A Race Plan Takes Shape

In a previous post, I complained wrote about how Shinsplints & The Mystery Bump (That's what I'm going to call my band if I'm ever in a band.) had wrecked havoc on my spring racing schedule.

Well, I think things are starting to sort themselves out. I signed myself up for the "Sole of the City 10K" in Baltimore on April 21. I'll have build my endurance up, but I did a half our of high-resistance hill training on the stationary bike followed by a half hour of elliptical at the gym, and it seems like my conditioning will be fine, I'll just have to get used to the impact of running again. A couple weeks of rest seems to have done wonders for the legs.



If I'm committed to doing 6 miles on April 21, I should probably be back in 5K shape by March 11, so "yes" to Kelly Shamrock 5K as well. Townebank 8K at Shamrock Sportsfest in VA Beach? I think I'll wait as long as I possibly can to make that decision.

Broad Street 10-miler on May 6? That's probably pushing it. Instead, we're considering the Fit to Run, Fit to Dream 8K in Williamsburg, VA. If we run that one, it's because a race happened to occur when/where we were planning a trip, rather than planning a vacation around a race!

I'm sure I'll run the usual assortment of 5Ks in the summer, but it would probably be wise to pick my battles instead of running every single one for a PR. And the Harrisburg Mile, of course. Health permitting, of course, it's 5:59 or bust.

I'm still debating a full or half marathon in the fall. Right now, I'm leaning toward a half. That'll keep me from having to log 30-some mile weeks in the summer, when running is not my friend. I had a great summer of running, but I think pushing through the heat was part of the reason why I was so burnt out on running by October. And though the sample size is very small, it seems like going directly from the fall marathon to training for the spring marathon took too much of a toll on me. A fall half seems like it would give me my best chance to go to the 2013 Shamrock Marathon healthy and motivated. I could try an earlier fall marathon than Philly, I think my feelings about hot weather long runs are pretty well known!

Hearts All Gone (Another Stupid Music Review Because I'm Boring)

I wasn't going to do another music review until either Van Halen put a record out or hell froze over. But, there's not much going on on the running front for another week or so, when I'll start my training plan, which will be worth a couple blog posts.

Otherwise it's pretty much been same route, same pace, with the only variation being how many adorable kitties I saw on my run. (On my most recent jaunt through Manchester and Mt. Wolf, I saw a mother cat watching over two baby kittens as they pounced at each other playfully. It was probably the most adorable thing I'll ever see on a run).

So...with not a lot else going on, here's "Hearts All Gone", the second song released from the forthcoming Blink-182 album, Neighborhoods.

Listen to "Hearts All Gone" here.

I really like "Up All Night." I stand by that. But this is more of what I think most long-time fans were hoping for. Noisy and fast, it sounds at first listen more like something from Dude Ranch or Enema of the State era Blink-182, but yet, it's not. It has a heavier sound to it and more serious lyrics. (It seems like each Blink-182 album got a little more serious. I'm wondering if we've seen the last of jokey songs like "What's My Age Again?" and "A New Hope".)

Mark Hoppus handles lead vocals; if Tom is providing any backing vocals at all, I sure can't hear him. That's ok with me -- I think Mark has a good voice. That said, I think Travis Barker steals the show on this one with the drums.

So far the two new songs we've got from the new album could hardly be more different from one another (and still be recognizably Blink-182 at least). I'm looking forward to getting my ears on the whole thing in September.

(This isn't Blink-182, but it was as close as you could get while they were on "indefinite hiatus.")

Race Report: 2011 Preakness 5K, or "The Adventures of Detailed Wednesday"

Today was the first leg of my first ever double-race weekend, the Preakness 5K. Somehow, Chris and I had never heard of it, which is a shame because it was quite fun.

The race was about an hour and 15 minutes from our house। We left in plenty of time, but feared we wouldn't make it because of some mysterious traffic problem just minutes away from Pimlico Racetrack. However, we arrived in time get our numbers and choose how many layers to wear on this cool, rainy morning. The first of many fun things about this race was that, being a horserace-themed race, every runner got a horse-racing type pattern on his/her bib, along with a randomly generated horse name. I was hoping for "Seabiscuit", but instead got "Detailed Wednesday." Really? Detailed Wednesday? That doesn't make any sense.

