Race Report: Baltimore Marathon

One thing I’ve realized over the past few months is that when you are simultaneously working full time, going to grad school full time, and training for endurance running, things start falling by the wayside. Case in point: this blog. So much has happened in my life since I last posted, most importantly of which was a 30 MINUTE PR AT THE BALTIMORE MARATHON!

This, my friends, is quite possibly my greatest running achievement to-date. Why haven’t I posted about it yet? Well, right after my race I had a combination of a mid-term, 20-minute climate presentation, research report, launch prep for a website at work, comment letter for a piece of climate legislation (that would set us back decades in terms of clean energy solutions) and seeing my wonderful boyfriend every so often. Now, that’s not why you’re on this blog, but I felt the need to explain my lack of attention lately!

On to the race report!

On October 17th, I laced up my running shoes with one goal in mind: break 4 hours on my marathon. Back in March, I ran my first marathon in probably the worst manner possible. I had been injured, it was pouring rain, it was 30 degrees at the start line, and I hadn’t run more than 11 miles at one time in over 6 weeks. Still, I finished in 4:24 with tears in my eyes and pain in my knees knowing that ‘hey, I just did something that some people dream of doing their whole lives’. Well, this race just wasn’t good enough for me. I was embarrassed by my time, disappointed in my training (due to silly training practices that led to my own demise. Editors note: never ramp up training from 0 miles per month due to international travel in the Himalaya’s to 140 miles per month. Something will go wrong).

Anyways, this time I was smart about training, listened to my body, and was out for some blood in this race. I scheduled my summer race calendar in anticipation of this marathon, and successfully completed 20-miles at an 8:40ish pace, giving me the confidence boost I needed to push through Baltimore.

Baltimore, however, is a beast of its own. Mountainous it is not, BUT there are some serious hills in this race that could cripple a runner who had not adequately trained. I knew going in that there was 3-miles uphill right from the start, and that miles 16-20 were often compared to Heartbreak Hill in Boston. My weekly long runs therefore made sure to incorporate significant hills usually towards the end of my run to get my legs used to the fatigue. Again, this paid off.

I started the race with the 4 hour pace group, concerned with the rookie mistake of going out too fast and ruining the second half. I stayed slightly behind them the first 2 miles as we pushed up the hill towards the zoo. Around mile 3, I started to make a move, catching the pace group and then, once we crested at the zoo and began our 2 miles of rolling hills in the zoo, I passed them. I have always been a strong downhill runner, which makes up for my lackluster uphill climbing. I zipped past runners, feeling energized by the morning sun, our penguin friends that came to great us, and the beautiful vista overlooking the lake.

I knew Chris and my mom were going to be around mile 7 or 8, so I kept this pace up. Having motivation and knowing that I would have support at very specific points along the course kept my spirits high. When you know you will have a cheerleader, that little voice in your head really pushes you to achieve greater results.

Mile 8 came and went. I high-fived my mom, laughed at Chris as he struggled to get the camera ready, and zipped passed my loved ones with a sense of strength and determination. The next 5-miles were flat as we ran around the inner harbor. At mile 11, fear crept in as my ankle started having searing pain shooting up the tendon from my foot to my knee. What was going on, I still do not know. I slowed my pace, connected with a fellow pace group member about the pain, and agreed with him that I should adjust pace, shake it out, and save my ankle for the coming miles.

At mile 13, the pain started to subside. I pushed through cautiously, maintaining a steady pace, and hitting my goal time marks still. I had an old college roommate (hi Katie!) come out for mile 15 or 16, but I had no idea where she would be, so I was running faster, watching the crowds with excitement, and when I finally saw her, it was the perfect point in the race: just as the hills started. She high fived me, and I kicked it up the start of mile 16.

The hills were actually not as bad as I thought they would be! My training paid off, as I thought I would be facing massive uphill climbs with steep incline and knee busting distances. Much to my surprise, these hills were nothing like my training runs, and for the most part, the only factor that came in to play was that there were 4 miles of them. I kicked it up the hill, zipped around the lake, and headed for home.

