The Bass Pro 5k was A-okay

I wasn't sure about running a Bass Pro Marathon weekend event. After TCM, the half and full marathons seemed like bad ideas (though I did consider the full as a "redemption" attempt!), so I thought the 5k was my best option, even though I am definitely not a 5k runner. I rationalized that I'd be at the event even if I didn't race; I love seeing so many members of my local running community and the hometown vibe is great! I also figured even if things went poorly I should be able to win masters in the 5k. And of course I'd be running that day anyway! I signed up for the 5k the day that online registration closed, with low performance expectations but high excitement expectations!

These two dominated the half!

I knew the course wasn't certified and from running it in training knew it would read long (it uses the same start line, finish line, and final ~2 miles of the half and full courses, so logistically it makes sense but it either has to be long or short to work within those parameters) - so I had a little anxiety thinking that I probably wouldn't be under 20:00. Then I gave myself the "no one else cares" pep talk! 

I really didn't know what I was going to get pace-wise, and the course is mildly hilly, so I did know I wouldn't get even splits from even effort. I currently have a free trial of Strava Premium, so my main goal for the race was to run even grade-adjusted (GAP) splits by feel. I didn't know what that would look like in actual splits, but it didn't matter - if I had all GAP splits of 6:30 and worked hard, it was going to be a successful day in my mind. In general the 5k is the least competitive distance of marathon weekend, but I found out a couple days before that Claire, a former Drury runner who is now training with the University of Arkansas, was running (she has college track eligibility left but not cross-country). I knew she'd recently run another road 5k in 16:11, so it was clear I would be racing for second female even if I was at my best! I think knowing that I wasn't going to win going in made me less worried about how it would go.

Team photo, that most of the team missed

Team photo part 2 - caught a couple more

On race morning, after running group team photos, I warmed up with Casey and Spencer, who were both running the half. We also did drills and I jogged more while they did strides. The half and full started at 7:00 a.m., and I thought that I had plenty of time between then and my 7:15 a.m. 5k start, but between cheering while waiting for all of the runners to go by and running back to my car, I actually had very little time. The race announced that it was 3 minutes until the 5k start when I was opening my car door with all of my warm up gear and training shoes still on! I got my warm ups off and shoes changed as quickly as I could in a slight panic, while also debating whether I had time to pee or not. I really needed to and almost just went right next to my car on the asphalt (lolol), but was able to tuck into a construction porta-potty then do a ~200 m sprint to the start. Several runners make jokes about me really jumping in at the last minute. I had no time to think, because then we were off!

There were a lot of middle and high school boys in the race, so for the first bit I was pretty far back. I also saw about 5 teenage girls ahead of me, along with Claire who was out in front of everyone right away. I settled into the effort that felt manageable for a 5k and moved into second female position by about a half mile into the race. The really fun thing about 5ks with teenagers is that if you run even remotely close to an even pace, you keep passing them the entire race. And that is just what I did - passed a teenage boy then reeled in the next! My competitive instincts kicked in and I really enjoyed pushing myself.

When we ran the course recently in training, I told my running buddies that it didn't play to my strengths. The hills are minimal but I am not good at running fast up any elevation. Threshold to marathon pace is fine on hills, but 5k pace - oof! However, during the race they actually felt alright. I think passing boy after boy helped. I've raced the final 2 miles of the full and half numerous times on this route, and it's gone both ways different years - sometimes I don't really notice the hills and can negative split, other years they seem like mountains and I fade. Based on how I've been doing lately, I just expected they'd be horrible, but they felt better during this race than on any of the easy pace training runs I did on them this season!

Another thing about 5ks is that they are over really quickly. I got into a final kicking battle with a teenage boy on the homestretch (which I lost), and saw the clock just ticking over 19, which was a nice surprise! My watch read 3.19 miles at 6:02 pace, which was also a nice surprise! That's not an exceptional performance for me and I have run a half marathon at close to that pace before, but for what I expected on this day, it was fantastic! It was one of those cases of Happiness Equals Reality Minus Expectations. Plus, I did not have any dizziness symptoms during or after the race, which was a victory in itself.

I felt even happier about it when I looked at my grade-adjusted paces, to see mile splits of 5:57, 5:58, 5:57. One could only get a tiny bit more even than that! That also means that my GAP average was sub-6, which I would for sure not have predicted. I was at about 18:44 at the 5k point on my Garmin. My official time was 19:13 though.

Proof I can still do this
when I feel normal!

