Race Report: 2022 Nutmeg State Marathon

On May 20, I ran the Nutmeg State Marathon in Hartford, CT.  This was the last race of the New England Challenge.  For me, it was the third marathon in five days.

I drove to Hartford on Thursday, after spending two nights in Warwick, RI.  Along the way, I made a point of stopping for lunch in Mystic, CT.  Deb and I visited Mystic in 2005, and we had lunch at Mystic Pizza.  I recall having a seafood pizza.  That was good, but it had a white sauce, so I never got to taste the signature red sauce that made this restaurant famous.  (OK, the movie may also have contributed to their fame.)  This time, I had their House Special.

My legs felt OK in the morning, but after the long drive, I started noticing some soreness in my quads.  After checking in at my hotel, I went to the fitness center and walked a couple miles on the treadmill.  I walked at a pace that was brisk, but not too fast.  It was a recovery workout.

My hotel was in East Hartford, which is right across the Connecticut River from downtown Hartford.  There weren’t many restaurants on the east side of the river, but there were lots of dining options in downtown Hartford.  They were within walking distance.  I just had to cross a bridge.  Earlier in the day it was raining, but it dried out in plenty of time for me to walk into downtown Hartford for dinner.

I didn’t notice any sore muscles walking to and from dinner, but I started to notice some lower back discomfort.  I also noticed that a bit when I got up the next morning.

You know the drill.  The race started at 6:00, so I had to get up early and eat a light breakfast in my room.  It was a 15 minute drive to the race venue, so I left at 5:15.

The weather app on my phone said there was a dense fog advisory.  Sure enough, I couldn’t really see where I was going as I drove to the race.  I relied on my phone to tell me where to turn.

The course was a 2.13 mile loop around the Goodwin Park Golf Course.  We had to run it 12 times, plus a short out-and-back at the beginning.  I’ve run this race before, so I remembered what the course is like.  At least half of the loop is gradually downhill.  Then the rest of the loop is uphill.  The uphill section isn’t as long as the downhill section, but it’s long enough to be tiring.

When I started running, it was too foggy to take pictures.  The photos above were taken after I finished.  These are views looking down from the start/finish area.

In my previous two races, I wore a fanny pack, which gave me a place to put my gloves and phone.  Today, I wanted to lighten my load as much as possible.  Since it was foggy, I left my phone in my car.  I also left my gloves and jacket in the car.  I only needed to carry my keys and driver’s license, and those fit easily in a SpiBelt.

The overnight low was 52 degrees, but it was going to climb into the upper 70s in the afternoon.  I didn’t know for sure how warm it would get by the time I finished the race, but I was expecting to see temperatures near 70.

I didn’t think of this race as 26.2 miles.  I didn’t think of it as 12 laps.  I thought of it as 12 times that I would have to drag myself up that hill.  Actually, I was also a little worried about the downhill section.  That was be the biggest test so far for both my lower back and my right knee.  They held up well on Wednesday, but that race had hills that were much smaller.  As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about.  The downhill section was much more gradual than I remembered.  It never felt uncomfortable.

I didn’t take walking breaks in my previous two races of this series.  My plan today was to do continuous running until I warmed up enough that I could take walking breaks without getting cold.

As I started running, I felt just a hint of soreness in my quads and glutes.  That only lasted for a minute or two.  Then I never noticed it again.

The initial out-and-back took us partially down the hill, but only enough to get a taste of it.  Although we didn’t descend very far, I could feel more moisture in the air as I descended into the fog.  That made it feel colder than it was.  My hands were cold for nearly half the race.

Most of the course was on a park road, but we started out running in the shoulder of a busy street.  The shoulder was only wide enough for one person, so we had to watch carefully for cars if we wanted to pass.  There was also a cowpath on the grass, which ran parallel to the street.  Some people preferred the cowpath, but I usually ran in the street, so I wouldn’t have to deal with any uneven footing.

I started faster today than I did in my other races of this series.  In the first few laps, my average pace on the downhill side of the course was about 9:10.  Even on the uphill side, I was averaging 9:30, at least for the first few laps.

There were a few places where there were gates across the road.  The gates were locked, so we had to go around the side.  One of the gates was right at the low point of the course.  As soon as I ran around that gate, I noticed the road sloped upward a bit.

The first half of the long hill wasn’t too tough.  It was uphill, but just barely.  About halfway up, the grade became more noticeable, and running up the hill started to get tiring.  The hill was never steep.  It was tiring because it was nearly a mile long.

I expected to start warming up after along three laps.  I didn’t.  Since my hands were still cold, I continued to run all the way up the hill.  I still expected I would start taking walking breaks after another lap or two.  I was just waiting to warm up.

It wasn’t until my fourth lap that the fog began to lift.  I could see more of the golf course.  By the middle of my fifth lap, the fog was mostly gone.  From near the bottom of the hill I could see across the driving range to the clubhouse, which was at the top of the hill.  My hands still felt cold.

My time at the halfway mark was faster than in my other two races in this series.  I expected to slow down in the second half, however.  I expected the hill to wear me down.

Starting with my seventh lap, my hands were no longer cold.  Having run all the way up the hill six times, I wanted to run it at least one more time.  It was tiring, but I always knew that if I was tired at the end of one lap, I would recover in the first half of the next lap, because it was downhill.

There were two circumstances that would’ve persuaded me to start walking part of the hill.  The first is if running up the hill got really difficult.  I didn’t want this race to be an all-out effort from which I would need two weeks to recover.  I wanted it to feel more like a long training run.

