Tortoise and Hare 12K

Ean and I got up this morning and got ready to jog down the street to the park for the FCRC T&H 12K.  As soon as we opened the front door, we knew we were over dressed.  It was definitely spring today in Fort Collins with the sun shining and birds singing.  We jogged down to the park at 7:30 am in shorts enjoying the warm feel of the morning sunshine.

This is the longest of the T&H series so the starting stagger is quite big.  The first runners were heading out as we jogged up to the starting line a few minutes before 8:00.  We signed in and got our start times from Mr. "Conditions Were Too Bad to Run the Trudge this Year"  Ean's start was to be 8:13 and I would start at 8:33.  Ean got ready to run and I went for a couple more warm-up miles.  I was feeling pretty tired from yesterday's "run" so I decided to just take this race easy.  Maybe run it like a tempo run, or maybe start out easy and try to run negative splits.  Whatever, it was just nice to be out running with a bunch of friends on such a nice day.  Nick gave me the go at 8:33 and I took off at a comfortable pace out of the park and on to the Spring Creek Trail.  First mile was 6:53-- perfect-- I'll just run each mile a couple of seconds faster and try to make the last mile the fastest.  Then I heared another runner coming up fast behind me -- the very Speedy Nicole C.  I should have just let her go by and continued with my plan, but  . . . you probably already know how this is going to go.  I picked it up a bit not wanting to let her go by so easily (mile 2 clicked off at 6:42- I could still do negative splits- maybe), but the pace was getting faster than I could maintain and she breezed by me with some encouraging words.  I was still feeling pretty good as we cruised through Rolland Moore Park and Nicole was now holding her position about 20 yards ahead of me.  Mile 3 was 6:37.  We started to pass some of the earlier starters who were on their way back towards the finish.  As we ran past the Gardens at Spring Creek, I knew that the turn around was coming up.  I was feeling the pain now, but I figured if I could make it to the halfway mark, then it would just be a matter of keeping it up for the trip back.  Ean came by looking good and we high-fived as we crossed paths.  Nicole was still just ahead as we made the U-turn and once I started heading back west, I saw Sarah H. was less then a minute behind.  Mile 4 was 6:26-- only 3.5 miles to go, but it was all uphill.  I was feeling it now, but I was also making ground on Nicole, so I kept pushing.  I passed Nicole just before the Shields tunnel and I hoped I could just hang on for a bit longer.  I was slowing down going up the hill past the tennis courts at Rolland Moore and sure enough, my watched beeped mile 5 with a split of 6:34.  Mile 6 was painful and Nicole was right behind me the whole way- the split was 6:46.  We passed a few other runners in the next mile, but I was really fading and glances at my watched showed a pace in the 7s.  I kept pushing, but there really wasn't much left and mile 7 beeped with a disappointing 7:01.  I passed Ean, who was having a tough race now too.  I just needed to hold on for another half mile.  I struggled in to the park and did my best to kick it in to the finish.  My finish time was 50:42 and I came in just seconds ahead of Nicole, who still ran a faster race than me since I had a head start.  My time was 10 seconds faster than the same race last year so I am in at least as good shape as I was a year ago and maybe a bit better.  Ean came in a minute or so later with a smile.  We cheered in the remaining runners and then jogged home.

Results here

Yesterday's Trudge results here

December Running

December 1st brought a sizable snow and cold air to the Front Range and so after a warm end to fall with temperatures near 70 degrees on Thanksgiving, winter has arrived.  December running was kicked off on Thursday with the last official (and my 23rd) Tower's Time Trial of the year.  The hill was un-plowed and had shin to knee deep snow all the way up with occasional thigh to waist deep drifts.  It was cold and foggy and wonderful.  I felt pretty good and pushed hard and still only just broke an hour with a time of 57:18.

It was snowing again Saturday morning and Ean and I got up early and met up with Scott, Celeste, Kyle and Sarah for a make it up as we went along 17 miler though town, along the river, up Centennial and then through the snow over Reservoir Ridge.  Saturday night I took Shadow out for a short snowshoe run in Pineridge.

Five of the first six races on my calendar for 2012 involve snowshoeing or running in the snow and I am looking forward to doing a lot of snowshoe outings over the next few weeks to prepare.  I hoping the snowshoeing will provide some good lower impact and high intensity cross training to start out the year and prepare me for the hard training ahead for the spring and summer ultras.

This morning was the Tortoise and Hare 10K at Lee Martinez Park and I ran 40:57 which was 1:36 faster than I ran last year.  I felt good despite having some soreness from yesterday's run and snowshoe.

It was a good week of running all around and I credit a lot of this to making much better decisions about what I am eating.  Ean and I have resolved to eat more whole foods and cut way back on sugars, animal products and processed junk.  I am amazed and encouraged about how much better I've felt for the last several days since I have been more thoughtful about what I eat.

