Defying Age

30 Friday Oct 2015

Tags

aging runners, Cross Country, LoBo Trail, speed training

I’m comfortable aging. Mostly. I know women think it’s funny to say guys don’t mature much after college but I’m not sure that I have. I feel young. To feel young running though requires a little speed. Racing in Colorado requires age-defying momentum. My races planned for the rest of the year will be shorter distances and I’m going to need to quicken my cadence to be competitive.

I’m not a nostalgic person – rarely do I ever reminisce here in my storytelling. I get nostalgic during runs though. The final two miles in long races, or simply workouts, triggers my memory like an autonomous muscle and I think back to high school cross country. Our races were still two miles long in Texas. I think they moved to the 5K distance a year or two after I graduated in 1980. I relive these high school races during the remaining two miles of a 10K or marathon. I often recall the state cross country course at Southwestern University in Georgetown Texas – it’s held in Round Rock now. It’s an extremely hilly golf course and one year’s event finished at the top of a huge hill. I finished second, by maybe only two seconds. When I relive the event, I find a way to win racing up that final hill.

I’ve gotten fast enough that I oftentimes find myself racing against youth in my weekend events. I get a kick out of it. I’ve learned not to leave anything for the final kick. Not that I don’t have the speed but I’ll strain my hamstring sprinting at the end. I learned this in last year’s Colder Bolder 5K. I should probably avoid 5Ks. I have to warm up with a 3 mile jog if I expect to run 3.1 miles with any speed. Sort of ridiculous but I figure it’s a 6 mile workout.

I’m thinking about this because my buddy Torin caught me from behind with two miles to go on my training run yesterday on the LoBo Trail. I ran 8 and I think he only ran about 5, but I was a little bit ticked. Partly because I had been running fast. Torin caught me when I was starting to cool down. Naturally I had to speed back up so we could could chat for a mile. It also irritated me because he’s my age. Boulder County must have the fastest fifty year olds in the freakin’ country. I don’t mind get passed by the shirtless CU Cross Country Team when I run the East Boulder Trail, but I feel like I sort of own this section of the LoBo Trail. I don’t like being passed on it, especially by fifty year olds. Time to begin some speed work.

Speed Trials

07 Thursday May 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Tags

Bolder Boulder Training, Shoes and Brews, speed training

Shoes & Brews knew I’d be back. Their 800 meter speed trials are addictive. And competitive. The board no longer contains any men’s times over 3 minutes. I returned tonight to find my name slip down a couple of notches. It’s clear now I’ll have to not only run fast, but run often. At least bi-weekly. This works for me as I’ve adapted this for my Bolder Boulder speed training.

A young guy named Brad ran with me tonight which helped pace me to 2:48. Brad ran a 2:45. I feel good dropping 3 seconds off my previous time. It advances me ahead of two others on the board and places me in the 2:40s. I believe I’ll set my goal for this summer at 2:30 flat. Should be doable. It’s less about getting in shape and more about learning to breathe and improving form.

Shoes & Brews was full again tonight. They get a nice crowd for their Thursday night social runs. I commented to Keith how surprised I am on what a running community Longmont is. He responded the runners probably move to Boulder and soon realize they can’t afford it, so they move here. We ran 4 miles along the river trail, which I used as a warmup for my speed trial. There was a light rain which made for quite nice running weather.

Ashlee just sent me this new photo of the board, after my initial post. My position dropped from 13 to 14, even after shaving 3 seconds. This is such a competitive town. Or cheap and these bar flies will do anything to avoid paying $5 for a pint. I hope Rob (no last name) is irritated with me beating him by 1/100th of a second.

Fall Plan

26 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Denver Marathon, Eagle Trail, speed training

I think this photo is in City Park. It meets my primary criteria of showing both feet airborne. Not sure why I find these pictures so cool when both feet are completely off the ground during about 50% of any running stride, but I do. I’m less happy with the poor form this photo illustrates. Note how my forward foot is heel-down. That’s not unusual for distance running, but it’s poor form nonetheless. I’ve been working hard to run toe-down and I do much of the time. At only 5 miles into the Denver Marathon, I am clearly over-striding here. Something for me to continue to work on this fall. Might need to work on my double chin too, another thing this pic illustrates. Why do race photographers think kneeling down is a good angle for pictures? You’ll see what I’m talking about if you click on the pic to enlarge it.

The best method I know to practice running with downward pointing toes is to run fast. Wearing minimalist shoes also helps. I decided on a 9 mile run today on Eagle Trail with Keith. Nine miles is too far for me to wear minimalist shoes so I wore my training flats. I’ll work those more into my routine though on shorter runs. After DST ends and I start running more 3 and 4 milers.

Keith and I worked speed into our trail run today by leveraging a downhill mile on the Eagle Trail loop. The loop is around 2.7 miles. We circled it 3 times. On miles 3, 6 and 9, we picked up our pace. Our regular pace was about 8.5 minutes per mile. For our fast miles, we dropped our pace under 7 minutes per mile. Actually about 6.5 minutes per mile. At some points I ran under a 6 minute pace. The weather was 54° and sunny. There are no additional health benefits to running fast, but it feels good.

My late fall to early winter running plan looks to include some shorter events – like 5Ks. History suggests I don’t necessarily run a 5K any faster than a 10K. In fact, my recent PRs have me with a 7:09 pace for a 10K but only 7:12 for a 5K. I know I can break a 7 minute pace for a 5K. Some speed training will teach my legs to run that fast. This final pic is before the Denver Marathon. Before the dawn.