Sunday, August 3, 2014

2014 Urban Wildland Half-Marathon Review

2014 Urban Wildland Half-Marathon
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Richfield, MN

Runners: 780 (348 men, 432 women)
Course:  Street & wooded lake trail combo, Flat - 94 ft of elevation gain
Weather: 69 degrees, 90% humidity, no wind
Start Time: 7:00 am CST
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SWAG: No Finisher Medal, Purple Tech-Tshirt
Race Organization: Good
Volunteer Support: Good
Crowd Support: None
Water Stops: Not nearly enough for a summer half-marathon
Food: Bananas & bagels
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Weight: 178
Health: Good, no issues
Conditioning: Good, but not good enough for the intense humidity during the race, still need more core work and need to lose about 5 pounds to race at my best
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Time: 1:27:52 NEW PR
Pace: 6:43/mile
Place: 25th/780, 4th/90 in 40-49AG (2nd in 45-49)

Don't let the time finish time fool you, even though I made it from Point "A" to Point "B" in a half-marathon faster than I ever had before, this was NOT a great race performance from me.  That's not a "humble brag", "sour grapes", or anything else ... plain and simple, I just didn't run a good race.

Great picture of downtown Minneapolis I got this weekend before the race
My training had been going really well lately, in fact I felt like I was faster than ever as evidenced by my recent 5K PR and my overall training times.  So I decided to put my legs to the test and run a half-marathon.  The nearest one to home that I found happened to be only about 6-1/2 hours away in Richfield, MN, a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul.  As luck would have it, I also had a couple meetings in Eastern Iowa the week before, which only put me about 3 hours away from the Twin Cities.  So at the end of the work week, I jumped in my car and made the relatively short drive to the race.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Bloomington, MN near the Airport ... and only a few blocks away from The Mall of America.  The evening I got to town, I went over to the mall for a while to check it out ... yep, just your basic 4 story mall with 520 stores, 50 restaurants, and an amusement park in the middle.  Nothing to see here.  But when I snapped a few pictures and sent them to Michael, we both had the same thought, "How ironic! Jim at a mall, and Michael sitting at home ... what's going on Universe???"

There were plenty of restaurants in the area, unfortunately I had a little trouble finding anything healthy.  But I did locate a Whole Foods grocery store where I picked up a few things.  Plus, since it was only a half-marathon, I wasn't super-consumed with fueling.  But I didn't want to completely wreck my diet either.  I've been eating fairly healthy lately and this half-marathon was only part of my training, not the final destination.  So I didn't want to veer too far off track just because it was a race weekend.

The Urban Wildland Half-Marathon is not a big event, and is billed as "Minnesota's Green Race".  When I see a race with "green" in the title, it's usually code for "there will be no extras".  And even though I'm a proponent of not wasting resources (I'm not even sure we should water our yards), the product sometimes comes off as "cheap" and "poorly planned".   The race directors did a nice job with planning ... but frankly, I felt this race came off as a little "cheap".

For starters, there was no finisher medal.  This was made clear in the registration information, so I knew it going in.  I've always said that finisher medals are no big deal to me, but for some reason it kind of bummed me out at the end when there was no medal.  They actually handed out the race shirts at the end, so at least there was a "reward" for finishing the race besides a banana and bagel.  But the shirt was purple!  Purple!  So I bought one of the previous year's race shirts for $4, because I'm not sure I'll ever wear a purple shirt. (No offense if purple's your favorite color, it's just not me - ha)

Age group winners received a recycled glass medal.  But the age group categories were divided into years of 10 instead of the typical 5 years divisions.  So for example, a person who was almost 50, had to beat all of the 40, 41, 42, etc., year old's to receive a medal.  That's pretty tough for most people to do.  In fact the results showed that in all of the age group categories, there were only two people who placed in the top three that were in the older half of their age group - a 37 year old and 57 year old runner.  So basically, dividing the groups into 10 year increments meant that if you had a "5" or higher in your age, you basically had no shot at winning a medal.  But obviously having fewer division means buying fewer medals.  Plus, it's just an age group award - so I'll probably be okay!

Finally, there were simply not enough water stops for a summer marathon.  The volunteers at all the water stops did a great job and were very supportive and well organized, but in the first seven miles, on a very humid day, there were only two stops.  It seems like the frequency picked up after that, but they were fairly sparse at the outset.  I just felt for a summer marathon, where we had over 90% humidity and all the runners were losing fluids at a rapid rate, there should have been more water available.  I heard several runners complaining about it while we were running.  But this too was identified in the pre-race info, so I could have carried water.  Several of the homeowners along the course had their sprinklers on so we could run through as we passed their house ... which felt awesome!  Race extras aside, this was a nice small race, on a very flat and shaded course.  The organizers did a great job with organization and communication and were very, very friendly.

