On Saturday I completed the Flower City Paddle Triathlon for the third year in a row. This was my quickest finish in 2:37:17 which was good enough to finish 53rd. The 5k run started off very fast in 22:01, over a minute quicker than I was last year, and within a minute of my quickest standalone 5k in the past decade. I felt good on the bike, but was a bit disappointed by my time. While my time of 1:24:26 was two and a half minutes quicker than last year, I had really been hoping to break 1:20 so I still have some additional practice required before my next triathlon. I was incredibly under prepared for the kayak (not using it since last August), but my time was still a few minutes quicker than last year so I really can not complain.
This weekend is the Flower City Challenge with a paddle triathlon on Saturday, and a half marathon on Sunday. Unfortunately the new pair of shoes shown here are not quite broken in enough to be used this weekend.
Last year I started off the triathlon with a 5k run in 23:03, which was quick enough that I am going to have a hard time beating that. However, on the bike I should be able to make up some time. Last year’s bike ride was such a disaster that I realized I needed to buy a bike that actually works. I would love for my bike time to be under 1:20, but I have gotten very little practice in so far this year. As for the kayaking, I have not gotten any practice in since August, so whatever happens there is what happens there.
I have not actually raced a half marathon since last year’s Flower City Half so any improvement on last year’s time would be a PR. Given how well I felt a few weeks ago in the 15k, I plan on going out with the 1:45 pace group. Even if I fall off the pace a bit, that should still set me up to do better than last year.
On Wednesday I ran the first Dirt Cheap Trail Race of the year at Mendon Ponds. I didn’t feel that great about my run, but ended up finishing in 124th place, which is one spot better than I finished this same race last year. Furthermore, my time of 49:18 was also two minutes quicker (although the course is slightly different every year).
I felt that my pace was a bit inconsistent, but I felt strong at the end despite the course having no flat sections. If I can maintain that average pace for longer runs, then I should be in good shape for this coming season.
I finished the race in 92nd place which places me in the top 20% of finishers. My next race at Mendon Ponds will be back on the trails.
My first road race of 2016, was Johnny’s Runnin’ O’ the Green which has a remarkably high 6:10 ratio of apostrophes to words. I finished the 5 mile course in 38:34, which is just 13 seconds off of my PR at this distance that was set at the Turkey Trot in November. It has been three years since I last ran this particular course, and I greatly improved on my time from then.
With the weather finally getting nice, it is time to look ahead to the upcoming running season. These are the races that I am planning on running from this weekend through July…
In what is hopefully my final cold weather race of the year, I finished the two laps of Wednesday’s Snow Cheap race in 42 minutes. The course at Cobb’s Hill was a mess of snow, ice, and rain that made running difficult for many parts of it. Yet, I only took one real fall.
I finished in 62nd place, which puts me in the top third of finishers. My next few races should be back on the road, where I will not have to spend as much effort watching my steps.
On Wednesday I ran the Snow Cheap race at Cobb’s Hill Park. Unlike the last race in this series, this time there actually was snow. Not so much snow that the race was all that different from a typical trails run, but enough to make me slow down on the downhills, and enough to make the course pretty.
A different course than last time, I finished the race in 31:00 which placed me in the top 35% of finishers.
On Wednesday I ran the first race of this year’s Snow Cheap series at Cobb’s Hill Park. Emphasis on the word hill. Just for fun the course even finished with a twenty foot (no seriously 20 feet) hill of leaves to run over.
The course was roughly three miles, which leaves me happy with my time of 25:18. This was significantly faster than I finished the first leg of the Dirt Cheap Stage Race under similar conditions in November.
I placed 87th in the race, which places me in the top quartile of all runners. Maybe next time, there will even be snow.
With the Turkey Trot now complete, I am more or less done with my running for the year. I am extremely happy with how the year turned out. I set a new PR for the five miles, 10k, half-marathon, and full marathon distances. Further it was my first year completing a 50k, and a half ironman. Additionally I also completed ten trail races and a Ragnar Relay.