As I crossed the finish line, I cried, but not in pain this time, in happiness. I crushed my goal and crossed the finish line in 3:54, a full 30-minutes ahead of my previous race and a sub-9 minute pace! Hard word, determination, and a little bit of guts got me to where I am, and I am so excited to see what comes next.

Maybe a Boston Qualifier :)

Preparation for Marathon #2

I’ve made it!

Four and a half months later, I am within 5 days of finishing my second marathon (knock on wood). I’ve put blood, sweat, tears, toenails, and more in to training for this race, and…sans one minor injury this summer…have successfully made it to marathon week in 100% health. Now the nerves set in.

In March, I ran my first marathon here in DC. It was a miserable experience through and through. I started training after having spent a month+ travelling around Nepal (which meant not a single day of running). While I was trekking for much of that trip, the distances were not long. The hills? Steep, yes, but we only covered about 80 miles round trip in 15 days. The altitude was the challenge and didn’t set me up for a proper training base last winter. Then came mid-February. I got tendinitis that persisted all the way to marathon day. I didn’t run for 5 weeks before the race, and at mile 14, I almost gave up.

Fast forward to today. I just ran 13 miles on Saturday a full 15 seconds faster than my ideal race pace. If I maintain the consistency that I have seen through training, I could very well run a sub-9 minute mile the whole 26.2. Compare that to the 10:04 I ran in March, and we’ve got a serious PR headed my way.

BUT.

Every race brings its own challenges. I could be feeling 100% today, but come Saturday morning, my whole world could shift. This week, I am focusing on nutrition, hydration, and a few short 3-4 miles runs. Nothing hard, nothing fast. I’ve built my base, I feel confident in my abilities, and I’m ready to rock Baltimore!

Race Report: National Capitol 20 Miler

On Sunday, I bagged another 20 miles, this time with the DC Road Runners Club along the historic C&O canal. Dragging my body out of bed at 5am, hopping in the car, and hitting the ground running at 7am was so difficult this weekend. The combination of working full time, taking 2 graduate level courses towards my MS in Environmental Science & Policy, as well as training for my marathon and ultra is starting to take a toll on me. Throw in house/landlord issues and its the perfect storm.

But you know what I learned this weekend? Hard work, determination, and a whole lot of mental willpower can get you through even the toughest of times and the toughest of races. While this was by no means a difficult course (lets be honest, elevation gain was barely even registering), I pushed my pace to 35-seconds beyond my goal marathon pace to a cool 8:40 per mile. That means, if I keep that pace at Baltimore, I could theoretically run sub-3:50, and shave 35 minutes off my current PR!

I'm feeling strong, just need to keep my head in the game as I quickly approach race day. T-19 days!

Random Musings: Fears of Failure

I had a moment at the end of a 5-mile race this past weekend where I let my fear of failing (or what in my mind I define as 'failure') overcome what should have been a celebration at the finish line with my amazing boyfriend. I went in to the race underprepared for a 'sprint'....I've been training for distances that are multiples of 5-miles, and didn't get my head in the game enough. I knew I was going to run back with my boyfriend as he competed in his longest race to date. What I wasn't prepared for was the wave of emotion at the finish, when we both surged to cross the line, and I remembered that I am terrible at sprinting and usually don't have much left in the tank to kick out the last 200 meters because I've left most of it out on the distance courses.

This was a huge learning moment for me. Instead of feeling disappointment in what I perceived as a failure (watching my boyfriend -- who by his own account would never say he is a runner --  surge ahead and toe the finish just ahead of me), I need to look at this as a training moment, a reminder that while I KNOW I can easily run 5-miles (probably in my sleep at this point) training really has an influence on your output depending on distances. I'm not training for short course running, not even training for half marathon distance (though I'm fairly certain I could crush my PR right now) but training for the long, slow, deliberate distances of 26.2 and beyond. 

