This is where the dilemma comes into play. In each weekend of February, a race was held within 35 miles of Ames. So, I assumed finding races in March would be equally as easy. For the March 3rd weekend, there are no races in central Iowa. NONE! So, I threw out a wider net and checked the Kansas City, Twin Cities, Quad Cities, and Omaha areas. There was nothing in Minnesota or eastern Iowa. The Kansas City area has a fun 10k event, but it was on single-track trails and I didn’t want to risk injury. The only other thing was the Omaha Running Club’s informal 10k held at Lake Manawa. The cost is only $4 but “racers” time themselves and my drive would be 150 miles. When I contacted club members about it, they flat out said not to bother driving over.
So, that weekend was a wash and I thought I could swap ahead a weekend. It too was an abyssal failure. There were a couple small 5k races available, but they were all over 100 miles away. There was a good looking 10-miler in the Twin Cities, but I couldn’t justify the registration of $55 in addition to driving 450 miles round trip and staying in a hotel the night before just for a “tune-up” race. All told, I would have dropped about $200 and would likely have ran in 20-degree weather with potential for snow/ice.
So, I’ve decided that tune-up race #1 will be an 8k or 10k time trial. Basically, a hard tempo like I did a few weeks ago when I ran a 10k PR.
The second tune-up race falls at the end of Spring Break, which gives me a little more flexibility for driving and staying in a hotel. The idea of racing a half-marathon that weekend was very appealing to me. I was willing to travel up to 300-400 miles and stay a night in a hotel with the hopes of finding a good course with nice weather and strong competition. My goal would be to run under 1:15, which would grant me free entry into some other local races as a sub-elite runner. The 10-miler the weekend before could not provide the double reward of a tune-up and potential of free entries.
I found two half-marathons within that travel distance. Again, the Twin Cities had one, but it looked more like a St. Patrick’s Day celebration and less like a race. The “Get Lucky” Half-Marathon has a course record of 1:15:45 and only two others have run under 80 minutes there. So, competition was lacking. There were other problems with this race as well. The other is held in Emmetsburg, Iowa.
I have done this race twice before. Once was after an ice storm in 2005. I won the half marathon by about 15 minutes that year. The other time was last year and I ran 1:16:21, my current PR. The problem with this race is that it’s held on country roads in the middle of nowhere. The roads are not closed off to traffic and some are gravel with potential for mud or snowdrifts. If there is a north wind that day, one must battle it for six consecutive miles without a break. Also, I don’t recall any aid stations and competition is historically weak. So, it is essentially another time trial. I was going to do this one anyway until just now when I realized it was not a certified course, which nulls the opportunity to earn free entries as a sub-elite.
Now, I’m leaning towards finding a certified half-marathon even further away. I’d consider up to 500 miles at this point. Nevermind, I just checked and found nothing appropriate or not already soldout. Clearly, though, frustration is mounting with picking tune-up races. There is an 8k available on March 17th as well. It is about 120 miles away and I ran it eleven years ago, but am not thrilled about it as an option. Maybe I’ll be doing another time trial. I’m open to suggestions for either weekend.
The final weekend is littered with the same problems as the previous weekends. There are no 8k/10k races available, leaving under-distance 5k races or over-distance races. The closest 5k is within 20 miles, but it’s a first year event so turnout will be low and who knows how accurate the course will be. Also, it has roughly 18 turns on city streets. There is a 20k race about an hour away, but I feel that distance is too far to race just two weeks from the marathon.
So, I settled on a highly competitive 5k race about 2 hours away. I have already registered for this one, the Fools 5k in Waterloo, IA. It sold out 38 days early with over 1,000 runners. I’m planning to achieve an 11-year goal of running a 5k under 16 minutes for the first time. Yet, this race too is not ideal because the distance is shorter than Pfitzinger suggests in the training program. I do know I’ll be working hard at this one though. Thanks for reading!
Also, I’ve had a request to discuss balancing family/work/running, I will try to tackle that topic in two weeks.
Here is my training for the past week.
Sunday was my long run for the week. It was scheduled for 16 miles, which is significantly shorter than the last few long runs have been in the program. Apparently, it was supposed to be a recovery week. I had some weeks of low 70s in early January, yet I basically hit 80 miles last week and again this. I’m not sure how that is recovery, but oh well. I hit hills pretty hard on this run. The last 12 miles were with Courtney to help with her long run and averaged 7:30 pace. We went to the middle school and back via a NW route. Prior to that, I ran five miles on the upland loop at Ada Hayden. The majority of this run did not feel good. I’m blaming the toast and jelly I ate before. Total: 17 miles – 2:00:55 (7:07 pace)
Yesterday’s run knocked me down for the remainder of Sunday with upset stomach. I feel that impacted my recovery. Also, two of the three pairs of shoes in my rotation are over 400 miles. So, my legs have been a little sorer recently. (I wasn’t aware “sorer” was a word until spell check suggested I replace “more sore” with it). I plan to replace both pairs in the next two weeks. Today’s run was an aerobic 8-miler. I ran to the backside of the middle school, which picked up lots of hills. It was a little chilly and a hard rainstorm loomed, but I got it done. Total: 8 miles – 55:14 (6:54 pace).