After I grabbed lots of goodies from the finish chute then dropped them at my car, I joined my friends David and Amy to run-cheer for the other races. I loved running around the course and cheering for the half and full so much that it made me just want to run the 5k followed by run-cheering every year, hah! I know the course well so was able to see runners in many places, especially since I ran about 12 miles spectating. My top training buddy Casey, who I also coach, ran a PR half of 1:21:57 and was 2nd overall female, and looked amazing doing it! Rebecca was 3rd overall female in the half. Kimi won the marathon by 20 minutes. I saw so many Ozark Mountain Ridge Eunners and friendly familiar faces out there - I want to do every long run like that.

All in all, this went about as well as it realistically could have. I'm not back to where I want to be, and I still experience dizziness every morning when I first get up, but I'm trending in the right direction. I have an ENT appointment on Dec. 5 since all things point to inner ear, so most likely I will be fine by Dec. 4, hah. I'm thankful I had this race and got to experience the magic of Bass Pro Marathon weekend with my training group, who brightens all of my 5:30a's.

Official results are here. 

My activity on Strava is here.

Articles about the race are here and here, and I also stumbled across this one about last year that I hadn't seen before.

Additional update: I got a sore throat the day after the race (11/7/22) and tested positive for COVID on 11/8/22. I then found out I was exposed at the race expo by one of my running buddies. After not getting it for almost 3 years I sure thought I was in the clear! 

Expo fun

Found myself in the start photo on the registration website, from 2014

Odd October

October 2022 in review!

Total mileage for the month: 338.4

• Sep. 25-Oct. 2: 67.4
• Oct. 3-9: 52.8
• Oct. 10-16: 76.3
• Oct. 17-23: 83.1
• Oct. 24-30: 84.4
• Oct. 31-Nov. 6: 74.4

Birthday bRUNch!

Races:

• Oct. 2: Twin Cities Marathon in 3:06:50 for 3rd masters female and my second disappointing marathon of 2022.

Workouts:

• Oct. 12: Wild card workout of 4 x 1:00 on/1:00 off (on paces 5:28, 5:29, 5:58, 6:02), 1.1 mile push (5:57), 3 x 0.5 mile hard (paces of 5:42, 5:46, 5:48), 4 x 0:20 hill sprints (paces of 5:25, 5:29, 5:28, 5:45, which were really good for me). I started Spencer's mixed system workout with him, with plans of jumping in and out of his threshold portion, but he had to stop a little over a mile into his threshold with a hamstring cramp. I decided to do some half miles since I'd been planning on doing a half to a mile with him at a time before recovering a bit and jumping back onto his pace. Everything was mediocre - but it was one of the best mediocre workouts ever after I'd felt so off/uncoordinated/clumsy at Twin Cities and afterward!
• Oct. 15: Another wild card workout, this time long run edition. I went in and out of Spencer's workout as I was able and ended up with: 1.0 at 6:07, 0.25 at 6:08, 0.5 at 6:09, 1.0 at 6:04, 0.5 at 5:58, 0.3 at 6:18, 0.6 at 6:20 (couldn't stay with him on the last 2 pushes) in a 16 miler.
• Oct. 19: 9 x 1k with 1:30-2:00 recoveries in paces of: 5:41, 5:45, 5:38, 5:41, 5:38, 5:45, 5:45, 5:50, 5:42 (5:43 average). I started out too fast on these and paid for it a little, but less than I'd have expected. I gave myself the option of 8-10 reps, decided I was finished at 8, then jogged while Spencer and Casey were running their 9th and 8th (Casey missed one with a bathroom stop), and felt better so did their last one with them. I was glad I ended up tacking that back on because I was able to finish strong - probably because I had a 7+ minute recovery, but you know... It was 19* for this workout, and I ran them way faster than 10k pace, so I think I did well.
• Oct. 22: 5 easy, 2 tempo, 3 x 0.5 easy/1 tempo, each to 17.6. My tempo miles were very consistent at 6:32, 6:31, 6:31, 6:29, 6:31 but felt much harder! We ran the faster parts of the workout on the Bass Pro race course and it felt a lot hillier than it does during the race.
• Oct. 26: Fartlek of 4 x (3:00 on, 1:30 off, 2:00 on, 1:00 off, 1:00 on, 0:30 off) and 12.3 miles total. I ran this on hills so my paces were inconsistent (5:38-6:22), but I covered 4.02 miles total in the 24:00 of work this included (5:58 average) and remembered how very short a 30 second jog is!
• Strides/hill strides: Oct. 10, 11, 14, 18, 21, 25, 28.
• Doubles: Oct. 12, 17, 19, 26 (4.2 miles for 42 years).
• Strength Training: I picked this back up twice a week starting Oct. 9, along with 2-3 core workouts a week.
• Favorite workout: The 1ks on 10/19 were the best, though I regret not doing 10 reps, hah!

