RACE REPORTS: Limbs in Motion 5k and Perfect 10 Miler

Limbs in Motion 5k -Age Group 3rd

LIMBS IN MOTION 5k

As a hard training run leading up to the CGI Perfect 10 Miler, I jumped into a 5k the weekend before hand. It was the Limbs in Motion 5k in Hamilton Veterans' Park, Hamilton, NJ where proceeds benefit a charity that helps provide prosthetics to amputees who cannot afford them.

I liked the cause, and I liked the race. I've run several races in Veterans' Park and have yet to do one there that I didn't enjoy. The park does have some hills, both fairly gradual ones and a few notable short steep ones, but the paths are pretty and the venue well equipped with bathrooms and shelters in case of rain.

We didn't get rain at the race, for which I'm grateful, because even a light rain can cause treacherous slipperiness when the autumn leaves are on the ground. Moreover, though the starting temperature was in the low 50's, not too cold, if you add rain to that, then stand around at the race finish, it is easy to get chilled.

Although I did a 10 mile training run the day before and had upped my running milage for the week considerably, I definitely threw down for the 5k. I posted my third ever sub 30 minute 5k race (yes, I'm slow), though I didn't get a PR. Usually a 29:45 would not have a hope of qualifying anyone for a finisher's place medal, but since this was a small race (about 80-90 participants), I actually managed an age group 3rd. That was encouraging.

Unfortunately, my training momentum died on that 5k course.

I spent the following week consumed by work, not quite fending off encroachments to my meager amount of training time, and not managing a single workout. I haven't had an entire week off in years. And the week before a 10 mile race was not a good time to do it. Tapering is one thing, but having your training drop off a cliff is quite another.

PERFECT 10 MILER

Perfect 10 is an all women's race in Mercer County Park in NJ that is in its second year and growing fast. There were well over 2,500 racers this year.

After the good 5k the week before, followed by the non-training week, I arrived at Perfect 10 feeling conflicted. On one hand, I had put in several long training runs on the Perfect 10 course over the past month. On the other hand, there was the unfortunate issue of my week of not training. I tried not to let it get to me.

My coach, Chris, texted early in the morning to say he would be on the course, and to remember to look up at the sky and smile. Sometimes the simplest advice is the best. I looked up at the cloudless blue sky and remembered why I like to do this stuff in the first place. I like the sky, the sun, the camaraderie, the chance to achieve something new and to push myself beyond what is comfortable. This would be a great day for it.

My wife, Diane, had agreed to do this race with me. She doesn't do triathlons, and doesn't like the logistics and getting up early for running races, so she seldom participates. When she does, it makes things extra special. To her credit, she managed to leap out of bed and make the coffee (something that is usually my purview ) and was in good spirits as we headed out.

Her spirits seemed to crash, however, when we got stuck in traffic and she then realized she desperately needed to pee. She got so crabby I turned to her at one point and asked if she'd just rather go home. But, as is her nature, she was resilient. We arrived and she set off to find a port-o-potty. Unfortunately, I lost her at that point.

In the throngs of women gathering at the starting line, I couldn't find my training buddy, Maria, either. And before I knew it, the starting gun went off and it was too late to worry about it. I activated my Garmin GPS and moved out.

Here's the good news: I did 7 near perfect miles, staying exactly on race pace and even slightly above. I saw Maria and Diane on the course and both looked to be doing well. I saw my coach, Chris, twice and that, too, was encouraging.

But at mile 7 I slowed to go through a water station and it was like my body just shut down. The last three miles were brutal. I couldn't seem to get my legs going again, and a lot of it was uphill with a headwind that was gathering speed. I had to walk in several sections, and each time I did, getting restarted became more difficult.

The final mile of the race takes you right past the finish line, which is tantalizing. You feel like you're almost done, but you still have 10% of the race to go, and my legs did not have it.

Members of Jersey Girls Stay Strong who participated in
Perfect 10, many of whom encouraged me when I needed it most.

Several people from my multisport team --Jersey Girls Stay Strong-- hollered words of encouragement when they saw me. I could hear them over my iPod and each time that got me to trot a bit more. I managed to jog in the last half mile, but my legs were beat going over the finish line. It was a tough way to end what could have been a PR race (I ended up 4 minutes off my time from last year -- all 4 minutes were added in those last 3 miles).