Wood Lake in Richfield, Minnesota
Most importantly, the race benefited the Wood Lake Nature Center's Environmental Education Program with the Richfield Schools.  It's an environmental education partnership that provides learning through Wood Lake's science curriculum.  On the evening before the race, I visited the Nature Center and took a few pictures.  The area was beautiful and well kept, and the Nature Center was full of great information.  Most notably, the dirt and gravel trail around the lake was smooth and very well kept.  A few hours later, we would be veering off of the city streets and running a portion of the race on the shaded trails.

We also ran around two other small city lakes - Richfield Lake and Legion Lake - which were both very nice and well kept with adjacent parks.

A portion of the race was ran on these well-maintained and smooth dirt trails around Wood Lake

I kept an eye on the weather all week leading up to the race, and knew two things ...

1. At 65-69 degrees, the temperature wouldn't be too bad
2. At 90% humidity, it was going to be a GRIND!!!

There's no getting around it, regardless of the temperature, humidity just sucks the energy right out of you, and the race on Saturday was the perfect demonstration of this fact.

When I arrived at the starting area at the Richfield Ice Arena, I immediately noticed that the air was very still, and very very sticky.  I ran about two mile of warm ups with some sprints and was already covered in sweat.  I think it was only about 65 or 66 degrees when the gun went off, but the humidity was at or above 90%.

With this in mind, I tried to keep my pace controlled.  My first mile was a 7:02, which felt very comfortable, followed by a 6:38, which felt equally as relaxed.  But as we ran around Wood Lake during mile three, I noticed that my shirt was completely saturated with sweat.  Including warm ups, I had only ran about five miles so far and I was drenched.  Understanding that I would soon fatigue from the moisture laden air, I slowed my pace during the third mile to a 6:42.  But conscious of the clock, I picked it up a little during the fourth mile to a 6:30 and felt fine.

Somewhere during mile five I began to labor a little.  My breathing really seemed to be okay, but my legs were having trouble keeping the pace.  Frankly I had tried to start this race a little quicker than normal, and I think it might have been a little too fast considering the conditions.  I kept looking at my Garmin thinking, "I need to be down in the 6:20's", but I just couldn't seem to find a gear to get me to that pace consistently.  I felt like I was running fairly smoothly, but I just didn't seem to have the ability to increase my speed.

I think I ran mile six a little too fast as well because I actually stopped for about 20 seconds at the water stop to regroup a little and take a gel, but still ended up with a 6:35 split.  I remember thinking to myself that I needed to slow down a little because my breathing had really intensified and I was really beginning to fight it ... AT FRIGGING MILE 6!!!  Plus, since much of the course was tree-line, my Garmin kept losing it's pace so I wasn't exactly sure how fast I was going.

I really wanted to PR in this race so I was fairly mindful of my pace.  Based on my recent training times, I honestly felt like I could have been around 1:25 ... OR LOWER.  Heck, a few weeks before the race I ran a Tempo Run where I averaged a 6:19 over 9 miles, and would have easily PR'd if it would have been a race day.  But Saturday was a different story.  I really hadn't wanted to stop during mile six, but knew that I was still way under PR pace.  My 10K split was a 41:13, which for me is pretty quick, and I knew a few added seconds wouldn't hurt.  But when I stopped three more times over the course of next seven miles, I really started wondering if it was going to be my day.  I started doing the math in my head at mile 10, trying decide just how slow of a  mile I could run and still come in under record time for me.  I figured that if I ran the last three miles at a 7:00/pace, I'd be okay.  The problem was that I was really fighting even keeping a 7:00 pace on track.  I was beginning to get a little light headed from the fluid loss and took a salt capsule somewhere in mile 11.

I don't think I've ever faded in a half-marathon like I did on Saturday, but it was a grind to keep those last miles under 7:00.  I would run for a while and then need to stop again.  This was simply unbelievable for a half-marathon.  I was just completely drained and soaked to the bone with perspiration and felt like I was breathing through a straw ... with an elephant on my chest.  It was just a lot tougher than a half-marathon should have been.

I crossed the finish line with a 1:27:52 for a new PR.  I would have been elated with this time a few years ago ... but on Saturday I was pretty disappointed.  The race was supposed to be a stepping stone or a springboard to an awesome marathon in four weeks.  But unfortunately, it left me with more questions than answers.

After the race, I stopped back by the hotel, showered, and hit the road as soon as possible for the 6-1/2 hour drive home.  Even though I'd ran a poor race, probably the worst thing I did all day was only stop the car once over the trip home.  Not a real smart thing to do.  My legs were so stiff the next day.  Hopefully I can get rid of the soreness quickly and resume the final phase of marathon training for Idaho.  The half-marathon hadn't been a disaster by any means, I mean I DID PR. But it made it very clear to me that I still have a lot of work to do.  Maybe that's a good thing.
... be great today!

