Race Report: Hospital Hill Half Marathon!

This blog post is part of a series of posts associated with the Hospital Hill Run Blog Team.  For more information, see my original post.  To see all blog posts, review those that are tagged as "Hospital Hill Blog Team".  The race is sold but feel free to check out their website!

My training for Hospital Hill Half Marathon was to fit within my ironman training program.  I focused solely on heart rate based training with very little speed work leading up to the race.  Since I was limited by time for my workouts, my longest run leading up to Hospital Hill was only 7.8 miles, and that was about 6 weeks ago.  I knew I had the cardio going for me because of all my cross training but not having a double digit run in over 2 months was a little concerning.

With race week upon us, I still hadn't decided my race goal.  On Friday I decided to go with 1:45 pace group.  It would be a nice long Z2 training run for me to fit in my training plan.  

Race Week

My reluctance to decide on a race plan until the last minute also meant I didn't hit my normal race week go of starting my carb loading a few days in advance.  Oops.  I still carb loaded pretty well with my traditional pre-race lunch of Mac & Cheese with Chicken at The Mixx downtown.  Joe VI, TKB, and I ate at a local Italian joint Friday night.  

The biggest issue this week was that I simply was losing some mental edge.  Going back to the Sunday before Memorial Day, I took off for an hour run but only went a third of a mile because I couldn't shake some knee pain.  I also had woken up with a cold that day that progressed into Monday.  I ended up in bed all day on Monday.

To add to my week of workout woes, I only worked out twice prior to the race.  One of that was the Kansas City Corporate Challenge Bike Race and a short 30 minute run on Thursday night to make sure my knee wasn't bugging me.  It didn't, so I was a go!

So the knee was good and I had my pace strategy of the 1:45 pace group!  Let's do this.

Thursday

I had the opportunity to attend the Hospital Hill Run Banquet on Thursday.  So after I took care of picking up my packet, TKB and I went to Milano for the banquet.  I had the chance to finally meet Beth Salinger (Hospital Hill Race Director) and had a good time talking with Scott Kinner, the Treasurer of Hospital Hill Run.  He had completed a few Ironman races, so I talked about ironman training.  I was happy to find out he used the exact same plan that I am using for his first ironman as well.  

They had nice flatbread style pizza, as well as bruschetta and other nice desserts to eat.  We stayed for about an hour and a half and then took off for home.  I did that 4 mile run I mentioned above and then off to bed.  By now my stupid cold was mostly out of the way so I was finally able to get a decent nights sleep.

Race Day!

Friday night I had the best sleep since I woke up with a cold on Sunday with a cold.  In fact, I woke on my own and reach for my phone to check the time. As I grabbed the phone, the alarm went off to get up. Perfect!  I was well rested and ready to go.    TKB and I were on the road by 5:55am and did a stop at the grocery store for a little Starbucks.

We parked near Jack Stack BBQ.  It's actually a short walk from their parking lot through Union Station (via a bridge over the railroad tracks) and over to the start line.  By the time we made it through Union Station, I decided to get my warm-up run in.  While doing my final prep, Brian and Kyle from Twitter caught up with me and also my coworker Allison.  After a couple "Hi!", I took off on my run. 

Pre-Race

I ran for about a mile and ended up by the port-a-potties for that pre-race ritual.  I did catchup with a friend Jennifer who was doing her FIRST half marathon.  Her brother Ryan was running the half with her.

After saying Good Luck, I left for my corral, corral "A".  I remember it being small from last year but not overly crowded.  Either way, once I got in I went as far back as possible.

That's when I realized my first problem.  The 1:45 pace group was in Corral "B".  Hmmm

Corral "A" only had the 1:30 and 1:35 pacers, which makes sense.  I think you had to indicate a 1:39 or faster pace to be in the "A" corral.  I think I had target 1:35 when I registered in October.  I did that for one reason.  While running the Chicago Marathon I crossed the half marathon mark in 1:35:24.  So given 8 months of additional training, I'm sure I could do 1:35 at Hospital Hill (Note: you match the total elevation gain of Chicago in the first 3 miles of Hospital Hill).  

So I've got a predicament.  I could just wait in corral "B" or pace myself.  I could run with "A" and then stay with the 1:45 group when they caught up to me but that would be a bad idea because they start 2 minutes and 30 seconds after me.  So I actually set the Virtual Pacer on my watch to 7:45 minute miles (which is actually about a 1:42 hour half marathon) and would follow that.  Plan was adjusted.  Read, Set, Go!

Start!

At promptly 7:00am, we were off.  As quickly and thought out as my race plan had been established, I  threw it out the window just as quickly.  At about a quarter of a mile I was hanging with the 1:35 pace group.  They were starting at a speed that was extremely comfortable and were keeping me in check.  At about half a mile I checked my watch and we were cruising a little under 8 minute pace.  I could handle that to keep me from going out too fast.

I decided to just see what happened when if I stuck with them. I figured if I could keep with them during the first three miles, I might be able to go 6 miles... and the 9 miles.

Mile 1 - 3: 7:50, 7:35, 7:18

Mile 2 to 3 contained the infamous Hospital Hill we just cruised by it.  Much of that 7:18 mile 3 was because of the downhills we took advantage of.