I would also consider taking walking breaks if running up the hill made me too hot.  Even after seven laps, I wasn’t getting at all hot.  The sun came out briefly, and I started to feel warm, but then it went behind the clouds again.

During my eighth lap, I had to make a bathroom stop.  After spending a couple minutes in the port-o-potty, my legs felt stiff.  I was on the downhill section, which made it easier to get going again.  Still, I ran much slower after that.  On average, I was about a minute per mile slower both uphill and downhill.

It was in that lap that I first noticed I was slowing down much more on the most tiring part of the hill.  I kept telling myself I might walk part of it in the next lap, but not this lap.

After nine laps, I checked my watch.  I was slower on laps seven through nine than I had been in the first six laps.  If I ran at the same pace in the last three laps, I would still break 4:30.  If I continued to slow down, it might be close.

As I began my 10th lap, the sun came out for good.  I paid more attention to whether I was getting hot.  I still felt OK.

In that lap, I continued to feel like I was really slowing down on the most tiring part of the hill.  I still ran the whole way.  It wasn’t difficult to keep running as long as I didn’t mind slowing down a bit.  I also wasn’t feeling too hot yet.

With two laps to go, I wanted to know what pace I needed in my last two laps to break 4:30.  I forgot to check my watch.  Without knowing, I was tempted to pick up the pace in my last two laps.  I did pick up the pace a little on the downhill section, but I conserved energy on the uphill side.

Going up the hill for the second-to-last time, I finally started to feel hot.  I was almost done with that lap and had only one more to go.  Without knowing how fast I needed to be to break 3:30, I continued running all the way up the hill.

Excluding the lap with the bathroom stop, my lap times never got slower than 23 minutes.  With one lap to go, I had almost 30 minutes to finish faster than 4:30.  There was no need to push.

I ran the first half of that lap kind of lazy, just conserving energy for the last time up the hill.  I ran mile 25 in 10:22, even though that mile was almost completely downhill.  When I went around the gate at the bottom of the last hill, started to pick up the pace.  It was easy at first.

Halfway up the hill, it got more tiring, but I continued to put more effort into it.  I wasn’t trying to hammer it.  I was just putting in a little more effort.  When I got the last split from my watch, I saw that I ran mile 26 in 9:45, even though most of that mile was uphill.  It was much faster than the previous mile, which was downhill.

I was within sight of the last gate.  Then I was in the parking lot.  Early in the race, I told myself that gate was the end of the hill.  In fact, the top of the hill was about halfway through the parking lot.

There was another runner ahead of me.  I didn’t know if we were on the same lap, but I made a point of passing him before we got through the parking lot.  That helped motivate me to maintain my effort all the way to the finish.

I finished in 4:21:14.  That was much faster than either of my previous two races.  I kept my average pace under 10 minutes per mile.  I put a lot of effort into that last hill, but overall, I felt like it was a measured effort.

I think I did a better job of hydrating today.  I needed to drink a cup of Gatorade and a cup of orange juice after I finished.  After that, I never felt unusually thirsty.  I did, however, feel hungry.  At the aid station, they had some type of pasta dish that was really good.  I ate a bowl of that and a PBJ.  That went a long way toward satisfying my hunger.

My back never bothered me today.  My right knee felt a little sore when I got back to the hotel.  When I walk to dinner tonight, I’ll have to do some stairs getting up to the bridge.  I expect to notice my knee on stairs, but I also expect it to feel fine by tomorrow.

When I signed up for these races, I wasn’t in shape to do three marathons in five days.  I was barely in shape to run one marathon.  I took it on faith that I could get through them.  I was a little bothered by how slow I ran on Monday and Wednesday, but today’s race felt easier.  I’m not in peak shape yet, but I feel like I’m making progress.

I don’t have to fly home until tomorrow.  I need to drive back to Boston, so I’ll still have to get up early, but I’ll have time to eat a real breakfast.

I have one other observation about this race.  At least five times, the sole of my left shoe brushed against my right ankle.  By the end of the race, my ankle was bleeding through my sock.

The same thing happened at least once in Monday’s race and at least three times on Wednesday.  It’s always my left shoe clipping my right ankle.  It’s never the other way around.  I’m not sure what’s causing me to do this, but clearly there’s something asymmetrical about my stride.

This isn’t the first time this has happened.  I’ve noticed this before in training runs, but never with this frequency.  I don’t think it has anything to do with the terrain.  I’ve had the same thing happen while running on the treadmill.  If any of you have insights on this, please comment.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:21:14

Average pace: 9:58 

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  455

Connecticut Marathons:  5

Race Report: 2022 Red Island Marathon

On May 18, I ran the Red Island Marathon in Warwick, RI.  This is another race in the New England Challenge.  For many of the runners, it was day four of the series.  For me, it was my second marathon in three days.

I drove to Rhode Island on Tuesday, after spending two nights in Portland, ME.  After checking into my hotel and eating lunch, I went to Warwick City Park.

In my day-to-day training, I alternate running days and walking days.  I’m running marathons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week, so Tuesday and Thursday are walking days.  I didn’t need to do a long or strenuous walk.  I just wanted to get some exercise with my legs.  I used this walk as an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the marathon course.

Later, I got more exercise by walking to and from dinner.  Walking felt good.  I didn’t have any residual soreness from my race the day before.

