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Race report: 2017 West Bend Autism Awareness 5K

May 7, 2017 / Race Reports / 6 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I first ran this event two years ago. It happened to be its first year but I was just looking for an early year (it was in April at that time) 5K to shake the rust out. The following year, it moved to a location just a few miles from my home and I couldn’t pass up a race so close to home.

This year, again, I wanted a race ideally this weekend and this one so close to home was too hard to pass up. My goal for this was mostly just to test my fitness. I feel like I’m rounding into sub-17:30 shape but am I really in that area? If so, how far sub-17:30?

The week was pretty uneventful this time, thankfully. I didn’t back off the training in the early week quite as much as I would for a goal race but I did do what has become my standard race week workout on Tuesday, then cut the bottom out of my training for the rest of the week. I went in thinking that, in ideal conditions and running the perfect race, I could probably run in the low 17s. I was sure I was at least in mid-17 shape.

Knowing this race, my biggest challenge was likely to be walkers. This is a 3 lap race around the county fairgrounds, which has its pros and cons. #1 pro: you get crowd support twice mid-race. #1 con: without good crowd control, it can be a challenge to get around walkers. I talked with the race director last year about the idea of giving the runners a dedicated lane that would funnel into the finish line on the last lap. That year, she attempted to tell the runners to stay to the left and the walkers to stay to the right. The walkers didn’t listen, though, and the finish line was on the right so the runners had to cross the walkers to finish. I thought the plan this year would be runners stay to the right, walkers stay to the left.

As I arrived, I noticed the crowd was good. I registered, pinned my number on my singlet, then got ready to warm up. As I was warming up, I noticed how tough the back side of the course would be. It holds the only incline, hardly worth calling a hill, but this year it was accompanied by a stiff direct headwind. This spot was out in the wide open and was getting all of the wind. The other side, with the tailwind, was unfortunately around buildings and not going to get the same wind. Oh well, you just make the most of the day. Other than the wind, the conditions were perfect. I can deal with the wind better than early season heat so I’m not complaining.

I finished my warmup and the director announced that runners should stay to the right, walkers to the left, as you finish. I almost jumped in to ask if that instruction should be throughout the course, not just as finishing, but for some reason didn’t. This was the first sign that things would not go as smoothly as hoped for. This was a race where I went in hoping for the best, a clear path and some people to cheer me in along the way, but expecting some traffic issues.

For the first lap, obviously, the coast was clear. I went straight into the lead and found a nice rhythm. I felt like I was moving very well, probably low 17 pace if not flirting with sub-17 pace. Then I hit the back side with the headwind. I felt like I slowed to a jog but I just pushed through. Around a corner into the park and I was out of the wind and rolling again. I went around a few turns and to the start/finish area, where some late starting walkers were still just getting going.

Pretty quickly in the second lap, I started hitting packs of walkers. At first, small enough to weave around without losing too much momentum or adding too much distance. Then the bigger packs started hitting. I began trying to take the inside line (the right, as I hoped walkers would be instructed to avoid throughout) but quickly found it far too congested. After a few close calls with dogs, including one I had to dodge and another I actually had to hurdle, and other close calls with people, I made my way to try the outside. I actually ended up off the pavement of the road and on the gravel shoulder. This went pretty well for a while, until crowds started appearing out there. Then I cut across to the inside and ran along the gravel shoulder on the inside. People were everywhere and it was hard to find a path. I added quite a bit of distance and spent quite a bit of energy weaving in and out but, not more than about a minute before hitting the start finish area, someone said I was just over 10 minutes. To me, this was a good sign. Somehow I was holding probably low 17 pace or I had gone out actually at sub-17 pace and didn’t lose too much.

By the end of lap 2, I was getting to the point where the walkers were spread out more, some jogging, and there was a little more space to maneuver. Lap 3 definitely began that way and I was largely able to use the inside shoulder to get a mostly clear path. Then I started getting back into the back of the walkers. This time, with joggers mixed in. The walkers were spread out a little more but there were others trying to pass them, complicating the situation. Fortunately, there weren’t any incidents but I did have to run on the grass a few times to avoid incidents.

As we entered the park again, the crowd was again thinning. I managed to weave through and use the grass at a few points to get through, then in the final straight I shot a gap to get to the right side and to the finish line.

As I crossed the line, I heard 17:50. To be honest, I’m happy with this. I figure the crowds cost me at least 20 seconds and the weather probably another 10 or so seconds so it was probably a 17:20 or better kind of effort and I didn’t finish completely wasted.

I came into this knowing the potential traffic issues so I hold no grievances over that. It was a little worse than expected but I knew there would be potential problems going in. Actually, to be honest, I offered to work with the race director on ideas to resolve the traffic issues for next year. I’m even considering volunteering instead of running to help resolve these issues. This event has potential and I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, for this race director.

Take chances

May 4, 2017 / Training / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Recently, I wrote about running practice races. This is incredibly important for many reasons. One of the reasons: taking chances.

Wait, what? Aren’t we supposed to be practicing how to do things the right way? Aren’t we supposed to be practicing what we want to do at our goal race? I don’t want to take chances and risk all my hard work!