During mile 2 I took off my hat and tied it to my water belt.  I didn't need it with sunglasses and was concerned about getting too hot wearing it.  The new big concern?  I didn't put sunblock in my hair to keep from getting a sunburn on top of my head.  This could be interesting later.

I made it through the first major hill and was doing just great.  As we hit mile 4, one of the pacers called out that we would be 6:50 pace and that would be the fastest the entire day.  I could handle this at mile 4.  There was a nice hill up to the Nelson Atkins Art Museum but it's short and there is an awesome downhill to follow.  I actually got in front of the pace group at this point but let them catch up as we leveled out at the bottom of the hill

The next major suck of a hill starts right at mile marker 5.  It's the University of Missouri Kansas City campus hill. It inclines 140 feet in 2/3 of a mile.  You get a little rest before it another slight hill.

Mile 4 - 6: 6:43, 6:55, 7:24

I hit mile 6 and was still hanging with the pace group!  I realized at this point that I never really looked at my watch for pace as I was worried I'd freak out and slow down.  Just keep pushing.  

We started the turn back to the finish. The hills were just rolling at this point.  Nothing much but if the first half wore down your legs, these would hurt.  By now I started thinking about mile 9.  If I could get to mile 9, a PR was in my grasp.  I figured I could stay with the pace group now because the next 3 miles were basically the Trolley Run, which is mostly downhill!

Mile 7 - 9: 7:03, 7:17, 7:10

By mile 9 I started trailing the pace group.  Not by much but maybe 30 feet. My legs did start yelling at me but I was feeling good from a cardio standpoint.  I didn't try to push myself to catch up with them but just keep them in my sights because I was now coming up on mile 10.

Mile 10 is the worst hill of them all.  It's essentially 2+ miles of incline.  It sucks.  It hurts when you've been running and fighting hills for.. well, 10 miles.  It's 140 feet of include for 1.3 miles.  It wears you down.  It tells you that you want to walk.  Once you hit 1.3 miles, it shows you a little flat section before increasing another 50 feet until you hit the start of mile 12.

Pace group 1:35 was out of my sights during mile 11.  I was fine with that because unless I had started walking, I would PR for sure.  So I noted to myself: don't walk.  That's what I had done on each of my previous Hospital Hill Run half marathon.   

Mile 12 isn't exactly a breeze either.  There is a crappy hill here as well.  60 feet of elevation gain in .2 of a mile but then that's it.  It's all down hill from 12.4 miles to the finish line.  I'm not kidding... 170 feet of elevation decline!

Mile 10 - 13: 7:06, 8:04, 8:04, 7:15

I cruised into the finish line for the last .1 of the race in 6:35 pace. This is also where Ryan caught me last year and gave me a little "urge" to keep moving. Not this year.  No way, no how! I saw 1:37 on the clock and was thrilled!

On my way to the finish.

Someone is stealing my orange style.  I'm the one with the orange calf sleeves.

After I finished I walked around the finish chute quite a bit and found the 1:35 pacers.  I shook their hands and thanked them for pulling me through 3/4 of the race!

Overall

Chip Time: 1:37:08

Overall: 260 / 1976

Age Group: 37 / 320 (The active.com race results is kind of crappy as it doesn't show your age group place, so this is counting by hand.  This doesn't make sense as age group results is what you really care about unless you are a top finisher.)

This is a PR by 3 minutes and 2 seconds!!!!  This is a Hospital Hill Half Marathon PR by 9 minutes and 11 seconds!!!!!!!  To get a PR at Hospital Hill is pretty impressive considering it's probably the hilliest half marathon I'll ever do.

I'm extremely happy considering my training and race planning.  It makes me realize that I do mentally handicap myself because I rely so much on my training to predict my race results.  It's definitely refocusing my plan for Disneyland Half Marathon.  I will also make sure I get friendly with the pacers because that makes a huge difference when trying to work through the pain.  Plus math is hard after running for an hour.

Mega-Medal!  Three years in the making.

Proof

Shane finishing strong!

Joe VI heading to the finish line!

Sure, they have BBQ at the race but it doesn't beat Oklahoma Joe's.  Post-race Tradition!!

Instead of a shirt and sandals (which you can see last year's sandal in this photo), they gave away sweet track jackets! 

Patriotic.  Not sure why I'm posing so weird.

Walking to our cars.

Figuring out our post-race meal plans.

Love this photo!

Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

Final Prep and Tips for Hospital Hill Run!

This blog post is part of a series of posts associated with the Hospital Hill Run Blog Team.  For more information, see my original post.  To see all blog posts, review those that are tagged as "Hospital Hill Blog Team".  The race is sold but feel free to check out their website!

We are less than a week away and I've posted some of my tips and tricks for having a good race.  Hope you find them helpful!

Dress Rehearsal
By now we should have a pretty good idea of what the race day weather is going to be like.  You should start taking a look at your wardrobe of running clothes to decide what you plan to wear.  If you are buying a new outfit to congratulate yourself on making it through the spring cold months of training, make that purchase now.  On your next run (which should be relatively short because of your taper), wear your outfit.  Remember rule #1: Nothing New On Race Day!!

I'll probably be wearing something like this....

