Bolder Boulder 10K

After having fewer than 300 participants run the Wyoming races Sunday, Memorial Day Monday had runners everywhere as over 50,000 people participated in the second largest 10K in the United States.  The weather was much nicer than the largest 10K has July 4th weekend in Hotlanta I'd imagine.

We headed out early for the parking garage near the finish line.  There was no absolutely no traffic driving to the finish area; the garage was almost empty as well.  After hanging out in the car for awhile, we decided to find the Boulder bus that would take us to the start line.  We probably walked at least 1/2 as far to get to the shuttle versus just walking to the start line.  Walking directly definetely would have been quicker as the bus ride took awhile with traffic.  No worries though as we were at the start with plenty of time to spare.

I'm not sure exactly how many corral starts Boulder had, but there were more than I'd ever seen for a race.  They started within a minute of each other and that seemed to work fine in keeping the course moving.  It was crowded the entire race but never clogged.  I can definetely say that my own breathing limitations and not the course crowd is what slowed me down.

Another interesting thing about the Boulder course was the fact that both mile and kilometer markers were on the course.  It got rather confusing as to where you were on the course as the mile/K number was visible before the mile/km designation.  There were also timing mats at every mile marker. 

We didn't stay for the Memorial Day tribute at 11:40 as we had an afternoon flight back to Houston and didn't want to get caught in post event traffic.

All in all, Bolder Boulder 10k was a fun race in a nice town.

El Chupacabra de Houston Nighttime 10k Trail Run

I somehow let a month go by without a running update.  Not much to report on the running front these days; I'm enjoying being injury free and am running a somewhat light 15-20 miles a week average these days.  I ran my longest run since March on the trails at Huntsville State Park last Sunday.... a tough 10 miles in humid conditions with horseflies chasing most of the way.  Horseflies can be persuasive motivation to continue moving forward.

Last night was a first for me.  I ran a nighttime 10k trail run at Lake Houston Park in New Caney (TX).  Now I've run a night race, a 10k and trail races before but never all three disciplines in the same event.  I thought the race was well organized, especially being the first year for this event in the Houston area.  The race organizers have had a similiar event near San Antonio the past couple of years.

I ran the first 5k of the race somewhat harder than I planned on running.  My first mile was slower than I wanted due to the narrow trail and slower runners ahead of me.  It wasn't worth the effort to pass people on this portion of the trail so I waited/conserved energy so that I could make my move when the trail opened up.  My second mile was much faster given better running conditions and the fact that I could pass runners.  When I hit the lap button at mile 2, I thought my average pace was 9:58.  I picked up the pace even though in my mind I felt like I was running faster than a 10 minute pace.  Turns out I was; at mile 3 I realized that I was at an 8:58 pace.... running without glasses at night makes 8's and 9's look identical. 

I stopped at the halfway point and refilled my hand held water bottle (practicing for next week's 1/2 in Wyoming where you have to carry your own bottle).  From that point to the finish I did a good mix of running and walking averaging around a 10 minute pace for the last 3 miles.  My unofficial time was 1:01:01 per my Garmin.  Definetely not my fastest 10k; actually pretty comparable to my 6 mile barathon times back in New Orleans.  Different obstacles but just a much fun.

The post race party was excellent for the event.  They had bar b que and lots of beer.  I do believe this will become an annual event for me. 

Next up is my continued economical travel.  I run my 42nd state a week from today in Wyoming followed by  my first Boulder Bolder 10k race in Colorado.  It will  be interesting to see if altitude in Boulder or darkness, humidity and trails is the tougher challenge.

Rocky Mountain.... How High????

With a little over 5 weeks to go before my next half marathon, I decided to look up the elevation that I'll be dealing with for both the 1/2 in Wyoming Sunday and the 10k in Boulder the following day.  (I was asked the day before as to the elevation and had a deer in the headlights look so figured I needed to educate myself.)

