Filling in the gaps

I got called out for my lack of posting by a relative, so here are the last two months (aside from Boston and the late Dan Wheeless) in a nutshell:

Trip to Colorado's Front Range right after Boston.  Fort Collins had the biggest storm of the last three years -- fifteen inches when we landed, to be exact.  Not much to do when the weather plan changed a few days after you left home, but we still liked it.  Would be interesting to see the town at full activity.

Snow.  Over fifteen inches at this point.

 
After a few days in Fort Collins we hit up Boulder for lunch and then drove to Colorado Springs for a few days.  We skipped the train leading to the top of Pike's Peak (would rather work up to doing the Pikes Peak Ascent or Marathon in the future) and instead hit up the Incline Trail as our intro to hiking at altitude. 

Gains ~2000 feet of vertical in a mile.  Notice the treadless flimsy road sneakers I'm wearing.  We did the trail on a whim, so I just opted to not think too deeply and just keep going.

We also ran the CURE Ultra 50k that Saturday.  Three loops in Chatfield State Park in Littleton, CO.  Had the entire course been singletrack then I could have finished it.  One third of the loop was pavement, and the grass next to it was not nearly enough relief for my legs post-Boston.  I only made it two laps and then happily tapped out for my first DNF. 

Start/finish line, the Front Range in the far distance.

Here's Nathan's big finish.  He took 3rd place.  Hazzah!  Such a different vibe than the throbbing marathon finish chutes.  So informal Nathan didn't realize he had to reach the cones to be "official."  Forgive that I held the camera the wrong way.  Vertical videos are dumb, and in my DNF haze I forgot to change orientation after taking some photos just prior...

I finally made it across the New Jersey/New York state line on the Long Path on my last big training run before my next big race.  Just over 5 hours for just under 31 miles, all in a blanket of fog and rain that made the run incredibly pleasant and energizing.  I find myself hoping for cloudy skies if not rain or some kind of weather for long runs and races.  Why?  Good question....

I meant to get a photo of the monument at the actual state line, but I didn't read up on that section of the path before I left.  Who needs reference to follow a single trail with a single color blaze for 12+ miles each way with minimal intersections to negotiate?  Turned out there were lots of ski trails up by the state line that threw me a little.  Also didn't realize the short chain link fence that protected against a steep fall down the wrong way on a stone stairwell was also the state line.  So I went past it, until I hit 2h 38m and realized I didn't have enough water and food to turn it into a 6 hour run just to look for it.  Came to find out I turned around about a mile north. 

The Hudson from an overlook ~half way to the state line.

My turnaround.  Can't really tell in the photo, but the tree across the bridge has markings for the Long Path (green) where it meets the Shore Trail (white).

The Long Path NY/NJ Trail Conference map.  You can see the red highways at the bottom where they are crossing the George Washington Bridge.  My finger is at my turnaround.

Closeup of my turnaround, where green meets white at a creek.

This coming weekend is the Cayuga 50 miler just outside of Ithaca, my second goal race of the year.  Originally the race, which is two 25 mile laps, touted 6500 feet of ascent total according to a National Geographic map program.  Then a local ran the route and noted their Garmin at closer to 5000 feet for one loop, meaning 10k for the whole race, but it isn't known if the guy's device has a built in altimeter (without it, there's apt to be a few big random elevation spikes that don't throw off mileage but dramatically affect elevation).  That's more on the line of what Virgil Crest was all about (the ski hills I ran last Sept and will do again this year).  A few tweaks were made on the course, and it is now officially 10,500 feet of climbing.  I don't know if that's according to Nat Geo or to Garmin/NASA.  Whatever.  I've got some climbing to do.  So do your rain and cold front dances, because otherwise it'll be a slog through leg spasms....

Just another Sunday

Apparently I fall the same way every time.  Hit both knees, with the left ironically more affected than the right.  Also hit my right palm and the outside of my right elbow. 

Usually I am lucky enough to fall on open areas.  This time it was across a few moderately sized rocks just two steps shy of the concrete path at Alpine Lookout.  I had just been debating whether to go another half hour or full hour before turning around when *BAM* I hit the deck.  In no surprise to me, my left foot/leg was the culprit for not clearing the obstacles.  Took a few minutes to walk this one off.  Need to rest my brain a bit before Virgil Crest in two weeks....

While I was figuring out how to get a shot of myself, Miss Bad Cat helped herself to the watermelon left over from last night. 

Tune-Up 18 Miler race report, and a failed cannonball

One week ago was the ING Marathon Tune-Up race.  Three laps around Central Park's main loop.  Stats:  2:17:42, avg 7:39 per mile, 22nd female (of 1800), 199th overall (of 3800).  Very happy with my outcome.  'Twas 71 degrees and huuuuumid.  I ditched my shirt after the first two miles, and even with it tucked into the back of my waist I had to wring it out twice mid-race and once after.  And yet, such an amazing different from a 90 degree August day in the midwest....

This race was meant to gauge my running amongst the masses.  Last time I did so was last March in the 1/2 marathon.  Since then, my two main races have been ultra marathons with much smaller fields (200 entrants tops) that are also much shallower in ability, meaning few (if any) elites and mostly common runners.  So, running a 10k loop in Central Park squeezed in amongst 3800 others definitely bumps it up a notch.

I managed to keep my head in the race and not freak out in the crowd, to maintain my intended race pace and keep it consistent, so keep my stomach calm and maintain hydration using the race's water stations placed at each mile (rather than carry my own bottle the whole time), to let others pass me without getting swept into their wake, and during the last 3 miles catch many of those who had initially passed me since I didn't bonk from poor planning.  Success!  I also thought I'd end up with a time something like 2:45:00.  I hadn't specified what pace I would run, only that it would be sustainable.  Finishing that much faster was a pleasant surprise.