The current outlook on the weather makes it appear rainy.  So the one exception to the nothing new on race day rule is what to do if it rains?  I doubt very many people sought out a rainy day to run in, so how does one prepare for a rainy race?  Rain affects people differently.  First guys versus girls.  Guys... if you haven't had this issue, it's much more likely on rainy day.  Water makes clothes heavier, specifically shirts.  They can be a bit more abrasive.  As sexy as finish line photos are, bloody nipples do not enhance the image.  Make sure you've applied some sort of anti-chafe balm thoroughly.

If you are a glasses wearer, bring a hat.  If you are concerned about getting cold and wet while waiting for the race to start, use a trash bag with head/arm holes cutout which you can throw out at some point during the race.  For post-race, you will appreciate having a change of clothes, including fresh socks and shoes.

Race Day Nutrition
If you haven't figured out your nutrition plan, start doing that now!!  During the half marathon you will definitely need to consider what food you will take with you on the run such as gels or chomps.  You probably should have been practicing this already with your long runs, but don't despair.  You still have time!  This also includes hydration like water and electrolyte drinks like Gatorade.

Hospital Hill will have Water and Gatorade about every 1.5 miles on course.  If you prefer some other type of electrolyte drink and haven't trained with Gatorade, I'd recommend using some sort of water belt to run with (but make sure you observe the previous tip... train like you race!)  My personal motto is to not rely on the aid stations.  I generally always carry my own water, gatorade, and gels with me, especially for hot races when I may need a drink in between aid stations.

I also plan to take a gel (Gu brand, vanilla bean or banana strawberry.. yeah, I'm kind of a girl) every 5 miles.  I also take a gel or a Gatorade Prime while in the start line.  I have also started drinking a latte on the drive into the race site, but that may be a guilty pleasure.  It does have 150mg of caffeine!  It also helps with the pre-race trip(s) to the port-a-potty!

CARB Loading!
If you remember from my posts about aerobic versus anaerobic exercise, I mentioned that glycogen is a critical ingredient in the energy conversion recipe; however, it is in limited supply.  You could run a 5k with the normal glycogen stores but when talking about possibly 10k and definitely half marathons or more, those glycogen reserves will deplete, causing you to bonk.

To keep your body primed with quickly accessible glycogen, it is generally a good idea to increase the source of glycogen prior to the race.  This is generally done by eating carbohydrates, such as pasta or rice.

I don't just load up the night before because your body really doesn't have a chance to fully digest and convert those carbs into useable glycogen.  In fact, I typically start this process 3 or 4 days prior to the race.  I cook about 1 pound of whole wheat rotini and store it in the fridge.  Then with each meal (lunch and dinner) I will have some of the cooked pasta with olive oil.  I also like to add in some smoked rotisserie chicken that I have purchased whole and then shredded by hand.  It adds a nice flavor and healthy proteins (if you make sure to use the lean meat and no skin).

nom nom nom

By doing this in the days prior to the race, your give you body ample time to load up and keep your glycogen stores topped off.

Another key ingredient is to make sure you continue to hydrate with water but be sure to stay away from the scale.  Carbs like to hold onto water, so your body weight will be higher than normal.  Don't freak out.  I do take the same approach with water, I make sure I start drinking an excess amount of water the full week prior to race day.  It helps clean out the system AND gets your body primed up with water for the big day.

<RANT>The increased consumption of carbohydrates prior to a race is often shortened because, let's face it, carbohydrates is a mouthful.  Some people refer to it as Carb Loading or Carbo Loading.  It makes me cringe when I hear people say Carbo Loading.  If you are going to shorten a word, shorten it!  CARB LOADING!!  People on the Atkins diet didn't avoid carbos, they avoided carbs! </RANT>  Sorry about that... had to get it off my chest.  Say what you want, but don't be surprised if you get a carb-induced stink eye from me.

It's A Hill, Get Over It!
Make no mistake, this race has hills.  This will be my fourth running of Hospital Hill Run Half Marathon.  In my previous three races, my Garmin showed an average of about 1,000 feet of elevation gain.  Something to keep in mind is that this race starts and ends at almost the same spot.  So the old adage of "What goes up, must come down" comes to mind.  So the first thing to keep in mind is that you will be reversing that ascent.

So don't let the hills scare you.  Take them easy so you will have energy to make up that time on the down hill.  Your legs will thank you.  What I try to do is narrow my focus on the hills.  I look about 20 - 30 feet ahead of me and shorten my step.  I try pumping my arms a little more and lift my legs up a little higher, like taking stairs. On major hills, I try counting to 20 before taking a moment to evaluate where I am on the hill.

Most Important Tip: HAVE FUN!
I know this is a little corney but the one thing I've discovered this past year is to take it all in and have fun.  Joke around with the other runners... see some kids watching the race, give them some high fives! It will do nothing but make your experience so much better!  JoeVI and I really played the part when we ran the Disney Marathon back in January.

Good luck!  See you at the finish line!

Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

Running In Harmony: Half Marathon Training & Ironman Training

This blog post is part of a series of posts associated with the Hospital Hill Run Blog Team.  For more information, see my original post.  To see all blog posts, review those that are tagged as "Hospital Hill Blog Team".  To register for the Hospital Hill Run, check out their website!

