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Reality and Running

05 Sunday Sep 2021

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Boulder Backroads, Boulder Res, Boulderthon

The term delusional is often bandied about with a negative connotation. My run this morning forced me to consider for a moment that I might be delusional, thinking I can prepare for a marathon, grossly overweight with ten weeks of training. Fortunately, I’m not overly introspective and the moment passed. I don’t think considering reality is all that constructive while training.

I have up until the expo, the night before the marathon, to drop down to the half marathon and I’ll pivot to reality then. My thinking is that I’ve made good progress in the last five weeks and I have yet five more weeks.

For today’s challenge, I parked at the Boulder Res and started my run exactly where the race is set to start. I had a number of objectives with this run. The first was to see if I could run the first sixteen miles of the course, which would loop me back around to my car. It’s sort of a commitment because if I couldn’t make it beyond eight miles, I would have an eight mile walk back to my car. That’s sort of what happened.

My second objective was to observe the accuracy of the course map. I can tell from looking at it that the final two miles along Magnolia and Pearl Streets are off by a half mile. I can now inform the race director that the first nine miles of the course map are off by a mile and a half, because my watch recorded eight miles where the map shows nine and a half. I made it to what I believe is the turn-around at Ouray and Oxford Roads and made it halfway back up the hill on Oxford before admitting I couldn’t make it to the top. This is where I began to walk.

With this, I’d met two objectives. I learned I can’t run sixteen miles and I proved the inaccuracy of the course map. All very good things to know. I wasn’t happy with having to walk so early, but the air quality wasn’t all that great, sixties when I left the house and nineties when I returned, and it set me up to test another one of my goals.

I wondered if, in the marathon, I ran the first half at around an eleven minute pace, could I walk/run the rest of the race and stay under the six hour completion threshold? Overall, I need to run a little under a 13:30 pace to remain eligible to finish before they reopen the streets. I think that will work because I ran a 10:27 pace before I started walking, and I maintained a 13:51 pace for the next six miles once I started walk/running. This also suggests I’ll benefit from running slower, at least an eleven minute pace.

Back to my second objective, the six miles of my walk/run back to the car accurately mapped to the course map. Hope the race director finds those observations useful. Because I’ve been pestering the race officials with everything from confirming my registration, to hotel discounts, to this map nonsense, I might use another email address going forward in case they’ve taken actions to block my other one.

The final useful objective was to learn that my shoes will work well on this course. I don’t know the percentage for the entire course, but the Boulder Backroads are over half gravel vs pavement. Some sections, like along the irrigation ditch, are brutal on the feet. At least, once your feet have become tender from having run so many miles. I recall my last Boulder marathon that was run as two loops around the Backroads and Res and hitting the irrigation ditch road was like walking on hot coals. I don’t normally like overly soft running shoes, or what runners call a high stack, but these Hoka Rockets performed. I couldn’t feel the gravel at all. Until I get some tougher feet, these shoes are what I need.

If I were to face reality, after today’s run, I’d drop down to the half, or perhaps from the race entirely. Instead, I’m still looking at this thing through Ted Lasso glasses and figure I learned a lot of good things from today’s poor run. I neglected to add that I nearly vomited afterward. Even though I carried and fully drank a liter of electrolytes, I ended the run dehydrated. Today was a tough run. Tomorrow is another day.

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Boulder Backroads Marathon 2015

19 Saturday Sep 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Boulder Marathon, Marathons, Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Boulder Backroads, Boulder Marathon, Boulder Res, Gadi, race results

Ed half 1This morning’s Boulder Marathon is what all my massive mileage training is about.  Over 600 miles in the heat of July and August.  Last weekend’s relay race over Georgia Pass has me feeling confident.  Although, working 13 hour days in New York all week and only exercising less than 60 minutes in aggregate on hotel aerobic machinery has me questioning my taper plan.  My legs should certainly be fresh.  Hopefully the unabated restaurant and bar calories will find purpose twenty miles from now.

Chris and I start out together the first half mile.  We’re both wearing shorts and tech t-shirts without gloves despite the 47° starting temperature.  It will warm up 1° per mile; we couldn’t ask for better weather.  Chris is running the half marathon and surges ahead of me in the first mile.  I’m not wearing my Garmin, it’s recording stats but in my pocket.  I’ll relate my mile splits here but I don’t know them while I run.  I run my first mile in 7:42.  The only bad start in a marathon is one that goes out too fast.  This is probably too fast but it is mostly downhill.  The next five miles are up hill.