First the good news (well relatively good news)....  Bolder Boulder has a max elevatin of 5391 and a min elevation of 5284.  The Woodlands has an elevation of 160 so I'll be right around 5000 feet higher than I'm used to running.  That really shouldn't be a problem as I'll be running at 8700 feet in Wyoming the day before.  The trail 1/2 between Laramie and Cheyenne starts at 8700 feet with a nice descent to around 8100 feet before ascending back to around 8500 feet at the 1/2 turnaround.  The last 5 miles should be pretty much all uphill gaining back the 600 feet descent that we got to enjoy the first 1/2 of the course.

8700 feet will be the highest elevation that I've run in to date.  I started the Georgetown to Idaho Springs 1/2 just west of Denver back in 2007 at 8500 feet.  That course had a 1000 foot descent to a finish in Idaho Springs.  That race didn't go so well for me as I pulled a hamstring around mile 4.   The other western event that comes to mind is the Race to Robie Creek 1/2 that I ran in 2007 as well in Idaho.  That 1/2 started at an elevation of 2725, climbed to 4797 and then dropped to 3065 at the finish.  Thats the only race where I had a nose bleed along the course.  Yet another Rocky Mountain disaster. 

So maybe I was better off with the deer in the headlights look when asked about the altitude I'll be facing at the end of next month.  My goal is to finish around 2:10.  This will keep Georgetown and Robie as my 2nd to last and PW times respectively.  Of course that goal will be secondary to enjoying myself on the course and logging my 42nd state.

Buckeye Upgrade

I was able to remember my login information and get back into the new and improved Buckeye Outdoors website.  Its been about a year since I started using Buckeye as my training log for all my runs. I also went back and entered all my prior marathon and 1/2 marathon races in the Buckeye calendar. 

Buckeye now uses garmin connect so that I can now download my run information directly from my Garmin into the Buckeye training log.  The prior version required a download from Garmin to SportTracks (Zone 5 software) and then upload to Buckeye. 

Syncing with Facebook and Twitter is now easier as well.  This seems to be the case where new & improved is actually an improvement!

Buckeye Upgrades

I guess the Buckeye Outdoor upgrade happened late on April 2nd as advertised on their website.  None of my Buckeye sidebar boxes are presently visible on my blog; no PR's, no completed races, no upcoming races, no workouts.  Hopefully there is a quick fix to get the information back.  I've become spoiled with the no data entry required log maintenance that I've been able to do with Buckeye the past year or so.

6 Week Half Marathon Training Plan

My April 2010 copy of Runner's World arrived before my back to back 1/2 marathons trip last week.  I read most of it on the 3 hour flight to Baltimore.  One of the more interesting articles was on a 6 week training plan for 5k, 10k and half marathon distances.  One of the last things I read was proven true by me in both of my 1/2 events last weekend: "You can suck it up and finish a 5-K or 10-K on minimal mileage but you can't get away with that when you're running a half-marathon."  Truer words have never been spoken!

I do plan on putting the 6 week 1/2 plan to good use for my upcoming Medicine Bow 1/2 marathon run at the end of May.  I plan on taking the next few weeks building a decent running base and then will follow the RW 6 week program to prepare for the 1/2.  Of course, there is no mention of running a 10-K the next day in the article because we all know serious runners wouldn't do that, right?  Oh well....

How Much is Too Much?

I just came across the following article on AOL Health regarding marathon running being linked to heart damage.  At first, I thought it was justification for my decision to not run marathons anymore.....sticking to the 1/2 distance instead.  However, reading the article, they refer to the 3 men that died in Detroit in October 2009. I believe these 3 men were all running the 1/2 marathon; I wish the article were more clear on exactly how much training is considered too much.  This is a new study and much more research is required.

My body has recovered quite well from the weekend.  I got in a quick 3 mile Flintridge hill run Monday evening and hope to get out for a run before the rain around lunchtime today.  It's nice to be able to train again!