Fall colors

Long Runs:

• Oct. 2: Twin Cities Marathon (about 27.5 total, with a little warm up).
• Oct. 8: 14.2 miles (7:59). I just went by how I felt on this day, figuring I'd do about 12.
• Oct. 15: 16 miles (7:23), including the random workout described above!
• Oct. 22: 17.6 miles (7:36), with a workout described above - followed by birthday breakfast with my running group!
• Oct. 29: 18.8 miles (7:38) that included the Bass Pro half marathon course and the Bass Pro 5k course. If I'd looked at my distance before I saved this run, I'd have done 20.
• Favorite long run: 10/29 was fun!

#oddoctober

Crashing an OMRR Bass Pro training run

Running Highlights:

• My running group did a little birthday bRUNch for me on Oct. 22.
• We dressed in 90s attire for our Oct. 31 morning run, but the photos didn't turn out at all since it was so dark out.

After the cold 1k workout

Life Highlights:

• Albani's first high school homecoming dance.
• My birthday...I hope new single age state records await, though I am not feeling at all fast at the moment!

Homecoming dance prep

Happy Halloween from Bandit!

Halloween costume party

Books:

• Without Merit by Colleen Hoover
• The Dinner List by Rebeccal Serle
• The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner
• Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Pretty Little Liars #2: Flawless by Sarah Shepard
• One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus
• Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
• As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson

Theme for the month:

• Odd. My dizziness was up and down (definitely trending better though!), and I am waiting on an ENT appointment on Dec. 5. Everything points to it being an inner ear thing, and the Epley Maneuver helped but didn't completely resolve it. ENTs have specialized equipment to examine the inner ear.

TCM Pro Perks

I was blessed to be accepted into the professional field of the Twin Cities Marathon. I had the open and masters qualifying times (2:47:30 and 3:00:00), but I applied only 3 weeks before the race, when the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon cancelled. They didn't have to let me into the filled race, but they were generous enough to do so!

TCM was held in conjunction with the USATF 10 mile championships, which drew many big names in the sport. You can see the start lists here. One of my highlights was sharing an elevator with the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials Champion Aliphine Tulimuk! I also saw most of the professionals at some point during the weekend - including Emily Durgin, Annie Frisbie, Dakotah Lindwurm, Fiona O'Keffe, Lauren Paquette, and Nell Rojas. Kim Conley was probably the biggest name in the marathon, and I saw her all around the event!

On Saturday, my parents and I got to spend some time in the professional hospitality suite, which was also where I picked up my race packet. I didn't go to the main expo, which was nice - I have been to hundreds of expos and they usually tire me out more than anything. We were supposed to get one friends and family pro pass, but they were kind enough to give me two so both my parents could accompany me in pro areas! We ate lunch in the hospitality suite, which had about 10 different kinds of sandwiches, lots of sides, and any extras you could have wanted. It was also available for Saturday and Sunday breakfasts, but since we were staying in a different hotel due to only knowing I was entering this race 3 weeks before, I didn't partake in those.

After lunch we went to the marathon professional meeting, which was somewhat similar to Boston's but without top tier elite. The race organizers had everything planned well and instructions were clear.

On Sunday morning, I rode one of the pro busses to the start. They left from the host hotel, which would have been super convenient had I been able to stay there, but they were still pretty easy to drive to and board. The busses were school busses, just like the main field had, but the drive was pretty quick and the weather good. Our bus driver got lost and turned on her iPhone navigation at one point though!

The pro bus dropped us off at a hotel near the start, where we had a staging area. Despite getting lost, we were still pretty early, so everyone sat around for awhile before heading out to warm up. It was nice having an indoor area to wait around in, do activation, organize our drop bags, etc. - not to mention indoor bathrooms! We all walked over to the start together, where we had our own porta-potties, a block of road to warm up on, and a gear drop. They had two volunteers monitoring the bathrooms, and they checked everyone's bibs before letting them into the special area.

Then there was the race...