The third lap was kind of crazy, since that's when the back half (slower half) of the race is getting lapped.  These runners are out there for very good reasons - to have fun, to run with a friend, to enjoy the day.  They want to finish, and are not concerned by things like time.  So they run in pairs or at times in four-across, they run in whichever land they wish, they stop in the middle to take pictures.  Me?  I was on a mission, like usual.  My own mission, mind you, but nevertheless a mission.  But not only me.  You can include the first three corrals of runners in that mission too.  The three lanes allocated to the race became a gigantic game of Frogger, but with hundreds of frogs at once.  (At least this version has everyone traveling in the same direction rather than perpendicular....)  I kept needing to apologize to both the second lappers and my fellow third lappers -- I will still say "excuse me" or "sorry, passing through" even when everyone knows there's a race happening, but I also would nearly elbow those simultaneously passing if I needed to change direction quickly to avoid, say, one of the picture takers.

But, I should also add to the list of accomplishments that I avoided getting passed by the elite male finisher by a measly but valid 4 minutes 43 seconds.  Since the race was a 6-ish mile loop, the start also served as the landmark for mile 6, mile 12 and the finish.  I passed the 12 mile marker at 1:33:00, and the elite male winner finished in 1:37:43.  Hah!

After turning off the main loop, with the finish about 20 feet away.  I've managed to improve my race-camera face from painful grimace and/or sneer to awkward semi-smile semi-fatigue.  Not that its important, but anyone looking at visual proof of my runs will see demonstrably comical faces.  Photo courtesy of Brightroom (event photography for NYRR).

After the race I walked the 3 miles home in hopes of working out the kinks from my legs.  Going up the Amsterdam hill was a much greater task than expected.  There was a decent amount of moaning to help with the trudge, and more moaning while ascending the 5 flights to the apartment (yay, 6th floor walk-ups!).  Nathan was kind to oblige with my offer of making dinner so long as he went out for the groceries.

This morning's run was just over 2 hours but at whatever pace my legs wanted.  I've recovered a decent amount from last week, though some kinks linger.  In my weekly alternation between trail and road, it was another day on the Long Path.  Rained yesterday, so lots of mud and a few downed small trees.  Days like today have nothing heroic about the effort, so I take my time going over obstacles.  No reason to twerk one of the Old Ladies (translation: knees) for the sake of pushing things harder than necessary.

With this easy attitude also came a bit of uncoordination.  Getting over/around obstacles was more like a slip-sliding slapstick dance.  I thought of Donald O'Connor a few times.  Somewhat glad no one was there to witness, though would have made for an absolutely hysterical reenactment.

I did take one fall this week.  A seemingly benign 2-inch diameter branch that is easily stepped over without lifting your leg much became, apparently, not so easy to surmount.  Historically, my left foot/leg trips.  If I fall forward, I go into a plank.  That was two weeks ago - a near face plant saved by a superman plank (think of the top of a push up, but then walk your hands forward a few hand lengths), no joints hitting and no strawberries on my palms.  If I get caught on something, I inevitably fall into a dancer-slide on my right side.  That was the scene today.

But there's more - add a failure of a cannonball.  Left food catches, both knees instinctively pull up towards my chest to clear the object, right foot hooks behind my left calf (how am I always SO good at tripping over myself?), the not-quite-there cannonball turns so that I land on my right side in a cross between a thunk and a squish on a wet grassy area ahead of a water and rock pool.  I can hear my mother now: "That's my daughter, sigh."  My knees were covered in mud, though I think my clothes avoided most of it.  I rinsed my knees and shins off with the convenient pool of water, fixed my hat, and went off on my merry way again.  Guess you could say I'm getting used to all this falling.  Maybe I should have been a stunt woman?

The remnants.  Only small scratches on my knees and mud on the backs of my legs to show for my top-of-the-graceful-list fall.  I laugh at the thought of being in open toed sandals for Sam & Kristin's wedding next weekend.

To top it all off, I saw a family? gaggle? den? of three wild turkeys on both the way out and the way back.  

A parting thought, for those interested.  The women's marathon world record will change come January 1, 2012 thanks to a new rule regulating the women's end of the sport.  Not only does this change requirements for future races, which I understand and support, but it retroactively removes records placed under current and past requirements, which I adamantly consider to be bulls***.  It all has to do with the presence of male pacers within the women's field and/or co-ed races.

Current WR is Paula Radcliffe of England at 2:15:25.  With the changes, this becomes a "world's best" while her next fastest time of 2:17:42 becomes the "world record."  The former had male pacers, though to Radcliffe's credit she did not draft them or hang on their wing, and the latter was run in an all female race.

Not known yet is if it will affect current American Record holder Deena Kastor, who ran 2:19:36 in the 2003 London Marathon.  Kastor was the first to break the American record since set in 1985 at 2:21:21 by Joan Benoit Samuelson.  She has posted a second time faster than Samuelson's as well.  But, the London Marathon historically has placed male paces amongst the female contenders.  Radcliffe's current-though-soon-won't-be WR was also run in London.  I'm not sure where Kastor's second fastest time was run, but I believe it was also with male pacers in the race.  So depending on how militant and thorough the IAAF is with official records, the American record could return back to the former 1985 time.

I remember a buzz some 5 or 10 years ago occurring around a different female runner's potential WR at the Berlin Marathon, though it was questioned immediately because she ran sheltered from the wind behind a triangle of five men.  THAT was a questionable performance.  But it was quickly beat by Radcliffe's as-yet WR where she did not run in anyone's draft, regardless of male or female.   Fine to make stipulations for future races.  Not so fine to remove validation of previously run times that operated within the set standards of their era.