If you've been following along for a few weeks, you know that I've been ramping up my swim and bike training as part of my triathlon season, specifically my ironman training.  So how am I training for Hospital Hill at the same time?  Well, let's find out.

A few years ago I did my first half ironman race.  I followed my half ironman plan almost to a "T" from June to the end of August.  The only days I skipped were for races that I had scheduled.  My training plan was similar to my ironman plan in the fact that it is heart rate based.  As you know I'm a huge fan of heart rate based training.  As I continued my training of swim and bike, I saw some improvements in my running.  That August I ran in the Head For The Cure 5k and amazed myself with a 20:02 5k time. I was stunned with the time but a little mad at myself for not click off those extra 3 seconds to go sub-20.

With that I had understood why heart rate based training and cross training is so great.  You get to see benefits in one sport without having to devote 100% of your time on that sport.

Basically what this comes down to is I'm concentrating my training on my ironman training plan but I will likely forgo the heart rate based training for some hill workouts but trying to stick to the timeframes.

The Current Plan
Here is a breakdown of my training week:

Monday:  Strength Training
This is actually the rest day but I do strength training two days a week, so Monday is one of those days.  Until I really start wearing down for want of a full rest day, I'm going to keep this scheduled on Mondays.

Tuesday AM: Swim
Swim workouts will range from 2,500 yards to 3,500 yards throughout the 30 weeks.  These aren't just straight swims but have drills/intervals planned.

Tuesday PM: Run
These are Zone 2 (Aerobic) workouts but will eventually turn into fartlek-style runs with some Z4 (anaerobic) runs near the end.

Wednesday AM: Bike/Run Brick
These are brick workouts where I start out on my bike and then immediately transition into a run.  I plan to do these before work but in the heaviest volume weeks this is a 1.5 hour workout.  I've gotten up at 3:00am to get a 30 mile bike ride in before work, so this is still manageable!

Wednesday PM: Getting rid of the girly man.... Strength Training!

Thursday AM: Swim
Back to the pool.

Thursday PM: Bike
Not a straight cycle session.  I will probably do these on the trainer because they usually require some level of consistent cycling.  Currently I'm doing 100+ RPM Spins but they will soon transition to intervals.

Friday: Run
Eventually this will also include a swim but leading up to Hospital Hill, this will just be a run.

Saturday: Long Bike
Z2 long bike ride.  Right now these are under two hours but during the peak of this training plan this will be a 6 hour training ride!!  THEN FOLLOWED BY A 1 HOUR RUN! ACK.

Sunday: Long Run

Adjustments for Hospital Hill
I'm still debating on this but I will likely be adjusting my run workouts.  I will probably leave my Friday run as a straight aerobic workout but my Tuesday run will probably become technical in nature.  It will either be the hill work or intervals.  I also like to get runs in at race pace and I've already been doing that with my Wednesday run that follows the bike session.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

From The Sidelines

This blog post is part of a series of posts associated with the Hospital Hill Run Blog Team.  For more information, see my original post.  To see all blog posts, review those that are tagged as "Hospital Hill Blog Team".  To register for the Hospital Hill Run, check out their website!

Ugh.  March was not kind to me with blogging.  I had such a roll going after Disney and into February and then March hit.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been working on some crazy web site projects as well as getting most of my training in.  Oh yeah, and the whole "pay the bills" job thing.  So in reviewing my long list of topics for my Hospital Hill Run blog team, I decided to throw an audible and maybe give some insight as to something athletes may not normally partake in: "Athletic Supporting".

No, no... it's not what you think.  It's being that loved one who gets up with you at the crack of dawn to go to a race.  The person that schleps around your stuff while you are out competing.  That person that freezes their tuchus off waiting for the sun to rise high in the sky all while hoping to not miss that perfect photo of you crossing the finish line.  I must say, in the three previous race seasons, I have never been that person.  Well folks, that changed on March 23.

You see, my wife isn't into doing the stupid crazy long distances that I do.  The 5k is her marathon!  So, when she's doing a race there is a good chance I'm also doing it and usually doing the longest distance available.  So by the time I'm done, she's been done for a while.  I rarely get to see her finish.

The opportunity for her to do a race while I sit on the sidelines was ripe on March 23.  Mostly because I didn't have the right "parts".  TKB participated in the all-lady Diva Dash 5k!  What follows is my spectator report and lessons learned:

Pre-Race

With a nice 8:30am start time, we were able to get a little extra sleep.  I should have been a good boy and did a bike ride before hand but held out hope for a good trainer ride afterwords while the wife was sleeping off the race.

Instead of packing up my post-race clothes or pilling my bike and tri-bag in my truck, I was making sure the camera was charged and ready to go and validating TKB's last minute clothing choices. The temps were suppose to be in the mid-30s and cloudy.  Not optimal as I wasn't exactly sure if I would stay outside or seek shelter inside.  By 7:30 we were off!

The race was at Park Place next to the Sprint campus.  We live near Parkville, so it was a bit of a haul but our hope was to arrive around 8am and meet up with Lauren (my training buddy Joe VI's wife).  Lauren was also running the race but Joe was still hanging out at home with the kiddos.  I was on my own!

Once we huddled inside a small diner, TKB and Lauren did the pre-race duties of hitting the bathrooms. I actually don't recall seeing many port-a-pots out, which might explain why this place was pretty packed.

