Total Miles Ran in 2017

I totaled up all of my running miles for 2017 from Garmin Connect today, since I won’t run again now until the 1st of January.  I ran 1744.46 miles this year.

In 2016, I ran 1418.62 miles.  But, the last two months of the year I had mostly taken off because of having had to help my Mom clean out the house.  Those months would’ve been higher mileage months.

In 2015, I ran 1587.49 miles.

I don’t have complete data for 2014, since I didn’t get a Garmin until October, but I am sure it was significantly fewer.

I wonder what my total for 2018 will be?

 

 

too bad it is not a Mighty enough battery for a full marathon

I decided to test the battery life of the Mighty (Spotify music player) today on my long run. It lasted 2 hours and 48 minutes. The website said “up to 5 hours battery life.” I guess I will have to test it in different temperatures for a more comprehensive assessment of battery capacity, but I now know the results for 45 degree weather. Thankfully, when it died, I only had a mile left of my 18 mile run. I guess it isn’t mighty enough for a full marathon, which is a bummer, but it will get me through the first 10 weeks of training for one, and will work just fine for any run except my long run. Many of my long runs are with a group anyway and I don’t wear headphones for those, but it would’ve been very nice to be able to use it on race day. Slightly bummed. Maybe they will release a firmware update that is able to somehow extend the battery life. One can hope.

http://www.bemighty.com

out and back

I find an out and back run so stabilizing. I run away, as far as I want, and then I just simply turn around and come back home. #running

It’s a different feel than a loop.  As I run away I am leaving my problems behind, pushing myself beyond them, getting away.  Not having any turns to concern myself with frees my mind from the route and leaves it all just to my body.  Eventually I turn around and go home, eagerly now, knowing I have taken it all away and am bringing just myself back home.  It is liberating and soothing.  It is a cleanse.

New Personal Record for 10 Miler

They changed the course for the 10 Miler this year, but my previous personal record was 01:23:52, with a chip pace of 08:24 min/mi. This year I finished in 01:20:36, with a chip pace of 08:04 min/mi. That is a significant improvement.

I ran in compression shorts and a tank top. I did not stop at all to walk or pause, even to refill water. It was cool outside and I didn’t run out of water in my handheld.

I did grab a Gu for fuel, since they were giving them out, but I was already in the middle of fueling with my Huma gel at that point, so I stowed it for later. I didn’t end up using it during the race but I have it now for another time. The fuel that I used during the race was one Huma Gel, Apple Cinnamon flavor, no caffeine. I began fueling right around mile 4.75. I usually nurse my Gel for a while. It was after mile 6 when I finally finished it. Huma Chia Energy Gel, Apples & Cinnamon, 12 Gels – Premier Sports Nutrition for Endurance Exercise

I like the new course better than the old course, as it seemed like every uphill had a downhill on the new course. Even though the new course has us racing down Cardiac Hill instead of up it, this course is not without plenty of uphill. Thankfully the weather was perfect today. Cool but not cold and pretty much overcast for the whole time. Ideal!

https://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-27597?entryID=32503992&interval_time=2377390

PNC Atlanta 10 Miler » Atlanta, GA
Bib 2616 PINA PORCEDDU
Finished 01:20:36
Overall 400th of 4,152
Female 87th of 2,317
F40-44 11th of 387
Female Masters 22nd of 1,178

Timing

Interval	Time of Day	Chip Time	Chip Pace	Gun Time	Gun Pace
Start	7:20:23AM
Cardiac Hill	7:41:40AM	00:07:05	07:05 min/mi
5 Mile	8:00:00AM	00:39:37	07:56 min/mi	00:42:09	08:26 min/mi
Finish	8:40:59AM	01:20:36	08:04 min/mi	01:23:08	08:19 min/mi

2017 Peachtree Road Race

AJC Peachtree Road Race 10K
Time (Chip) Finish: 49:43
Pace min/mi: 8:00
Ranking F 40-44: 49/ 3375
Gender: 570/ 27789
Overall: 2889/ 55329
Start Time: 7:35:04 AM
Distance: 6.2 Miles
Gun time: 54:47
Weather: 91°F 33°C

Race Details
5K Split
Overall: 2215 of 55131
Division: 33 of 3373
Gender: 365 of 27732
Pace: 07:23 min/mi
Time: 00:22:54

Finish
Overall: 2889 of 55329
Division: 49 of 3375
Gender: 570 of 27789
Pace: 08:00 min/mi
Time: 49:43

I had looked at last year’s time and pace really quickly at 4:30am. What I didn’t realize was that, in my half-awake delirium, I read the time correctly but I read the pace from the 5k split for last year, not the finish pace. As you can see by my results this year, pace drops off significantly after the first 5k.

So what happened was, this year during the race I was watching my average pace on my watch. After Cardiac Hill (mile 3, it’s pretty brutal and the race has an uphill trend for the duration afterwards as well) I checked my average pace and thought I had no hope of beating last year’s time. I almost wanted to give up and just take it easy. That was what I had done during the last Publix Marathon after I realized I couldn’t beat my previous time. I had given up. I finished the Marathon but I didn’t take the rest seriously after I had mentally shut down.