I went to bed early, but woke up during the night and had trouble getting back to sleep.  I felt like I got enough sleep to get by, but I started the day feeling tired.

The race started at 6:00 AM.  I already had my race bib, so I didn’t have to get there as early today as I did for my last race.  Even so, I still had to leave the hotel before breakfast started.  I had some tea and cookies in my room.

Our course was a 2.7 mile loop through Warwick City Park, starting in the parking lot at Buttonwoods Beach.  We were running on a paved bike path, except for the start/finish area, which was in a dirt parking lot.  There was also a very short section over grass that led us into the parking lot at the end of each lap.

The front half of the loop was fairly flat, but it had lots of turns.  We ran by several baseball diamonds, and had a view of Buttonwoods Cove.

The back half of the loop was hilly, but it gave us good views of Brush Creek Cove.

We had to run this loop nine times.  In addition, we started with an out-and-back over the last mile of the course.  That meant we started out running most of the hills and then turning around and running them again.

They say that generals always fight the last war.  On Monday, my legs got cold to the point where it affected my stride.  The temperature this morning was similar to my last race.  If anything, it felt colder than the last race.  I was tempted to wear tights today, but that would’ve been a mistake.  Today, the temperature climbed into the upper 60s by the time I finished.

I wore shorts, but I started at a cautious pace, knowing my legs would feel tight until I warmed up.  I was particularly cautious on the hills in the initial out-and-back.  To help with getting warmed up, I started the race wearing a light jacket.

By the time I finished the out-and-back, I was ready to take off my jacket.  My legs were still cold, but if I kept the jacket on any longer, I would just get hot and sweaty.  My car was parked in the same parking lot where we finished each lap.  Rather than tie my jacket around my waist, I took a few extra seconds to put my jacket in the car before starting my first full loop.

For the first few laps, my legs were cold.  At times, I was tempted to take walking breaks on the hills, but I was afraid my legs would get colder.  I told myself I could take walking breaks later in the race, after it got a little warmer.

It wasn’t until late in my fourth lap that I felt warm enough to make brief stops to take pictures.  Before I could use my camera, I needed to take off my gloves.  My hands were beginning to get sweaty, so taking off my gloves while running was difficult.

I saw three white birds in the water in Brush Creek Cove.  Before I could take a picture, one flew away.  A second took flight just as I was taking this picture.

In my next lap, I suddenly noticed some soreness in my right hip as I was taking a picture.  It’s the same spot where I usually feel an impingement of my sciatic nerve.  I think I was leaning backwards as I was lining up the picture.

As I resumed running, I made a point of bringing my shoulders forward.  Within a few minutes, the soreness in my hip went away.  It never bothered me again.  I was pleasantly surprised that I never had hip or lower back discomfort while running the hilly section of the course.

At the halfway point, I was six minutes slower than I was in Monday’s race.  On Monday, I got much slower in the second half, as the muscles in my legs got cold and tightened.  Today, I felt better in the second half.  By then, it had finally warmed up enough for my legs to feel more relaxed.  As a result, I kept a more consistent pace today.

Earlier, I had told myself I could take walking breaks on the hills in the second half.  As I warmed up, I no longer felt like I needed any walking breaks.  On my fifth lap, I put more energy into running the hills.  By the end of my sixth lap, I realized I would wear myself out if I kept doing that.

I realized after six laps that I wasn’t going to be taking any more pictures, so I made another quick trip to my car to drop off my phone.

I hate carrying any extra weight while I’m running.  When I put a phone in my fanny pack, I immediately feel weighted down.  I though I would feel lighter without the phone, but I didn’t notice much of a difference.  That was disappointing.  It wasn’t until after the race that I looked up how much the phone weighs.  It’s only 7.09 ounces, although that doesn’t include the protective case.  It feels heavier when I’m holding it in my hand.

With about four miles to go, I realized I had a good chance of beating my time form Monday’s race.  I picked up my effort.  I ran mile 24 in 10:10.  That was my fastest mile since the first lap.  I picked up my effort more.  I ran mile 25 in 9:34.  By now, I was into the hilly section.  My left hamstring felt tight.  Earlier it felt tight because it was cold.  Now it felt tight because the muscles were getting fatigued.  I continued to put effort into my pace, but not too much effort.  I didn’t want to pull a muscle.

The last mile of the course has so many hills and turns that it’s hard to remember them all.  I didn’t know how close I was to finishing until I caught a glimpse of something metallic through the trees.  I was pretty sure it must have been a reflection from one of the cars in the parking lot.  I had to go around two more turns before I could see the cars through the trees.  I was almost done.

I ran the 26th mile in 9:35.  That was only one second slower than the previous mile, even though this mile had most of the hills.

When I reached the parking lot, I didn’t make an all-out dash to the finish.  If anything, I slowed down.  I was still afraid of pulling a muscle.  My left hamstring still felt tight.

I finished the race in 4:30:36.  That’s almost four minutes faster than Monday.  On Monday, I had positive splits by almost 14 minutes.  Today, I ran negative splits by roughly one minute.

All of the finisher medals for this series have similar designs.  This one was in the shape of Rhode Island.

During the race, I drank Gatorade, but I didn’t eat any solid food.  I made up for that after the race.  I ate a hot dog, some chili, and several chunks of watermelon.  I also drank some Gatorade.  I felt a little bit dehydrated.