On Thanksgiving morning, I ran the oldest race in the country at the Buffalo Turkey Trot. I finished the five mile course in 38:21 which is 19 seconds quicker than last year. This put me in 883rd place, meaning that I achieved my goal of finishing in the top thousand. Additionally I placed in the top 7% of finishers, which mostly just indicates how many non-runners are in this race.
This was my sixth Turkey Trot. I have improved my time every year since I first finished with a time of 58:20 in 2010. Overall that is a twenty minute improvement between my first Turkey Trot, and this year.
This past weekend I ran three times to complete the Dirt Cheap Stage race. This was the fourth, fifth, and sixth times that I ran the trails at Mendon Ponds this year.
The first stage was a three mile run on Friday night. While I have run night races before, I was not prepared for just how dark it was in those woods. Difficulty in seeing the trail, turned out to slow me down even more than the hills did. I finished with a time of 33:35 which placed me 84th and in the top 33 percentile.
The second race on Saturday morning was ~5.5 miles and followed a course similar to the Dirt Cheap race in April. This was the muddiest of the three legs, and also the one where I had the quickest pace. I finished in 91st place with a time of 49:18.
On Sunday morning, the weather was actually nice for the final run of the race. This leg was 11 miles through the woods. I decided to carry water with me after that had worked out for the Can Lake 50k. This leg took me just over two hours to complete, and landed me as 98th across the line.
Overall I had a total time of 3:23:38 which placed me in 87th place overall and in the top 39th percentile. Next week, my final race of the season will be the Turkey Trot in downtown Buffalo.
After racing in the Finger Lakes and the Adirondacks, the bricks of RIT were a bit less scenic in what may be my only 5k in 2015.
Having done no speed work since the spring, I came into the race a bit under-prepared, as I needed the past week to recover from my previous race. Still, my time of 21:11 was quicker than either of my 5k runs last year.
On Saturday I ran my first 50k as part of the Can Lake 50, and finished with a time of 6 hours and 8 minutes. This was incredibly close to what I considered to be a best case scenario, and (somewhat inexplicably) an average faster pace than I had in the Rochester marathon. Overall, I placed 20th out of the relatively small field in the race.
My plan to carry water in the race worked out well. I picked up the backpack at 12.5 miles, and my two liters lasted me until mile 28 without stopping to refill. It didn’t really cause too much discomfort, although I found that I needed to pull it tighter as the water depleted. Also, while I don’t normally take food mid-race, for some reason I found myself going for the Fig Newtons. I am incredibly happy with my time in what has been my last major race of 2015. As I approach the end of the race calendar, it might be time to start planning some races for 2016.
I have two races planned for October, a 50k and a 5k. This is both my longest, and my shortest race of the year.
First the 50k race is around Lake Canandaigua and will be my first ultramarathon. My goal time for the race is six hours, but it is possible that it may take me as long as seven and a half hours. After the disaster of the Rochester Marathon it is clear that I will slow down at some point, so my plan is to take the advice of the crowds and walk up the hills, even if they find me early on in the race. Additionally there are a limited number of water stops on the course so I will be carrying water with me in this race for the first time ever. So far I have only 4 miles of practice running with a water-pack so hopefully that does not cause any problems.
My second race of the month is the Brick City 5k at RIT. Oddly this will be my first (and possibly only) 5k of the year. I would really like to break 20 minutes, but that may prove difficult with all of my training for the last year focused on longer races.
This past weekend I joined a relay team to run in the Ragnar Adirondacks relay race. The course went ~200 miles from Saratoga Springs to Lake Placid, and took our team ~34 hours to complete. This was a bit different for me as it is the first relay team that I have been a part of since running the 4×800 in high school. Each of the 12 runners is responsible for three of the legs of the race, which for my sections came to a total of 17.8 miles.