Friends in the ultra community might still classify a marathon as a sprint, but for me, just breaking in to this super long distance category, everything is new to me. The emotions I feel every day on my runs varies, and its a reality check every time I lace up my shoes and hit the pavement (or more frequently, the dirt). 

In a consolation to myself this morning -- I ran 6.5 miles this morning and you wouldn't believe it, but I actually ran faster than my 5-mile race this weekend. Guess its really is all mental :)

Keep your head in the game everyone. Whatever your goals are, don't ever let a single race ruin what good things you have going for you, and the strong base you have been building in your training programs. We're all human. We're all competitive to some degree (either with ourselves or others....some way more than others too!) but we must remember that the running journey is inherently individual. Run. Have fun. Laugh a little.  

xoxo Kate

Race Report: Hard Cider 5k Fun Run

One of my favorite ways to spend time with my family is through a little friendly competition. This past weekend, 11 members of the extended family packed up the cars, strapped on our running shoes, prepped our drinking bellies, and headed to Pennsylvannia. While our goals all differed -- I wanted to win, some simply wanted to make sure they crawled across the finish line -- we all had a common objective -- have fun!

I went in to the race thinking it would be a piece of cake. Any fun run I've done before typically involves a flat, smooth course. I however, was clearly underestimating the vineyards of Western Pennsylvania. 

100 meters in to the race, we have a sharp u-turn down a hill with ground that looked more like the roads I experienced in Haiti than a lush green field in Pennsylvania. Trying to make sure I didn't roll an ankle as we flew down the hill and around the turn, I flung my arms out wide, jumped through the air, and said a little prayer.

I was in the lead for the first 3/4 of a mile, an all downhill portion that twisted and turned along the front slopes of the vineyard. My hate for hills quickly kicked in as we faced a mountain of dirt with a steep grade for roughly 200 meters. This was after a steady uphill for a little less than a 1/4 mile. Topping off  the first mile with all this uphill made me dread the remaining 2 miles.

I'm not a sprinter. I don't claim to be fast. What I am good at is finding a pace and sticking to it. My happy place is a half marathon right now, at around an 8:25 race pace. I think of a 5k as a sprint, an awful experience where I'm pushing myself to reach speeds my training doesn't always allow for. Part of the beauty of the 5k is, I know my body can push really hard for a short (and long) amount of time, and its the mental factor that really comes in to play. 

At the mile-mark, I heard something I've never heard before: "You go girl, you're leading the women!". Wow. I was leading, and only a few paces behind the actual leader, a 30-40 year old male. I knew I wanted to keep pace with him and maybe catch him if the hills stopped. So I pushed forward, through the pain and searing lungs after that dreadful uphill.

The first half of mile two was torture all on its own though. A steady uphill climb in the baking sun, no shade, and on loose straw packed ground. I kept a good distance from the leader, not pushing myself too hard, but also going fast enough that I knew I was making good time for what the race was. A water stop (they have water stops on 5k's these days!?!?) at the halfway point also signaled a turning point in my race. I knew we couldn't have much more uphill to go, so I started creeping up to the leader, pushing the pace, and challenging us both to finish strong. We had about 200 meters of striding together before a downhill and some shade hit, and at the point I took off.

The final mile was weaving through vine rows. Long straight paths that were pretty narrow and didn't allow for much wiggle room. Looping between the vines, I felt strong and in control of my race. I was out ahead of the pack (by a considerable distance) and knew that I just needed to fork over all I had left to kick in to the finish. And that's exactly what I did.

This course was no joke. I compare it to a pretty tough high school XC course (which I will note I have not run in a long time) and my time reflected that. Coming in at around 26 and some change, this clearly was no PR, but it also showed that I have a lot of growth left in this field, and can't wait to challenge myself on the next 5K course I run (hopefully running in the 22's and 23's again though!)