When I got into my car, my left foot started to cramp up.  I noticed salt on my arms.  I definitely should’ve been drinking more during the race.  Because I felt cold for half of the race, I didn’t realize how much I was sweating.

My hotel doesn’t have a hot tub, but my room has a nice deep bathtub.  I took a long hot bath to warm up my legs and give the muscles a chance to relax.  Then I did some stretches and worked on my hamstrings with a massage stick.

I put more effort into this race than I did on Monday, particularly on the last lap.  I don’t know if I ran hard enough to have sore muscles, but I’m definitely going to feel tired when I start my race on Friday.

Since I’m not racing tomorrow, I don’t need to drive to Connecticut until tomorrow.  I’ll relax tonight, sleep a little later tomorrow, and enjoy a full breakfast instead of just eating a few cookies.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:30:36

Average pace:  10:19 

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  454

Rhode Island Marathons:  5

Race Report: 2022 Pine Tree Marathon

On May 16, I ran the Pine Tree Marathon in Portland, ME.  This race is part of the New England Challenge, which includes marathons in all six New England States over six consecutive days.

In 2014, I ran the entire series, although it didn’t include a Vermont race at that time.  This year, I’m just doing three of the six races.  When you’re racing in different states each day, the travel is just as challenging as the running.  I’m not a big fan of having to check out of my hotel and drive for a few hours on the same day that I’m running a marathon.  For that reason, I’m only running every other day this time.

To get a reasonable rate on a rental car, you need to pick it up and drop it off in the same place.  With that in mind, I picked an airport that was centrally located for my trip.  My first race was in Portland, and my last race is in Hartford, so I flew to Boston and drove from there.

My flight got in right just before noon on Sunday.  After picking up my rental car, I made a lunch stop in Revere before continuing to Portland.  The drive took about two hours, so I arrived in Portland in the mid-afternoon.

The last time I was in Portland, I didn’t have time to do any sightseeing.  This time, I had much more free time.  The place I was most interested in visiting was the Portland Head Light.  This lighthouse was originally completed in 1791, and underwent significant renovations during the Civil War.  It was decommissioned in 1989 after being operational for more than 200 years.  Since then, it has been converted to a museum.

There were sunny skies over most of Portland, so I was disappointed when I got to Cape Elizabeth and found it to be socked in with fog.  I could see the lighthouse, but I couldn’t take any good pictures.  I took the pictures below on Tuesday, when the skies were clear.

Last winter, Deb and I binge-watched a TV series called Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  The last few seasons of this series featured a setting commonly referred to as “The Lighthouse.”  The fictitious lighthouse in the TV series was said to be somewhere on the shores of Lake Ontario.  In fact, the actual lighthouse used for exterior shots was the Portland Head Light.

After getting back to the hotel, I organized my clothes for the race and then walked to dinner.  When I booked my hotel, I didn’t know if it was close to any good restaurants.  As it turns out, I found a good pizzeria just half a mile away, and there was a brewery in the same building.

When I was in Fort Lauderdale for the National Senior Games, I needed to be up at 4:30 three days in a row, so I got used to an early-to-bed, early to rise schedule.  I’m doing the same thing this week.  I went to bed right after dinner, and I was able to get to sleep right away.  On race morning, I woke up before my alarm.

As is often the case, I was staying at a hotel that has a complimentary breakfast, but I had to leave before they started their breakfast service.  When I woke up, I made some tea and ate a few shortbread cookies.

The race started at 6:00 AM, but I needed to get there early to pick up my race packet.  For the other races in this series, I’ll wear the same race bib, so this was the only time I needed to get there early.

The temperature was in the low 50s.  When the temperature is below 50, I wear tights.  Today, it seemed like it was warm enough that I should be comfortable in shorts.  While I was waiting for the race to start, I occasionally felt a few drops.  I didn’t know if it would rain during the race, so I started the race wearing a light jacket.  I also wore gloves.

The course was a 3.55 mile loop around Back Cove.  We ran this loop seven times, plus an out-and-back at the beginning, to make the distance come out right.  The course is certified, and the race is chip-timed.  You can qualify for Boston here, but I wasn’t that ambitious.  I just wanted to run the race at a comfortable pace and keep some gas in the tank for Wednesday.

I started running at a pace that felt nice and relaxed.  I didn’t have any time goal.  Instead, I ran by feel.  At any given time, I ran at the pace that felt most comfortable.  That’s what I generally do for training runs, but I rarely do that in a race.

There was one well-stocked aid station in the start/finish area.  When I finished the out-and-back, I wasn’t that thirsty.  I knew it would be about half an hour before I came back to the aid station again, so I drank a small amount of water.  After that, I always drank a substantial amount of Gatorade.

By the time I started my first full lap, my hands were getting warm.  I took off my gloves and put them in my fanny pack.  I kept my jacket on a little longer.

We were running on Back Cove Trail, which is firmly packed dirt.  While technically a trail, I found it to be a good running surface.

At one end of the cove, we ran across a bridge.  This was the only part of the course that was paved.

The course was mostly flat.  The only hill was coming up to the highway before turning to cross the bridge.

After about three miles, I started to feel sweaty underneath my jacket.  It was time to take it off and tie it around my waist.

By the middle of my second lap, I started to notice that my hands were getting cold, but only on one side of the cove.  There was a breeze blowing in off the coast.  I got coldest where I felt that breeze the most.  I also sometimes felt a few small  drops.  At first, it seemed like drizzle, but I don’t think it ever rained during the race.  It seemed like there was a fine mist in the air, where the wind was blowing across the cove.