Next Saturday should be exciting with the 2nd running of the Chubster and the WS lottery.  After that the big running of 2011 will be over and training for the events of 2012 begins.

5K

I ran the Tortoise and Hare 5K this morning and finished in a disappointing 20:07.  My goal was to run even 6:15/min pace since this is my goal pace for the upcoming Fort Collins Thanksgiving 4 mile.  My splits instead were 6:20, 6:23, 6:29, :55. I will write off today's slow run to having tired legs from yesterday's 15 mile somewhat hilly run though the mud on the Blue Sky and Indian Summer trails.

Last weekend I ran the Spooktacular 5K at the park down the street hoping to run well under 20 minutes and I did run 19:41 which was good enough for 10th overall and 2nd in my age group.  This was my besk Colorado 5K which I was pleased about, but I know I could have run it smarter.  I started out too fast and died in the last mile; splits: 5:55, 6:12, 6:28, 1:03  I stopped at the timing mat that was placed 20 yards out from the finish which explains my especially slow final 10th, but still you can see from the splits that I didn't run very smart.

Coming in to the false finish at the Spooktacular 5K

Before we moved to Colorado five and a half years ago I routinely ran 5Ks in under 19 minutes.  Back then I was running a group track work out every week, training mostly roads and racing 5Ks and 10Ks.  My 5K PR is 17:50.  I was 30 and it was downhill course at sea level, but still I was fast.  Since I moved to Colorado and started running mostly trails and mostly slow and not very many 5Ks, I have not run a fast 5K.  Well, I guess I'd like to and maybe if I can get some speed back in the shorter distances, it will pay off with faster times in my upcoming trail ultras too.  So I am heading back to the track at least once a week for the next few weeks to see what I can do.  There is another 5K next weekend, but I'm not sure if I am going to do it.  I will be running the Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day 4 Mile which is pretty close to a 5K.  My best time for this race is 25:43, but this year I'd really like to go under 25 minutes.  6:15/mile will do it so Tuesday night I'll be at the track running 800s.

Carlsbad 5000- back when I was fast (18:47)

1000 Miles

In keeping with my recent numbers based posts, here are two of my latest important numbers:

Total running miles for March: 400

Total running miles for the year as of today April 3: 1000

This was certainly my biggest March mileage and only my 2nd 400 mile month ever. My previous 400 mile month was last July when I spent 8 days running 200 miles on the Colorado Trail and then a couple weeks later ran the first 65 miles of the Grand Mesa 100 and I was on summer vacation, so I could go out and run as much as I wanted whenever I wanted. I am encouraged to know that I can train at this level and still work and spend time with my family and sleep (and not much else) - although I did still manage to host a few running events. I guess that is part of the secret. Any social life must be held in conjunction with running. But that's the type of social life I prefer anyway. Runners are the best people to hang out with.

I'm not sure when I hit 1000 miles last year or in the past several years, but I am sure that April 3 is the earliest I have ever reached this annual mileage milestone. All the running volume has definitely done good things for my running strength and fitness. I have not however done the necessary speed or pace training to realistically expect to run a marathon 4 weeks from today in under 3 hours. I still have hopes of coming close -- a sub 3:10 could still be possible, but 26.2 miles at 6:50 pace probably is not going to happen on May 1st this year. I'm really not all that upset about this realization because my bigger goals for the year are to run strong mountain trail races in Bighorn and Leadville. And there will be another opportunity to run a fast road marathon (look for another post soon on the Medtronic Twin Cities Global Heroes program that I will be applying for again this year).

In other exciting running news, today was the 7th and final race in the FCRC Tortoise and Hare Series. Final points were added up and 1st and 2nd place went to Maddie and Ean respectively. They won $100 and $75 to be spent at the Runner's Roost, so we went there directly from the post race bagels and the chapmion running women enjoyed a shopping spree for clothes, bags, socks and Gu.

The middle school track season starts tomorrow and I am excited to again be coaching the distance runners and long and triple jumpers. I am also coaching a BolderBoulder Racers Club with students at my school to prepare them to run in this year's BB 10K.

Springtime is here full of crazy Colorado weather and lots of good running.

HPBT and T&H 8K

Cold weather and tired legs made this a much easier and lower mileage week which was probably a good thing. I got out for a run every day and even a good night run on Reservoir Ridge Tuesday night when it was 6 degrees below zero.

Saturday morning, I ran though Pineridge to the Maxwell TH and ran the 10 mile out and back on the Horsetooth Half course with Nick, Pete, Scott and Sarah. There were some good snow flurries on the way out, but the 30 degree temps felt mild after the single digits and below earlier in the week. We ran the dam hills at a pretty good clip and with the run back home through Pineridge I got just over 15 miles.

