Fall running

With Thanksgiving here and gone, it's time for my annual break from running.  This fall was a little bit different than previous years, as I chose not to run another marathon this year, but to keep running short and fun.

I have kept swimming pretty strong through the fall, averaging 20,000-30,000 yards per week, usually swimming in the morning.  My runs have mostly been in the afternoon, in that brief window between the end of the schoolday and sunset.  I have kept it down around 20 miles a week, with long runs no more than 7 miles.  Many days, I have just done a couple easy miles with Riddick.  Sometimes I stop at the fenced in baseball field and let him run around while I do strides and drills.  Other days, I run by myself if I want to do a hard run on the PDS cross country course (such as a 3k, then a mile, then some sprints) or some hill repeats.  When I leave for a serious run without him, Riddick always stands by the door and wags his tail, thinking maybe I will decide to bring him along.  It's hard for me to say that this has been any kind of serious training, when I haven't done a track workout since the summer, and I've only gone to the towpath a handful of times for a tempo run (where I always run my hardest out of habit with the help of flatness).  Regardless of the intensity level, it really has been a beautiful fall for running, and it helps to have a companion who is always excited to run.

Riddick on the lookout at Mountain Lakes.

Riddick sprinting toward me on the baseball field.  

Hill repeats at Greenway meadows.

The creek from Province Line Rd.

The bride over the creek at Province Line and the start of the 1/2 mile hill.

I decided to do two cross country races with Greater Philly Track Club at Belmont Plateau.  Let me take a step back and explain that I cannot count the number of times I have raced at Belmont in my life.  In grade school, it was CYO cross country every Sunday of the fall from 4th to 8th grade.  I ran there a few times with AOC, and again in high school at the Briarwood Invitational every year.  I kind of have a love-hate relationship with Belmont, as it is a great course, but I have never been a great hill runner.  Really the main reason I decided to do these races was to force myself to work on hill running this fall, to try to train that weakness a bit.  

The first race in October was Jack St. Clair, a 6k with mostly D3 college teams.  We were the only club team there, but there were unattached runners as well.  It was fun to compete with a team again.  We had a nice warm-up in the woods, previewing the part of the 6k course that I had never run before.  With a large field of over 100 runners, the start felt fast, in an attempt to avoid getting boxed in by the cluster of trees on flagpole hill.  The first time up flagpole was fine, as my mind was more focused on positioning than anything else.  I remember my strong part of that course has always been building momentum down flagpole and carrying it through the flat part around the fields.  I found myself ahead of some of the Greater Philly runners who are typically faster than me, so I knew I had to settle down.  Once we got into the woods I started to suffer.  Going up Parachute hill, I really lost my momentum, and it was hard to get back.  By the second time up flagpole, I felt like I was running hard again, and I did have a decent finish, passing a few people in the last 1/2 mile flat section, and then out-kicking a few more in the last 200 m or so.  I finished 25th place with a time of 26:08 for 6k (averaging 7:00 mile pace).  I felt like I had a good start and a good finish, but lost focus in the middle of the race.  Ultimately, this was a fun race because there were so many people around me to run with. 

The next cross country race at Belmont was the USATF East Region XC Championship, this time only a 5k.  This was mid-November, and my running had tapered off substantially by this time.  This ended up being a much smaller field, and even in the first quarter mile, the first trip up flagpole, there was a big gap between the lead pack and the rest of us.  There were some very competitive club runners (Central Park and Georgetown Running Company among them).  I tried to pass a few people on the flat section, but they passed me back as soon as we got in the woods.  Going up parachute hill, I again struggled.  By the top, I saw Faye coming up behind me out of the corner of my eye, so that was a little motivation to keep going through the rest of the woods, even though I didn't have a lot of people close in front of me to chase.  The second time up flagpole was still not as bad as parachute in my opinion, but without as much competition around me, I kind of coasted in to the finish.  The results were not great for me:  24th place out of 37 runners, with a time of 22:03 (7:06 mile pace).   So many women ran under 20 minutes, which I cannot fathom running that fast at Belmont.  If nothing else, this was a humbling experience.    