Gearing up for Marathon #2

Back in March, I struggled through my first 26.2 adventure. The experience was miserable on so many levels. Five weeks before race day, I developed severe tendonitis in my left foot that left me limping, unable to run, and spiraling in to a depressive state. I had peaked too early, run too hard in January, and pushed my body to its breaking point. I clocked an impressive 138 miles in January, but only got in 52 in February, and a mere 12 in March leading in to the March 15th race. I had clocked a 20-miler at a 9:20 pace that last week of January, only to find myself woefully out of shape and underprepared on race day, still nursing my injuries.

Top that with a freezing rain, steady winds, and the stress of starting a new job and let’s just say, the 4:24 I clocked that day was far from the ideal.

On October 17th 2015, I embark on Marathon #2 – the Baltimore Marathon and leg 3 of the King Crab Challenge! I am determined to train right, listen to my body, and enjoy the experience. The marathon is an exciting challenge that still makes me nervous thinking about. I am more than comfortable with the half marathon distance at this point in my running career, but there’s something about that 26.2 number that makes me shake a bit.

Here’s a look at the training plan I aim to follow, pulled from the great Hal Higdon’s intermediate training program:

My ultimate goal: shave a cool 25 minutes from my first race, and come in at just under 4 hours. Based on my times from other races in the past few weeks, I feel like this is achievable, especially being 18 weeks out right now. I've been averaging an 8:20 pace for my races of late, and definitely think the 9:00 or so pace is achievable. 

Here's to hoping (and training hard!)

 

Race Report: Baltimore 10-Miler

Welcome to my first Post-Race Rave!

This past weekend, I packed my bag and hopped on the Friday afternoon commuter train north towards Baltimore. It was race weekend, leg two of the three part King Crab Challenge that combines the Frederick Half Marathon (May 3) with the Baltimore 10-miler (June 6) and the Baltimore Running Festival (October 13). Fresh off a 6-minute PR at the Frederick Half (1:50:34), I was feeling motivated, but not quite sure if another PR was on the horizon.

As anyone who has heard me talk about running knows, I HATE hills. My High School XC coach just had a piece of her soul rip out, but lets be real. Hills are the worst! Yes, practicing on them make you a stronger runner. Yes, powering up them gets them over faster and keeps your race on pace. But really.... there are very few things in life I know for a fact I will hate every time, and thats big rolling hills for mile after long, draining mile. And the race organizers at the Baltimore 10-miler seemed to be out on a mission to break me down.

The morning started off great. My mom and I crashed at the race hotel just off of Johns Hopkins University's campus. I woke up at 5:30, showered (a race ritual), braided my hair, and hopped in the  car. We got to the Baltimore Zoo around 6:30, hung around the car for about 15 minutes, before heading towards the start line. And thats where my frustrations began. After a mile and a half of walking (I guess we can't say I didn't warm up) we finally made it to the start line. As most runners do, I went to find a port-o-potty before the race -- just in case :). Well, at 2 minutes til start, I still hadn't used the john, was a 1 minute jog from the start line, and an impossible number of people away from meeting up with my pace group. 

I started the race back with the 1:35 pace group. While this is a great pace for anyone to aim for, I was out for a personal best. In March, I ran a 1:24:15 at the Frederick Rescue Mission 10-miler, and knew I had put in a lot of really great miles between then and now. I wanted a PR, and I wanted it bad. 

The first mile, I pushed myself extremely hard. I wanted to catch -- and pass -- the 1:25 pace group, which was the group I was aiming to start the race with. About 3/4 of a mile in, I caught them. And passed them, and didn't see them again for the rest of the race. 

At mile 2, my mental facilities started to weaken. I was tired, exhausted from a long work week and a stressful week of Masters work as well. I actually thought of stopping, walking, and maybe not finishing the race. I wasn't in the zone, but knew that if I just picked a couple of runners and stuck with them for a few minutes, I could hold on, and bring myself back. 

