2014: Lake Trout Festival Half Marathon

I am not exactly sure as to why, at least at the time doing so in mid-May, I signed up for this race: there was no peer pressure, and I didn’t know any of my friends that had signed up either. Looking back, and thinking more about it, it probably had something to do with the event being in the general home area, finding a reason to keep running, and having driven up and down the scenic course many many times before, the need to traverse it by foot: getting to know some more people in the community along the way.

Breakers To Bay a week before was a relative success but it also had left me nursing pain in the left calf and right knee, and with remnants of upper respiratory tract infection. I opted not run for four days after the last race but kept up with Rob Larson recommended set of exercises. Resting well and continuing with Shannon‘s and Nancy’s recommended cure for a mild case of tendinitis in my left calf helped quite a bit.

A 4.50 mile run along the Tech Trails with the Keweenaw Running Group showed a mild recurrence of left calf pain but no signs of pain in the right knee or side stitches (Exercise-related Transient Abdominal Pain). A 1.50+ mile hill climb the next day — after few puffs of medication to open out my nasal passages (thanks be to Shannon for a quick diagnosis and prescription), and an hour and half of softball — at sub 12:00 pace with no pain of any kind provided a good boost of confidence for this race.

Summary of training activities
## Activity Date and Time Details
Distance, Time, Pace, Speed, HR, Cadence
01 Breakers To Bay 2014-05-31 09:01:00 5.00 mi, 0:54:18, 10:55 min/mile, 5.50 mph, 178 bpm, 150 spm
02 KRG Run #4 2014-06-04 18:02:00 4.46 mi, 0:54:25, 12:15 min/mile, 4.90 mph, 175 bpm, 152 spm
03 Downtown2SoftballFields Run 2014-06-05 20:00:00 1.57 mi, 0:18:21, 11:41 min/mile, 5.10 mph, 174 bpm, 152 spm

Plenty of rest through out the week leading up to this event, and a good meal in The Fitz with good friends made little work of only 5.5 hours of sleep the night before the race. 6:15 am dead line to catch the last shuttle for a 7 am start time seemed nearly impossible to meet on my drive down to L’Anse. Fortunately, things worked out and I made it to L’Anse waterfront to pick up my race packet with plenty of time to spare — in spite of stopping to photograph the spectacular sunrise over the Keweenaw Bay.

The conditions were pretty ideal for the run: scientifically proven picky bar for breakfast (thanks to Amy), mostly cloudy but not humid weather that kept the sun hiding, temperatures hovering around the low 50s, a gentle breeze off the lake that turned into fog and mist for the last 10+ miles of the course, an opportunity to choose between asphalt or a grassier surface to run, friendly volunteers and law enforcement officials handling the aid stations and traffic, remembering to lengthen each stride by a few inches (thanks to Rob) to reduce the chances of chafing, and taking gels at pre-planned intervals (thanks to Andi) to sustain the energy level … combined to make me feel nearly as good, if not better than, for the second half of the half marathon as the first half — something that had never happened before.



Goal vs Reality
Goal: 13.11 mi in 2:33:13 (11:41 min/mi)
Reality: 12.98 mi in 2:22:48.0 (11:00 min/mi)
Distance
mi
Lap Time
m:ss
Lap Elevation
feet
Total Time
h:mm:ss
Total Elevation
feet
Avg Pace
min/mile
Projected
Finish Time

h:mm:ss
Differential
Goal Time

h:mm:ss
1.00 9:45 69 79 0:09:45 69 79 9:45 2:07:49 0:25:24
2.00 9:55 54 191 0:19:40 123 270 9:50 2:08:55 0:24:18
3.00 9:47 0 144 0:29:27 123 414 9:49 2:08:41 0:24:32
4.00 11:09 27 84 0:40:36 150 498 10:09 2:13:04 0:20:09
5.00 11:16 49 8 0:51:52 199 506 10:22 2:15:54 0:17:19
6.00 11:17 0 19 1:03:09 199 525 10:31 2:17:52 0:15:21
7.00 11:35 90 43 1:14:44 289 568 10:40 2:19:50 0:13:23
8.00 10:50 14 0 1:25:34 303 568 10:41 2:20:03 0:13:10
9.00 11:14 36 32 1:36:48 339 600 10:45 2:20:55 0:12:18
10.00 11:23 6 21 1:48:11 345 621 10:49 2:21:48 0:11:25
11.00 11:33 28 14 1:59:44 373 635 10:53 2:22:40 0:10:33
12.00 11:57 35 47 2:11:41 408 682 10:58 2:23:46 0:09:27
12.98 11:10 39 52 2:22:51 447 734 11:00 2:24:12 0:09:01
The final cumulative time, 2:22:51, may not match the official time (2:22:48.0) owing to rounding errors. Starting my watch a few seconds before the start and stopping it a few seconds after crossing the finish line can be an additional reason for this discrepancy. The overall distance, 12.98 mi, may not match the designated (or certified) event distance (13.11 mi) owing to idiosyncrasies associated with GPS data collection OR my inability to take the tangents OR the aforementioned early start/late stop reasons, and in some rare cases, incorrectly measured (or advertised) courses or DNFs. As a result, the cumulative pace and the projected finish time might not match the official values as well.

Pain in the left calf went away after the third mile, right knee didn’t hurt at all, side stitches didn’t show up, and breathing was fairly uniform … making me want to run longer segments and not walk as much or as frequently as I had done in some of the previous events. Thanks in great great part to all those men in the 30-39 age group that chose to stay home, I got my first ever podium finish (#2 in my age group; there were only two in my age group) with a personal record time of 2:22:48.6 — a little over 10 minutes faster than my previous best effort in the Door County Half Marathon a few weeks ago.

Personal goals for the event (in order of importance)
## Goal Result
01 Finish the race without bodily injuries to myself or to anyone around me Yes
02 Run at least 90% of the length of the course, irrespective of pace Yes
03 Use the aid stations to hydrate/electrolyte; use gu/gel appropriately Yes
04 Improve upon the current PR for this distance: 2:33:13 (5.10 mph, 11:42 min/mile) Yes; 2:22:48 (5.52 mph, 10:54 min/mile)
05 Finish under 2:30:00 (5.24 mph or faster; 11:27 min/mile or less) Yes; 2:22:48 (5.52 mph; 10:54 min/mile)

 

It seemed to have taken forever to get here, but with the dream of a sub 2:30 half marathon now a reality, I hope keeping up with the aforementioned exercises and frequent runs will work their magic towards realizing the new dream: a sub 2:15 half marathon. Next event of any distance (Run The Keweenaw: A Festival of Trails) isn’t due for nearly four more weeks, and of such distance (Hancock Canal Run) isn’t due for nearly five more weeks. That should give me plenty of opportunity to train, assuming that my mind and body won’t get too complacent with the latest result and revert to their old but well known lethargic, and procrastinating framework.


Thanks be to

the rejections and opportunities life has brought my way, event folks (organizers, sponsors, volunteers, timers, law enforcement officials, photographers, fellow participants and spectators) and my family of good friends, mentors and coaches in and outside of my community for all the unexpected, undeserved and unrewarded acts of kindness and constant encouragement as well as offerings of constructive criticism to improve myself as a human and an athlete. I am eternally grateful to all those who let me train with them, who shared their meals and experiences with me, who helped keep me in good health, who helped me stay the course, and who cheered me on from home or along the course.

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