I’m so glad I didn’t give up today! Even after I finished the race this year I was confused about pace until I saw the final results post on Athlinks.com and then checked last year’s results as well. I had been telling people that my Garmin watch had calculated an incorrect average pace somehow, which I assumed it must have done, since my finishing pace according to my Garmin was (I thought) slower than last year’s pace but my finishing time was faster this year. Everyone had responded with a confused look. Lol. I was confused too until I realized that I had been telling myself the previous year’s 5k split pace all through the race.

If I had given up, I wouldn’t have achieved a new personal record. What I did instead of giving up during the second half of the race was give it all I had without regard to the information about pace that I had been referring to during the first 5k. But all the while I was also thinking about what I was going to say about myself “I must have plateaued. Time to reset.” was going through my head. I was still pushing all out but I was preparing my “sorry I failed story” at the same time. I was pre-coping with my defeat. I didn’t understand how my pace had dropped so much from last year. Of course, I didn’t know I was not comparing my pace to last year’s finish pace at that time…

Finally, after the turn onto 10th Street, I looked at the time on my watch instead of the average pace. That’s when I realized I still had a chance to beat last year’s time, but barely. Happy but confused, I threw the hammer down. 32 seconds faster finish time than last year!

The moral of the story is: even if you want to give up, don’t! Even if you think it is pointless because you are not going to reach your goal, proceed full steam ahead towards it anyway. You will be surprised what you can do!

777 marathon training begins

My 7th Marathon will be the 7th Annual 7 Bridges Marathon.

(I don’t count Savannah since it was diverted and not quite full distance. I only got 24.22 miles instead of 26.2 that race. Even though it ended up being full distance if I add in the distance to and from the parking, it doesn’t count unless it was in the race so my real first marathon was not Savannah on November 7, 2015 but Chickamauga the week after.)

My 15 week training plan begins this week (and started yesterday.) It’s time to get serious! Race day is October 15, 2017.

2017 Hotlanta Half Marathon

Official results for the Hotlanta Half Marathon have posted! I beat my time from last year by 21 seconds but my pace is somehow the same. I knew it was very close. All through the race and especially when I came in on the clock all I could think about was beating my performance last year. I knew I had my work cut out for me. It is amazing to me that, although technically very slightly better, it is spot on the same. I do not think I could’ve pushed any harder.

I’m very glad I didn’t lose any fitness but what do I have to do to get faster? Is it possible? Actually, I know what I have to do. I have to drop a few pounds and also get more muscular, while keeping up the rest of my running fitness and doing more speedwork. I’m trying… I would very much like to succeed.

Official times, placements and pace:
2017: 1:53:57 Overall 213/1525 Age Group 7/118 8:44/mi
2016: 1:54:18 Overall 173/1620 Age Group 8/126 8:44/mi

Hotlanta Half

Despite waking up in the middle of the night at around 1:40, I managed to get back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 5:15 am, I was questioning my sanity. I was still super tired. I didn’t have time for coffee.

I got there too late for the main parking deck, but I got a spot in the adjacent deck for $3 more. When I got to the bathroom lines, they were impossibly long. I stood in them anyway, hoping to make it. I finally bailed the line at 4 minutes until the race start, hoping I can just hold it. Maybe I didn’t really have to go. This hasn’t gotten off well so far.

I made it to the start just in time for the National Anthem and then the immediate start afterwards. There were corrals but there was no separation between corral release times.

It was uphill right away and we were off. I quickly realized that I was unlikely to PR, based on the pace I was running, but it would be nice if I could beat last year’s time for this same event. Last year it was in August and it rained most of the second half. Today it would just get hot.

All in all, it went fairly well, but not without pain. I feel like I am the only one I ever hear grunting and trying. If I am doing that, it is because I am pushing hard, beyond my comfort zone. If I could sustain this level of effort and pain for the marathon distance my times would improve. I took a huma gel when they offered me one, both times, and I grabbed water from a few water stops rather than refilling my bottle. I let it get low but not empty.

My time was 1:54:18. That is 8:44/mile. I placed 8th (out of 124) in my age group. I beat my last year’s time for this race by 0:01:40.

The best thing at the after race party area was the suja juice. I got the green one. It was super refreshing.

first brick

first time ever trying to bike and then run today: 27.26 on the bike (longest ride so far) followed by a 6.01 mile run. that was rough! crazy respect for all my triathlete friends right now. oh-em-gee (and I was slow and this was a totally _flat_ course; I don’t know how you all do it!)

Playlist from Publix GA Marathon

I typically don’t make ordered sequential playlists for races.  I just load the iPod Shuffle up with a variety of songs that I would be happy to run to (it takes about 275 songs, usually, to fill it up) and let it run on random.  Often this leads to interesting synchronicity and pleasant surprises.  The one from the Publix GA Marathon today was, however, the most amusing yet.

At mile 12.5 of the Publix GA Marathon today, the song “Crazy Train” started playing on the ipod shuffle and there actually was a train there.  The song came on and literally I looked up and there was the start of a train!  I was looking around for a runner I could tell it to at the time but there was nobody I knew around and all the strangers had headphones on or I totally would have told someone. It made me laugh out loud for real. 

Here is what ended up being the Playlist from the Race.