Pervasive Power Charge 10-Miler
As RunTex mentioned in their
review of the race, the hills were brutal. The weather was perfect, but the hills were brutal.
Pervasive and the other sponsors did a great job pre-race to post-race. A live band playing tunes after the racce with plenty of bananas, sports drinks, Clif bars and oranges allowed everyone to chill and recover from the morning of climbing.
My pre-race meals still need a little tweeking. Basically, that would amount to no calimary or wine the night before and more liquid carbs the morning of the race. My stomach didn't settle down until mile five. By then there were a couple inclines (139 ft.) and the beast of a hill (194 ft. @ Scotland Wells Drive) that took my thoughts to my shins, calves, knees and quads. After running the first hill, I decided to drink on the second and third hill.
Scotland Wells Drive = 0.49 miles long with a 196.45 foot gain in elevation or an average grade of 13.8%.
The next race in the
Austin Distance Challenge, has a few comparable hills to Pervasive's so I'll need to work in some hills in the next month. I should have done some hill work prior to the race. Overall, I feel good about the result, as my pace time 9:19/mile was about the same as the other races and this one had the hills. The weather was better with lower humidity and temperature and so that played a factor.
I finally found out the problem with my MP3 player. It's a cheap SD card reader/player that has been skipping certain tracks whenever I load more songs onto it. I had to run with fewer songs and listen to them twice as I couldn't figure out what was wrong by race time. This morning I found out that the player was confused by the track information on each song. It was confused when two songs both were track number one on their albums. Once I removed all the track information, all of the songs played in alphabetical order.
Age Results
96 Tony Mook Austin TX 44 483 1:33:10.7 9:19/M
Overall Results
697 Tony Mook Austin TX 44 96 M 40-44 1:33:10.7 9:19/M
Google's gmap-pedometer site
Just last week I was taking a screen shot of a map and the took it into Photoshop to plot out the distance of a run. No more! Google has now made an interface to do all the hard work for us. Go to http://www.gmap-pedometer.com and it'll have you get situated where you want to start. You then start the recoding and double-click each plot point on the map.
Features such as distance travelled, calories burned are also available.
This is a wonderful piece of software.
Diet & Supplements
I got through a ten-mile run yesterday. Everything felt fine except for the knees. I couldn't ice them down and I'm trying to stay away from the ibuprofen NSAIDs. I've heard mixed results from studies on Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM. Most have said there are no side effects from taking the supplements, contrary to the NSAIDs. From the review, it seems the argument boils down to whether the supplements can grow new cartilage. GluChonMSM does seem to prevent further wear with age. Runner's endorsements of the supplements, in a non-advertising sponsorship way, have appeared throughout the running literature.
I stopped by Central Market and picked up a bottle of 60 capsules. Since it takes about four weeks to notice the improvement, I'll be on my second bottle before I can report back anything. I also picked up a bottle of the Fish Oil softgels, the brand made from cold-water fish which doesn't contain the mercury, PCBs and lead the warm-water fish contain.
So my list of daily dietary and supplemental foods and minerals at this point are;
- Emer'gen-C powder vitamin and mineral supplement
- NOW Glucosamine & MSM with Chondroitin Sulfate capsule
- Fish Oil Omega 3 softgels
- Now Selenium 100 mcg
- Now Zinc 50 mg
- Eclectic Institute Ginkgo 500 mg
- NOW Co-Q-10
After Running
Electrolyte Stamina Power Pak
IBM Uptown Classic 10K
A great race! I haven't participated in many of them, yet the organizers of this one seemed to know what they were doing. The sponsors came through with boodles of freebies after the race. I loaded up on Clif bars, Mangia pizza, oranges and bananas.
The
IBM Uptown Classic proved to be mostly flat with just a couple of slight uphills along the route. I enjoyed the scenery during the first half of the race along Shoal Creek and wished we could have run along Shoal Creek for a little longer. Also the first half of the race is when everyone is trying to get their pace set and negotiating running room around the slower runners, walkers and the strollers. Compared to the 5K I didn't have to run around too many walkers or strollers this time. However, there were still quite a few ten-to-twelve minute mile racers too far front at the start.
Northcross Mall seemed a very good location for a 10K start. Plenty of parking and area to walk around, stretch and a convenience store or two to pick up last minute items. I forgot my orange juice, honey and M&Ms so I stopped in.
I decided last week to run in my
Merrell mocs, since last week they felt pretty good on a six mile run. My New Balance had worn a little next to my little toe and caused a blister to form. They proved to be the right shoe for the run and I had no problems. My new shirt did prove to be a problem. I picked up a sleeveless polyester running shirt from Oshman's last week, as the sweatty cotton shirts were rubbing my chest raw. This one did as well so I'll have to figure something out, short of shaving my chest.
My new running socks did their job. I didn't feel like I had water-soaked socks at the end of the race. They vented the moisture out of the foot area and transferred it to the shoe, that then vented it out.
My tunes worked out. I spent Saturday sewing my arm band strap and it worked well, except for the one time the MP3 player paused. I removed it from the strap, adjusted the song list and when it went back on the strap it fell to the ground. The SD card went one way, the battery another, and the battery cover in another. That cost me a couple of minutes. I'll have to do some more sewing.
What I ate seemed to agree with me as did the two days of rest before. Potatoes, pasta, tomatoes and a little wine fully got digested by race day. The yogurt the morning of the race, coffee, orange juice and M&Ms worked as well. I also drank like a fish (water) the day before which made me quite hydrated for the race. I only stopped for water after mile three, and drank half the cup of water at mile four, five and six with the other half going on my head.
My new hat worked out better than the cycling hat I've been running in. This one has air holes, and although there wasn't any breeze during the race, it allowed a little ventilation.
I came across the finish line, feeling like I hadn't pressed for a faster pace. I finished with energy left to burn and found out my pace was 9:25 per mile. The legs and body felt good. No cramps or discomfort whatsoever. It did feel like it took some time for the stomach to shut down so maybe I need to look at what I eat the day of the race to make it shut down a little sooner.
Race Results
My Results
- Overall: 966
- Bib:2166
- FinTime:59:33
- ChipTime:58:29
- Age:44
This was the first race of the
Austin Distance Challenge. A 10K to start, culminating in the 26.2-mile Freescale Marathon in February. I don't see how I'll make 26.2 miles in February, but then again, I didn't think I'd be running ten miles at this point either. It seems that you add the mileage slowly, and before you know it, there it is.
After the first race, I'm in 521st position of the Distance Challenge. Position doesn't really matter as much as finishing my first marathon in February.
Next up, the
Pervasive Power Charge Ten Miler Oct. 16.
RunTex recap of the race.