Pretty soon we were headed over to the start line, which happened to be outside of this diner.

Race

This is definitely when being a spectator is noticeably different.  For one thing, I was wearing 10 times the amount of clothing that I normally do.  The second thing is I was holding keys, jackets, backpacks for TKB and Lauren.  Instead of acquiring satellites, I was cueing up the camera.

Pretty soon it was time for Lauren and TKB to get in the start corral.  This race wasn’t large, by any means; however, the narrow streets of the outdoor mall shopping center made it pretty tight to let everyone loose.  I believe they had four or five waves starting about 2 minutes apart.

Once the third wave was released, Lauren and TKB were off to fight through the mall and neighborhood to the north.  Now I was lonely, my training buddy, Lauren’s husband, stayed home with the kids because it was too cold to bring them out, so I had to fend for myself. 

I decided a nice latte would keep the insides warm since I wasn’t able to do so with the race.  My level of exploration wasn’t that far reaching though and I quickly gave up the hunt. 

With the temps being in the 30s, there were a few places to keep warm.

I did walk around a bit to see what all was going on.  I never put much thought into the fact that at many races there is this Gobots style transformation that occurs.  It’s when the start line gets replaced with this smorgasbord of post-race nutrition, photo ops, chip collectors, and medal givers. 

The race ninjas/elves/fairies brought out the water bottles, setup the chip collection buskets, and start preparing the medals.  For this being just a 5k, they had some pretty sweet medals for the participants!

One particular switch-a-roo I found interesting was the race clock.  At the start it was set in a countdown mode but needs to be changed to the actual race clock.  Boy was I surprised that this wasn’t some sort of atomic clock setup or matched to the GPS or something.  Nope.  There was some dude waiting to start the clock at 16:00 when someone inside the timing truck gave the signal.

Another interesting tidbit was regarding the race course.  I didn’t know the course but I wanted to make sure I was positioned appropriately to get that all-important finish line photo.  Originally I thought they would be coming back through the finish chute in the opposite direction because it said “FINISH” on the north side of the structure.  Naturally I figured it out when the post-race nutrition was setup but it dawned on me that they want the “FINISH” to be in the finish-line photo as well.

Soon enough I decided to get in position for when Lauren and TKB finished.  TKB has told me countless stories of having to jockey for position, sometimes requiring an elbow or a stern look to ensure your well earned spot is safe.

No issues for me though… being 6’4” does provide some benefits for working around the non-civil spectators.  Fortunately, for this race there weren’t very many people setting up for the photo op.

Lauren and TKB both utilized the GPS tracking, Glympse, so I didn’t have to worry about missing them at the finish.  The only problem was I didn’t know the course, so I still had some questions as to exactly when I would see them.

This was truly the first time I have seen the overall first place finisher cross the line.  I’m not a fan of 5Ks because they HURT.  Yes, marathons hurt, but it’s a different kind of hurt.  The wheezing sound is actually your lungs trying to escape.  Watching the first place finish cross the line in what appears to be extremely effortless stride was frustrating, yet awesome.

I continued to watch the ladies finish.  This included an 11 year old who crossed right as the clock ticked 20:00.  It was amazing!

About the 28-ish minute mark I saw Lauren make the final turn.

Since they started in the third wave, their chip time is 4 minutes slower than the gun time.  Sub-30!

Then SOON after Lauren was TKB!  Her training in March was sideline by a few things but she ended up with a Personal Record (PR)!!!  Lauren also PR’ed!   It was a record day for everyone!

I’m so proud of her!!

Post-Race

After Lauren and TKB picked up their medal and water they noticed my trembling since I never went inside to warm up during their fast runs.  We trotted up the parking garage and took off for a local bakery (Great Harvest) where I finally got my hot beverage and some delicious lemon blueberry bread.

Lauren, TKB, and my thumb

Lessons Learned

• For shorter races, plan your mid-race activities wisely.  Not a lot of time to go hunt down that perfect drink or find that spot in near the finish line.
• Prime spots for finish line photos were pretty available, but I could see how they could fill up fast.
• A note about that, don’t miss your athlete crossing the line.  5k or marathon or whatever, it’s important to see them finish a task that is as great as this.  It’s likely that they have put a lot of effort preparing for this race.  If you have kids, make sure they are there too because it’s a great example of being healthy.  Joe VI and I worked it out so he could Facetime with Lauren after the race so the kids could congratulate her!  Being there electronically is just as good!
• Prepare to carry.  Most races have bag checks but sometimes your athlete might not want to deal with that.
• For longer races, you might want to consider your food options as races like a half marathon or full marathon may mean waiting around for a few hours.  Bring a book or other entertainment options.  Traveling to the race?  Book a hotel close to the site in case you want to go back for a nap. 
• GPS tracking.  While this technology isn't 100% reliable it is a savior when it works.  As mentioned previously, we use the free Glympse software that runs on a smartphone and transmit the runners GPS coordinates and speed to a web site.  People with the link can visit that site (or use the app on their own phone) to follow the athletes.  It will show multiple runners within the app. There are other apps but I have really only used Glympse. Garmin has one that will display data from the Garmin devices, provided they have a way to record the ANT+ data on their phone.  We just used this for our Brew-to-Brew team. Someone carried the cell phone in a running belt so we knew when to start looking for the runners.  It saves so many headaches.