By my third lap, I also noticed my legs were getting cold.  In the first half of the race, my hands and legs only felt cold on one side of the cove.  By the second half of the race, I was feeling cold all the way around the cove.

In addition to water and Gatorade, the aid station had a variety of food.  I don’t usually eat solid food during a marathon, but I paused after my fourth lap to eat a PBJ.  I wanted to make sure I was taking in enough calories to stay warm.

Before starting my next lap, I slowed to a walk, so I could put my gloves on again.  Even though my hands were cold, they were also sweaty.  I had trouble getting my gloves on.  I probably walked for at least a minute while I put on my gloves.  During that time, my legs got even colder.  With gloves on, my hands quickly got more comfortable.  It didn’t help my legs, however.

I wasn’t trying to stay on any particular pace, but I still noticed when my watch recorded a split.  Early in the race, my mile times tended to be between 9:30 and 9:45.  By the middle of the race, I was consistently running miles that were slower than 10 minutes.  That trend continued.  By the end of the race, my pace slowed to roughly 11 minutes per mile.

As my legs got cold, some of the muscles in my legs felt tight.  I’m sure it was affecting my running efficiency.  It seemed like my strides were getting shorter.  I probably could’ve compensated by putting more energy into my stride, but I didn’t want to do that.  I wanted to run the whole race at a pace that felt relaxed.  I was also afraid I might pull a muscle if I tried to pick up the pace when my muscles were so tight.

I felt like my cadence never changed much.  As a result, any decrease in stride length led to a slower pace.  I could’ve worked to increase my cadence, but I really didn’t want to put too much energy into this race.  I just accepted that this was going to be a slow race.

When I finished my fifth lap, I ate another PBJ.  I had a little over seven miles to go, but all I could tell myself is I had two laps to go.  That’s how it is when you’re running multiple laps.  You measure the remaining distance in laps, rather than in miles.  You could know exactly how many miles are left, but that somehow feels abstract.

After my sixth lap, I ate an egg roll.  The egg rolls were warm, but not too hot to eat.  That really hit the spot, although washing it down with Gatorade sort of ruined the flavor.

With only one lap to go, the remaining distance seemed much more manageable, but I was running so slowing that it still seemed to take a long time.

I finished the race in 4:34:20.  I never expected to be that slow in a race where I was basically running the whole way.  I slowed to  a walk a few times, to put on gloves or to take off my jacket.  I also took a few pictures.  Other than that, I was always running.

The finisher medal was in the shape of the state of Maine.

Ordinarily, I would’ve left right away, so I could get back to the hotel and warm up.  I decided to hang around at the finish when I found out they were making a pot of chicken fagioli soup at the aid station.

While I was waiting for the soup to cook, I went to my car to get a pair of wind pants to keep my legs warm.  It was only after pulling them on over my shoes that I realized how dusty my shoes were.  I got a lot of dust inside the lining of my wind pants.

I ended up talking to other runners for more than an hour before finally driving back to the hotel.  I was looking forward to warming up in the hotel’s hot tub.  It wasn’t until I got there that I found out the hut tub was out of order.  I had to settle for taking a hot bath in my room.  At least I had a tub.  That’s something I usually make sure of when I’m booking a hotel for a race.

When I retrieved the data from my watch, I looked to see if my cadence changed during the race.  From the first graph below, you can see it remained fairly consistent.  There are a few outlying points, but those were times I slowed to a walk briefly or stopped to take a picture.  From the second graph, you can see the way my pace changed throughout the race.  The deterioration of my pace was due entirely to a gradual shortening of my stride as my legs got cold.

I’ll be curious to see how my next race goes.  Hopefully this one was a fluke.  If the weather is similar, I’ll probably opt for tights instead of shorts.  I’m also a little worried about my left hamstring.  Later in the day, it still felt tight.

Most of the other runners had to leave right after the race to drive to New Hampshire for tomorrow’s race.  I’m skipping that one.  I’ll be spending one more night in Portland before driving to Rhode Island for Wednesday’s race.  That means I can sleep in tomorrow and enjoy the hotel breakfast.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:34:20

Average pace:  10:28

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  453

Maine Marathons/Ultras:  4

2022 National Senior Games: 5,000 Meter Race-Walk

On May 11, I competed in the 5,000 meter race-walk event at the National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  This was my second race-walking event in two days.  Yesterday, I did the 1,500 meter race.

In contrast to yesterday’s race, which was on a track, today’s race was on pavement.  It was a 1,000 meter road circuit outside of Florida Live Arena.  We needed to complete the circuit five times.

I already had my race bibs, since they’re the same ones I wore for yesterday’s 1,500 meter race.  That meant I didn’t have to leave the hotel quite as early as I did yesterday.

I felt like the breakfast I ate yesterday was about right, so I did the same thing today.  I bought Pop Tarts in the hotel store and had them with tea, which I made in my room.  That allowed me to eat breakfast as soon as I woke up, so I would have a little time to digest before the race.

Although I already had my race bibs, I still wanted to get to the race venue a little early.  I was a unsure exactly where we were supposed to meet, so I allowed some time for getting lost.  When I got to the arena, the first two gates I passed were closed.  I continued until I found a gate that was open, but I still didn’t know exactly where to go.  There wasn’t any signage.