Immediately after I finished, a man met me and walked me to the nearby pro post-race area. He also had my gear bag to me by the time I had my shoes off! There was food, drinks, a private changing area, and massage tables. I usually don't get a massage post-race, but there was no waiting so I did - just after Kim Conley! My parents were able to come into the pro area to meet me, so we easily connected post-race.

Although I give my race a D, the pro experience definitely gets an A. Now I need to run another fast marathon before all of my 2:4X races are too out of date to use for pro field apps!

-------------------------------------

Update on what happened during the race: diagnosis, a vestibular balance disorder. When tested for it I did several exercises that a person with a fully functioning vestibular system can do without getting dizzy, and I became so dizzy I was also extremely nauseous. I feel immensely better having a label and plan of attack for this, especially because I've continued to feel abnormal and unstable. I will be treated with the Epley Maneuver, sleeping at 45* angle for awhile, and doing exercises to help normalize my vestibular system. I have dealt with vertigo before (see November 26 here), and it's pretty much the same thing. My mom also deals with it, and her mother did as well, so mine seems to be genetic. It's not harmful in and of itself (it can cause falls and other accidents), but uncomfortable - and not beneficial for racing performance, that's for sure.

Aliphine is in the side of this photo!

Twin Cities Marathon: The Joy is in the Journey, Only

I’ve started and deleted this post several times. I loved this marathon training cycle and went into the Twin Cities Marathon feeling that I didn’t even need to run the marathon to be satisfied. I then finished TCM thinking that I’d have definitely been happier if I had not run it! I thought I’d had bad marathons before – such as the first time I tried to break 3:00 and ran 3:01, the times I tried to OTQ and ran 2:46-2:49, or the time a wrong turn cost me a PR - but I've kind of felt like 2022 said, “You thought those were bad? I’ll show you!”

The short:

My training indicated that I was ready to run 6:20-6:30 pace at TCM. I wanted to start conservatively, which I did at around 6:40 pace for the first 3 miles and then moved closer to 6:30 until about 10. My effort level felt correct for the beginning of a marathon, the endorphins started flowing, and I began feeling confident about having a good day. Around mile 10, both of my legs began feeling clumsy and uncoordinated – particularly not ideal in Alphaflys! The unbalanced sensation got progressively worse and my pace got progressively slower, until I rallied a little in the final half mile when another masters female nearly passed me. I ended up finishing in 3:06:50. The bright spot was that I managed to get on the female masters podium in 3rd, but I was pretty disappointed in my performance. The time wasn’t what I trained for, but the worst part was that I felt really betrayed by my body and had no explanation of why.

My race results are here, including videos of my finish at the bottom.

My dad's video of the finish is here.

We finished by the beautiful capitol building

The long:
Twin Cities was a last-minute pivot, when the Milwaukee Marathon cancelled about 3 weeks before race day. Since my training had been targeted at October 2, I wanted to find an alternative race the same weekend, and the Twin Cities organizers were kind enough to let me into the professional field of the already full race. I greatly appreciated this gesture and the opportunity to run a marathon as planned, and I don’t want my notes about my disappointment to take away from that. The professional perks I received were super helpful (I wrote a separate post about those awesome experiences), the race as a whole was very well-run, and the course was beautiful and lined with cheering spectators.

You can see me at the back of the pro field at the start

I was somewhat nervous about the long climb near the end of the race, and the fact that the point-to-point course gained about 100 ft more in elevation than it lost. It was also warmer than I’d like at high-50s/low-60s, so I wanted to keep my effort and pace extra controlled at the start. Because of this I checked my splits for the first 3 miles, and thought the 6:39, 6:46 (uphill), and 6:28 (downhill) I ran were pretty perfect. I settled into 6:30ish effort from there and everything felt great. I generally race best by feel, and I didn’t look at my watch for the rest of the day.

Of course I didn't buy the pics!

Around mile 10, I kind of tripped over my own feet. I thought it was just a fluke, the uneven road, or the huge soles on my Alphaflys initially, but I continued to have some clumsy feelings. I’d experienced some of the same on my shake out run the day before, but figured it was just from the long car ride and ignored it.

I could tell I was slowing down between mile 10 and the half because I started getting passed. I reminded myself that this bad patch could end any time, and then I would get back on pace. The half point had a clock, and I saw 1:27:58 on it and told myself, “you can do that again!”. Although I didn’t have a specific time goal for this race, I wanted to pace well and finish strong, and be under 3:00.

