20 Before 30: Update 3 - One Minute Down, One More Minute to Go

I’ve been exhausted lately, due to the fact that I never go to bed early enough but more so that I’ve been overworking my body with running and bike commuting. On Saturday, I did my scheduled 6 mile run but instead of running the scheduled 4 miles on Sunday, I reduced it to 3. Sure I only subtracted a mile, but taking it down to 3 mi allowed me to do a 3 mi “speed test.” 

With my overall goal of running a 5K under 20 minutes, running a 3 miler (just .1 mi short of a 5K) is a thermometer of my progress. Back in February I ran the same 3 mile loop, in the same direction as I did on Sunday. My overall time then was 25:10, a pace of 8:23 per mile. On Saturday my time was… (drum roll please)… 21:48, a per mile pace of 7:16. I’ll admit that the notes in my running log show that the 3 mile run back in February wasn’t run as hard as I did my run on Saturday, but still. That’s a one minute per mile progression. I’m pretty pumped. I’m also excited that I’m now within a minute of the per-mile pace to break the 20 minute, 5K barrier. That time is 6:26 per mile. I don’t want get too cocky with so far yet to go to reach that fast pace, but with my 27 ½ “birthday” having just past at the end of April, I feel like I will easily run a sub-20 minute 5K before I turn 30.

Race Report: Crazylegs Classic

This past weekend, I eschewed my typical Saturday morning routine of drinking tea and watching soccer, for doing the Crazylegs Classic.  The 8 km, or basically 5 mi, course runs from Madison’s downtown state capital square, through the University of Wisconsin campus, and ending in Camp Randall the university’s football stadium.  I last did this race back in 2009 when I was training for the 2009 Madison Marathon.  My finishing time then (in a raining downpour) was just under 45 minutes – 44:49.  

This year I was focused on improving my time to be under 40 minutes.  I’ve been building a better base, one especially of shorter distances with more speed.  If everything went perfect, I was going for under 38:00.  Like in 2009 though, the conditions would be far from perfect.  The race time temperature was 42 degrees, with a misting rain, and winds that were at least 15 mph.  Before the race, I did a warm-up jog from the downtown Panera Bread where my wife and I parked the car (it would be our post-race meeting place).  My legs were really tight because of the damp cold and were still feeling stiff by the time I got to my wave in the start line staging.  Luckily I was in the front end of the waves in wave “I” versus say the last wave “ZZ,” so my legs didn’t have too much time to get really cold before starting. 

Once I crossed the finish line, my legs had a bit of an adrenaline surge but they were still really stiff.  It definitely made the running crowd dodging more difficult.  As you can imagine with the wave start – 52 waves in fact, that there are a lot of people that do the race.  This year’s entry total just came short of 20,000 runners.  With that said, the 5 mile course is still very tightly packed with runners.  I probably didn’t really stop doing full on running “dodge” mode until at least mile 3.  That’s not to say though that I didn’t bulldoze my way up the decently sized and switch-backed Observatory Hill just after mile 1.  (I really like going up hills fast and to feel that pain).  

Looking back, that hill climb probably was my highlight of the race.  Growing up in Iowa, I don’t really get caught up in the “I love the University of Wisconsin!” theme of the race.  With that said I ignored all the badger loving red and had very focused tunnel vision during the race.  With my legs not feeling the greatest though, that tunnel vision just kept me focused on keeping a steady decently quick pace.  I held onto an under 8 minute per mile pace and managed to sprint through the finish inside Camp Randall for an official time of 38:51.  

I should be excited with my time as it’s under the 40 minute mark, but I feel like I could’ve done better.  Because of the cold, but especially the amount of people, I don’t feel my legs were really able to test themselves out and go as fast as they could.  

What’s next then?  Well, I’m debating about doing the Madison Marathon 10K on May 26^th.  It would be kind of a neat race as it takes place at night, but it’s mostly the same course as Crazylegs.  My legs could take revenge on a familiar course, but is that worth the $45 entry fee?  I’m not so sure.  We’ll see how I feel about it after this next week of training.   

With Their Powers Combined...

As I’m doing bike laundry while experiencing the sights and sounds of the Queen Live at Wembley DVD, I thought it was appropriate to post this today.  I randomly came across this picture on the web a few weeks ago and fell in love with it immediately.  

Part Freddie Mercury, part Eddy Merckx, it’s the best of both worlds.  One part rocks, while the other part rolls (on his bike going up and down the hills of Belgium). 