Going into my first run I was actually rather nervous. Just five days after a disappointing marathon run I was concerned about my knee locking up, and also feeling a bit pressured to live up to the blazing pace I had accidentally given the pace calculator. Fortunately the post dawn run went fantastically good. At 6.3 miles it was (slightly) my longest leg of the race. While I don’t have my actual split time (for any of the legs) I somehow managed to feel better at the end of the run than I did at the beginning.
My second leg started just before sunset. For the first half I could still see pretty well and was able to pass other runners about once a mile. For the second half of the run the sun was gone, and in the darkness I was passed by a bunch of really fast runners that came out of nowhere. Initially I felt lucky that able to avoid having any runs that were completely in the middle of the night, but after hearing most of my team say that the night legs were their favorite runs maybe I missed out.
My final run started just as the sun was rising which made for some very pretty views. I passed a girl (from Team Carrot) on the first downhill, but instead of losing her, she stayed on my tail for the next half-mile before pulling even with me for the rest of the leg. I was a bit quicker on the flats, while she was more aggressive on the hills, so we did a good job pushing each other through the run. Despite being a bit sleep deprived by this point, as a result of this pacing my third leg was probably my fastest of the whole race.
Following the previous week’s disappointments it was really good to have a weekend of racing where it actually felt like this whole running thing is something I am actually good at. But while the running did go well, the best part of the trip was meeting such a great group of people to spend the weekend with.
On Sunday I ran the Rochester Marathon, and finished with a disappointingly slow time. I was off my planned pace by mile 11, and occasionally walking by mile 16, so I knew fairly early on that it was not going to be a good finish.
My final time of 5:19 is actually not the slowest I have ever done, but this was my first marathon where I didn’t PR, so I was disappointed to have lost so much time since my race in Buffalo.
I ran the first half of the race in 2:04, which while slightly slower than I hoped for is a respectable time. The second half of the race was a disastrous 3:15 which was inexplicably even slower than my run in the half-ironman. While I would love to blame this course’s many hills (and they were partly at fault), the real problem was that I didn’t get in the long training runs that I needed to prepare for the race. I now have three weeks to get ready for my 50k, so hopefully I can get prepared by then.
On Wednesday I ran my third race of the year at MendonPonds Park. While I have now done a number of runs in this park it was my first time on this particular course, and I finished the unknown distance in 48:44. This was good enough to put me in 74th place and the top 29th percentile.
Given that this was the final race in the Dirt Cheap racing series, there is also a set of overall standings for the series. I don’t quite understand the formula that they are using for these standings, but I have finished 75th overall.
My next race is the Rochester Marathon where (despite not having a flat course) I will be trying to improve upon my time from the Buffalo Marathon in the spring.
It has been over a month, but I have finally done a race that didn’t involve any biking or swimming. On Wednesday night I ran the penultimate leg of the Dirt Cheap Trail series at Durand Eastman Park near the shore of Lake Ontario. I finished with a time of 50:09. Unfortunately some of the later waves ended up taking some major shortcuts so I am unable to compare my time to the field.
Surprisingly I was more or less recovered from the Tri, but it was an extremely hot day which slowed down my run a bit. Were I to do the course again on a cooler day (and not taking two wrong turns), I think I could easily improve my time.
On Sunday I finished my first half distance triathlon at the Peasantman race on Keuka Lake. At a combined 72.3 miles, the race was two biking miles longer than your standard half-ironman race. Overall, I finished in 8 hours and 36 minutes.
The swim actually went very well. The distance of 1.2 miles is by far the longest I have ever swam, yet I was able to maintain the same pace that I did for the shorter swim in last month’s triathlon. While my time of 63 minutes was no where near the fastest, I felt pretty good after finishing.
The 58 mile bike course is the farthest that I have ever rode on a bike, and consisted of two 29 mile loops. The first loop went very well, and although I don’t have an official split I think the first loop was a bit under two hours. Additionally the course ended with a rather significant downhill, so I got the unique experience of passing some motorcycles. The second loop started well enough, but around mile 34 I began to hit the wall. I struggled through until a water stop at mile 39 where I stopped a bit to get recharged. I was able to bike pretty consistently for the rest of the course, but I no longer had the same speed. Still I was at least quick enough to pass a few Amish buggies along the way. I finished the full 58 miles in 4 hours and 24 minutes.