My own experience aside, if anyone is considering an all women's race, this is the one I'd recommend. I can't think of a more cheerful or encouraging event. Everyone bedazzles their race numbers, tons of women run in Super Woman capes or other silly outfits (many many tutus), every size and shape and age of runner is represented (age 8 to 81 this year), walkers get plenty of course support, mothers and daughters run together, huge groups from Black Girls Run and other teams show up, and there are lots of cheering spectators.

My race number, bedazzled. :) 

Perfect 10 is especially good for first timers who are new to distance running or are working up to a half marathon, but it presents plenty of challenge for a seasoned runner as well. CGI is known for being well organized outfit, offering good amenities (plenty of port-o-potties, well manned water stops, a nice hoodie sweatshirt, good post race eats -- though I never did find the promised chocolate fountain). The course is pretty and the time of year is cool, but not so cool that you can't wear shorts. All in all, it's a great race.

LESSONS LEARNED

In the end, here's what I took away from Perfect 10:

A.) I went out too fast,
B.) I didn't do enough core work ahead of time, consequently my core just collapsed, and
C.) I took both a psychological and a physical hit from the week off of training.

My weight is also up about 10lbs over what I was at the race last year, all ten pounds of which have packed on since I got back to work after summer break. With less time to train and the triathlon season over, combined with more stress overall, my bad eating habits found me and dug in. I will have to push hard to get back on track with this, but I know if I do I'll have more energy to cope with the stress.

With only two weeks to go until the Trenton 1/2 Marathon, my sights are set on training consistently, eating better and doing more core. I will have to concentrate at Trenton, to hold back in the early miles, knowing it will pay dividends at the end.

LOOKING AHEAD

Here are the major races on my calendar at the moment...

NOV. - Trenton 1/2
DEC. - Frozen Bonsai 1/2 in NYC
JAN. - Key West 1/2

JUN. - Escape the Cape International Distance Tri
JUL. - NJ State Olympic Distance Tri

Some days you just don't feel it

Still in training mode for Perfect 10 which is only a little over a week away.

Maria, my training buddy, and I have now run the full course 3 times, but today we were creeping along like a couple of snails. Everything seemed to hurt. And though we pushed each other along, as we always do, our 12 miler shifted to 10, and I was hurting at the end.

It was hard to figure what was making this particular run any different than the others. We ran the same distance and more the last two weeks and while it was certainly effort, it wasn't this hard. Why so hard today?

Some runner talk about these kinds of days as a sign of "over training," others point to hydration or nutrition problems. Those things undoubtedly factor in, but I think if you run for long enough in your life, sometimes you are randomly going to have bad days. I'm just hoping a decent taper in the next week will give us the oomph we need to do well on race day.

As for me, my taper starts Sunday. Tomorrow I'm heading to the Limbs in Motion 5k in Hamilton, NJ Veterans' Park. The cause is a good one: raising funds for amputees who cannot afford prosthetics. The venue is lovely, a park with pretty trails, large fields and a glistening reservoir. I've run several races here, and have good associations with the spot.

The big question: how much go have my legs got in them after an increase in milage this week, and will I have enough psychological mojo to push myself and see if I can get sub 30 on the course, or even set a PR (not feeling likely with these tired gams).

I'll post a race report on that one afterwards.

Training for Perfect 10

It's been almost a month since Tri AC. My training has had its ups and downs...literally. Took a nasty spill while running two days after Tri AC. The right side of my body got some serious road rash, and I twisted my left ankle badly enough that I can still feel it twinge if I catch it at a certain angle.

That fall put me out of commission for Rock n' Roll Philly 1/2 Marathon. I was disappointed.

Between the fall and some killer weeks at work, my training hasn't been where I want it, and my trips to the fridge for more numnums has been way ahead of where I want it.

All that said, I am heading toward the Perfect 10 miler on Oct. 26 with a spring in my step and a new pair of sneakers.

PERFECT 10

Perfect 10 is an all women's event put on by CGI, the same group that organizes the NJ State Triathlon. Like that event, it is held in Mercer County Park, which is great for me, because it is just 10 minutes from my house and is so close to work that the course runs right past my office at mile 5. This makes it easy to train for since I can just go out and run the course whenever I have the time.

