn Mawr, then turned south all the way to Fullerton and back to Montrose.

Initially, we intended to make this an easy training run and not push too hard. Apparently its difficult for me to "take it easy" in a race. Although I did at the start, and I think that really helped me run a great race. We started off on an easy pace for the first several miles. I wasnt feeling all that well on account of a lack of sleep and not eating well for a couple days before the race. By the time we got to mile 5, I was in a groove and I noticed that a PR was in sight if I picked up my pace just a little bit. By the time I hit mile 7 I was running about a minute per mile faster than the first 5 miles. Still feeling good, I turned it on some more and seperated myself from Erik and Cassie by just a little bit. At mile 9, I knew I had a PR, but I sped up regardless to see what I could handle. Erik caught up to me on the last quarter mile and we finished in 1:30:07, over 3 minutes faster than my PR for the distance. Cassie finished only 20 seconds behind us.

My mile splits were: 9:52, 9:49, 9:11, 9:05, 9:20, 9:02, 9:05, 8:48, 8:14, 7:42, with an average lap of 9:01.

This was the first middle-distance race that I really felt confident throughout and finished strong. It definitely helped that it was a very well-managed race. A nice scenic (very familiar) course. Aid stations were in great locations, as was the Clif Shot station. I'm looking forward to starting some speed work soon and really improving upon my times this summer. Hopefully it will show when I get to the distance classic and eventually the marathon.

Building Begins

Cassie and I ran our first high mileage long run on Friday night. We were having company from out of town staying with us for the weekend and we were scheduled to go condo shopping on Sunday afternoon, so we needed to get our long run in on Friday evening. I consider the 14 miler the first week of the mileage build towards the marathon, since the 10 and 12 milers the last month have been about having a foundation and they are a relatively easy distance. The weather was perfect for it in the low 60s and a nice breeze. It was my first spring run (in Chicago) in shorts AND a t-shirt.

The 14 miler put me at 43 miles of training for the week. This was 10 miles more than my previous best for one week. I also jumped nearly 20 miles in training from my previous week and ran 5 days total, instead of my usual 4 days. I typically would not push myself so much, but it sort of needed to happen due to my schedule. I actually felt great all week despite the high mileage. We broke up the 14 miles in a nice way with 10 miles on the lakeshore and 4 miles on the river path. I felt strong throughout, like I could have kept going 2-4 more miles easily. Cassie struggled more than me. 14 miles is her PB distance currently. She did really well until about mile 12, then we had to walk a couple times, but she made it to the end.

I'm finding out that I run really well in the evenings, after my body has had a chance to stretch out and move during the day. I've been more sluggish in the mornings and it takes me longer to warm up.

Erik, Cassie and I ran a 4.5 miler this morning around Ravenswood. It was a bit cooler with temps in the high 40s. I had some mild soreness, but I am not sure if it was from the 14 miler on Friday or playing frisbee in the park yesterday. I think it was from frisbee actually. I'll probably take it a bit easier this week on mileage so I dont hurt myself. We also have the Lakefront 10 miler on Sunday morning, so I want to be fresh for that. I'm looking forward to the race, I'm going to try a more conservative approach at the beginning and see how well I do. I want to finish strong this time.

River Path Runner

I should change my name to the River Path Runner because I have been on that route way more than the lakeshore the past two weeks. Five of my last seven runs have been on the river path. This is partially because I have run the Fleet Feet Monday Night Fun Run route two weeks in a row and my friend Jon lives closer to the river and isn't ready to increase his mileage by going to the lake yet.

As I mentioned, I ran the Fleet Feet Monday Night Fun Run route again this week. I intended for this run to be a recovery run after my 12 miler on Sunday. Well, I have a hard time taking it easy if I am running with a group. I was feeling good and so I ended up running 5 miles in about 41 minutes, which is a really quick pace for me. It was a fun evening. Mizuno was hosting the fun run and so there were drinks, appetizers and giveaways at Lattitude following the run. They gave away alot of stuff, but my unlikely self didn't win anything. I had a good time regardless and met some other runners.

This morning I ran with Jon again. Including the distance to and from his place I ran over 5 miles, at a much easier pace of about 53 minutes. I wasn't feeling quite so hot this morning. Last night we went to see The Bank Job at the Davis and had dinner at Thai Opart beforehand with wine. Well, a half-bottle of wine at dinner and a box of chocolate-covered cookie dough snacks at the movies apparently are not good for pre-run nutrition. The weather really improved today. It was about 50 degrees and very windy early this morning and is in the 70s now. We should be in a good weather pattern for the next week at least. I'm running with Erik in the morning so I should make sure I eat a better dinner tonight and get my rest.