I did everything I could think of to stay engaged and positive, including trying to latch onto people who passed me, keying off the energy of the spectators, using the downhills, positive self-talk, smiling, caffeine gels, etc. My legs felt kind of like they do when I haven’t run for a long time – you know that first run after injury when everything feels sloppy? I stumbled several times but was always able to catch myself, which I was thankful for.

Just keep smiling...

The miles from about halfway through mile 20 were the most demoralizing of the race, because I was getting passed almost constantly. The 3:00 group went by me around mile 17, and although I hadn't been able to hang onto anyone else, I tried even harder to hang onto them, but my body wouldn’t respond. I made peace with not going sub-3, and with just doing what I could and finishing. I didn't want another poor marathon performance, but I wanted a DNF even less. Even though I was getting passed left and right, it was mostly by men, and the hope that I was possibly in a masters female podium position helped keep me going.

Around mile 20, the course begins a long, mostly gradual, but nearly constant climb. By the time I got to it, so much had already gone wrong that it didn’t even matter, but surprisingly from 20 to the finish I began passing people. It wasn't because I was speeding up; there are a lot more people bonking at 3:00-3:10 than in the 2:40s! Encouraging those I passed helped me continue on. Those 3 miles would have been tough to run fast on; even though they were not steep, the incline was just so long without respite and everyone was on already fatigued legs. On a good day I could have minimized the time lost, but that course would be difficult to negative split on!

Final kick

I was relieved to finish the worst of the climbs, though there were still hills in the next couple of miles. Since halfway I’d been counting down to mile 25 (e.g., at mile 15 I told myself “only 10 miles left!”) because I knew the final mile had a lot of downhill. As I started down the final half mile, a woman who looked like she was in masters passed me. I was able to pick it up and outkick her; I was determined not to give up a place. Her chip time was faster than mine, but my gun time was faster than hers – fortunately prize money goes by gun time! Though I'm thankful I had that kick, it also bothered me; why could I do that when I couldn't run any better for the 16 miles before then?! 

The experience of this event was great. My Minnesota trip with my parents was amazing. The actual race was disappointing and upsetting. I’m thankful for another marathon finish, and any day any of us can complete a marathon is a good day – but I feel really betrayed by my body. I am usually so good at pacing by feel, but now I feel like I can’t trust how I feel (but on the other hand, that went great in all of my 2022 races that were not marathons!). I used to be able to finish marathons feeling super strong, but I have completely bombed both of my 2022 marathons. My marathon split of my gravel 50k remains my fastest marathon this year, which feels pretty sad. I used to see people have fantastic training cycles then significantly underperform in the marathon and wonder, "How could that happen?" Well, now I know!

Finish tent

My training for TCM wasn’t that of a 3:06 marathoner, but on October 2 that was what I was. Although I am thankful I got to run the race, I am also pretty confident I’d feel far better about my running if I hadn’t run it! Why did my body respond so differently in this race than it had in all of my long training runs? Why couldn't I make myself run better? Why have all of my 2022 races gone fine except for my marathons? Why can't I do what I used to do in the marathon this year? Of course, there was no way to know how it would go in advance. I’ve been reflecting back on all of my long run workouts that went well and that I finished strong – including a 6:13 mile at the end of my 10 miles at 7:30 + 10 miles at 6:30 business, which was the day I ran 24 miles at 5 a.m. at the end of 3 x 100 mile weeks at basically the same pace I ran TCM. I wanted to feel strong in the final 10k of TCM – like I did at Tobacco Road, at Phoenix, at Grandma’s 2018. Even other marathons that I “blew up” slightly at the end like CIM, Indy, and Grandma’s 2019 I didn’t really blow up compared to this (I mean, I even ran a 2:58 wheezing at Houston 2020). It’s frustrating! If you train with me, follow me on Strava, or read my monthly recaps on here, you know how consistent I am with training. Yes, I absolutely love training, but when you follow a solid schedule exactly and feel great doing it, you expect a reasonably good race performance out of it.

I basically just want to marathon train without actually racing a marathon now. That may sound crazy, but sign me up for it! I love running, but I'm not too fond of racing right now. I love the day-to-day of marathon training, but the actual events are raining on my parade this year. For several years I thought it would be a long time before I'd ever run another marathon over 3:00; now I feel like I'll never run another under 3:00. One bad marathon is a fluke; two is a pattern.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” - Romans 5:3-5

I heard a lot of "Go 123" cheers + my
last name was not correct...