Ouch

For future reference, do not do your first ab workout in awhile the day before you do the first hill repeat workout you’ve done in awhile. Monday wasn’t a scheduled workout day, but as I didn’t bike commute to work I was feeling really antsy. To burn off some energy, I did an ab workout. Last night, I did my first hill repeat workout of my training schedule. Both of the workouts went fine but my body is in pain today. My legs don’t hurt too bad I guess, but mostly just feel weak and tight. My abs though are killing me. It hurts to laugh, sneeze, and cough, but they also hurt if I even bend the wrong way when sitting down. On the bright side, my arms feel great today! That makes me wonder though. Should I just simply rest up until my legs and abs feel better or should I just do like 40 pull ups tonight so my arms hurt, putting my entire body on an even keel? The latter would make things more even…

Looking ahead, I have a 6 mile run on Saturday. I better just rest up. That 6 miler is the longest I’ve run in years, so I might need fresh arms to keep me moving forward. Yes, crawling would be much easier with fresh arms.

The Boston Bug

For those of you that do not follow running nor the sports pages, today was the 116^th running of the Boston Marathon. It was a hot day, with highs in the 80s, but the finishing times were still impressive. In the weather affected race, the men’s winner still posted an impressive time of 2:12:40 and the best woman came in at 2:31:50. It apparently was a very down year as the time of just over two hours and twelve minutes would have only managed a 13^th place finish last year.

As much as I roll my eyes at how crazy fast those elite marathoners can run for 26.2 miles, following the race always gives me “the Boston bug.” It makes me yearn to qualify and run the race myself someday. I know that I realistically will not become an elite runner, but I at least have a shot of making my age group qualifying time.

As far as my past marathons go, by best time was 4:06:22. That was done in the fall of 2005 at the Marine Corps Marathon, my first 26.2 miler. To qualify for Boston in the 18-34 age group, I would need to run a marathon under 3:05:00. There’s no doubt, that’s an enormous chunk of time to drop.

Luckily my plan of getting back into running should also work perfectly for eventually qualifying for Boston. As I’ve mentioned a few times now, my short-term goal is to run a 5K under 20 minutes. Not only is that a good starting point as it reaches an old goal of mine, but it also establishes a good running base and good speed. From there I can go onward and upward – or more specifically to running, faster and longer. Doing just that was always in the back of my mind. Working my way up to qualify for Boston though… now that’s a long-term goal.

Spurred on by “the Boston bug,” I sketched out a rough draft of what could be called a “blueprint to Boston.”

1) 5 km ≤ 20:00 (6:26 / mi)

2) 10 km ≤ 40:00 (6:26 / mi)

3) 5 km ≤ 19:00 (6:07 / mi)

4) 10 km ≤ 39:00 (6:16 / mi)

5) 13.1 mi ≤ 1:30:00 (6:51 / mi)

6) 26.2 mi ≤ 3:15:00 (7:26 / mi)*

7) 13.1 mi ≤ 1:25:00 (6:29 / mi)*

8) 26.2 mi ≤ 3:00:00 (6:52 / mi) Boston Qualifier

*These steps could be skipped, depending how steps 4 and 5 go.

At this point, it’s definitely overambitious to plot out the details of such a plan. However, writing this out also makes it seem deceptively easy. There are only eight steps here, but there are sure to be countless races thrown in between these steps, as well as probably stumbling points. This blueprint makes the goal to Boston seem not too far off. It would be awesome if I could qualify in 2015, ten years since doing my first marathon, but I don’t think I’ll progress that quickly. In reality, I’ll be happy if I get this list accomplished in five years time. I’ll just have to see what happens.

Right now I’m simply content to continue toward the goal of step 1. Inching closer and closer to a 20 minute 5K time, will not only cross that goal off the list, but will also prove to me that making this “blueprint to Boston” so early on wasn’t so crazy.

Quickening My Crazylegs

I finally registered for Crazylegs last week, just before the early bird reduced priced registration ended. I wasn’t worried about getting a spot, but saving $7 was nice. Looking at the calendar though, I’m realizing that the race is approaching quickly. It’s now only two weeks from yesterday.

Since the race is kind of an odd distance at 8 km, I don’t have any “make or break” goals. I just feel like Crazylegs is a “must” event, not only because it’s the largest running event in town, but because of the atmosphere. I do however want to smash my time from when I ran Crazylegs last, in 2009. Back then, I was training for the Madison Marathon so my time really wasn’t that fast for the roughly five mile route. I finished in a time of 44:49, right at a 9 minute per mile pace.

Last weekend I ran a five miler in 41:15, an 8:15 per mile pace, so I know I will easily beat the 44:49 from 2009. However, with the excitement of the race, the other runners, and the crowd, I’ll be going faster. With that said I’m going for a time of 40 minutes or under, optimistically shooting for 38 minutes. That goal range puts me at a per mile pace of 8 minutes (for a 40:00 finish time) through to a 7:38 per mile pace (for the 38:00 finish time).

We’ll see how it goes, but whatever happens, I’m sure I’ll have a fun time doing it.