My final race of the fall was the Rothman 8k, which I have been looking forward to all fall.  I love the Philly marathon, but since my times have progressively gotten slower, I opted for the 8k instead this year.  Even though the 8k is a little longer than the cross country races this fall, I was excited to run flat and on the road.  Coming from Jersey now, I arrived ridiculously early, while it was still very dark.  I had plenty of time to warm-up, stretch, and watch the sunrise over the parkway.  Before the start, Julie asked me what kind of pace I was planning to run.  I said I would start around 7:00, and hopefully descend to 6:30.  She asked if I had a gps, and I said no, just my internal pacing.  Well, my internal pacing got it wrong, and I went out in 6:25, with the excitement of weaving my way through the crowd.  Sorry, Julie, next time, don't listen to me.  I managed to hold on somewhat, bringing the next mile in 6:35.  With the out-and-back course, it was cool to see a big pack of elite men really moving on their way back.  I missed the 3 mile marker, so I lost track of my pace.  Then on the way back, the sun glare in my eyes had me in a bit of a daze.  When I got to the 4 mile marker, I realized that I had slowed down a bit, so I tried to pick it back up.  At this point in the race, the crowd had thinned around me and I wasn't really able to pass many people, but a few people passed me, so I just tried to hold on to them and match their pace for as long as I could to pull myself along.  I finished in 33:15, which is 6:40 pace.  I was just happy that I didn't completely fall apart after starting too fast.  This is the first time I've run an 8k, so it is an automatic PR.  It's also a lot faster than the last time I raced 5 miles, so it is a good marker for the progress that I have made running in the last few years.  

Up next:  masters swimming at Ursinus December 13.  My shoulder has been flaring up a bit this week (after the bad decision of attempting to join in 10 x 50 on :35 with paddles and fins last Sunday), so I am doing a lot of drills and kicking, and lots of rotator cuff strengthening exercises outside the pool.  A few weeks ago, my knee started bothering me after lifting weights, so I know the break from running will be good for me. Instead of trying to lift for strength, my focus is shifting to more yoga and gentle strengthening exercises targeted at the knees, hips, and shoulders for the winter.  I will take a little break from swimming at some point (probably after the Ursinus meet), but I am looking forward to doing more swim meets in the winter and spring, and possibly some indoor track meets as well (which I haven't done since college).  

Austin Tri Camp 2015

In March 2015, I joined my brother John Kenny and good friend Charles Bender as the staff of the Austin Tri Camp.  John and I arrived in Austin Sunday afternoon, had lunch at Torchy's Tacos, checked into the house, and went for a swim at Big Stacy Pool (an old outdoor 100 foot pool, which is 33 1/3 yards).  It is a different experience counting laps: instead of 25, 50, 75, 100, etc it goes 33 1/3, 66 2/3, 100.  200's are nice because that's just 6 laps.   After swimming, we stocked up on groceries for the week, went back to the house, and Charles arrived in the van with all the bikes in time for dinner.

Monday morning before everyone else arrived, I spent some time prepping fruit salad and pasta salad for lunch, kale and sweet potatoes for dinner.  Alyson, Rebecca, and Gale arrived on Monday afternoon.  We had lunch out on the back porch as soon as everyone got in from the airport, then went for a 33 mile bike ride, mostly through the neighborhoods then down Old San Antonio Road, as its name suggests, a country road heading out of Austin to the south, heading toward San Antonio.  The house was located in Barton Hills on top of a short steep hill, so we had a nice climb to end the ride.