After driving more that halfway around the arena and its many parking lots, I saw an employee on a golf cart.  I stopped to ask him if he knew where the race-walking event was.  He didn’t know, but he told me had seen a white tent in one of the parking lots near Gate 2.  I continued driving around the building until I saw a white canopy with several cars parked nearby.  That was it.

I was there in time to watch the start of the women’s heat, which started at 7:30.  The men’s race wasn’t scheduled to start until 8:15.

While I was watching the women’s race, I learned how competitors are informed of red cards.  Often a judge will say something as a walker passes, but you don’t always know for sure if they’re giving you a red card, or if it’s just a warning.  Near the end of the course, there was a board where they listed the numbers of any walkers who had been given red cards.  Each red dot next to a number represents one red card.

In pre-race instructions, the walkers were all told that even if they see three red dots next to their number, they should continue walking, just in case there was a mistake.  If someone is actually disqualified, the chief judge will hold up a red paddle and ask them to leave the course.

The weather today was several degrees cooler than yesterday.  There was a chance of a late morning shower, but that never materialized.  I found the conditions to be almost ideal for a 5K race.

I had been worried about whether walking at an all-out pace would aggravate my lower back.  It never bothered me during yesterday’s race, and I felt fine for the rest of the day.  I was surprised that I felt much better after an intense 1,500 meter race than I did the day before after sitting on a plane for a few hours.

This morning, I felt fine when I got up, but after driving to today’s race, I noticed some minor discomfort near my right hip.  Every so often, I would lean against a light pole and do some pelvic tilts.

I walked yesterday’s race at a pace that extrapolates to 9:38 per mile.  That gave me a good idea what my top speed is.  What I didn’t know is what pace I could sustain for 5,000 meters, which is more than three times as far.  Besides yesterday’s race, I had two other benchmarks in mind.  The first was my 5,000 meter time from the Minnesota Senior Games last August.  That worked out to an average pace of 9:55 per mile.  The other was the 10:17 pace that I averaged last month at the B.A.A. 5K race.  I expected my pace today to be somewhere between those two.

I placed fourth yesterday, and I wanted to see if I could climb into the top three today.  My top speed isn’t as fast as some of the other walkers, but I was hoping my marathon training would give me more staying power.  Before the race, I recognized the guy who won my age group yesterday.  I didn’t spot the second and third place walkers from yesterday’s race, but that didn’t mean they weren’t here.  Also, I didn’t know if there were fast walkers in today’s race who didn’t do yesterday’s race.

The course had two turnaround points.  Roughly 100 meters from the start, we turned around a circle of cones.  The other end of the circuit went through a parking lot, and the turnaround was much wider.

When the gun went off, I started walking as fast as I could.  There was a lead pack of about seven walkers who reached the first turn ahead of me.  One of them was the guy who won my age group yesterday.  I didn’t know how many of the others were in my age group.  Since men from every age group were in the same heat, I liked my odds of being in the top three or four in my age group.

Two men were way out in front.  The other five who were ahead of me were in a pack.  The guy who won my age group yesterday was leading them.  I was surprised how close I was to his pace, but that was in the first 100-200 meters.  Then I gradually fell farther behind, although I could almost always see them.

There were at least six race-walking judges spread around the course.  Except for the turnarounds, the course was basically out-and-back.  That meant each judge could observe walkers from both directions.  On average, we passed within sight of a judge every 100 meters.

As I was nearing the far turn during my first lap, I heard one of the judges warn the walker in front of me that his knee was bent.  As we passed near the next judge, he warned the same walker.  The next judge did too.  As we reached the end of the lap, he passed near the chief race-walking judge and asked her something.  I couldn’t hear, but he probably asked her how many red cards he had.  It might have already been three.  The judge said, “I don’t have any information for you.”  Then she added, “… but I’m calling you for bent knee.”

As I finished my first lap, I looked at my watch.  I finished that lap in 6:16, which put me on pace to finish in 31:20.  That was slower than my time last August at the Minnesota Senior Games, but it was faster than my time a month ago in the B.A.A. 5K.  That was within my expectations.

I had established a reasonable starting pace.  Now I had to work hard to sustain it.  I still wasn’t that far behind the pack of walkers in front of me.  I tried to tether myself to them.

Midway through my second lap, I felt my watch vibrate as it recorded a split.  My pace for my first full mile was 10:02.  Again, that was within the range I expected.  I wanted to get my pace down to 10 minutes, but I just haven’t done enough recent training.

As I neared the end of my second lap, I looked at the board for red cards.  I was looking for number 41.  That was the walker who was right in front of me in my previous lap.  I had since passed him, but I knew at least four judges had said something to him about his form.  His number wasn’t on the board yet.  Sometimes a judge will give you a warning and keep their eyes on you in subsequent laps.  If you can correct your form, you’re OK.  If you can’t, they’ll give you a red card the next time they see you.  Apparently, this walker was able to correct his form.  Much later in the race, I saw he had one red card, but I don’t think he ever got disqualified.

I walked my second lap in 6:13.  That was three seconds faster than my first lap.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold that pace much longer.  It was in the third lap that I began to struggle with the pace.  I did the best I could, but I slowed down a little.

The race was chip-timed and there was a race official just past the finish line transponder who could see our splits for each lap as well as our cumulative times.  Each time a walker passed, he read their time and their lap split.  That proved to be helpful when I finished my third lap.  When I looked at my watch, I saw my time, but made a mental arithmetic error as I computed my split.  I thought I had sped up by one second.  In fact, I slowed down by nine seconds.  I realized by mistake only after the official told me my split.  Then I lit a fire under myself to pick up my effort in the last two laps.