Chris kick 1Still, my next four miles are in 7:23, 7:32, 7:49, and 7:49.  I watch Chris this whole time race about 200 meters ahead of me against two guys in blue and one in yellow.  There are less than 400 runners between the full and half marathons, so we’re completely spread out after two miles.  Chris drops the two blues before hitting Niwot Road at three miles and runs even with the yellow guy until five miles.  At this point, Chris surges and increases his lead over me to a quarter mile.  The yellow guy surges a couple of minutes after Chris, but never again reaches him.  Chris sees me after a goofy loop-back turn off Oxford Road and puts on a massive surge that takes him out of sight for me until I see him at the half finish.  This photo shows his kick near the end.

Chris kick 2Chris finishes 5th in his age division and 34th overall.  I think the half is more competitive than the full.  You get a sense of how fast Chris kicks in this finish photo based on how high his feet are off the ground. His 1:33 is a personal record.

I cross the half six minutes behind Chris in 1:39 – which is a good ten minutes faster than I expected. I see this time on a clock at the Boulder Rez.  This is surprisingly fast in a 7:30 pace but I feel strong.  I run much of the second 10K with Gadi, a runner who recently moved from Israel to obtain his Masters in Psycology at Naropa University in Boulder.  We talk much of the time but he finishes at the half.    I’m certain at this point I can run a second 13 miles, I feel that strong.  I do expect to slow down on the upcoming hills and do by a minute to an 8:30 pace as the third 10K gains elevation again.

Ed half 2

My legs become heavy on the final uphill mile, the 19th mile, but I pick my pace back up at twenty miles.  Some other runners begin to surge here, sensing the downward slope.  I don’t get into a race though because I know I won’t be able to hold it.  My goal all along has been to feel comfortable the entire race, which is why I don’t monitor my watch.  I pass a couple of runners on this final 10K and one passes me.  After 22 miles, the course turns off Niwot Road onto a trail along an irrigation ditch.  The gravel feels like hot coals under my tender feet.  This begins my slowdown as my stride significantly shortens.

I tend to describe bonking or hitting the wall in terms of running out of fuel, but this is how it feels.  All the muscles in my abdomen and upper legs begin to melt.  The heaviness and burning from lactic acid would be preferable to this sensation of vanishing body parts.  My slowing pace is like a dream where I’m running but moving in slow motion because I don’t have control.  I picture my blood cells moving into my muscles and stealing away without replenishing the lost proteins.  It’s a brutal scenario where momentum is only maintained by leaning forward and hoping my legs drop in front of me in time to catch my fall because I haven’t the ability to contract my thighs and lift my knees.  I don’t bonk necessarily here but slow down even more at mile 24.  This slowdown is more from heavy legs – not nearly as painful as hitting the wall.

Ed finishThe cheering crowd steers me toward the finish line like sirens to the rocks. I yank my Garmin from my pocket at the 26 mile sign and notice I’m close to a 3:30 Boston Qualifying time.  I didn’t plan on sprinting to the finish, but pick it up a bit anyway for the final quarter mile.  I cross in 3:30:05.  Five seconds off qualifying for Boston!  This doesn’t actually bother me though because I wasn’t trying to run this fast.  Even with my slowdown the final two miles, this marathon was everything I hoped it would be.  I felt great.  I’m totally satisfied.  I never bonked.  And my second half was only ten minutes slower than my first, not a bad margin.  Good enough for 12th place overall, although only 4th in my age division.  50 year olds are fast in Boulder.  I would have either won or taken second in just about every other age group.  I complete my day with a massage at 3pm, a steak dinner at 5, and I’m watching CU go into overtime against CSU.  Awesome day!

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190 Miles

11 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail, Running

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Tags

apple cider, Boulder Backroads, Boulder Marathon, Boulder Res, massivemileage

Audubon TrailI completed week three of training for the Boulder Marathon with 70 miles, bringing my total up to 190 miles.  Surprisingly, the wheels haven’t started to fall off yet.  I have another six weeks before I reach 100 weekly miles though, so I can’t say I’m there.  This week almost felt easy until today.  I kept all my runs at 12 or less miles but ran 16 today in some tough heat.  The most difficult part might be running in the morning after a previous late afternoon run.  Not enough time to recover.  So I maintained a slow pace today, which was likely smart in this heat.

I also got in a nice 6 mile hike on Audubon Trail, in the Brainard Lake area on Thursday.  I took the day off to spend time with my niece Jessy who drove in from Iowa.  She’s in Vail now for the weekend with her boyfriend Brian and Brittany.  Always nice to have family visit.  Nicer still to get in my first mountain trail hike of the season.  I have some more aggressive hikes planned later this month and for August, including Longs Peak.

Finished the day on the front porch.  Goddard came over and drank beers with me.  Until we ran out and switched over to Brittany’s apple cider.  Quite refreshing and 5% alcohol.  Who knew?