Discussing the race or how awesome I was doing the support duties.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

Interval to a Better You

This blog post is part of a series of posts associated with the Hospital Hill Run Blog Team.  For more information, see my original post.  To see all blog posts, review those that are tagged as "Hospital Hill Blog Team".  To register for the Hospital Hill Run, check out their website!


Disclaimer: This post discusses some topics on muscle, energy, and oxygen science.  As you may quickly note, I'm not a scientist nor a doctor but I do have muscle (a few pounds of it) and consume energy (not just electronic).  Some of the information could be a bit off base so you may want to consult a true expert on the topic if you want in-depth information.

In my last Hospital Hill Run post, I discussed the different sources of energy used to get the body movin’.  More importantly, I discussed how and when the two main sources of fuel were used.  How do we use that knowledge in training and racing?

Friends, family, and coworkers occasionally ask me what’s the best technique for getting “in shape”.  What’s the most effect method?  There are many different styles of workouts that can be considered effective but I always focus on “Interval Training”.  Doing intervals is actually something runners/athletes do after they’ve been training for a while.  It’s not typically something you do right off the bat; however, I think it is something that can be added pretty soon after someone has started a workout program.

So what do I mean by interval training and how come I consider it most effective?  First let’s define interval training:

According to this lovely Google search results, intervals is alternating running and jogging. For a triathlete that may also include cycling and swimming.   This means that you will set out to run a “hard” pace for a certain distance or time.  Once you reach the end, you will either walk or jog for another pre-set distance or time.  Repeat.

So what is a “hard” pace?  If you are just starting your running career, I would say that it is a pace where breathing is starting to become challenging. This means that you are entering the anaerobic phase of energy burn.  You aren’t getting enough oxygen to the muscles, so it will rely on sugars/glycogen for energy.  This means that the “hard” phase of intervals is taxing your anaerobic system.

When you ease up and start jogging  or walking you enter the “recovery” portion of the interval.  Recovery is a fairly accurate term for it because your body is freaking out a little.  It’s thinking, “OMG!  I just burned through a chunk of my glycogen supply!  I better rebuild it!!”.  So your body begins doing the necessary tasks to recover sugars and converting them into glycogen for storage in muscles.  Your body doesn’t know when you are going to need it.

In addition, there is a side effect to anaerobic exercise.  Remember how when you run wicked hard, there is a pain build up in your legs?  That pain build is likely contributed to lactic acid.  It’s the nasty by product of the glycogen burn (kind of like the smoke from a fire in my previous post).  Your body wants to get rid of that lactic acid, so your body uses anaerobic energy to clean out that junk from your legs.

So what is really happening?  In order to rebuild the glycogen supply and clean out the lactic acid, your body must use more energy to do so.  Since you are walking or jogging now, your body can utilize the aerobic energy sources to rebuild the glycogen supply!  Now you are taxing your aerobic system!

What happens when you tax your body?  Your body prepares it so it can better handle any future “taxing”.   So in the first half of the interval, the “hard” half, you taxed your anaerobic system.  In the second half of the interval, the “recovery” half, you taxed your aerobic system.  In one workout, you are improving both methods of consuming energy!  Brilliant!

The key here is to repeat the process.  You need to continue doing this during a workout so your body gets confused.  If you just do it once, it may write it off as a random occurrence but as you continue, your body will have no choice but to prepare.

Recap:

• The “hard” portion of the interval works your anaerobic system.
• The “recovery” portion of the interval works your aerobic system.
• Repeat

Relatively simple!

When first starting out, I don’t think a lot of focus is needed on how far or how long those intervals are or how slow the recover needs to be.  My typical rule of thumb is that the recovery should be half the distance or time of the “hard” interval.  If you are doing longer “hard” portions (like a mile) then you may not want to have your recovery be as long.  When I started out I think I was doing 1 or 2 minute hard runs on the treadmill with recovery being half the time.

Intervals can be done anywhere.  They can be done on a track, on a treadmill, during a trail or street run (but they are harder to judge distance and effort).

Besides the above benefits, doing intervals helps teach your body how to physically run fast so you become more of an efficient runner through your running form.  It’s also a nice change to the daily run routine.


Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

Off To See The Aerobic WIZARD

This blog post is part of a series of posts associated with the Hospital Hill Run Blog Team.  For more information, see my original post.  To see all blog posts, review those that are tagged as "Hospital Hill Blog Team".  To register for the Hospital Hill Run, check out their website!


Disclaimer: This post discusses some topics on muscle, energy, and oxygen science.  As you may quickly note, I'm not a scientist nor a doctor but I do have muscle (a few pounds of it) and consume energy (not just electronic).  Some of the information could be a bit off base so you may want to consult a true expert on the topic if you want in-depth information.

In my last Hospital Hill Run Blog Team post, I mentioned how I really enjoyed the book  "Smart Exercise: Burning Fat, Getting Fit" by Covert Bailey. If you are curious about how the stresses of working out impacts the body, this is definitely a winner.  I will warn you that Covert doesn't hold back.  He might not be the most politically correct person in this book.  So if you are offending by the use of the phrase "fat people", then you might look somewhere else. I will refrain from the terms though.