https://www.strava.com/activities/273084149

Then we did a run/swim/run, running from the house to Barton Springs for a swim, then running back afterwords. The van drove there, giving campers the option to skip the run and also to carry our swim gear.  The run there was about two miles, but we took a shorter route back.  Barton springs is a very cool swimming hole, created by a dam in the Barton creek and fed by an underground spring.  They had a little museum that showed a bunch of videos about the history of Barton Springs.  I watched one where Buddhist monks "swam"  there and spoke of it as a sacred place.  There are definitely cleansing and healing properties to that water, certainly an ice bath in this instance.  It was cold enough that I had enough after about 1/2 mile of swimming without a wetsuit. We had fun sitting in the sun for a bit and taking in the scene.  By far the weirdest moment of the whole trip was seeing a very large, topless woman walking right down the stairs into the water with goggles and all.  But the bumper stickers say "Keep Austin Weird."

https://www.strava.com/activities/273130102

Tuesday started with some yoga and a short run, then the first "long" ride, starting from Fitzhugh Rd and heading for the hills.  I rode for the first 20 miles, then we got to a creek crossing in the middle of the road.  I stopped and dismounted the bike because I wasn't sure how it would be to ride through at least 4 inches of water covering the road.  Charles and I swapped there, and I drove the van for the rest of the ride.  Driving behind the group with the blinkers on was very helpful when we got out to a busier road.  The hills picked up, and I remember John riding next to Rebecca and reaching out his arm to help give her a boost up the hills.  Eventually, Hunter called it a ride and put his bike in the van (after logging some miles with John before the rest of us started).  He was looking at his phone at said "uh-oh, there are switchbacks ahead."  Yes, Alyson and Rebecca were troopers that day, riding up some insane hill with switchbacks at the end of a 60 mile ride.  Hamilton "pool"  (aka swimming hole) was closed to swimming due to high bacteria levels, so we didn't get the refreshing post-ride dip that day.  I hope we get a chance to swim there next time.  Tuesday night I stayed in cooking up tacos/burritos while the rest of the group went to Big Stacy Pool for a swim technique session with video analysis.

Wednesday, we rode the Ironman 70.3 Austin bike course.  I rode in the van for the first 20 miles of the ride, then parked the van and joined the group for the middle part of the course, then Charles drove the last 20 miles or so.  There was great scenery, so I had to stop and snap a few pictures while I was driving the van.  This was probably my favorite ride of the week because it had parts that were really rural and more rolling hills than any major climbs.  From this ride, I have the Strava 2015 QOM on the segment "Here live angry dogs and brutal men."  There were a lot of ferocious dogs on that ride, maybe that's also why I liked it.

https://www.strava.com/activities/274007072

After the ride, we did a little run along the edge of Walter Long Lake, used the lake as an ice bath for the legs and enjoyed some post-ride snacks.

Wednesday continued to be a busy day, as we did a sunset swim at Deep Eddy Pool, another old 100 foot pool.  Afterwords, we went out to dinner at what was basically an open air bar with a BBQ food truck outside.  Very laid back, good food, drink, and fun.

Thursday, the group collectively decided to take a break from biking.  There were cooler temperatures and rain in the forecast (don't think the rain ever came), so we decided it would be a good day for a long run.  After a leisurely morning with a nice breakfast and some yoga, I started off from the house with Hunter for the first two miles, and we met up with the rest of the group who drove to Barton Springs.  Alyson and I did a few miles easy on trails, then a mile or two at a decent pace along the river, then a few more miles easy on the trails.  We stopped and spent some wading in the creek, admiring the real estate overlooking the park, and enjoying all the dogs on the trail and in the creek.

Thursday afternoon, a few of us took a touristy trip into downtown Austin, toured the state capitol building, walked around, and went to a coffee shop.  It was a bit of a history refresher about Texan independence, and some new lessons about the reconstruction era government and the female governor in the 1920's.  