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Kiss the Clouds

28 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Boulder Flood, Boulder Res, Denver Marathon, trail running, Ultra

Boulder Valley RanchThis week included a couple of runs in the never-ending rain.  Normally I enjoy the runs where I can literally kiss the low-hanging Colorado clouds.  Ever see the 1983 video of U2 perform at Red Rocks?  It’s like running in some mystical place with unicorns.  This has been all too common place lately.  Today though was clear blue sky and I kissed the clouds goodbye.  Taking a cue from Jabe’s recent facebook update that the Eagle Trail is open, I headed out to the Boulder Valley Ranch set of trails.  I can’t believe I have never run here before.  It’s not exactly exciting.  Very few trees.  But Gadget Girl often runs here with her dog Otis; so does Jabe’s running team.  Given conditions, I’m happy to run out here in the prairie grass.

I need to keep up my trail running.  I signed up this week to run the Durango Double Ultra, a 50K (30 mile) trail run through the San Juans.  My first ever ultra.  This wasn’t on my radar but with my two marquee September runs cancelled, I need to up my game for October.  I’ll follow this ultra the next weekend with the Denver Marathon.  New plans.  Hard to explain but maybe this has happened to you before.  You train hard for a marathon.  Sometimes when an event is cancelled, you feel like you escaped a bullet because you weren’t quite prepared.  I was ready though.  This might have been overly optimistic but I thought I had a chance at an 8 minute pace which would qualify me for Boston.  When you reach that level of fitness, you sort of want a replacement marathon.  Only thing is now I have to maintain this fitness level another month.  I can do that.  If I survive the ultra, I’ll be primed for the marathon.

muddy trailMy Team Naked partners plan to run Eagle Trail tomorrow.  I have to bail on them to drive my in-laws to DIA.  It’s a large trail system.  I parked at the Eagle Trailhead near the Boulder Res.  The first trail here is a 3.7 mile lollipop.  Eagle Trail begins as a half mile stick, then forks left while Sage forks right.  The two forks join up again 1.35 miles later to form the loop.  I forked right onto Sage and then right again onto Cobalt.

Deggee TrailThis led me to North Broadway Road where I returned on yet another fork right called Deggee Trail.  Not sure how you pronounce that.  I could have returned more directly but I wanted to get in a long run so took a number of exploratory trail spurs.  I forked right on Hidden Valley Trail which I could have taken earlier for another loop option.  I also humped up onto Mesa Reservoir on the return.  I think on future runs I’ll make a large loop out of Hidden Valley Trail and the Sage/Eagle combo.  That’s probably good for a 6 mile loop.  Twice makes 12 miles.

Eagle TrailheadMuch of this trail is fairly pedestrian.  In fact, the first loop is double track.  Still, gaiters are a good call to keep the little pebbles out of your shoes.  I think the muddy trail warning sign could be dialed back a bit from poor to fair.  The mud’s not extreme, although sticky in spots.  The trail is nice and soft, feels good on the knees.  Look at that blue sky in this last photo.  About time.  Plus the temperature was a fresh 54°.  Perfect seasonal running conditions have returned to Boulder County.

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Swim, Bike and Run

03 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Ellie Rose

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Boulder Res, Ellie Mahoney, ironkids

IronKidsEllie attended the packet pickup at the Boulder Res Friday afternoon with her girl friends Kate and Lindsey.  The three of them were registered in the 9 to 11 year old Intermediate division of the 2013 IronKids Triathlon.  Afterward, Kate and Lindsey’s dad made us dinner at their house – chicken piccata, pasta and salad.  I forgot to ask what the dressing was but the salad contained thin yet crispy apple slices.  This morning, I woke Ellie up at 5:30am, then again for reals at 5:45am.  She ate a light breakfast while I drank coffee.  Then we drove back to the res to setup her bike and gear in the transition staging area before the 6:45am deadline.

The girls wave didn’t start until 8:30, after the Seniors.  They played on the beach and primed their pumps with some light swimming while we waited.  Dave showed up before the start with breakfast bagels for us big kids.  They hit the spot.  Not sure why food and drink vendors don’t attend this event.  It’s huge.  Anyone selling coffee could have made enough to winter in Florida.

bikeKate was one of the first girls out of the water.  She’s a fantastic swimmer.  Ellie’s game plan was to pace herself and simply try to finish.  She swam a nice straight line to the first buoy.  Ellie said the swim on the way in from the second buoy consisted mostly of swimming around people.  It got crowded from some of the boys who were still in the water from the wave ahead of her.  Ellie’s game plan on the bike was to take the first lap easy and to speed up on the second which she said she did.  There were some momentum killers though like when the course does a u-turn at the firehouse at the bottom of a hill.  The bike was clearly her slowest leg comparatively but she kept to her plan which was to keep a comfortable pace.