One of the things I took away from this book was his discussion of aerobic and anaerobic exercise.  We've all heard the terms but what does it really mean.  How does it come into play when deciding what kind of workout to do?  First off, let's start with some definitions:

Aerobic - With Oxygen
Anaerobic - Without Oxygen

Lesson over.  Thank you and goodnight.

Ok, maybe more detail needs to be uncovered.

Simply put, when working out aerobically, your body is moving at a pace in which the cells of your muscle burn fuel that requires oxygen as part of the "combustion".  This oxygen used is delivered to the muscles through the blood system. At some point, the harder you workout, the more difficult it is for your blood stream to keep up with the oxygen demand by the muscles; therefore, your body converts to using a different kind of fuel that does not require oxygen.  It is at this point in which your body is now working out anaerobically; hence, the definition of "with oxygen" (aerobic) and "without oxygen" (anaerobic).

That is simple way to explain it because we haven't really gotten into the most important part of the conversation: fuel.

Fill'er Up!
I liken your muscle cells to fireplaces.  Covert Bailey uses a similar analogy but I take it a little further.  In order to provide fire you need energy sources.  Generally you start out with kindling (sticks, dry pine needles, newspaper, twine, etc) and then move on to actual logs.  In the body, there are two main energy sources as well. Sugar (stored in the form of glycogen) and fat cells.  The glycogen is equivalent to kindling as fat cells are to logs.

Kindling burns pretty quickly and doesn't take much at all to start.  Logs require a lot more effort to light on their own.

Light'em Up
When your body starts to workout, it needs to decide which fuel source to use, glycogen or fat.  Just as when you are building a fire.  Unless you are a mad wizard at fire building, you will start with kindling to get things going.  Your body does the same thing but uses glycogen.  The need to "fan the flames" with kindling is generally not needed because it will take off pretty quickly.  Similarly, your body doesn't need oxygen to convert glycogen into energy.

After a period of time, your body will realize that you aren't stopping.  It will either continue to use glycogen or start using fat cells for its fuel source.  Your body is smart enough to know you have a limited amount of glycogen in the body.  If it can use fat, it will.  How does it decide when to use fat?  It depends on your body's ability to provide oxygen to the muscles!  If there isn't enough oxygen, it will continue to stay anaerobic and burn glycogen. If it can't, you will run out of glycogen and your body will force you to slow down or stop.  Also known as "bonking".

Long Burn
With your fireplace, you will either need to hunt down more kindling or start using larger logs to keep the fire burning, hot and slow.

Similarly, if your body can use fat due to the available source of oxygen, it will begin using fat cells for energy.  If your muscles need more fat, it will request it and fat cells throughout the body will be released for use as fuel.  If you were to run out of logs, you could go cut down another tree or, in desperation, take apart a couch to throw in the fire.  In other words, there is a near limitless supply of fat on the body, unlike glycogen.

Working in Tandem
So I mentioned that if you run out of glycogen, you "bonk".  So why is it possible that marathoners (or half marathoners!!) who run at a pace that burns fat cells also bonk?  Well, glycogen is also used in the aerobic/log burning phase as well.  Albeit in smaller amounts.  It sort of helps kick-off the fat burn when new fat cells arrive in the muscles.  It is only used in slight amounts compared to anaerobic exercise, but it is used.  So you can still run out of sugary glycogen during aerobic exercise and experience that four letter "b" word.

This is one of the reasons it is imperative that during endurance events like half marathons and up to consider mid-race fueling options.  Whether you are looking for that strong kick at the end or just trying to keep moving past mile 10... or 20... or 30, you need to keep fueling yourself some form of sugar for your body to convert into glycogen.  Many people do this using gel packets like Gu, Cliff Shots, Hammer, etc.

Be a Fire Building WIZARD!
So I mentioned that unless you a fire building wizard, you need to start with kindling to light your fireplace.  The truth is, that's the whole purpose of working out.  In endurance events, we are trying to make our muscles more effective and efficient at burning fat.  We want to burn fat earlier in our workouts.  We are trying to make our blood system more efficient at supplying our muscles with oxygen and fat.

You know the phrase "getting in shape"?  I don't consider "in shape" an outward appearance but rather shaping our blood system and muscles to be more effective at burning fat.

I will talk more about this benefit of "getting in shape" when I get into heart rate-based training and also during a topic on interval training.  I'm hoping to tie it all together for you at that point!

As for now, thanks for stopping by!

Side note: I do realize my comparison of fire from kindling to anaerobic is kind of loose.  Yes, any form of fire needs oxygen but let's just suspend that belief a little bit to make my point. 

Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

My Style, My Goal

This blog post is part of a series of posts associated with the Hospital Hill Blog Team.  For more information, see my original post.  To see all blog posts, review those that are tagged as "Hospital Hill Blog Team".  To register for the Hospital Hill Run, check out their website!

Background
I didn't really dig into my athletic background in my first post, but I thought it might be pertinent for this one.  It all started with Tee Ball when I was in elementary school, and then basketball in 5th - 8th grade..... ok ok.  Not that far back.

Actually, after 8th grade there really wasn't much until about 5 years ago.  In the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, TKB and I joined the Platte County South Community Center YMCA.  I started running on the track and then eventually the treadmill when the track started making me dizzy.