12 miles

I completed my 12 mile long run in for the week. Erik and I went out in the early afternoon. It was sunny and cold today and worst of all...very windy. Per usual in Chicago, the wind only affects about half of your run depending upon whether you are running north or south first. Since I live pretty far north the wind is usually at my back for the first half of my run as I go south on the lakeshore path. However, when you turn around to start running home you nearly get knocked over by the wind. The run going south was great. We were flying with the wind and making great time while not exerting much extra energy. When we turned around at North Ave. and started running north, I could feel the energy draining from my body as I fought the wind. It was brutal, but once we got to Belmont it was better because there is more protection from trees. I was so relieved to turn west onto Montrose. The rest was a piece of cake until I arrived home.

All in all, today was a really good run. I took some extra time stretching beforehand because I was sore from the 5 miler yesterday and I think that really helped me. I had some mental battles later on in the run, you know them, the little demon on your shoulder that keeps telling you to stop. The wind was the primary cause of those problems though. We kept a nice steady 9 to 9:30 pace for most of the run and only stopped a couple times to rehydrate and once to take a GU. I'm still feeling really good physically, with no injury bugs or nagging soreness. The mileage is going to really start climbing now on the long runs, so the real test will be the next few weeks.

The weather should start seriously warming up this week. I'm hoping I can put my running pants away until fall now. It's unlikely, but you never know with this city.

5 + 5 milers

Thursday night had horrible weather. It was freezing cold, windy and we were having big thunderstorms. Friday morning was a completely different day however and when I woke up to go for a run and meet up with my friend Jon it was about 55 degrees, sunny and clear. It was a beautiful, perfect morning for running. Jon hasn't been running since we ran a 5k with him last September, so we took it pretty easy. I showed him the river front path which is very close to his new condo in Lincoln Square. I ran 5 miles total including running to and from Jon's place. With Jon training to run the Soldier Field 10 miler with me, I'll probably be running a couple times with him each week until the race in May. I'm looking forward to having another running buddy for the summer. Jon ran in high school and college I think so it probably won't take him long to get back into training.

The nice weather came and went quickly on Friday. It has been very cool and rainy all day today. I was supposed to do a 12 mile long run with Erik, but our schedules didn't quite match up. Cassie did get in her 12 mile long run this morning. Erik and I decided to get our long run in tomorrow afternoon instead. The weather is supposed to be better at least. Since I was all dressed and stretched and ready to go running when I found out Erik wasnt able to go, I decided to get in a shorter run. I ran an easy 5 miler on the river path. It wasn't the best run for me. I didn't get much sleep last night and I think I was a little dehydrated as well, but I finished. I'm going to take it easy tonight and get some rest and hopefully tomorrow will be a good long run.

7 + 4.5 milers

We are back in Chicago. Although the weather is definitely not better here, it feels good to be back home now. It does feel like spring is here at least. Temperatures are consistently in the 40s and 50s instead of 20s and 30s. I can wear shorts when I run now.

I originally was going to use this blog as my running journal after everytime I run, but I already use Map My Run as my running journal mostly. Writing and logging two journals is already proving to be too much for me to handle and is not really interesting if anyone is actually reading this blog. Who wants to just read my boring report on the weather and how I felt on the run? So, my plan is to not write after every run, but write when I have the time and combine a few runs in each posting. Hopefully this will allow me to write more interesting postings as well.

Monday evening, I ran with the Fleet Feet Fun Run group from the Lincoln Square store. The store is the closest running retailer to my house, and the group always goes on the river path for their fun runs, which is a great route. It's the best running store in Chicago from all the ones I've visited. Fun races, a friendly knowledgeable staff and great stock in shoes, apparel and pretty much anything you want. My friend Erik met me at the store and we set out to do 6 miles. It actually ends up being over 7 miles for me if I run to and from my house to the store. It makes a nice warm up. A short ways into the run after smaller groups began breaking out we were running with a woman named Amanda. We had a great conversation with her about the Madison-Chicago 200 Relay which she ran last year and we are considering running this year. She was able to answer alot of our questions. Before we knew it we were going on a fast pace (for us anyways). I wasn't timing us, but I am pretty sure we were doing sub-8:30s, but I felt great and kept pushing it until we returned to the store. It didn't feel like 7 miles at all when I got home. The weather was in the mid 40s so I was able to wear shorts. This was a great run. I wish every one was like this.