31 comments:

  1. It's so strange how a PR can still feel like a lousy race, but I totally understand. You want to finish feeling good, like you ran strong the whole way and gave it everything you had, rather than feeling like the weather just drained the race out of you. And? It sucks that you didn't get a medal!! So congratulations on fighting through to the finish on a tough day!

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    1. Thanks Pahla - yeah, the only thing I want on race day are perfect conditions - which rarely happens, ha

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  2. Sorry you didn't have a great run. I've noticed that 10-year age group span more commonly lately. Is it just a ploy to reduce the amount of swag they have to give to winners? What's the logic behind it?

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    1. I really just think it's a cost thing Paul, but no biggie I guess

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  3. Oh Man, I totally felt your pain as I read 6 1/2 hrs in the car. What A Drag!! And that shirt, if its an XL, feel free to mail out to me. That would be awesome. Cheers

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    1. Ha, the shirt was an L, I think Michael is going to use as a night shirt or something

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  4. Congrats on the PR. Keep grindin' and PR big on that fall marathon!

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  5. Congrats on the PR! You can't control the humidity - and it can drain you. Plus the trail section couldn't have helped, either. The relative lack of water (in the summer, I think every 2 miles makes sense) probably took a toll on your hydration status early on, too. I remember showing up to a marathon in Atlanta on a very warm and humid day. We were very early because I was driving with someone who was meeting her training group for the half a good hour and a half before the gun. There was NO water at the start! I started that race dehydrated and played catch up for the duration. It can really affect you (and affect fueling, too).
    I think a PR on a bad day is a good sign for the future. And I still think it was the right decision to run a half at this point!

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    1. Thanks Grace, yeah I'm glad I ran the race, and I'm pretty confident that I'm quite a bit faster than that right now - it's fascinating how fragile my "Runner Ego" is when it comes to race performance.

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  6. A PR is a PR no matter what. You had an awesome pace throughout the race!

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  7. Humidity is a killer!! I live in a dry environment so it especially kills me. Congrats on the PR!

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  8. Probably a rubbish thing to say but it is probably better to have gotten a 'bad' race out of the way ahead of your marathon (and I'm not wholly convinced it was all that bad reading your report). The questions and concerns you have in mind after the race will keep you focused on the training and race prep to come, a 'good' race might (just might) have let the mental brakes off of the next few weeks.
    Recent good training won't vanish, and if it all comes together over the 26.2 then we'll all really look to your race report.
    Awesome work getting that PR :-) Hope the next few weeks go really well.

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    1. Thanks Andy, that's a great point and something that I think helped refocus me a little. I don't think I was mailing in the remainder of my training, but not being where I wanted to be will certainly help keep me on track. I stopped 4 times for a total of about 1:30 overall, so I think on a cooler day realistically I would been right there - but only beating my old time by about 18 seconds has kind of lit a fire under me - thank you for the thoughtful input - I really appreciate it!

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  9. Nice work Jim. I know what you mean about mid-western humidity. I've done many a race through the summer heat like that and it is always a struggle. Would love to see what you could do in an "ideal" environment. None the less a solid effort and congrats on the PR.

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    1. Thanks Eddie, yeah it's kind of a grind in the Midwest in the summer. Hopefully I'll get a nice cool day in October in Wichita and I can really lower my mark

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  10. Andy makes some good points up above.

    Question though, and this relates to running theory.

    You mentioned it's a recovery week but at the same time you were gunning for a Half PR, which can take weeks to fully recover from. Are we greedy as runners? I'm not trying to say you are, I'm just saying I've done this before and the thinking is a bit backwards; it's a week to run easy and recover (from all those hard workouts like your very impressive and confidence boosting tempo run) and yet we have that mentality to go out and GET IT while our fitness is good. What's more important is your upcoming marathon and jeopardizing that at this point seems wrong. You agree? Would love to read your thoughts on this. I raced far too much last marathon cycle and I vowed to severely limit my races unless they fit in my schedule perfectly (as workouts). Who knows though, maybe you'll recover from this quickly but if it takes away from any future workouts (i.e. this week), I'd have to ask was it worth it? Again, I'm not trying to be harsh or confrontational, just honest questions.

    And that 10 year age group crap in a half is BS. You deserved an age group medal.

    Keep up the good work, I have lots of faith in you for both Fall marathons.

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    1. Thank you so much for the comments Bill, and I didn't take them harsh or confrontational at all - it's actually something I wrestle with all the time. I gave Grace a hard time for recommending a race, but I was thinking about doing one anyway, so I can't blame her, ha. I think I view as I'm 45, and my window of opportunity is closing quickly. Every year it gets tougher and tougher to recover and there's gonna be a point when I stop putting up lower numbers than the last time. I think "greedy" is probably the perfect description for what we do. I think I get the mentality that "hey, I'm in great shape right now - might as well PR as much as I can", but in fact I already think my hard Tuesday is already in jeopardy - so to answer your question ... no, I'm not sure it was worth it. We'll see I guess. But I completely understand and try to reconcile your point internally all the time when I feel like at the top of my fitness.