Near the beginning of my fourth lap, I got another mile split from my watch.  It was 10:14, which was discouraging.  I worked even harder to pick up the pace again.

I saw that I was started to gain ground on one of the walkers ahead of me.  I knew he was in a different age group, but I tried to catch him anyway.  Near the end of the lap, I finally reeled him in.  As I went by, I said, “Don’t worry about me.  I’m not in your age group.”  As it turns out, he had other worries.  We passed a judge, who gave him a red card.  After the race, I found out he was disqualified.

My fourth lap was one second faster than my third lap.  As I started the last lap, I looked for the walker who won my age group yesterday.  He was on his way back from the first turn.  It’s possible his lead wasn’t as large as it had been earlier, but he was still at least 100 meters ahead of me.

After making the turn myself, I looked for him and realized there were no other walkers between us.  I assumed he was winning our age group.  If he was, then I was in second.  That gave me the motivation I needed to hold it together for one more lap.

I lapped several walkers who were near the back of the pack.  I kept my focus on the one runner ahead of me who I knew was in my age group.  I knew I wouldn’t catch him, but I didn’t want to lose sight of him.

I finished the race in 31:31.12.  I heard the timing official say I had sped up in my last lap.  I did, but only by one second.  I went to the walker I had been chasing and asked him if he had won our age group.  He did, but as it turns out, he had been worried about another walker who started even faster.  That guy got disqualified.

When I finished, they were still presenting the awards for the women.  They did them one age group at a time, and there were eight awards for each age group.  It took time to get through them all.  Eventually, they got to the men, but I still had to wait for all the older age groups before they got to mine.  Then I finally got confirmation that I won the silver medal for my age group.

I never noticed my lower back during the race, but I started to notice it afterwards.  It felt different than it did before the race.  I had some minor soreness near my tailbone.  I couldn’t do much about it while I was at the race.  When I got back to the hotel, I took a hot bath and did some more stretching.  After that, it felt much better.

I don’t have any other race-walking events scheduled.  In the short term, I’m going to shift my focus back to running marathons.  Walking will still be a part of my training, but I can do longer walks at a less intense pace.  If my back continues to improve, I may do the walking events at this year’s Minnesota Senior Games, but those are still a few months away.

Race statistics:

Distance:  5,000 meters

Time:  31:31.12

Average pace:  6:18 per kilometer; 10:08 per mile

Average cadence:  174 strides per minute

Place in age group:  2nd

2022 National Senior Games: 1500 Meter Race-Walk

On May 10, I competed in the 1,500 meter race-walk event at the National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  I qualified for nationals by winning my age group in the 5,000 meter race-walk event at the Minnesota Senior Games last August.  There are two race-walk distances: 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters.  I didn’t do the 1,500 meter race in Minnesota, but if you qualify in one distance, you can do both distances at nationals.

At the Minnesota Senior Games, the 1,500 and 5,000 were both held on the same day.  I didn’t think I could race both events, since they were only two hours apart.  At the National Senior Games, the 1,500 and 5,000 meter events are on different days, so it seemed more reasonable to do both.

The National Senior Games take place over 14 days.  There are events in 21 different sports.  I was only competing in the race-walk events, which took place on the first two days.

I stayed at a hotel that was near the airport.  Ideally, I would’ve stayed at a hotel that was closer to where I was racing.  The 1,500 and 5,000 meter events were held at different venues.  There weren’t any hotels close to the track and field complex where the 1,500 meter race was held.  There was one hotel close to where the 5,000 meter race will be held, but I couldn’t get a room there.  No matter where I stayed, I would have to get up early to drive to the races, so I picked a hotel that had some nearby restaurants.

I flew to Fort Lauderdale on Monday.  I arrived after noon, so I made a fast food lunch stop before continuing to my hotel.  After checking in at my hotel, I had to wait until 4:00 before I could pick up my credentials.  In the meantime, I went to the hotel’s fitness rooms to do some leg and back exercises.

Athlete check-in was at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center.  We had to check in and pick up our credentials before we could pick up our race bibs for individual events.

In addition to my badge, I received a welcome bag that contained a program, some coupons, and some product samples.  The most useful product sample was probably the pain relief gel.

There were some good restaurants near my hotel, but I wanted to get to bed early, so I had dinner in the hotel restaurant before turning in early.

My alarm was set for 5:00 AM.  I was already awake at 4:30, so I got up and started getting ready.  I was planning to leave before the hotel started their breakfast, so I made a cup of tea in my room and ate some Pop Tarts that I bought the night before.

The race was held on a 400 meter track at the Ansin Sports Complex.  I had to pick up my race bib at the race venue between 6:00 and 7:00 AM.  I was planning to get there around 6:30.  Since I was up early, I was able to leave a little earlier than I planned.  I got to the race venue a little after 6:00.

When I checked in, I received two race bibs.  The first one, which I wore on the front of my shirt, was a standard race bib with a timing chip.  The second race bib, which I wore on my back, showed which age group I was in.

The race was split into four heats.  I was in the third heat, which was for men between the ages of 50 and 69.  My heat wasn’t scheduled to start until 8:20 AM.  In the meantime, I talked to other walkers and watched the first heat, which was for women, ages 70-94.