The next fun thing about this race was that we ran through actual, authentic horse-racing starting gates to begin the race. Chris and I lined up behind the gates, and it this point I made a decision that will likely turn out to be the key strategic error that defines this weekend. I had planned on running either this or Bob Potts in pursuit of a new PR and/or a sub 23-minute 5K (a goal for the year), and since I thought this would be an almost completely flat course and it was a cool morning, I decided that today was the day. I set my Virtual Training Partner on my Garmin to pace myself for 22:59, and off I went at the sound of the gun.



Very early in the race this pace seemed comfortable, and I thought to myself "I got this. I think I can hold this pace." Famous last words. Less than half a mile in, the course veered off the pavement and onto the racetrack itself, which is a 1 and 3/16 mile dirt track that was the equivalent of running on the beach. I heard a runner next to me say "I guess I'm going to re-evaluate my goal pace." Not I. I was still going to push myself for a PR, but over the next grueling (approximately) mile and a half, which was one lap around the course plus bit extra to reach the exit, I found that I was falling farther and farther behind my virtual pal. I was worried about my left ankle, which has some lingering sprain-type injury, as I ran around the sand, but it held up ok. I know enough about horse racing to know that I didn't want to hurt myself while I was on the track.



As we left the track, I was about a tenth of a mile behind my pace, where I would remain the rest of the race. Though it was very nice to be off the dirt, I had pushed myself too hard to have enough speed left to make up the time I'd lost. I finished with a 25:04, a pretty good time for me, but well short of the admittedly aggressive goal I'd set.

(The course ran through this tunnel, which ran beneath the racetrack, near the end of this course. Not fair!)

After my wife, Materialistic Flack, and I had finished the race, we headed over to the finishers tent for our free beer. Well, actually it was Budweiser, but it was much appreciated after a tough race.


Review
This is a great race that we'd never heard of. Cool race shirts or fleece blankets, fee beer, and good live music. The race itself is an interesting challenge. Like the Fort McHenry Tunnel Run, this is a race that I don't think many people will PR at, but it's a fun opportunity to run at a strange and unique location. I will admit that I was kind of in "tunnel vision" mode, and didn't appreciate the crowd support and the fact that you could see some of the race horses at their stables. There were many little details that made this fun -- the race-inspired bibs, horse names, the announcer calling out people's names as if they were jockeys riding their horses ("Here comes Brian ***** on Detailed Wednesday"), free beer, and a good food selection at the finish make this a race I'd definitely consider for someone in the greater Baltimore area.

(One of the hallmarks of a good race.)

(The infield and grandstand of Pimlico)

(Materialistic Flack and Detailed Wednesday.)

Overall, it was a good personal effort at a fun race. I didn't come home with flowers around my head, but I didn't get sent to the glue factory, either.

Power Outage

The last week of running has really been a struggle. Last Thursday, I had a decently-paced 7 mile run, but a lot of stuff hurt: ankles, quads, knees, calves.

Yesterday, similar levels of discomfort and a slower pace.

Today, run/walked 5 miles with a family member. As we chatted, we walked more than I normally would have, but that's ok. What concerns me is just how dead -- completely exhausted -- my legs felt, making it 3 of my last 4 runs in which I really haven't felt very good. I wasn't in any pain today, but there was just no strength at all in my legs.

Of course, Saturday was a notable exception to this budding trend. A very good (for me) 5K, during which I felt winded from keeping up a faster pace, but otherwise pain-free and feeling great.

I haven't really run a good fast 5K since my IT Band flared up (and since healed) in January, and I'd been having some very good runs prior to the Mud Chasers run two weeks ago, but I don't think I'd over-trained.

Maybe the weather? It's been in the high 60s and very humid the past two mornings, quite the change from the 40s on Saturday. I hate running in the heat, as I've said many times, and I'm wondering if just not being used to it yet has taken its toll.

Or, maybe it's just a coincidence. It's not supposed to be easy, after all.

For now, I'm just going to rest for a few days and hold off till Friday or Saturday, and also start taking vitamins again since I'm probably not getting enough of something or other. (Chris read me a list of symptoms of low iron, and that sounded pretty much like what I'm going through).

I do have a few blog ideas that will probably be more interesting than this post, too.