Late addition: 

Update on what happened during the race: diagnosis, vestibular balance disorder. When tested for it I did several exercises that a person with a fully functioning vestibular system can do without getting dizzy, and I got so dizzy I was nauseous. I feel immensely better having a label and plan of attack for this. 

Outtakes (some bits I kept from the posts I deleted):

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Bests:

• Female masters podium (3rd)
• Faster than Boston
• Beautiful course and well-organized event
• Fun pro field experience
• Wonderful racecation with my parents

Worsts:

• Weird clumsy, uncoordinated sensations in my legs starting around mile 10 and progressively worsening
• My training wasn't that of a 3:06 marathoner
• Over 6 minutes slower than my 2022 gravel 50k marathon split
• Two disappointing marathons in a row, i.e., all of my 2022 marathons

---------------------------

A perk of marathon training without racing would be that I'd never have to taper, right??

----------------------------

The joy is in the journey until a crap race sucks the fun out of it.

Super September

September 2022 in review!

Total mileage for the month: 353.5

• August 29-Sep. 4: 101.2
• Sep. 5-11: 102.3
• Sep. 12-18:  85.5
• Sep. 19-25:  70.5
• Sep. 25-Oct. 2: 67.4

#sowellfueledseptember

Races:

• Sep. 11: Plaza 10k in 38:16 (gun time) for 3rd overall female, first masters female, and a new Missouri state road racing record for age 41. I was definitely not fresh for this one (a few days off of a 24 mile workout and in a 102 mile week), but what better way than to train for a marathon than to race a 10k when your legs are tired, right? I wasn't thrilled with my time, but I was really proud of myself for holding my own with a lot of fast 20-something women in the field.

Workouts:

• Sep. 3: Long run workout of 4 easy, 5 in 6:39, 6:42, 6:34, 6:36, 6:35, 0.5 jog, 4 in 6:30, 6:39, 6:30, 6:39, 0.5 jog, 2 in 6:36, 6:15, 5 easy for 21 miles total. This was okay. I would have liked to have run faster (shocker!), but in a dew point of 70* and on a hilly course, I think I did alright. My flat course/good weather goal paces for the 3 segments were 6:30, 6:20, 6:10, and my actual averages were 6:37, 6:32, 6:25, so although I wasn't there, I did get faster each one and I finished strong. The course had 790 ft of elevation gain so it wasn't atrocious but it sure wasn't flat. After this workout I kept thinking about how running an early fall marathon requires a lot of faith, because summer paces are never truly representative of fitness!
• Sep. 7: Long run workout of 10 at 7:30ish, 10 at 6:30ish, 4 easy.  I ended up with 24 miles at 7:08 pace for the whole shebang, and my MP miles were: 6:39, 6:32, 6:25, 6:23, 6:26, 6:28, 6:22, 6:46, 6:40, 6:13 (6:29 average). I have never done this workout before and was really hoping it would go well since it was The Big One for this cycle! I was happy with it, especially because I had just run a long run workout a few days before on Sep. 3. This ideally would have been done on Sep. 10 but since I was racing on Sep. 11 this was how things ended up. It was 68*/dew point 68* for this run, I started at 5 a.m. on a Wednesday, and the course had 804 ft elevation gain. I drifted on my MP during miles 18-19, which felt a bit like the end of a marathon, but I was able to kick it in during the final mile of pace work. David ran the first 8 miles with me, then Casey did the next 13, so I only had 3 easy miles alone at the end. While I hope I can run a marathon faster than 6:29 pace at some point in good weather, I would be very happy with 6:29 pace next month.
• Sep. 14:  Wave tempo of 2 x (3 x 0.5 at MP/0.5 at 5k pace) with 3:00 jog between sets (11.4 miles total). My splits were: 3:09, 2:52, 3:11, 2:54, 3:08, 2:53 | 3:06, 2:52, 3:13, 2:55, 3:14, 2:48 - so averaged right around 6:20 for the MP and 5:45 for the 5k pace.  The MP segments felt smooth and relatively easy, and the 5k pace segments were hard but I felt strong. I did a wave tempo last month where the MP sections felt really hard and the sub-6:00 sections felt passing-out hard, so this was a nice upgrade. Casey and Spencer ran this one with me and everyone had a fantastic workout.
• Sep. 17: 18 mile workout of 4 easy, 4 at MP, 0.5 easy, 3 at MP, 0.5 easy, 2 at MP, easy to 18. I ran this on hills to prepare for the long climb from mile 20-23 at Twin Cities, and it was definitely good for me. The 4 and 3 mile sections were net uphill. I was aiming for 6:30 effort on the 4, and my grade-adjusted paces (GAPs) were 6:30, 6:33, 6:31, 6:30; I was aiming for 6:20 effort on the 3, and my GAPs were 6:16, 6:29, 6:23 (definitely the fastest I've ever run that particular stretch of road). I used Spencer's premium Strava for my GAPs, but he didn't do the same 2 mile course as me so I don't know what those GAPs were, but my actual splits were 6:30, 6:23, which were not great because I think those miles of the route were easier, but it was what I had left in my legs.
• Sep. 21: 15:00 at MP (6:32), 2 x 0.5 at threshold (6:10 on incline, 5:47 on decline), 15:00 at MP (6:16) with 3:00 jogs between each. My running buddy Casey did this with me and we both said we thought it was a short workout, then realized it was almost 6 miles of quality (12 miles total)...clearly we are used to marathon workouts. On the first MP segment my breathing was relaxed but my legs were protesting and I did not feel like I was going to have a good day, then the threshold part felt better and the second MP segment was a lot better. A good reminder that a given pace can get better as the run goes on!
• Sep. 24: 5 easy, 4 at MP (6:29, 6:31, 6:28, 6:29), 5 easy for my last long run workout. I did well being a metronome at 6:30, but as almost always in training MP felt much harder than I'd like it to.
• Sep. 28: 20:00 a little faster than MP in 6:22, 6:18, 6:09 (5:49 for the final 0.2) for my race week workout. I felt tapered - this is the one workout of the season where MP didn't feel much harder than I'd like.
• Strides: September 6, 10, 13, 20, 27.
• Doubles: September 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 22.
• Strength training: I lightened up my strength work at the end of the month, but consistency did it twice a week for the first 3 weeks. I also did a separate ~10 minute core workout 2-3 times a week, which I've been doing for years but usually don't note.
• Favorite workout: The September 14 wave tempo felt really great.

