Half-Marathon Alstertal

Sunday, I was racing the second leg of my Autumn campaign, a half-marathon along the river Alster in Hamburg.

Photo by Haemmboerger

It was a great day for a running race – a perfect sunny autumn day. After the morning fog cleared, the sun came out and it was nice and warm, but not too hot. My guess for the temperature was around 20°C – about 72°F.

Race report

I was going into the race with a goal of running sub-1:40 which translates to a 4:45 pace. After my speed session on Tuesday, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to manage going that fast. But I was very confident to be able to go 5min/k pace which would be sub-1:45. So I decided to build my speed during the race, but still start reasonably fast to run a good time.

I was warming up while it was still pretty cold (the sun hadn’t come out yet), but I was already getting thirsty. So before starting I made sure to sip some extra water. (I had already decided not to race with my FuelBelt and left it at home.) By the time the race started, the sun was out in full force and it was getting quite toasty.

During the first k of the race, the pace was quite slow as there were still slower people in front of me. (Both because I lined up with a couple of friends towards the back, and you have the usual slower people that want to start at the front.) Passed the first k in about 5:30, but then it was thinning out quite well and I didn’t really have a problem to run my pace.

After the first 5k (split: just over 24 minutes) I had made up the time lost in the first k and I knew I was on track for a decent time. During the second 5k I tried to pace myself – I knew that more hills were to come and it was still a bit to go. Also, I got these usual doubts .. “I’m going pretty fast, not sure if I can hold this for another 15k”.

But everything went well. I was able to pick up the effort and the pace a bit, and by the 15k mark I knew that I had 1:45 pretty much in the bag, but I probably wouldn’t be able to make it in sub-1:40. I was working pretty hard and picking up quite a few people, but the last two k or so are just borderline hard. I managed to come in after 1:40:39 (by my own watch), well spent and needing a few minutes to get my breath and smile back.

I was pretty happy with the way things worked out, I managed to pick up the pace and effort ( even if it wasn’t quite enough to go sub-1:40). I felt pretty strong during the race, and I hope that my training during the next few weeks allows me to get some more faster next time around.

Racing with a GPS watch

This was also my first race with my new GPS watch, and I was looking forward to seeing how accurate the GPS data would be. Most of the race course was under pretty thick tree cover, so it would be quite hard work for the GPS unit. Also, having run the race quite often in past years, I knew that the race course would be pretty accurately measured, so it was a good basis for comparison. If the course was off at all, it was long, especially with the little deviation made necessary by building activities.

The GPS track ended up being a bit off course (maybe by 10 or 15 meters). The following screenshot from Google Earth shows the out and back section that were on the same path on the upper bank of the river that shines through the trees:

But I don’t think that this is really an issue. The total distance as measured was 20.49k – compared to the half-marathon distance of 21.1k it was maybe 3% percent off. For distance, that is not really a problem – 3% accuracy is probably much better than what you can get from any other way of measuring or guesstimating. It’s also good to know that the GPS distance is shorter than the “real” distance. My explanation for that is that there were quite a few turns on the course, and with positions saved every 10 meters or so, some of these turns get “flattened out” – makes sense to me.

But looking at this 3% accuracy gets tricky when you want to pace off the GPS unit, especially at the “sharper end” of my speed. 3% at a 5min/k pace is a difference of almost 10 seconds. This can make a big difference. I’m also not sure if the pace that the watch displays is going be “slower” than the real pace. When looking at the watch, the pace I was seeing was almost always quicker than the real pace. So, the pace displayed is a good indicator, but certainly not good enough to pace off it. “Perceived Effort”, HR and clock time with the course markers still seems to be more reliable. But the GPS is one more measurement that may point to being off, and it will be sufficient to keep the pace in check during the first few k’s in the IM marathon.

All in all, the Garmin 405 passed this test easily. I’m still very much impressed with the unit!

Thoughts on my training before this weekends half-marathon race in Alstertal

This Sunday, I’ll be running my next race: The half-marathon in Alsteral. It’s a pretty nice race, most of it on a packed-dirt path along the river Alster. “Along a river” sounds like a flat race, but there is not too much space along the river, so there are a lot of ups and downs on the banks of the river. Definitely not a PR course. I’ll post some GPS data from my Garmin 405 after the race.

(Photo by mike warren)

The best time I have run there is a 1:38:30, and I would like to be able to run in that neighborhood. They had to change the course a bit this year, and it sounds like this means another few hills, so I’m not sure how comparable the times will be. Sub-1:40 should be possible, but the race is a B or C priority, so I’m not too focused on a specific time – I just want to run a nice, focused race at a faster pace than in my regular training.