Tuesday was a two-a-day. I dragged myself out of bed and ran 4 miles at Ada Hayden to start the day. They were painfully slow, but still within my goal target range (7:52 pace). There was a bitter NW wind that morning. In the afternoon, I went for a fartlek run with Courtney. We headed out to Moore Park and did four loops on the hilly path. We added 10 surges lasting 20-40 seconds each. It felt much better than the morning run and although it was supposed to be a recovery run, we went under that pace. Total: 11 miles – 1:23:35 (7:41 pace).
The next day I was up for another general aerobic run of 8 miles. I picked up a few hills and ran a giant loop from the high school track around NE Ames via Ada Hayden and finished up with about a mile on the track. I was holding back on this run, which left me excited for the threshold run I had for the next day. Total: 8 miles – 54:29 (6:49 pace).
Thursday was a day of pretty rough weather. My highest quality workout was also scheduled for that day. The whole day was rain, ice pellets, sleet, and snow. I had a 12-mile run. It included 7 miles at fast tempo pace (5:30-5:45 goal). I cannot believe that after the initial 4-mile hard tempo about 8 weeks ago, I was already facing the workout that I knew then would be impossible. With the weather being cruddy, I shortened my warm-up to 2 miles. Then, I began the hard tempo.
I was actually quite confident that I could pull it off and set a goal to keep each half-mile right at 2:50, for a 5:40 goal pace. About eight-tenths of a mile into the run, I came upon an area of poor drainage, so I knew ice had formed. I tried to side step the clearly evident patch, but instead hit black ice and was off-balance from my maneuver. I literally slid more than 50 feet on my knees and eventually my hands before coming to a stop on the asphalt. I paused my watch, tossed my soaked gloves, pulled up my socks, refused to assess the wounds, and took off running again. I clicked off 14 straight half-mile splits with the slowest being 2:51 and the last being 2:40. I ran 7 miles in 38:59! It was a heck of an accomplishment and I even wonder if I can hold that pace for a half-marathon. I certainly felt pretty good.
I finished with a 3-mile cool down and avoided the majority of the bad weather for the day. Upon arrival at home, I assessed the damage. Both knees had some cuts and bleeding, but honestly my compression socks saved the day. Underneath one of them was a scrape roughly 4 inches long and 2 inches wide, but my sock protected my leg. Two days later, some of the tendons/ligaments around the knee are inflamed and sore, but otherwise I was quite lucky. I think now how foolish it was to have hit an icy patch that I knew was there and had just slipped on during the 2-mile warm-up. I could have broken my leg or hit my head. Thankfully, I am still in the position to keep training. Total: 12 miles – 1:12:44 (6:04 pace).
I kicked off Friday with an early morning run at the Lied Rec Center. 89 area schools had late starts due to the snowstorm; we were not one of them. I felt really good on the recovery run and ticked off 5 easy miles in 38:21. I ran my second run of the day at Moore Park to scout the path for the distance runners. The hope was to send them on the fartlek I did on Tuesday. The path was surprisingly clear and almost completely dry. The run went very well for 5 more easy mile in 37:05. Total: 10 miles – 1:15:26 (7:33 pace).
I ended the week with a 15 mile run before heading out to visit my grandparents. I ran it outside despite the wind chill being less than 10 degrees. I could not wait for it to warm up with my visit and I did not want to 80+ laps indoors with my knee feeling inflamed. Aside from cold fingers whenever running into a headwind, the run went very well. I was under my goal time again and my last mile was my fastest. Total: 15 miles – 1:37:39 (6:30 pace).
I ended the week with a 15 mile run before heading out to visit my grandparents. I ran it outside despite the wind chill being less than 10 degrees. I could not wait for it to warm up with my visit and I did not want to 80+ laps indoors with my knee feeling inflamed. Aside from cold fingers whenever running into a headwind, the run went very well. I was under my goal time again and my last mile was my fastest. Total: 15 miles – 1:37:39 (6:30 pace).
For the week (Sun-Sat), I hit 81 miles in 9:20:02 or 6:55/mile.
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