Thursday night was our one indoor SCY swim practice for the week with a masters team coached by Tim Sandfort.  At first, we were crowded in a lane with a wide range of speeds (Alyson and I in the same lane with John, Hunter, and two other guys in between).  Then, we did a  workout of repeat 200 yard "serpentine" style swims.  Starting of the block, we swam up and down each of the four lanes and got out at the end.  We went in the order from fastest to slowest, so that you got pulled along by a really strong draft.  I did all of my 200s under 2:40 and even matched by fastest ever 200 in that workout.  After the 200's, we had "stations" to choose from.  One lane was a kick set, one lane was an IM set, etc.  Tim did a great job of managing a crowded pool and making it a fun and challenging workout.  Afterwords, Tim spoke to the group about his experience competing as a pro-triathlete and coaching other athletes.  One of the most memorable things he said is how triathletes tend to be one-dimensional and talk to each other only about their training and what races they are doing.  A lot of times, people will ask a question like "how's your training going?" really just hoping that the question will be reciprocated and they'll get a chance to talk about themselves.  He encouraged us to not get so hyper-focused and obsessed that we forget to be human, and to actually get to know other athletes on a more personal level.  This really resonates with my own experience with the triathlon community.  

Friday was probably the toughest day, with a hilly bike ride mostly around the residential areas in and surrounding Austin.  On the first hill, which didn't even look that big, I almost had a panic attack when I felt myself losing momentum, slowing down to about 2 mph, and I was terrified of just falling over from slowing down too much.  Charles explained to me that I was not actually standing up on the bike (which I thought I was since my butt was off the seat), that I needed to bring the full weight of my body directly over the pedals.  Eventually I figured out how to do this, and was able to get up some of the smaller hills.  I did end up walking my bike up a few hills.  We didn't bring the van along for support on this ride, so we all had to ride the whole way or find our own way back.  I was jealous to hear that Gale and then Rebecca turned around and rode back; I would have gladly joined them.  There were moments of this ride that ranged from scary to miserable, but the last stretch was really nice, once the worst of the hills were over.  We rode along scenic drive, which goes through a beautiful waterfront residential area, basically yacht club kind of territory.  My strava recorded 33 miles with 3800 feet of climbing, but others did a few more hills than me.  

https://www.strava.com/activities/274856940

Learning how to stand up and ride was really helpful, although I didn't master it that day.  I gradually worked on it throughout the following months and have gotten better at balancing and staying up for longer if needed.  Later that day, we did a run/swim/run, and my legs felt like lead, almost the way I would feel the day after a marathon.  I think that bike ride literally used muscles that I had never used before.  So for me, it was a recovery run/swim/run.  The workout John had intended for us to do is one of his standards: alternating a hard 12 minute swim with a hard 12 minute run as many times as you can, for at least an hour.

On Saturday, we joined Tim Sandfort and some athletes he coaches for a ride of about 44 miles.  Originally, the plan was to do the ATC Taco ride (a non- no-drop ride), but most of the group was in the mood for something a little more relaxed and less competitive at this point in the week.  A small part of the ride overlapped with a flat section of Friday's ride, the Capital of Texas Highway.  It is actually a highway with a bike lane.  It was a little intimidating at first to ride next to traffic going so fast, but it is well designed and there is plenty of room for bikes with a good surface.  This ride did include a stop at whole foods for some coffee and snacks, which was nice.  The scary part of the ride was biking by the dam that holds back Lake Travis.  There was a big downhill approaching the dam, so you picked up a lot of speed, then there was a pretty strong wind coming from the side while you were actually crossing the dam, then right back uphill on the other side.  After quite a bit of climbing, we stopped at a scenic overlook that looked down upon Lake Travis.  In the group shot below, you can see "sometimes island" in the background, named as such because sometimes it is above water and sometimes below.  Well, apparently water levels have been low because it's now more of a peninsula than an island.

I flew back home on Saturday afternoon, but the rest of the group got in one more swim and went out to dinner for the last night in Austin.  