#sadseptember or #splishsplashseptember

#sweatyseptember

#superseptember

It is #stillseptember

Long Runs:

• Sep. 2: 21 miles with a workout, described above.
• Sep. 7: 24 miles (7:08) with a workout, described above - on a Wednesday before work!
• Sep. 17:  18.1 miles with a workout, described above.
• Sep. 24: 14 miles (7:20), with a workout, described above.
• Favorite long run: The Big One, the 24.

#soakingwetseptember (100% humidity)

#somuchrunningseptember (24 miles)

Running Highlights:

• I set a new rolling 7 day mileage PR from September 1-7. I had two really long runs during these 7 days, so it felt like cheating, but I'll take PRs when I can get 'em!

bRUNch

Running Lowlights:

• The Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon cancelled their October 2 race on September 9. You can read the explanation here, but that put a hitch in my marathon plans! The Twin Cities Marathon, which also takes place on October 2, was kind enough to accept me into their pro field without much notice. It isn't a course I'd have normally chosen, but I was super thankful to find another option on the date that I've been targeting for months - even though the reasons I was excited about Milwaukee don't translate.

How my dad told me he was coming to my marathon

Life Highlights:

• Jon and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on September 17, then...
• Albani turned 15 on September 18!

First acrylic nails - something I've never
done but the only thing she wanted for
her 15th birthday

She isn't the biggest fan of photos

Books:

• The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
• A Star is Bored by Byron Lane
• The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore
• The Measure by Nikki Erlick
• Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
• The Love of My Life by Rose Walsh
• Nothing More To Tell by Karen M. McManus
• The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle
• Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library by Amanda Oliver

Theme for the month:

• This changed every day!

Nugget helps with post-run rolling

It's hard to resist the Plaza 10k!

The short:

Racing during a ~100 mile week went "so well" last month that I decided to do it again! In my head I am faster than I ran at the Plaza 10k, but I was proud of myself for putting myself in there with a lot of women who were about 15 years younger than me. I ended up 3rd overall female and 1st masters female, and set a new state road racing record for age 41 with 38:16. It was also my first time racing a few days after a 24 mile workout!

Results are here.

My state record is here.

My Strava activity is here.