Mixed Intervals

Speaking of my training, I’m really enjoying the new possibilities with the 405. This Tuesday, I was doing some mixed interval session. I was trying to do the following faster parts:

• 2k @ marathon pace (~5:00 min/k)
• 2k @ half-marathon pace (~4:30)
• 1 mile @ 10k pace (~4:10)
• 1k @ 5k pace (sub 4:00)
• 800 @ “really fast pace” (no idea .. maybe ~3:30?)

In between these segments there were 3 minutes “active recovery”, so some walking and easy jogging. (Advanced versions of this have shorter recoveries, but I’m certainly not ready for that.)

Maybe I don’t have a good understanding of my paces at this point, but as soon as I got to 10k pace, it was getting really hard. Anything faster than 10k pace was almost impossible, and I had to bail after 500m at 4 min pace. No top-end at all!!

So shorter, faster intervals will definitely be something I have to work on. As I have another 10k race in two weeks, I would like to do some interval sessions at 5k and faster paces. I hope that I don’t have to go to a track but that my 405 allows me to do sessions such as these on the road:

• 5 * 400m @ 3k pace
• 4 * 1k @5k pace

The total distance for these runs would be around 10k total.

I’ll do some running at 10k pace, but that will be more like a Tempo Run rather than fast, short intervals. A sample session would be 2-3 * 1 Mile at 10k pace within a longish run (maybe 13k).

Focusing on “Short&Fast”

All of this goes to show that my training focus has changed a bit (and I’m still struggling with it). While in the first part of the year I was doing longer and longer runs at a leisurely pace, now I’m trying to shake things up a bit by focusing on short and fast stuff.

Hopefully this will allow me to loose some weight as well. I’m still in line for my end-of-September goal of sub-89 kg …

Thoughts on Training Toys and the Garmin 405

Last week, I’ve bought my new sports watch. Of course it’s not a simple LCD watch, but a heart-rate GPS-enabled Garmin 405:

Garmin GPS Forerunner 405 mit Herzfrequenzsensor, schwarz

Before making the purchase, I was thinking about my relationship to these toys. In the past, I’ve bought a decent Polar watch (an S410 which was a top-of-the-line model HRM back when I bought it in 2002), a bike (in 2004), a FuelBelt or two, an Ergomo power meter (in 2006), a Camelbak, tons of shoes, socks, shirts and shorts and a lot of other smaller/cheaper gizmos. My parents joke a lot about the fact that I always have the best equipment available. On one hand – looking from people outside the sport, that is probably true: When I spend as much time as I do on my hobby, I want to use tools to help me get better or just enjoy the activity a bit more. (One can certainly argue if the tools did indeed help me get faster, but that’s another discussion.) So yes, I’ve been spending quite some money on “toys”. On the other hand – comparing myself to people in the sport, I don’t think that I’m atypical. My bike (bought in 2004) is probably one of the cheapest bikes in any IM-distance transition zone. A lot of friends have bought three bikes in the meantime and spent a lot more on race wheels. I also think that my purchases are not mainly for flash. So I think that I don’t have to be ashamed of plunking down 240€ for my Garmin 405.

Short Review of the Garmin 405

Now that I’ve had the 405 for about a week, I’m really impressed with the GPS watch. I didn’t run into problems other people have noted (GPS pickup is quick and operation is reliable so far). I’m still a bit skeptical about the battery life of the unit (advertised as 8 hours in GPS mode), but for the normal training runs (still under two hours at this point of the season) this is not an issue.

Here’s a list of the things I really like:

• Distance appears to be pretty accurate, even under trees
  Some people noted that when running in a forest the track is off. For me, it’s working fine so far, even when I’m running in our nice forested areas under a thick canopy of leaves.
  
• Feedback on pace is almost instantaneous
  Any changes in pace are picked up pretty fast by the unit – so you always know how fast you’re running (in “meaningful” units such as min/k – or min/miles for the US/British people).
  
• HR is working reliably
  My “old” Polar watch had some problems near power lines and the train tracks (not much of a problem, but a bit annoying), the Garmin is not having these issues at all.
• Setup is not too difficult
  At first the setup is a bit tricky, but I’ve got things down pretty well now. Usability is as good as the Polar (and much better comparing to other watches I’ve seen).
  