Overall, the week was some solid early season training for me.  I would not have done nearly that much biking at home in March.  It was really the first time all year that I had ridden outside, since early March continued to be very cold at home.  I really took pride in sharing my love of food and making sure that everyone was well-fed all week.  In addition to healthy meals that included vegetarian options for me and gluten-free options for John, we brought lots of healthy snacks along for every workout and also had some great indulgent treats, such as homemade guacamole, nachos, brownies, cookies, and ice cream.  I was happy that we squeezed a little bit of time into the busy schedule for some yoga, which I really believe most triathletes could benefit from practicing more.  Flexibility to promote range of motion and muscle recovery, core strength, body awareness, and breath control are just some of the benefits of yoga that I tried to share with the group.  Swimming outdoors at this point in the year was really wonderful, and exploring a new place by foot and on two wheels is always fun.  Ultimately, the time spent with old friends and new ones made this a memorable experience.  

We will be back in Austin for two weeks in March 2016.  If you enjoyed reading this re-cap of last year, please consider joining us next year:  https://www.athletepath.com/austin-triathlon-camp/2016-03-21

Oklahoma!

Just a few weeks ago, I was looking at the results of the age group world champs in Chicago and realized that there is an aquathlon at worlds.  No biking:  that's perfect for me (given that my old bike is not very fast), but how do I qualify?  So I did a little search and found out that I still had a chance to qualify for 2016 worlds in Cozumel.  About two weeks before the race, I booked a plane ticket to Oklahoma, then signed up for USAT Aquathlon nationals at El Reno.

Even though I didn't anticipate doing this race, it is exactly what I have been training for all year (except for getting sidetracked in the summer by training for the 10 mile swim).  Back in January 2015, as I set my goals for the year, I decided to focus on sprinting.  To swim a 1650 in 22 min and run a 10k in 40 min seemed like very ambitious goals.  In March, I swam a 1650 in 22:16 in the pool.  Progress in running came more slowly, after a winter full of ice.  In the spring, I started to pick up speed and PRed at Broad Street and again in the run at the Philly Tri.  So, as I psyched myself up for Aquathlon nationals, I knew this was the chance to inch closer to that run goal. In the last two weeks, I focused my training on just a few quality runs where I could hit 6:45 pace, hoping that I could hold that for a 10k.

I was fortunate to have my parents join me for the trip, although it included my dad singing "Oklahoma" throughout the entire trip.  At one point, we did watch Hugh Jackman singing "Oklahoma," just to hear how the song actually goes.  Oklahoma pride was apparent, with some football games on Saturday, about half of the state was wearing an "Oklahoma" T-shirt.

The day before the race, I previewed the run course, running most of the 5k out and back, one loop of the 2-loop 10k course.  It was almost entirely flat, a nicely paved road that follows the curves of an irregularly shaped lake.  I tried to practice how to "run the tangents," as I often have trouble focusing on that in the midst of the race.  I swam for about 30 minutes, but did not want to swim the whole course (crossing the lake) by myself without the buoys being set yet, so I did several out and back swims near the start and finish.  Knowing that the weather forecast called for 10 mph winds from the NE for both Saturday and Sunday, I tried to practice swimming straight with the wind coming from the right hand side, basically steering just a little bit toward the right.   The finish seemed to have the wind directly at the back.  I did a few rounds of sculling and sprints into the finish.  I noticed that the boat ramp where the swim finishes was steep and slippery, so I planned to swim all the way to about a foot from the water's edge.  My pre-race workout ended with about 6 striders of 30 seconds each and plenty of stretching later.  Pre-race dinner at a casino buffet was not the most veggie friendly, but it was some home cooking.  In addition to standard rice, broccoli, and salad, I had some mashed potatoes, deliciously moist biscuits (of the biscuits and gravy), and just a taste of deep-fried okra.

Race day alarm was set for 6 am, but I woke up well before that.  After a breakfast of green tea, whole wheat english muffin with jelly, yogurt, bananas, water, and gatorade, I was off to the lake by 7 am for a scheduled 9 am start.  It is refreshing to do a race that actually starts at a reasonable hour.  I put my gear in transition, and I think I was the third competitor to arrive.

