Drake Well Marathon Race Report

First of all, Dan would like to point out that he developed three goals for today's race:

A) Sub 3:50 would be very nice. He ran a 3:49 three years ago, B.S. (Before Surgery). Such a feat would very much be a stretch, however.

B) 3:55. Dan would like to point out that he ran this time in Tallahassee, about eight months ago.

C) 3:59. Or, at least, just finishing in a vertical fashion (okay, maybe that's a D goal).

The alarm had gone off at 2:30, and after some coffee and beet juice, Dan was in the car by 3:30. He arrived a little after 6:00; plenty of time to check in, stretch out, and get ready to go. Dan would like to point out that after this and some similar experiences, he may decide to stop using the beet juice. It may work, a little, but it also seems to work in other ways. Ways that forced Dan to make a stop along the way, and another as he arrived. Hopefully, his tummy has now settled down as the race is about to start.

Dan would like to point out that Titusville, Pennsylvania, home of the Drake Well Museum and Park to celebrate the first successfully drilled oil well, is incredibly scenic. Dan couldn't see much during his dark ride in, but now the sun is coming up as the 7:00 race start approaches, and it's gorgeous. The museum and park are surrounded by huge hills, and the misty fog is rising between them as it begins to warm up.

Dan would like to point out that warming up is not necessarily a good thing. It's in the 50s right now - cool and comfy. It won't stay that way. Dan struggles to run nine-minute miles for his first few. It should be easier, he thinks. But somehow, by the time he completes the in-town loops (miles 1-7), he settles into a little bit of a rhythm. 

The Drake Well Marathon is a cupless race. Runners are provided with a collapsable cup that they are to carry in order to receive refills at the aid stations. Dan is extremely focused on environmental factors, including litter. Thousands of cups all over is not a good thing, so Dan gets it. However, he still does not like carrying this dumb cup thing. He tries to stuff it in his pocket, but then spends gobs of time getting it in and out, and even drops it once. He finally decides to just carry it and eventually gets the hang of using it. It STILL forces him to stop completely for the refills, however.

Miles 8-26 are on the Oil Creek Bike Trail. What a beauty! The trail is mostly above and alongside the creek, and it's about as scenic as you can get. Dan loves every minute of this. It's a small race, and everyone is friendly. Dan says hi, and good job to everyone coming and going. The half-marathon turnaround is at mile 10, and the full turnaround is at mile 16.5. But before we get there,,,

Dan would like to point out that the beet juice wasn't done with him. He begins debating the pros and cons of stopping in the woods, when a wonderful thing presents itself: a porta-john! After powdering his nose, Dan realizes that he's lost several minutes. That's not all that big a deal for a marathon, but it causes Dan to reach the 13-mile mark in right around two hours. It would have been at least a couple of minutes faster, otherwise.

At Tallahassee, Dan ran the first half in around two hours, and the second half in about 1:55. Could he repeat that today. It is getting warmer and warmer as he reaches the turnaround. But Dan would like to point out that his mile splits have improved, Now, they're mostly in the 8:40 range.

Dan begins to slow down a little with about five miles to go. Maybe it's the heat, or maybe just general fatigue from trying to pick up the pace. Even though it's warm now (mid-70s), the trail is very well-shaded, and that surely helps. Dan passes a handful of other runners, but it's mostly pretty lonely out here. One of the guys he passes is even north of Dan's own advanced age. Imagine that. Another is a high-school kid who winds up finishing the final couple miles together with Dan.

Dan would like to point out that this race is about as good as it gets for scenery, fun, and overall joy of running. Dan's time, 3:55:34, is within a second or two of his time at Tallahassee. He's first in his ancient age group. Now, all he has to do is drive two and a half hours back home.

Dan would like to point out that he actually had a cheering section for this race: his peeps back at Hinckley sent him some good vibes. It worked.

All dressed up, nowhere to go

Danny-boy shows up at the Lester trailhead at 5:00 A.M. as usual for a Friday. He runs the first six-mile loop with his friends as usual. At this point, he's finally fully awake and ready/able to run some more - more six-mile loops - ... as usual.

But he doesn't! Instead, he says goodbye to his friends, stretches for a minute, fixes up his anti-sweat car seat cover, gets in his car, and heads home. This, and it hasn't even gotten light yet. He arrives back home at 6:30, and the sun has still not yet risen. This isn't too usual. Not usual, at all. Danny-boy will need to figure out what to do with himself considering all this extra time he has on his hands.

It was just a week ago when Danny-boy ran his final long run to prepare for this upcoming marathon. On other occasions, he's written about the Hay being in the barn. That analogy certainly applies here as well. Now, the famous Drake Well Marathon is just two short days away. 

Yes, everything is ready to go. Except for the weather. The forecast is for hot (80s) weather in Titusville this Sunday. Danny-boy obsesses about that. He shouldn't.

He should chill.

Last Long One

Should you do your final long run two weeks, or three weeks prior to your marathon?

How about one week? Okay, one week and two days, to be exact. I'd originally planned to keep today's mileage somewhat south of the eighteen-mile long-run barrier. I failed. But hey, I had my reasons. The main one being that my friends, Michelle Kelly-Daum, Shannon Barnes, Chadwick Sunday, and Ella were doing all or most of it with me. Another reason is that I had just looked up my just-prior-to-marathon training in my running log for recent races. Turns out, I always do this. I just forgot.

How did the run go, you ask? While I did not set the world on fire (it already is), I'd have to answer, not half bad. Lester Rail Trail was the venue, and I and my friends (except for Speedy-Shannon, who finished very strong) mostly stayed at a pretty steady pace. It felt good, so I'll take it. What other choice was there?