• Transferring data to the PC works
  After installing the required software, transferring data to the PC (and the Garmin program) is automatic. I never got the transfer working on my old Polar, with the Garmin it’s a total non-issue .. just move the watch close to the ANT+ receiver, and everything works automatically. Really well done, even easier than synching an iPod!
  
• Export to Google Earth is easy and cool
  Seeing your running route on a Google Earth blows my mind every time. This was impossible only a few years ago, now it’s a snap.

Already I’m starting to plan different sessions that what I was doing before. One big benefit for me is that I’m much more flexible in doing interval sessions. I don’t have easy access to a nice track, but I still want to add more speed stuff to my training. With the new watch I can do all kinds of intervals at different lengths (both time and distance) and speeds and will be able to get feedback if I’m running the speeds I want to.

Hopefully this will help me get faster in the next months!

Racing a shorter race – Volkslauf Bad Segeberg (9k)

This Sunday, I was doing the first race of my “rest of 2009” campaign. It was a 10k type of race around a lake in Bad Segeberg, a beautiful off-road race 20 minutes from where I live:

In the two weeks after my long vacation/break, I just managed to get back to regular running. My fitness had gone quite a lot during the vacation, so I was happy to manage a one hour run in my training without too many issues. Four or five relatively short runs per week, some cycling – that was all that was possible. Certainly no speed work, but hopefully I’ll be able to do that now. But back to the race …

The official distance of the race was 9.5k, but I was looking through last year’s results and the times seemed to be really good – so I was assuming that the race was short. I hadn’t run there before, but I spoke with some friends that were there in the previous years and their guess was just under 9k. I didn’t go with any specific time goal into the race as I didn’t know where I was. I just wanted to run a nice hard race and maybe come in under 40 minutes (more because of the nice round number rather than a specific pace goal).

When I got to the race site, I immediately ran into some friends I hadn’t seen since my last race (Reinfeld Swim/Run). Sure feels good to catch up to what’s going on, talking plans for the next season and exchanging some trash talk. After collecting my race number I went for an easy warmup – just looking at the first (and last) k of the race course. After a little section on roads through town down to the lake the rest of the course was on a nice little path around the lake. As it was “around the lake” I assumed there wouldn’t be too many hills, but some ups and downs were to be expected …

The race

When the gun went off, I settled into a pretty fast clip. I usually don’t start at the very front but maybe a quarter back. So in the first few ks I was overtaking quite a few people that didn’t really belong to the front of the race. After about the first k I had a few people around me that were about my level (well, my usual level when I’m a bit more fit) so I was quite happy with were I was. First “official” 3k were under 12 minutes (short!) and my HR was around 160 – right were I wanted to be.

But alas, I had started a bit too fast. At about five k there were some short, steep uphill sections and I pretty much fell apart – even walking for a short stretch at one of the steeper hills. I still managed to keep my HR at the same level, but my pace dropped to around 4:30/k pace (k’s as posted, again short). Some people started to overtake me, and there was nothing I could do. I managed to keep my HR up, but my pace didn’t get any faster. At the end I was pretty spent and finished in 40:22.

Analysis

So, what do I make of this? Obviously, I’m a little bit “out of form”, but that’s not unexpected (but still a bit sobering). Also, as I haven’t been racing shorter races for quite a while, I have to do a bit of relearning on how to properly pace such a distance and I also need to do some faster training to be able to properly race such a distance. The fact that I could hold my HR was a good sign that I could focus for the race distance. I just need to get better at running fast ..

Converting my time back to the “guesstimated” 9k distance, I’m right at 4:30/k pace. I was hoping that I’d be able to run at that pace in two week’s half-marathon – I think that will be tricky. (I was hoping to run better than my course record at the race which is a 1:38 – around 4:40min/k.) For now, there is nothing else for me to do than to continue training as planned and see how much I manage to get back in the next two weeks. After all, I’ve just started training again … and I still enjoy that a lot!

It’ll be interesting to see how soon my training is going to show results …

Planning the rest of 2009

When discussing my season plan with Mitch from CounterpartCoaching, I described my goal for 2010 and the upcoming IM race as “run the run”. I also said that I’d be happy with my slowest IM times in swimming (1:18) and cycling (6:23) and then have a decent marathon (4:10) which would allow me to PR (currently at 11:58).

General Goals

Mitch told me that with these goals the best use of my time was to focus on weight loss and running for the rest of 2009. At first, I had thought to get back into a more balanced, tri-like training plan as I had focused on my running for the first part of the year with the ultra marathon in May. He said that my bike can be quickly built up to a decent level within a relatively short time in spring and that swimming doesn’t really matter anyways. If I built up some bike fitness in the fall, I’d loose most of that fitness in the winter anyways.