Workout Thing
Two years later I finally started to get intrigued with this "workout thing".  What was I really doing to my body besides extruding sweat from it (known around these parts as the "Scotty Funk")?  I bought a book called "Smart Exercise: Burning Fat, Getting Fit" by Covert Bailey.  To be honest, thanks to a fast metabolism as a kid and into my early adult life, I really haven't had an issue with weight; however, I had been increasing curious about what the body does when working out.  What does it mean to be aerobic or anaerobic?  This book did a great job explaining it. I highly recommend it.

The book led me to the concept of working out in specific heart rate zones that are tied to aerobic or anaerobic energy burns.  The problem was, I didn't have a good way to check my heart rate.  Enter the Kansas City-based GPS company, Garmin.  I bought a Garmin Forerunner 405cx and this moved my runs that had been indoors on a treadmill, outdoors so I could take advantage of the GPS features.

Runnin' Runnin'
Within a month (and with encouragement from some friends) I had signed up for my first race!  It was the St. Patrick's Day 4 Miler.  A month later I took part in the Brew-to-Brew on a Relay team.  In fact, I ended up doing 11 miles of relay legs that day!  After the Trolley Run, I signed up for my first endurance race.  Can you take a guess which one?  Hospital Hill Run Half Marathon!

Push It
Before long, my pursuit to discover what my body was doing with this "workout thing" turned into seeing where I could go with it.  A half marathon turned into a full marathon.  Then in 2011 I started triathlons and pushed myself to a half ironman.  In 2012 I had my first true time goal at the Chicago marathon, but also pushed myself into the world of ultra marathons at The North Face Endurance Challenge 50K.  In 2013, I joined the Goofy Challenge club by running a half marathon and full marathon in the same weekend at Disney World, and now I'm pushing myself by training for a full ironman race!

What's your style?  What pushes you?

• Are you trying to see what distance you can achieve?  
• Are you trying to lose weight?
• Are you trying to add years to your life or life to your years? (one of my favorite quotes)
• Do you just want to see what your body can do?
• Trying to regain that energetic "you" of 10, 20, 30 years ago?
• Bragging rights with your friends?

Whatever your goal is, own it.  Let it drive you as a person.

If you don't have a goal, that's fine.  What I do tell people is make sure what drives you is internal.  Don't do something for external factors (boy friend, girl friend, husband, wife, job, friends, etc) because it may be out of your control.  What if something happens in which that part of your life is no longer there or becomes unsupportive?  Do you lose your workout mojo?  I realize this is kind of a depressing thought, but it is something to consider.

Once you have those internal goals, tell everyone!  Post it on Facebook, on twitter, at work, on the fridge, on the bathroom mirror, on the I-35 overpass!

Ok... maybe not that last one.

My goal?  For 2013 it is to survive a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, followed by a marathon!  I have 17 hours to finish this race and it very well could take all of them, but I'm determined to finish!

Up Next
As I mentioned earlier, I'm a fan of heart rate-based training.  In the next installment of my Hospital Hill Run Blog series, I will plan to discuss what this means and how you can use it in your pursuit to "Conquer The Hill".

Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

Hospital Hill Run Blogging Team!

I am very pleased to announce that I have been selected to join the Hospital Hill Run Blogging Team!  It's quite an honor joining the ranks of the other athletes selected for this team.  I'm hoping to provide a different perspective from the other amazing writer-athletes.

A real quick bio:

• 34 year old male age grouper
• Married to my lovely wife, known on the blog as TKB, for 11 wonderful years!
• Father to a grumpy old Beagle Lab mix, Brodie.
• Mainframe software developer by day and web site software developer by night (yeah, I'm a bit of a geek)
• I've been running in races for 3 years and participating in triathlons for the last two years.
• I wouldn't call myself competitive but I did manage to nab some podium finishes this past year.
• A fan of dumb humor (you've been warned)

I started this blog almost two years ago to the day to journal my entry into triathlons.  It's been fun writing about my experiences and I'm planning to write much more in depth about many of them as part of this series.

For those who are not "in the know."  Hospital Hill Run is the oldest road race in Kansas City and one of the oldest half marathons in the country!  Is running 13.1 miles not your jam?  Sign up for the 10k or 5k!!

While Hospital Hill Run Half Marathon is my "A" running race for the first half of the year, my goal for this year is to complete my first ironman triathlon in October!  Hospital Hill Run will allow me to keep my running in check as I start to ramp up my swimming and biking.

I plan to cover various topics based on my own experiences.  Topics such as:

• The Runner Community
• Cold Weather Training
• Heart Rate Based Training
• Gadgets
• Nutrition
• Recovery Techniques

I will plan to post about Hospital Hill at least every other week; however, check back in as I will also be discussing things such as my most recent race.  I just got back from Orlando running in the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge!  I'll also be finalizing my 2013 season here soon as well!

Feel free to stop by and ask questions in the comments or hop over to Twitter to chat me there!  You can find me as @ScottyTris.

And with that, I shall leave you with this photo from this past weekend's activities!

Going Goofy!!  I'm sure you can figure out which one is me, right?

This was Saturday after the half marathon.  I was carb/protein loading for the marathon I was to run in about 20 hours.  It all seemed like a good idea at the time!