On the Plaza mid-race

The long:

In my opinion, the Plaza 10k is the best 10k road race in Missouri by far, and this year was my fifth time running it. Being in mid-September, it always falls during marathon training for me, and previously I've run 3-4 miles before and 8-10 miles after the race to make it into a big day. My coach didn't want me to do that this year; he wanted me to get in a 24 mile workout around the time of the race, so after weighing our options we landed on doing the 24 mile workout on Wednesday, September 7. That gave me 3 days between the workout and Plaza on September 11, although those recovery days weren't short either - because it was also peak mileage week!

I felt great considering going into the race, and the temperature had cooled down enough to feel like an amazing contrast, at 56* on race morning. I met my friend Andrew, who was kind enough to pick up my race packet on Saturday for me, and ran a warm up with him and a couple of his Kansas City friends. My uptempo running and strides during my warm up felt smooth, and I was excited to give it a go.

Start

I saw numerous fast women warming up and on the starting line. I wanted to podium, but my bigger goal was to set the state record for my age (41), so initially I prioritized pacing well over competing. I got out at a pace that felt sustainable for a 10k, which ended up being a 6:02 first mile. This course isn't an even pacing course due to the hills, but mile 1 is flat. I didn't look at my splits until afterward, but that was probably a pretty perfect start.

The course turns right just before the mile mark, and it's easy to see the runners in front of you. At that point I counted that I was in 9th female, but the majority of the women ahead of me were relatively close. My competitive nature kicked in and I forgot about my time goals and began chasing down the women in front of me. I'd moved up to 6th by the end of mile 2, which has some ups and downs but is a net downhill. My split was 5:54.

By the halfway point, I'd moved into the 3rd female position. Mile 3 has some ups and downs and is a net uphill, and my split was 6:11. The course used to have a clock at the 5k mark, and I kind of miss that but also kind of don't - in past years I'd always think, "that's my fastest 5k this season", and this year was the same!

Mile 4 has a long gradual decline, with some flats. It is usually my fastest mile, though this year I ended up splitting 5:56, so not quite. The women in 4th and 5th were right on my tail and I could tell they were friends working together. They passed me back just before the mile 4 marker, but I wasn't going to let them go and latched on.

I'm not sure where this is at, but the 
woman who was 4th is visible

Mile 5 in a long incline, a little downhill, then another long incline, and it's always my slowest mile of this race. I felt really strong and passed the two women back plus passed a couple of men, even though my split was only 6:18. The two women were not letting up though, and it wasn't long before they were trying to pass me back. I decided that if they beat me and congratulated me in the finish chute I was going to tell them I was old enough to be their mother, haha!

I wasn't fresh, but I had marathon strength and was able to put some distance on the two ladies in the final mile. I felt really strong and sure thought I was running sub-6:00 pace, but my split was 6:08. There are several little hills in the final mile and they add up! However, what I had was enough to maintain my lead on the next two women, plus the 6th woman who was right on their heels. I kept telling myself "Go, go, go, they are coming!" I really started pressing when I passed the mile 6 sign, which seemed earlier than in years passed - then when I heard my Gamin beep mile 6 probably 200 m after the sign I knew the sign was early and I probably still had 0.3 to go because my Garmin always reads long at this race [note to self: all of the mile markers seemed to be estimations, with mile 1 also being early].

When I saw the finishing clock I knew I'd better get in quick to get the state record. The record I broke was 38:24, so I had it by 8 seconds with my 38:16 but it's always hard to judge just how far you are from the finish line. My chip time was probably 38:14, but they only give gun time for overall winners, and gun time is used for records anyway.

Sure looks like 38:15 to me though!

I wasn't thrilled with my time, but I was thrilled with the state record and for holding my own with all of the younger ladies in that race! I never really understood why people were so into masters running and age grading times until recently. 5 years ago I'd have thought nothing about going head-to-head with a bunch of 25 year olds, but now I am pretty proud when I can.

I ran a 4 mile cool down - definitely the shortest I've ever run after this race - for about 13.5 miles on the day. I then enjoyed the rest of the day in Kansas City! I visited a restaurant and shops on the Plaza, Loose Park, and City Market before dinner with a friend in downtown Parkville.

Sidebar: I've been training for the Milwaukee Marathon for months, and on September 9 they cancelled the race due to the city not issuing the verbally promised permits. I did not see that coming! I scrambled to find another marathon that I would be excited about and could drive to on the same date, October 2 - I'd already done my 24 miler after all! After a few days of communication, on September 14 I was officially accepted into the professional field at the Twin Cities Marathon. I am thankful Twin Cities let me in at the last minute, and that I'm able to keep the same targeted race date!

Plaza Chiefs support

Loose Park rose garden

City Market