I went off for a 20 minute warm-up run, wearing Boston gear with temps in the 50's, then found a nice place to stretch and watch the sun rise.

After stretching, I went through my usual round of running drills (high knees, butt kicks, stiff legs, A-skips, B-skips, reverse giddy-ups).  By the time I got my running shoes back in transition and got my wetsuit on, it was time for the 8:30 pre-race meeting.  That left about 15-20 minutes of swimming warm-up, which felt very minimal to me.  I kept doing short out-and-back swims up until as close to the 9:00 start as I could, but I wanted to make sure I had space at the front of the start line.

Like Steamtown, the race started with a cannon.  This was the biggest mass start I have participated in, with about 200 people starting all at once.  I did swim over people and get swum over, and I thought my strategy of steering to the right went out the window.  They had the women start on the left hand side (green and pink caps) and the men on the right (blue and yellow caps).  About halfway to the first turn buoy, I found myself among the men, and I swam straight into the turn buoy, getting the inner edge around that turn.

The middle portion of the triangular swim was mostly against the wind.  I felt like I was on the middle path to the next turn buoy, with other swimmers straying far to both my left and right.  I passed a few swimmers who were much slower than me, but unfortunately, I couldn't really latch onto anyone good to draft (without following them off-course). The second major turn was around a spillway (where the water from this reservoir drains through a chute to the creek on the other side of a dam).  It felt weird to swim around this big concrete structure, so my turn was wider than where I would swim if it were just a buoy.  After that turn, it was a straight shot to the finish, so I did find other people to swim with for the last stretch.  I think I had a decent finish, and swimming all the way to the end helped.

My transitions are always a little slow since I don't run without socks, but this one wasn't too bad:  well under a minute, with the help of wetsuit peelers.  I did put my racing belt on the wrong way (number side in) while running out of transition and had to re-adjust.

I passed a few people in the first couple hundred yards of the run, and built momentum from there.  In the first 1.5 mile stretch, I passed a number of women who were clearly built like swimmers and not so much runners.  I like the out-and-back twice nature of the course because it made it easy to see how far ahead people are.  I missed my mile splits, but saw that I was 10:24 at the first turn-around, and not that far from the leaders.  Realizing that this is the pace for a sub-42 10k, I wanted to hold steady.  The urge to keep passing people  was strong.  By the 5k, I was around 20:30 and was the 2nd place female.  On the second loop, I got passed by a really fast high school boy, but I followed him to catch a few more people.  On the second loop there were also lots of people still on their first loop, and having people to focus on and chase down really helps the run go faster.

At the last turn-around, I could see that the female in 1st was not that far ahead.  I didn't want to let it go to a sprint at the end, but keeping steady, I passed her around the 5 mile mark.  It seemed like she was slowing down, so I just kept my focus forward.  Really for the last mile, I knew I had the race, and just tried to keep up with the guys around me as best I could.

I usually don't get that excited about finishing a race, but this was truly exciting.  Not only a national championship, but also a 10k PR of 40:29, more than 3 minutes faster than my previous best. I was a little disappointed in my swim, but that just gave me more people to chase on the run.  Reflecting back on how I was able to run so much faster than before, the biggest part of it was my mindset.  If I am traveling all the way to OK for a race, I better try to win it.  But the last year and a half of training has been really solid for me.  Tempo runs on the towpath in Princeton have gotten me in the habit of going fast for a long time.  My summer routine of an hour-long strength training circuit 2-3 times a week after several hours of swimming and running made a huge difference.  I have also focused on running strides and drills several times a week to keep the muscle memory of running fast with good form, even when I don't want to beat my body up with too much running.

So what's next?  A few running races this fall, some masters swimming in the winter.  I hope to swim the 200 breast for the first time, and improve my speed in the 200 free and 500 free.  Probably take a break from running in December.  Next year, train for worlds.  The 5k time to beat in my age group is 18:40, so I still have a long way to go.  

USAT article

Link to full results