We got cool medals and it was only a 15k. From left to right - Anthony Orsa, Ola Holowka, me, and Linda Truong
I always tell people you get fast by running a lot of miles, building a big base. My run-up to the 2011 Fort Worth Labor Day 15K goes a little further to prove that.
You can find the race results here .
Before I ran this race in 2009 and 2010, I was near the end of marathon training (Portland in 2009, Chicago in 2010). My legs were strong from all the 20-milers I’d done. I was consistently up and over 50 miles a week with a few 60-mile weeks as well.
This year, my marathon isn’t until December. I have not logged a run of more than 16 miles since February. I have not topped 50 miles a week all summer.
Still, despite fewer miles on my legs this year, my time of 1:08:52 was a personal worst for a 15k: three minutes slower than my personal best 2010 time, and a minute slower than in 2009. I didn’t cramp up and I had plenty of energy, but I just didn’t have the power in my legs that marathon training had given me in 2010 and 2009.
(I won’t be too hard on myself. This was my first race of any distance since running the Austin Marathon in February. Since coming back from my pelvis fracture , I’ve yet to find my stride – though I’m getting close – and this heat has been brutal.)
I seem to work better with short races when I’ve got a lot of miles on my legs. The first time I broke 20 minutes for a 5k – Thanksgiving Day 2008 – I’d run 22 miles the previous Saturday. Same thing the next year. I ran 20 miles on a Saturday, then ran a personal- best 19:08 on Thanksgiving 2009 .
On Labor Day, had I come close to my 2010 speed, I would have placed in my age group (instead, I was fourth, and 75th overall). Still, I was happy that I didn’t bonk anywhere during the course. Most of my laps were within 10 seconds of each other, no wild surges or bad energy spells.
Here is a link to all my vital stats from the race (heart rate, elevation, etc), and I’ve also pulled out the splits, including heart rate average:
Though my heart rate average 84 percent of max for the entire run, it crept to near 90 percent at the end
We got cool medals and it was only a 15k. From left to right - Anthony Orsa, Ola Holowka, me, and Linda Truong
I always tell people you get fast by running a lot of miles, building a big base. My run-up to the 2011 Fort Worth Labor Day 15K goes a little further to prove that.
You can find the race results here .
Before I ran this race in 2009 and 2010, I was near the end of marathon training (Portland in 2009, Chicago in 2010). My legs were strong from all the 20-milers I’d done. I was consistently up and over 50 miles a week with a few 60-mile weeks as well.
This year, my marathon isn’t until December. I have not logged a run of more than 16 miles since February. I have not topped 50 miles a week all summer.
Still, despite fewer miles on my legs this year, my time of 1:08:52 was a personal worst for a 15k: three minutes slower than my personal best 2010 time, and a minute slower than in 2009. I didn’t cramp up and I had plenty of energy, but I just didn’t have the power in my legs that marathon training had given me in 2010 and 2009.
(I won’t be too hard on myself. This was my first race of any distance since running the Austin Marathon in February. Since coming back from my pelvis fracture , I’ve yet to find my stride – though I’m getting close – and this heat has been brutal.)
I seem to work better with short races when I’ve got a lot of miles on my legs. The first time I broke 20 minutes for a 5k – Thanksgiving Day 2008 – I’d run 22 miles the previous Saturday. Same thing the next year. I ran 20 miles on a Saturday, then ran a personal- best 19:08 on Thanksgiving 2009 .
On Labor Day, had I come close to my 2010 speed, I would have placed in my age group (instead, I was fourth, and 75th overall). Still, I was happy that I didn’t bonk anywhere during the course. Most of my laps were within 10 seconds of each other, no wild surges or bad energy spells.
Here is a link to all my vital stats from the race (heart rate, elevation, etc), and I’ve also pulled out the splits, including heart rate average:
Though my heart rate average 84 percent of max for the entire run, it crept to near 90 percent at the end