The bike was four miles whereas the run was one mile.  That makes the run a bit long relative to the swim and bike.  In my mind anyway but maybe a 4:1 ratio is normal.  Ellie ran strong though turning in an 11:08 mile.  I thought initially from the results that her mile run pace wasn’t much off from her bike pace.  Same with many other kids.  That made me suspect perhaps the bike course is longer than advertised.  Then I figured out the bike pace references laps and not miles.  The timing results have a number of issues I won’t get into.  Not sure why it’s so difficult though to publish meaningful and accurate results.

Ellie finished feeling good.  This is her first ever Triathlon.  She wants to join a triathlon training team next summer with her girl friends.  She trained well enough this summer to complete a triathlon.  Next time she wants to be competitive.  That’s my girl.

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IronKids

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Ellie Rose

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Tags

Boulder Res, Ellie Mahoney, ironkids

UHC IronkidsEllie returns to the Boulder Res Saturday for her second IronKids triathlon.  Her first triathlon didn’t go so well as she discovered she has exercise-induced asthma.  That wasn’t a huge surprise as we knew she had some breathing issues.  Such asthma-like conditions aren’t show-stoppers anymore though as evidenced by the Denver Nugget’s JaVale McGee.  Plus Ellie won her 5th grade, all-district, 50 meter dash this spring.  All the same, I’m not expecting any trophy level competition out of Ellie.  I just hope to see her finish.  I’m so proud of her getting back in the saddle and fearless to try again.

Ellie doesn’t exactly train for triathlons.  Not formally, but Brit has been taking her swimming and she runs around the neighborhood with her friends.  She also swam last weekend at the Boulder Res to prep for the open water.  She first had to take a small swim test from the life guard before being allowed to swim beyond the rope.  She smoked a couple of boys in the water whom were also testing.  Ellie also has a nice Diamondback Clarity hybrid bike she bought used from her friend Kate.  I swapped the dirt tires out for faster road tires and lubed the chain.  More importantly, Ellie ordered a Pearl iZumi tri-suit because for an 11 year old girl, it’s all about style.  Can’t wait for Saturday.

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The Foot Strike

15 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Tags

Boulder Res, low profile, minimalist, plantar fasciitis, REI, running shoes

I was talking to Chris, someone I’ve recently met, while watching the Broncos get blown out of the playoffs last night.  Chris is 41 but looks like a competitively fit 21 year old.  So we were talking about running.  Chris and Dave share a similar injury with strained calf muscles.  I tried to trump them with my plantar fasciitis.  No one ever wins these “I got more scars than you” contests but they are fun nonetheless when you’re drinking with the guys and watching football.

I got some value out of it when we began discussing the effect from running with either minimalist shoes or low profile shoes.  I’ve personally received a healthy dose of advice recommending them as a cure to my pronation.  I understand the argument, although I’m not deep enough on the topic to confidently explain the difference between low profile and minimalist.  The link I share in that last sentence though is full of good information on the topic.

I’m curious enough now that I suspect I will eventually buy a pair.  Likely low profile.  The REI article I linked above suggests that barefoot running or minimalist shoes are not good for runners who over pronate – which I do in my left foot.  But I’m not committed and question whether these new style shoes are as important as simply changing one’s running form.  Chris, Dave and I all agreed that if it’s a matter of your heel strike vs a mid-foot or ball-of-foot strike, you don’t necessarily need these shoes for that.

I tested this theory on a 7 mile run today.  I focused on maintaining a mid-foot strike on the ground.  This route has about 2 miles of pavement and the rest is trail.  It’s necessary to shorten your stride a bit when doing this.  And there’s a tendency to run faster with a shorter stride and mid to fore foot fall, but with proper attention you can slow down your cadence as well.  I feel like I did a great job maintaining this form throughout the run.  I did run faster but have been improving my conditioning lately and was able to handle the faster pace.  Four hours later my left foot feels better than normal after such a distance.  I can’t say anything definitive yet but I intend to work at this new foot strike and will report on my progress.

Most of my focus is on fixing this nagging injury because I have a full running schedule planned for 2012.  I’m already registered for the Moab and Boulder Half Marathons – March 17th and April 1st respectively.  Those are target runs to motivate me to train through the winter.  The picture above is of the Boulder Reservoir where that event takes place.  After those warmups, I aim to run mountain trail half marathons.  Haven’t booked any yet but have a list of them to consider.  Let me know if you have run some cool trail races up in the Colorado Rockies.

40.137598
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