You’re right. We do want to do those things with practice races. Sometimes, though, we want to try something new. Is there a better way? Am I really capable of more than I’m giving myself credit for? Sometimes, the only way to know is to roll the dice and find out in a race and it’s better to do so in a practice race than a goal race, just in case things don’t work out.

Of course, this is easier to do in a 5K than in a marathon. If you, for example, start a little faster than you are capable of in a 5K, you’ll crash in the last mile and have a rough 1/2 mile or so. If you start a little faster than you are capable of in a marathon, you might have a rough 10K. So you do have to pick and choose your times to take chances but you should give yourself the opportunity at times at least to challenge yourself, take chances, and see what happens.

You might just learn that there is a better way you can then take advantage of in your goal race.

Photo credit: _D102406-elite women runners by Jim Plumb, on Flickr

Beet juice for well trained athletes? How much does running extend your life?

April 27, 2017 / Roundups / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

A couple interesting posts on topics we’ve discussed before. One on a new study that found a surprising result and another to quantify what we’ve known.

Beet juice

We’ve already covered beet juice and its apparent ability to help untrained athletes. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to help trained athletes (or, in the case of the second link, only untrained athletes were studied).

It looked like beet juice truly didn’t help trained athletes and there was an explanation for why that might be the case.

But what if it does? Well, maybe it does:

The performance test was a standard intermittent running test called the Yo-Yo IR1âbasically a beep test involving a series of 20-meter sprints at progressively faster paces. The average distance covered in the test was 3.4 percent greater with beet juice than with placebo. Despite covering more distance, the subjectsâ average heart rate was also lower (172 vs. 175 beats per minute) when theyâd had the beet shots.

These were not elite athletes but amateur competitive soccer players, suggesting similar fitness levels to amateur competitive runners (most of us). Considering this, I’d consider this result promising.

That said, I’d urge at least a little caution. This is just one study. It’s a hopeful sign but hardly definitive evidence that you and I should go out and buy gallons of beet juice. Try it if you’d like, this offers at least some reason to do so, but don’t count on it working yet.

How much does running extend your life?

We all know running is good for us, right? We all know it extends our lives, right? I hope so.

But one of the arguments I’ve heard from people who don’t run is that, if you spend time doing something you don’t like to extend your life, is that really a good thing? Say you spend a year’s worth of time running over the course of your life. If that only extends your life by 1 year (or less) and you didn’t like running, was that time really worth it?

Well, what if that one year spent running extended your life by 7 years? Would that change your decision?

Of course, if you’re reading this, you probably run for reasons that go far beyond longevity and you’re probably not counting the seconds you run, worrying that they are being wasted. That said, it’s nice to know you’re getting more out than you’re putting in, likely in many more ways than one.

Max recovery days

April 20, 2017 / Training / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

We all have hard and easy days in our training plans, right? We all have workout days, long run days, and those other days we just call easy days. Some call them junk miles but they are anything but junk miles. We know they aid our recovery from those hard days while helping to build the aerobic fitness that we all know is so important for racing any distance from the mile up.

But do you include at least an occasional max recovery day? You should, especially if you’re an every day runner.

What is a max recovery day? It’s something I like to do at least once a week as an every day runner myself. It’s essentially a day when you take it even more easy than a normal easy day. You can plan these days but I think they work even better when you just start running, feel low on energy or find yourself with heavy legs, and decide to keep the pace extra easy because you need the recovery.

So how do you do a max recovery day? First, I like to cut the distance of the run a bit. Not because I’m looking to spend less time running but because I want to go slower without spending more time on my feet. Personally, I usually aim for about an hour running on most days. For me right now, that’s usually about 8 miles. On a max recovery day, I’ll say I’m going 7 miles and still expect to be around an hour. Then you just run slow.

By running even slower than usual, you get a little extra recovery while sacrificing very little in regards to aerobic development. Most important, that little extra recovery will leave you feeling fresh and recharged for your next hard day.

So next time you’re dragging more than usual, consider trying a max recovery day. You’ll be surprised how much of a difference slowing one run down can make in leaving you feeling fresh, recharged, and ready to go the next day.

Racing is a skill – practice it

April 13, 2017 / Training / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Saturday, I ran a race. I wasn’t really race ready. I feel like my general fitness is pretty good right now but I haven’t done enough race specific workouts for my race fitness to be ready.

So why did I do this race? Because I needed some practice before my important races.

Racing is different than even the hardest workouts. While workouts are good opportunities to practice the skills we will bring to racing, no workout takes you to the place a race will. As a result, there are simply some things that can’t be practiced any time other than on a race day.

From how to handle lining up pre-race to how you respond when someone near you does something unexpected to knowing when you can kick with all you have without fear of running out of gas before the finish line and so many things in between, the only real way to develop the skills needed for race day is to get real world practice.

So sign up for a few races. If you have a goal race planned for this fall, sign up for a few summer races. Even if you’re not in peak shape for those summer races, you will gain experience that will allow you to perform even better when the goal race comes around in the fall.