Finally there was the run which is the one part of the triathlon that I am supposed to be good at. Unfortunately the course had very little shade, and after the first mile I was already worn out. Being beat up from the bike, and unable to get away from the sun I ended up walking a significant portion of the half-marathon. While my time of 3:05 was about an hour slower than I had been hoping for, given the conditions the run could have ended much worse.
Overall, I am now done with triathlons for the year, and won’t need to worry about biking or swimming until 2016. My next big race is the Rochester Marathon on September 20th, but first I have another trail race on Wednesday night.
At Hamlin Beach Park, I completed my first triathlon of the year in 2 hours and 20 minutes. While I placed a bit better than I did last year, I still have a lot of room to improve when it comes to triathlons.
Once again I was one of the slower swimmers in the race, but I did improve my time by a little over a minute. I would have like to have done better on the bike. This year’s bike course was longer and hillier than last year’s, but with my new bike I still had hoped to improve more than I did. My run was actually a few seconds slower than last year, but this remains the one stage of the triathlon that I am confident in.
Starting with the Shoreline Triathlon on July 19th my next two big races are both triathlons. I completed the Shoreline Triathlon last year so my goal is to beat my previous time.
To improve my time for the swim, I have joined a group to help me improve my form. Unfortunately I will only get to go once before the Shoreline race so it won’t be much help this coming weekend.
My time on the bike should improve as I have just bought a new bike. My new ride is not only lighter with skinnier tires, but also has gears that all work reliably. Currently I am having an issue with keeping air in the rear tire, but I hope to have that sorted out by race time.
The run is the one section of the triathlon that I have actually been good at. All of my running times have been down so far this year, so hopefully that trend continues.
In August I will be competing in a longer triathlon as I race the half distance at the Peasantman Triathlon.
On Wednesday night I ran the fourth leg of the Dirt Cheap Trail series at Webster Park. While it is possible that the course was slightly shorter, I blew away my goal of 60 minutes by finishing in 50 minutes and 17 seconds. This was good enough for me to finish 84th overall, which places me in the top 24 percentile.
They say that there is no such thing as a bad PR, but I really feel that I could have done better. I tripped twice during the race, and had another incident where the plank of a bridge literally snapped in half as I ran over it. Additionally (assuming that the course would be drier than it was) I chose the wrong shoes for this race opting for my Vibrams over my spikes which slowed me down in some of the muddier sections.
On 4th of July I ran the Depew/Lancaster Boys & Girls Club 10k and finished in 47:30. This is 5 minutes quicker than I ran the same race last year, and a much larger improvement than I was expecting.
Despite the heat, I got off to a good start and was able to keep a steady pace. Overall I ran at a 7:39 pace and had pretty even splits. Typically the heat gets to me in this race when running the fourth mile down Columbia, but the whole race was so warm that no stretch felt any worse than any other.
My next race is back to the trails on Wednesday, where I will be running a course in Webster Park. In the past I have ran this course in 65:47, 61:18, 62:06, and 60:24 so I would love to be able to finally break the hour mark on this course.
I started this year with the goal of finishing last in a race, and so far that hasn’t happened. I have been pushing myself, but my times are all going down. I ran a half-marathon the day after paddle triathlon, and instead of doing poorly finished with a PR. I ran an early season full marathon, and got another PR. I ran a 12+ mile trail race and again finished fairly well.
Next up is the 4th of July 10k, a race I have run 5 times before. First running in 2004, and then the past 4 years I have finished in 63:24, 65:12, 60:14, 55:54, and, 52:31. My goal for this year is to be under 52 minutes, but if the weather is cool (which it probably won’t be) I think attempting to get under 50 minutes is plausible as well.