Wednesday morning Schroeder and I met up for a morning run. It was chillier than I expected in the high 30s and cloudy and windy. I still wore shorts. It's hard to go back to long pants after you've been running in shorts for over a week! I can't wait for summer. We ran a 4 and a half mile loop through Ravenswood. I felt pretty slugglish for most of this run, but we got the miles in. The best news is that I am feeling very healthy with no pain or soreness anywhere.

Not sure if I'll go out tomorrow. It is supposed to be cool and rainy again. Friday morning I am running with my friend Jon, who is running the Soldier Field 10 miler with Cassie and I in May. He used to be a runner and is planning on training for this race with us to get back into shape after winter. I'm looking forward to it. It probably won't be a long run on Friday so I may go out tomorrow night.

My beloved Twins are playing the White Sox tonight, so I am going to head home and watch them now. I'm so glad baseball is back.

Race Report: Central Valley 10k

We woke up early on Saturday morning to pack up and leave our condo north of Kaanapali beach in Maui and drive to the race just outside Kahului. We found the race start with little difficulty and arrived around 6:30 a.m. to pick up our race number and t-shirt. The 10k was a small race, with probably only about 50 runners. This was the second year of the 10k race to benefit the orphaned pets of Maui at the Maui Humane Society. I'm not sure what sort of a running community they have in Maui. It seems really active from what I observed this past week. Every morning dozens of runners were out getting in their miles, but I'm not sure how many of those people were tourists or locals. It seemed like both actually. I picked up a copy of the Hawaiian Sports magazine (same as Chicago Athlete) at the Runner's Paradise store that was sponsoring the race and it looks like triathalons and biking are really popular on the islands.

The weather was nice at the start in the low 70s with some wind, but the sun was out from the beginning and that was going to have an affect later on in the race. I've never run the 10k distance as a race before so I decided to just go for it and see how well I manage. The out and back course started on a short access road to the Humane Society and then went south on a bike path towards Kihei for 3 miles. The scenery was nice, going through sugar cane fields, there was even a really nice rainbow in the distance, but I personally prefer a few more turns in a race to keep things interesting. The course seemed very flat, but it was in fact a steady downhill the first half of the race, meaning the second half of the race was a low grade hill for 3 miles.

I went out too fast on the first half of the course and paid for it later. If the race was a 5k I think I could have PR'd it easily. Unfortunately with the sun out, a strong headwind going back north, and the low grade hill going all the way back to the start I really struggled on the back half of the race. My official time hasn't been posted online yet, but based on my watch I ran the 10k in about 53:25 or something like that. Cassie came in about 2 minutes later. She ran a nice steady pace the entire race. Even though I struggled, it was a PR for me for the distance, and we had fun running a race in Hawaii on our vacation. I'm excited about the upcoming race season.

Based on this race and the 10 miler I ran last fall in North Carolina, I am not sure if I am a good middle-distance runner. I need to come up with a better race strategy for those distances. I may have to stick with the 5k and marathon as my focuses. I have two 10 mile races coming up the next month and a half, so I think I will know more about my middle-distance abilities after those.

Cassie and I are back in IL now. We had a great vacation, with lots of relaxation and fun trips all around the island of Maui. It's always good to be home though. Hopefully spring is here to stay.

5 and 4 milers

I am a couple days behind on running posts now, because, well...I'm in Maui on vacation and being on the internet is not high on my priority list at the moment. We're having a great time exploring beaches and hiking around. We went to a Luau in Lahaina last night, which was cool.

Cassie and I ran a solid 5 miler on Tuesday. It was in the low 70s in the morning and windy. It was fairly hilly terrain, which I liked because we don't get any of that in Chicago. Cassie was not thrilled with it though. Both ankles felt great although I did have some tightness in my calf, which is new to me. I took a day off from running though and it feels fine. We stopped and grabbed some coffee after the run and enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the condo.

We rested on Wednesday and this morning we ran just under 4 miles on a slightly different route with fewer hills. We didnt get outside until after 8 a.m. so it was hotter than before with less wind. We are so not acclimated to the warm weather, after running in freezing temps for the last 4-5 months. I felt really good on the run today, no issues whatsoever. I'm feeling like I'll be in good shape for the 10k on Saturday. Well, we are off to Lahaina for the evening, so I'm out.