While the first heat was still going on, they were already lining up the men who were in the second heat.  Since my heat was next, I put my phone in my car and made a bathroom stop.

When I checked in for my heat, I was assigned a number reflecting where I would line up.  This number was also used by the race-walking judges, in case they needed to disqualify someone.

They had stickers with numbers from one to thirty.  I was assigned number 32.  Since they didn’t have any stickers for numbers above thirty, they had to use a “3” and a “2.”  I had to wear stickers like this on the front of my shirt, the back of my shirt, and on my left hip.

The temperature at the start was 74 degrees.  I was expecting high humidity, but I really didn’t notice it.  There was just enough of a breeze to keep me from feeling hot.  We were also starting before the sun got too high in the sky.  I found the conditions to be surprisingly comfortable.

I’ve never raced this distance before.  All my training has been for the 5,000 meter event, which will be held tomorrow.  I’m hoping to be competitive at that distance, but I didn’t expect to be competitive in the 1,500.  With that in mind, I viewed today’s race as a tune-up for tomorrow’s race.

We started on the far side of the track.  We had to go three quarters of the way around the track and then do three complete laps.  I was lined up in the outermost lane.  When the gun went off, I focused only on the first 100 meters.  I walked as fast as I possibly could, with no regard to whether I could sustain this pace for 100 meters.  I needed to cross over in the inside lane before the first turn.  My goal was to pass as many people as possible in the first 100 meters, so I wouldn’t be behind as many people when I started the turn.

I was going as fast as I could, but the majority of the walkers in my heat were already in front of me by the time I got over to the inside lane.  After that, I just followed the other walkers around the turn and tried my best to keep up my initial fast pace.

By the time I entered the second turn, I was gaining on the walker right in front of me.  I stayed behind him going around the turn, but sped up and passed him as soon as we reached the next straightaway.

There were five race-walking judges spread out around the track.  Any one of them could give you a warning if your form was borderline or a “red card” if your form wasn’t legal.  There are two possible infractions.  The first is called, “lifting.”  It means you have both feet off the ground at the same time.  The other infraction is called “bent knee.”  The knee of your supporting leg has to be straight from the moment you make contact with the ground.  It’s easy to know if you’re lifting.  You would feel it.  It’s harder to know if you’re consistently keeping your knee straight.

I was mostly concerned with the effort it took to walk so fast, but whenever I saw one of the judges, I asked myself if I was confident my knee was straight on every stride.  I was reasonably sure it was, but I wouldn’t know for sure unless a judge said something.

As I was nearing one of the judges, I saw her suddenly move toward the track.  Then she said, “Number 3, bent knee.”  That was the guy in front of me.  Going around the next turn, I heard another judge say, “Number 3, right knee bent.”

By the end of my second lap, I passed walker number 3.  He was the last runner I would pass.  By then, we were spread out far enough that I was more concerned with maintaining my pace than my position relative to other walkers.

Although my number was 32, there weren’t that many walkers on the track.  There were several no-shows.  I counted about 24 runners in my heat.  I didn’t know how many of them were in my age group.  The 50-54, 55-59, 60-64 and 65-69 age groups were all on the track at once.

I could’ve looked for the age group listed on each walker’s back, but I pretty much only saw the walker in front of me.  I really didn’t have any idea where I stood against other walkers in my age group.

If three different judges give you a “red card,” you’re disqualified.  There’s one exception to that.  In the last 100 meters of the race, the head judge can disqualify you, even if you haven’t been flagged by any other judge.  The purpose of that rule is to keep someone from taking off and running when it’s late in the race and only one judge is around.

With this rule in mind, I was very conscious of my form as I entered the last 100 meters.  Rather than fight like mad to shave off a second or two, I played it safe and maintained my same stride.

I crossed the finish line in 8:59.96, but I would have to wait for the awards presentation to find out how I placed within my age group.  While I was waiting, I heard one of the judges call for number 3 to come see them.  I knew what that meant.  He was disqualified.  That wasn’t a big surprise, since I already knew at least two judges had flagged him for bent knee.

Number 4 and number 16 were also disqualified.  Number 16 was flabbergasted, since he didn’t remember getting any warnings.  Most likely, he was disqualified in the last 100 meters by the head judge.  That’s why I was extra careful in the last 100 meters.

I eventually learned that I placed fourth in the 60-64 age group.  They had medals for the top three finishers and ribbons for places four through eight.

Before I left the Ansin Sports Complex, I learned that the race bibs I wore today will also be used for tomorrow’s 5,000 meter race.  Since I already have my race bibs for tomorrow, I won’t have to get to the race venue as early.

My pace for today’s race was about what I expected.  I didn’t know if that would be fast enough to be competitive, so I’m happy with fourth place.  Tomorrow’s race is the one I was training for.  My goal is third place, but I didn’t get my training going until March.  I’m not as fast right now as I was last October.

The three walkers who finished ahead of me today will probably all be doing tomorrow’s race as well.  Can I place higher in a longer race?  I know the pace I was walking today won’t be sustainable for 5,000 meters.  It stands to reason, however, that everyone will have to go at a slower pace tomorrow.  I’m hoping I have better endurance than at least one of the guys who finished ahead of me today.  If nothing else, I appear to be within striking distance.  That’ll make tomorrow’s race exciting.

To be continued …

Race statistics:

Distance:  1,500 meters

Time:  8:59.96

Average pace:  6:00 per kilometer; 9:38 per mile

Place in age group:  4th