Paine to Paine

Last year one of the races that we ventured out of town to do was a trail half marathon up in New Rochelle, about 45mins north of the city. Well, 45mins going there at 7am and about 2 hours coming home in the afternoon!

It wasn't a race I really enjoyed last time as it was constantly undulating without being hilly and I ended up running most of it all on my own AND the weather was humid so it fogged my glasses in among the trees.

But another REI store was one of the sponsors so I enquired and received a free entry so I had to go! It was going to be good training for the marathon anyway and with all that running I thought I could go quicker. Last year I was 5th in the 40-49 age group so maybe there was a slim chance I could get into the top 3.

It is a really nice location and the finishing area with the cheerleaders and running track and all the free food and a hot shower afterwards also make it a good event.

Unfortunately after a couple of weeks of cooler weather (20-25 degrees but with fresh air rather than humidity) we woke up to find the forecast was correct and it was humid.

The updates from the race organiser were pretty humorous. For example:

4.   Number transfers are not permitted. Veteran P2Pers will remember that if you transfer a number, a kitten will die. And it will be your fault.

I also just read this on his post-race report:
"Was this year’s edition of Paine to Pain hard with the 200% humidity? Well I didn’t run it this year, I watched you. But 2x Badwater champ Pam Reed came up to me after the race. “That was hard.”
It made me smile. We didn’t call this the Buttercup Classic, after all."

Badwater is a 130+mile Ultra marathon through Death Valley.
Hey, at least it wasn't sunny!! I would've really struggled with that. And of course the weather has gone straight back down to regular Autumn weather for the rest of this week.

The start is uphill on the road for 1/4 mile lined by the school cheerleaders and then it's into the woods, up and down, 750ft of ascent and 750ft of descent, no major hills just constantly rolling terrain which is probably worse. There are only 3 mile markers, all of which say "-ish" after the number but having done it last year I at least had that finish time to go on.

I started quite strong, then had a mid race slowdown where I got fed up running with 4 or 5 guys in a small group so eased off a little. Then after running on my own for a couple of miles and taking my gel and water at the 8M mark I picked the pace up and slowly reeled in all but one of them. The marathon training really gives you a strong finish even if its just a little bit of a mental boost.

I love the finish where you pop out of the woods, down the road between the cheerleaders and onto the running track for a 300m lap to the finish. I finished in just over 1hour 32mins (7.03 pace), knocking 2mins off last years time in the near identical conditions.

As I came down the home straight the race commentator said my name and informed me I was in 10th place! I was 20th last year so that was a big whoop when I heard that.

Heather didn't really enjoy the race, if you hadn't run it before the course and weather conditions made it tough, much as I found it last year.

I waited for the prize giving as there were prizes for first 3 in each age group and I was 5th last year. There was one guy in the 40-49 that finished 3rd overall and then when they read out the 20-29 age group I was ticking them off when all 3 were faster than me. Then I was really pleased when he read the 3rd place and 2nd place and then I was 1st!!

Big glass tankard

Afterwards we took our hire car to the same supermarket in the suburbs as last year and got a big pastrami sandwich for lunch, some ice cream and then looked at the animals they had outside, ha ha.

The only downside was that weekend was supposed to be my second 20M training run but the half was a good test of where I'm at. This week is a recovery week then I'll try a 20M the following week.

Week 11: 44M

Training Weeks 9 & 10

My week 9 plan looked like it would be pretty tough when I glanced at it out of the corner of my eye a few weeks ago. The 20M Sunday run looked so much further than 19M for some reason! It must be because so many times you read how hitting 20M in training is the benchmark for marathon training.

I've pretty much managed to stick to the plan throughout the weeks so I'm now going into these runs actually looking forward to them! As long as you have the time to do them AND the time to spend the rest of the day recovering then I've really been enjoying the challenge of running further than I've ever ran before, visiting areas I've never been and I guess also trying out the different nutrition aspects.

The harder runs to do have been either the midweek longer run such as the 10M run before work on the Tuesday and the longer faster (supposed) marathon pace runs.

I managed an easy 10M on the Saturday in cloudy humid weather. Then thankfully after the late Saturday rain Sunday was a really nice 24 degrees and had relatively cool air for a change, so I felt really good!

I had varied my route ever so slightly from the other long runs I've done in order to do the shadeless part first and also to avoid the century event bike riders that were out and about on the shore pathway.

Of course I went slightly the wrong way a couple of times so I knew I would be hitting the 20M mark before I got all the way home.
It was the first time I have tried mixing the energy gels with water in the little flask. It seemed to work good except I only did one so I think I need both flasks for that kind of distance.  I averaged about 8.30 pace although I stopped frequently for water top-ups and toilet stops. I had planned to speed up for the last 5M depending on how I felt and I averaged 7.40 for them, finishing with a 7.22 mile which was pleasing.

What wasn't so good was reaching 20.M and being at the bottom of the park with a 1.5M uphill walk to home. I was mentally finished by then as I'd obviously set out with 20M in mind so I bought a drink and strolled home.

During this week I heard something hit the window and fall onto the air conditioning unit. I looked out and there was this massive cicada just sitting there. Never really seen them before, you just hear them in the trees on a hot summer night.

Week 10 was a recovery week and next week I am doing a half marathon trail race, the same one I did last year (and didn't enjoy that much). So although the time won't mean much at least I can compare times and how I'm feeling. I just have to work out how to adjust my plan as that was supposed to be my next 20M weekend.

On 9/11 we stuck our heads out our window to see the light display they had again. Like the bat symbol!

This week also seemed to really signal the change from Summer to Autumn. You know it's cooler when I started the run in the sun instead of the shade and I've put on socks in the house for the first time since April I think. It should help the running though, it might be easier to do some of the after work running.

Week 9: 56M
Week 10: 38M