Dispatches From The Field - 4/15/11 - Once Around The 20 Mile Block

The beautiful thing about running is that no matter your skill level, there is a bar for you and it means something real. For me at the marathon length, that number is 5:00:00. I intend to beat that time on May 1rst in Orange County, California.

Today should be the last of my long runs before the race. Scheduled is 20 miles and I love this distance. For me, from a pure running point of view, this is where the mind consistently comes into play and there is a real strategy to how the run is made. While these things happen at shorter distance, for me it becomes consistent at 20 miles. I have a running dialog with my body the entire time and while the conversations are not always pleasant, they are worth having.

The goal today is to negative split the second 10 miles and be in control of myself through the entire run. If I finish 20 and am completely wiped out, I will have gone out way too fast. I want to be in a place where I can finish the entire race strong.

I thought about running a couple different courses today, including one that would be a complete ass buster. In the end, I chose to run the course that I ran for my long runs while training for the Las Vegas Marathon. I felt that it would be a little harder than what I expect to see in Orange County and it would give me the opportunity to cover some ground where I have some previous experience so I could see where I am and how I have improved.

The course is just over 20 miles (keeping Coach Cyndee happy; she always gives me the eyeball when I run over-mileage) and has two sustained elevation efforts, although neither is crazy steep. The first is a 3 mile effort up Sunset Road about 2 miles into the run. The second is a push from miles 9-11.5 up Las Vegas Blvd. to the M Resort. The turn here basically takes you downhill the entire way home.



Upper left is Las Vegas Blvd., looking north toward the Strip. Left to right is Saint Rose Parkway. This is the middle part of today's run. (Photo: http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/)

 The run itself today was really pretty uneventful, which was actually a good thing. I am looking for a controlled run that shows an increase in overall performance. As is usually the case, there were a couple of entertaining moments along the way though:

The first one was with my Camelback. When I run long in training (say 2+ hours), I have a Camelback Rogue that has served me well. Today, I couldn't get any water to come out of the drinking tube. For the first 7 miles, I was pinching the tube and removing the bite valve to get water out. I put some ice into the pack before I left, maybe some of the ice was blocking the drink tube? I massaged the pack, hoping to move the ice around; nothing. Removing the valve, I blew into the tube, thinking that it might be clogged; nothing. OK, it's got to be a bad or clogged valve. I took that off and blew into it, still nothing. I resigned myself to taking the valve out to drink through the run. Just another reminder to check ALL gear before leaving. Stupid.

Mile 7, I was taking the valve out of the tube, when a yellow piece moved on the valve. Please don't tell me... How the hell do I own a piece of equipment for two years and not realize that there is a shutoff on the bite valve. Wow! Open the shutoff and it works just fine! I had a good chuckle at my own expense.

The second entertaining moment today was a 400+ pound woman riding in a motorized chair down the street at around mile 17. Let me say that those driving by must have been entertained by the sight of me running this woman down over about a half mile. I actually drafted off her for about 200 meters which I think scared the crap out of her. I pulled along side and asked her if she would pace me in the marathon. She laughed at me, but I was only half kidding. If those things have a limiter on them, she has removed hers. I was disappointed that she didn't have flames painted on the side.

Great run, with a negative split and gas in the tank at the end.

I am ready for OC. Sub 5:00:00 is definitely on the table.

Run Information