I did the Perfect 10 run last year and loved the atmosphere. I had run one women's only half marathon in New York City back in 2003 and found it kind of unpleasant. There were some really pushy shovey types at that race and everyone seemed catty, both at the starting line and on the course. I was the very last finisher and I ended up doing an extra mile because they took away all the cones and markers before I got to the line. I finished in just over 3 hours, which is certainly slow, but isn't unheard of by racing standards. Anyway, after that low point, I wasn't sure I ever wanted to do a women's only event again. I was very cautious going into Perfect 10.

I needn't have worried. Perfect 10 in 2013 was surely one of the most up-beat and supportive events I have participated in.

Here were some of the things I liked, in no particular order:

• the dudes with ripped abdominals wearing chip-n-dale's outfits who cheered us in at the finish (I am not into dudes per se, but I liked the spirit of it...they were really enthusiastic)
• the huge contingents both from my own team Jersey Girls Stay Strong Multisport and from one of my favorite teams Black Girls Run -- there was some excellent team support on the course, for runners of every ability
• the chocolate dipping fountain in the refreshments area 
• the long-sleeve tech shirt nice enough that I have worn it regularly ever since
• the relatively easy course, a few rolling hills but nothing too taxing

I don't honestly recall anything I didn't like about the event. I know I felt a little under at around mile 8, but I found myself right next to my pal and current training partner, Maria, and we pushed it in on the last half mile, crossing the line together. That was fun. 

So, I'm psyched to get back out there, though I'm not sure if I'm in shape to hit a PR this time around. Last year's time was 1:46:30. We shall see. I'm not optimistic just because I didn't have a run focussed tri season. But you never know. There are still a couple weeks of training left to go. 

SNEAKERS

I didn't get the new sneakers for Perfect 10, but just because I was due, but new shoes always put me in a good frame of mind.

I'm an Asics fan and have been training and racing in Gel Kahana 6's for the last two and a half years. I got them when I was still obese because they were technically trail runners, and I wanted something that could take a serious pounding. But then when I tried to move on to lighter models of Asics and even tried a pair of Brooks, the result was blisters. So Kahanas it is.

Asics seems to update their lines all the time, whether they need to or not. I'm fine with new colors, but honestly, the Gel Kahana 6's were just about perfect. Fortunately the 7's don't seem to be worse. They have good room in the toe-box and are roomy through the ball of my foot. The cushioning seems to be about the same as the old model. I do miss the pull loop at the back for slip-on and off, however (a must for triathlon).

TRAINING

The good news on the training front is that Maria and I (Team Hard Core) have been able to do some long runs together to train up to Perfect 10. We did the full course last week at a stately pace, but I think we both felt fine after, so we at least knew we were fit for 10 one way another.

We did the full course plus an extra mile yesterday, and again, we seemed to be in good shape. We pushed ourselves a bit in the 8th and 9th miles, which I think was a good idea. I flagged a bit in the 11th mile, but overall knew I could have pushed harder. I'm thinking we'll probably do the course together one more time next week and I'll try to do it once on my own and just see how hard I can push.

After months of feeling reluctant about running, I'm starting to remember why I enjoyed it and how it started me on the road to triathlon in the first place. Meantime, I am missing the biking for sure, but don't miss the swimming (will re-start masters swim after the new year, in time to train for the spring tri season 2015).

The good thing about triathlon is that switching up sports all the time isn't just a matter of working different parts of the body (and mind) but also it keeps things fresh. I love digging into one aspect for a while, then pulling back and doing a lot with another. Last winter I was all about the swimming, this spring and summer I got into the cycling for the first time, now I'm happy to be pouring myself back into the good old one-foot two-foot running.

BALANCE

After having a literal fall a few weeks back, I'm thinking more and more about balance in all aspects of my life. In particular, I'm having a tough time getting my work-life-training balance going. I get fairly long vacations compared to most people, but when I'm working, I'm really expected to be on-call all the time. The hours in the classroom, plus prep, plus office hours, plus grading and more grading, plus committee work add up in a hurry.

People at work are puffy and sedentary and I've worked hard to move away from that lifestyle. So I'm currently ruminating on how to protect my time enough that I have room in my life for family and health even when I'm working. I think this is the dilemma of a lot of women my age, especially working moms. If anyone has the secret to this, please put it in the comments!

See you in two weeks for another race report!