At 11:00, I met up with a fun and wild crew for the 4th annual Human Powered Brewery Tour. This included an easy 4 miles of slow running and probably a bit too much of the malted beverage. It was a lot of fun and I was especially glad that Ean got out of class early and made for 5 out of 6 of the breweries on the tour.

Sunday morning Ean, Maddie and I ran the Tortoise and Hare 8K. I was not feeling great after Saturday's shenanigans, so although I hoped for a fast showing on the out and back 5 mile course, I was doubtful. My splits were 6:26, 6:21, 6:33, 6:38, 6:02 totaling 31:57 for the 4.92 mile run. I was pretty happy with that considering how I was feeling and I made an oath to abstain from adult beverages for the next couple weeks.

In all it was a 70 mile week which was a bit lower than I had planned, but not too bad as I am still averaging better than 10 miles/day for the year. I got an email a couple days ago from Reid Delman of Gemini Adventures saying that I won the trivia raffle for a free entry to this year's 24 Hours of Utah the Run, so I have added that to my race calendar. I ran the race in '08 and '09 as a solo competitor, but I think it would be a lot of fun to run as a Fort Collins Trail Runner team and so far I have 5 interested potential teammates.

Just two weeks left until my first trip to Moab for the season and I'm looking forward to a good race and fun trip with my family and lots of Front Range friends.

Warren Park 5K T&H

Nick C. giving Tom the "Go" photo by Felix Wong

Ean, Maddie and I all ran the second race in the Fort Collins Running Club's Tortoise and Hare Series this morning. A record setting 45 people showed up to run. Nick Clark, with his amazing math and timing skills, put on a great race and all had a great time. The T&H algorithm predicted that I would run 19:42, but all I could manage was 20:12 and 38th place--my legs were a bit stiff from yesterday's trail run. Ean and Maddie had a much better day tying for 3rd place and both receiving ribbons. After the run, we all enjoyed bagels, coffee and a beautiful view of the mountins at Rocky Mountain Bagel Works. After breakfast, we went to the Runner's Roost where I turned in my entry to the Colorado Marathon--now I'm commited-- and Ean bought a new pair of Brooks trail running shoes to train for and race the Red Hot 33K in Moab, which will be her longest race yet.

Pineridge Tortoise and Hare Race

Today was the first race in the Fort Collins Running Club's Tortoise and Hare series. Nick, who organizes these races, and I went out yesterday afternoon to flag the course in Pineridge. It is a 3.75 mile full loop of the Pineridge Natural Area, my backyard and regular running grounds. This morning, Ean, Micah, Maddie, Shadow and I all headed over to Pineridge for the race. The race is free to all FCRC members and includes a breakfast at the Bagel Shop after the run. It was a cloudy, wet, and cool morning and we all quickly realized that we were underdressed. All except for Shadow who was very excited to be out for an adventure and for him the cool temperatures made it even more perfect.

There was a bigger than expected group of runners at the trailhead and Nick was busy getting people registered and calculating the handicapped start. Based on previous T&H race times or a prediced finish time, runners are set out one at a time, with the slowest starting first and the fastest leaving the start line last. Ean, Maddie and Shadow headed out at 8:00 am and Micah, who did not want to run, was put to work as a course marshal. I jogged around to try to stay warm and wished I had brought gloves. I was sent out at 8:19 and took off pretty fast. I went through the first two miles in close to 6:30 each and felt pretty good. I passed a couple of runners that had started ahead of me and got passed by two who had started behind me. When I hit the gentle uphill and single track on the south end of the course, I slowed considerably. I passed Ean, Maddie and Shadow and we exchanged some encouragements. I ran steady, but not very fast along the Timber Trail and hit 7:30 split for mile 3. With less than a mile to go, I tried to push and hoped to pass a few runners that I could see ahead of me. I passed one on the down hill back to the resevoir and one on the stairs back up to the parking lot and finished 21st out of 30 runners. My time was 26:01 and I felt pretty good about it. It gave me some renewed confidence for next Sunday's marathon after a couple weeks of very little running.

I jogged back a short distance and found Ean and Maddie and I took Shadow while the girls had a sprint finish up the stairs to the finish-- Maddie won.

We cleared out fast and nearly filled Rocky Mountain Bagel Works where Nick announced the winners and enjoyed bagels and coffee and time to talk with friends. I talked with JZ about his 50 mile race last weekend where he successfuly ran a qualifying time for the Western States lottery. We also discussed his plans for running the Grand Canyon rim to rim to rim next weekend. This is a run that I have been wanting to do for a while and I wish I could join JZ and Eric Lee next weekend for what sounds like a great adventure. Maybe next time. . .