      Thanks again for the thoughtful comment - I really appreciate the input - have a great week.

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    2. Bill, actually that's a GREAT topic for a blog post - I'll probably write something about it later on this week because I think it's something a lot of runners debate over and over ... "How much should I race leading up to a big race" - thanks for the idea ... I'll give you full credit, ha

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    3. Congrats on a PR!! Great comments and looking forward to your next post on "How much should I race leading up to a big race" - it's a tricky subject and there is so much individual variability. At some point, each person has to figure-out what works best for them - there's simply no substitute for experience. Personally, I do not race that much but have struggled with over-training and peaking at the right time - for me it is a fine line and short window. I too have left some of my best performances on the training path... no doubt that it is difficult to hold back when you are in top fitness.
      Best of luck with your sub 3 attempt and I really enjoy your blog.

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    4. Thanks Jim, I look forward to that blog. No need to give me credit!

      It's just a question I've given a lot of thought to. I raced too much last marathon cycle and it affected me more than just physically - I felt drained mentally as well. That was on me though doing too many races thinking I could make some last minute fitness gains. But I always wonder if we hurt our marathon goals (even if its by minutes) because we left our best miles out in training (or in this case, races leading up to THE race).

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  11. Those pictures are beautiful. Keeping even one mile at your pace would have made me barf. Congrats on your PR!

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    1. Thanks Cory - we are a good compliment to each other because if I would have ran the kind of insane mileage you rack up, I would have two broken legs by now

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  12. Nice job on the PR, despite the tough conditions and struggling at bit at the end! I am curious - you had a good comment on my race from last Sunday, if you deplete yourself like I did at the race, does it take 2-3 weeks to feel normal again while running? I did 6 miles yesterday, and I feel super wiped today. Maybe my body still isn't back yet. Anything I should so besides waiting it out to run again?

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    1. Hey Nelly - ya know, the first time I had heard that "2-3 week" time frame after being depleted was a few weeks ago when our friend Michelle had almost the exact same experience as you at her last half-marathon. Except she passed out, fell into a ditch, and wound up in the hospital for a while. For me, I think the 2-3 week thing is a little long. But I don't think I was quite as fluid depleted after my race as you and Michelle. For example, I went out today and ran 11 miles, 7 of them at 6:30 pace, was totally saturated (maybe even a little more than on Saturday) and other than being a little weak-legged because the race was only 3 days ago, I felt okay.

      But there are several variables here that I think separate the two - if you were depleted of fluids enough that your body crashed, that's quite a bit different than mine. I really never crashed, when I wasn't stopped to walk, I was actually running a decent pace. But it sounds like you and Michelle had something closer to a heat stroke/dehydration that had a more severe metaphysical reaction on your body. I was able to stretch, rest, drink plenty of coconut water as well as extra water, and more protein than usual, and I felt okay. For example, I have a 20 mile run on Saturday that I'm not really worried about at this point.

      Plus, another variable is that unless you live and train in the some parts of the Midwest this time of year - it's tough to describe just how fluid-depleted you get after each workout. If your body doesn't learn to adapt to it, and if you don't learn good refueling habits, I can't imagine you'd last very long. It's literally an almost daily cycle of losing 4-5 lbs of fluids in a morning run, focusing all day on replacing them, and then doing the same thing the next day. So maybe that helped me with my race too.

      I think when you reach the dehydration point that you did, the biggest factor is probably leveling and equalizing your electrolytes again ... but that's just a guess on my part.

      Unless you're injured, I'm a big believer that something is better than nothing when it comes to rest and recovery after a workout or event. For me, slow active recovery in the form of a long walk or a SLOW light run is much better than doing nothing - but I try to make sure I get some extra sleep too. But unless you're on a schedule to train for another race, I wouldn't push it if you don't have to. Hope that helps - but I just a novice at this stuff like you - ha!

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    2. Thanks for the detailed reply! I think I mainly depleted my body badly, and I'm not sure if it's back yet to 100% yet. I'm not injured though, just felt a little out of it on my recent run. Likely I'll start back with running next week, and see how it goes. And yea, if I moved to the midwest, I probably wouldn't last too long out there lol.

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    3. Haha, I didn't mean YOU, just "you" in general ... I wouldn't ever question someone's toughness, that just came out wrong - haha

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  13. Congratulations again! Beautiful race! I don't think I ever ran a planned PR. Mine mostly just happened. That said, I can't talk in your league. My half marathon PR is 1:41. That is actually fast for me :)

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    1. Thank you Johann, but please - none of us are in your running league! My legs would have crumbled far long ago trying to do what you do!

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