Also, as I want to loose some weight (see last weeks blog post on weighty issues), he said it would be a bad idea to take December as easy, unstructured training.

Instead, I’ve set the following goals for the rest of the year 2009:

• weight loss (get down to under 86kg by the end of the year)
• shorter, faster races (some 10ks, which I haven’t run for a while) and the accompanying training (interval sessions, tempo runs, etc.)
• volume through frequency

This is the way my training plan looks like when put on a calendar:

1st half of September

Get back into regular training after my vacation. Add some biking and swimming (if time allows). At the end of the phase, I’ve put a 9 point something running race – my first shorter race in quite a while.

2nd half of September

Increase the length of my “long” run and overall volume. Continue with swim and bike as time allows. At the end of the month, there is a “traditional” half marathon race I’m going to do again and meet a couple of old friends.

At the end of September, I want to be “back in swing” and run a PR on the course (currently 1:38:30 – I’ve run faster half marathons, but the course is not too easy and it was in spring when really preparing). Weight goal is under 89kg.

1st half of October

Add some interval sessions to the mix and work on my speed. Three hard running sessions in two weeks – one longer run with some faster sections, one interval session (1k repeats or so) and probably another interval run with some tempo segments (for example 3*7 min at half-marathon pace or something similar). Starting in October, I want to get into a better swimming shape, so I can start swimming in my squad by November when the new “winter season” starts.

I’ve also got another short race lined up on October 11th .

2nd half of October

Next two weeks, probably similar to the first two weeks in October. Another possible half-marathon race (Oct 25th), maybe find a 10k race instead. Weight goal for end of October: under 88kg.

November

At the end of November there is a big race that I want to do really well. It’s a very popular, beautiful  26k race around a large lake in Ratzeburg. Because of the time of year, usually I’m not very well prepared for it. This year I have a chance to really prepare for it in November rather than just start doing longer runs again. It would be great to complete the race in under 2 hours which would be a huge PR for the course (currently at 2:09h).

After the October race, there are five weeks to the November race. I’ll probably take a couple of easier days after the October race. Also, I’ll want to freshen up for the race – almost another week. This gives me three full weeks (maybe including four weekends) of training. Within this time, I want to do about five hard sessions (two longer runs with some tempo, two short intervals, one mixed session). If I can set it up, maybe I’ll do a track session with some pretty short fast sections (400m or so).

Weight goal for end of November: under 87kg.

December

Not totally sure what to in December. I’ll probably do a 10k race on Dec 31st to end the year, but that will be more “fun” than “performance” oriented. Maybe I’ll find another 10k race earlier in the month, but at that time of the year there are not too many attractive, close-by races.

So what I’m thinking about is doing a personal challenge of 31 run sessions in 31 days. As there are some days where I probably won’t be able to run, this would require a couple of “doubles”. But it’ll be interesting to see how my body will hold up.

Any suggestion you can think of to improve my plan?

Weighty Issues

My wife and I just came back from our long, wonderful vacation. After stepping on my scales, I was back in real life.

When I left, I was at 88kg (morning weight). The first time I stepped in my scales, I was at 94 point something. Some it was extra water from the long flight back, and I was hoping to get a bit further down once things got back into balance.

It took about a week .. and I came in at a bit over 91kg – which means I gained 3kg in a four week vacation. A bit too much, but certainly better than the 6kg I had to assume after my first weighing in. Also, pretty typical for the usual gain I experience on vacation when I more or less shut down my training. (All I managed this year was three runs.)

So I’ve got my work cut out for me. I haven’t had much success loosing weight in the last years, but by now I’m more or less convinced that I won’t make much progress unless I significantly reduce my weight. Maybe stating the goals publicly (well, as public as my blog is ;-)) will help me keep honest.

I’ve raced my best IM-distance race in Roth 2007 at roughly 85kg and 15% fat on my scale (specific fat numbers not too exact, but good as a basis for comparison). I want to be way under that for next year’s IM, which means that one important goal for the rest of this year will be “body composition”. I’ve got almost four months left, so it would be great to get down to the same numbers at the end of the year. For the race, I’d like to race at 82kg. I hope that the hard training for IM will help take care of things in 2010.

To sum up:

	weight	fat
today	91kg	21%
end of 2009	85kg	15%
end of June 2010	82kg	<14%

Please help me committed to these goals! I’ll keep you posted on my progress.