Hofbrauhaus Half Marathon Race Report

It isn't ideal conditions. Low 70s and humid at the start, and upper 70s and humid by later on in the run. At least the sun is not out. I suppose it's okay; this isn't an 'A' race anyway.

Walking for hours around the Cleveland Zoo to witness the Asian Lantern Festival and not getting to sleep until close to midnight was not optimal. But I suppose it's okay; this isn't an 'A' race anyway.

Running a challenging 18-miler with my friends two days ago (they were the ones who made it challenging, by the way) wasn't the best idea for today's race. I guess that's alright; this isn't an 'A' race anyway.

I didn't even don my Nike Alphafly magic shoes; just the Saucony Endorphin Pro 2 nearly magic ones. Shouldn't be too big a deal; this isn't an 'A' race anyway.

By now, you get the picture that this is more of a 'B'-ish type of race. I only want to run a steady pace. AN average of 9 minutes per mile would be nice. I was thinking about such goals, modest as they are, during my drive downtown this morning, when the radio plays, You Can't Always Get What You Want, by the Rolling Stones. I wondered whether I should be concerned. Maybe the morning's shot of beet juice will help.

I manage to find my friend, Larry Orwin before the race. We warm up a bit. but it's already pretty warm. We agree to try to find each other afterward. As the race starts, I fall into an 8:45 or so per mile pace. Suddenly, my goal of averaging 9 minutes per mile morphs into keep all the miles faster than 9 minutes. That is a little more challenging. Actually, much more.

The course takes us along Chester Avenue and eventually down through the Cleveland Cultural Gardens of Rockefeller Park. It's similar to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame course. I love it. As I reach half-way at around 57 minutes, my main concern is whether I can hold it together, especially with miles 9 and 10 being slightly uphill.

Although those miles are indeed slower than the rest, they're still under nine minutes. Now back on Chester, I can push it for the final three miles.

Pedal to the metal, here I go. I do pick it up, but I can't say I'm setting the world on fire; just 8:30-ish pace. I manage to cross the finish line in 1:52:47. 

First in my ancient age group. Not bad for a B race.

The Beet Goes On

My friend Chadwick Sunday sent me a comprehensive article about beet juice, Using Beet Juice to Improve Performance in TrainingPeaks. Besides, of course, my recent blog post, I think it's the best information about beet juice yet. 

Here is an update about my own experimentation. I've taken the reconstituted beet juice powder a few times now. Although the stuff appeared to work well for a particular long run, I wondered what it would do over a week or so. I'm now taking a tablespoon a day, at least most mornings. Would the buildup over several days or a week be helpful? I noted that some of the studies had participants take the stuff for one to two weeks. I'm not sure that I'm making any improvements yet. But I have a long run tomorrow and a half-marathon on Sunday, so we'll see.

One other thing: the taste. After mixing a tablespoon of the powder in a glass of water and trying to gulp it down first thing in the morning, it's all I can do to keep the stuff down. Someone mentioned that although it definitely tastes like beets, it also tastes like there is plenty of dirt and grass included in the mix as well. I think that's a fair description. But, this morning, I tried mixing it with vegetable juice. Guess what? It ain't so bad this way. In fact, it tasted like vegetable juice.  I'll keep at it.

Mugrage Morning Moonset

Just like yesterday. Just like several times in recent weeks. Just like five billion other times in my life, it happens again this morning. My friends have completed their running, and they've gone and left me all alone. And here I am, trying mightily to get a few more miles in. Most of the time when this happens, said extra miles are pretty darn awful. They may possibly be doing me more harm than good. But I am a numbers guy, and I generally aspire to more mileage.

Regarding how unpretty these miles truly are, there can be rare exceptions, and sometimes I'll post about those. Today is not one of them, however. Even though the first few loops around Mugrage Park were not super fast, these last few are surely super slow. Eventually, I decide to stop at the car and get my phone to photograph the nearly full, setting moon. Being photography-minded is a worthy distraction from poor running.

It works, sort of. Here are a couple pics.

2 x 5K

Danny Boy has completed his initial 5K track workout with moderate success. Said workout is made up of ten 400-meter repeats, with 100-meter recoveries. Add that up, and it makes 5,000 meters, AKA 5K. The idea is that you run the repeats at about 5K pace, but of course, slower for the recoveries. Although you can track the 400 times, they're not all-out. You also consider the overall time for the 5K. This would probably be slower than a road 5K, where there are no recoveries, but perhaps not all that far off.

'Moderate Success,' in this case, means that Danny Boy averaged around 1:54 for his 400s, and that his overall time was 26:40. 

Danny Boy is keen on talking about how he used to do a version of this workout that entailed twenty 400s, rather than ten, That added up to 10,000 meters, a 10K workout. Not that his running partners care all that much, but Danny Boy no longer feels up to this much speedwork. 

Or does he? Now that his friends have wisely finished for the day, he starts back up again. A short ten minutes ago, he wasn't so sure he'd be able to run anymore at all, much less another intensive set of ten 400s. The mid-workout coffee may have helped him get (re)started.

The first 400 is well North of two minutes, and the next couple are only slightly better. But then something funny happens. Danny Boy picks up the pace to nearly that of those first ten. Perhaps the coffee kicked in even more. He winds up with an average 400 time of 1:58, and 27:41 for the 5K. That's a minute slower than the first set, but still not bad.

Although his running was by no means outstanding, Danny Boy is feeling pretty good about himself right now. He had better watch out for that reality hammer about to club him on the head.