By mile 3, I was feeling good, boosted by an unexpectedly fast pace of 7:58. While this wouldn't last (though I hope one day I can get there), it gave me the energy to push through the next mile and a half of flat -- some may say boring -- terrain around the city lake. A woman in roller blades dancing to what I have to assume was really great music glided along us runners as we circled the lake. She provided a great reprieve from the growing internal fight I was having with myself about my pace and my ability to finish strong.

When I was new to the game of distance running (read, longer than a High School XC course), I never, and I mean never, would take nutrition or liquid during competition. After I realized this was actually crazy, I began spacing out my liquid intake to roughly every 2-3 miles, depending on distance, heat, and current physical condition. I didn't realize how dehydrated I was during the Baltimore race, but I found myself craving liquid between every station. As soon as I got that cup in my hand, a weight lifted off my shoulder, and I was boosted for the next few minutes.

At mile 8, the true challenge presented itself. A beast of a hill, one that wound itself, snaking up to the Zoo and the finish line, teasing us with a view of the festival celebrations, but torturing us with its merciless accent. My legs were screaming. I could feel the lactic acid building up, a sign I had pushed myself hard, but a warning sign that my end was quickly approaching, whether I made it to the finish or not. Behind me, the familiar English accent of my favorite pace group leader boomed. That was my sign. I couldn't let the 1:25 group pass me. I knew if I kept them behind me, I would surely PR, since I started behind them.

Three quarters of a mile to go. We flatten out. The road winds around a sharp turn and we head down hill. I pick up my pace, open my stride, expand my lungs, and push to the finish -- with  a huge smile across my face. 

1:23:35

A new PR. A new success story in the face of running adversary. I new accomplishment that continues my extremely successful racing year so far. 

To New Beginings...

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for taking the time to check out my new blog. To be honest, I have dreamed of creating a platform to share my running stories for a long time, but just never had the time, motivation, or creative reach to get started. Amusingly, it was my masters math course that piqued my interest. Every week, we are required to post two blog entries, one on the current chapter on our book and the other on a mathematical question and answer to a Ted Talk.

It was when I wrote a blog about estimating the total number of miles we could reasonably guess all runners participating in the Runners World Run Streak would cover during the Memorial Day to 4th of July window (I calculated ~6,900,000 miles for frame of reference) that I thought, “hey, this is fun, and could be a great challenge moving forward”.

And here I am. Trying to figure out how to articulate my thoughts on the broad topic of running and endurance athletics in general. I have so many ideas, so many grand plans, but need a direction, a purpose, a goal. Running for me has always been a mental, almost spiritual endeavor. I am never more at ease with myself and more connected to my emotions than when I am out on the trails. How do I capture these emotions in a compelling narrative, and how do I make it relatable to my fellow runner and non-runner alike?

To help guide you (and myself) along in this journey, I have laid out a couple of goals for my blog:

THROUGH WRITING THIS BLOG, I will aim to....:

1.       Highlight the emotions I experience while running and then expand upon those in a constructive way. These emotions range every week, sometimes every day, be it during a jog after work where I’m too exhausted and mentally drained to run more than 1 mile, or those Super Saturday’s where motivation hits me like a ton of bricks, and I run 15 miles like it isn’t even a thing.

2.       Express my fears and reservations with running in a constructive manner. To reflect upon the lows to help elevate the highs. To pinpoint where my internal frustrations in my running abilities come from, and help harness the positive energy to block out the negative vibes before they even hit.

3.       Expand upon my goals in endurance racing, especially as we grow closer to the day when I actually sign up and run an ultra-marathon.

4.       Focus on the beautiful running community that exists wherever you go. Runners have a special bond with one another, and distance runners even more. We all understand the sacrifices we make in order to achieve our lofty distance and time goals, and that’s what makes the running community so strong. A runners high is real, it is tangible, and it is evident in every single one of us who are willing to seek it out.

And I will attempt all of this, while drawing from the wide breadth of knowledge already existing in the running community.

I’m excited to begin this journey, and so happy you have decided to join. Through a weaving narrative accentuated with photographs, I will expand upon running through the mental and emotional experience. I hope you enjoy!

Xoxo – Kate