Charlotte 10 Miler course, official results, and back on the bike

The official Charlotte 10 Miler results are posted here.

Official Time: 1:22:18
Overall Rank: 135/334
Average Time: 1:26:03

Average Male 1:21:17

There was only 1 second difference between my data and the official timing which was pretty rare, but even more unbelievable was how quickly the results were posted. Queen City Timing and Start2Finish had the results up on Saturday afternoon, just a few hours after the race. Back when I used to run a whole bunch (the 90's), I remember that I'd have to wait for a few days before the official results would be posted. I actually saw my results before I left the race though. They had on site printouts taped to the race trailer as soon as I recovered from my sprint to the finish. That's pretty common nowadays, but not so common just 10 years ago.

The Charlotte 10 miler course was perfect. I live in Piper Glen (the part on the map that says Mitchell Pond #6) so, as you can see, this race was in my backyard. Although I've ridden the greenway a bazillion times, I've never run it end to end. This race was the first time. Since living in Charlotte, I've never been in shape enough to finish the whole thing. The greenway is awesome. In addition to ending at Trader Joes (Mmmm), it's just a cool part of nature. Paved sidewalks, marshland, boardwalks, gravel roads, birds, beavers, deer, fox, coyotes, and a sewer treatment facility. Although I wish the last part weren't true, it's a necessity for the citizens of South Charlotte. Anyhow, it made a great backdrop to this race and made it a fast one at that. As you can see from the elevation chart, mile 8.5ish brought on some pain. The race peeps dubbed it heartbreak hill and it was pretty tough late in the race. It was a great venue and overall a great race. I sure hope they keep it around and that I am able to do it again next year.

Carolina Sport Pix also took pictures during the race. I've purchased most of my bike race photos because they turn out pretty good and I look uber cool. When I showed these to the wife, she said "umm don't buy any of those. They are terrible." Say whaaat?

  

In the first photo (probably mile 6.5) I seem to be doing my Edward Scissorhands impression and I don't appear to be too happy (notice the gratuitous cropping of female participants who are passing me). In the finish line photo, it's not quite as bad, but I was really bookin' it. This photo exudes speed. Yes, I said bookin' it.

Isn't this blog about biking? Oh yeah.

Tonight I did my first "real" trainer workout on the bike since last April. It's an oldie but goodie Spinerval workout called Aero Base Builder. The graph below probably means nothing to you but it's significant to me because it's shows that I didn't bonk in 1:27 of moderate pain. 

You want to see nice square waves. During the peak of my training for ORAMM last year, I almost never completed this entire workout....mostly because I went out too hard. Today was day one of training for the Dragon's Tale in New Castle, VA on April 1st. Sometimes I wish it were an April Fools joke, but if I can keep up the momentum, I'm going to give this race an old college try.

Charlotte 10 Miler Race Report

Going into this race I was physically spent which put my mind in overdrive as I tried to implement a rest/recovery strategy in the middle of training. Then on Friday, I was hit with the allergy gremlin that brought on one of THOSE headaches that can only be cured with sleep. Perfect timing. I went to bed early, but nerves also kept me from the ideal slumber, so when I woke up at 5:45am I wasn't sure what to expect. Headache gone, ok good, time to bundle up, grab a quick breakfast, and head out the door.

It was about a 10 minute drive for me; just long enough for the heat to feel good and the seats to warm up. Doh. The mercury was at 39 instead of 29 which was a welcomed relief. The race was pretty small compared to the other 10 Milers I've done (Army 10 Miler and the Annapolis 10 Miler), but that's what I love about Charlotte. I was supposed to meet a former co-worker at the race. We didn't specify a meeting place and he found me immediately upon entering the parking garage. Nice. After listening to a few announcements and bypassing the porta-john lines it was over to the starting line where we'd have to wait for the 4-Milers to start before getting the go-ahead.

By the time the announcer released the hounds, I was a bit chilly from all the waiting around. As we started out, I realized that it was a downhill start. While I like running downhill, it's usually a bad omen as all races start out fast and it was even faster going down. With a goal of 8:30's I was a little worried when the watch beeped at 8:05 8:2 8:27 for the first mile as we entered the greenway and left pavement. (I was convinced my first mile was 8:05 until I saw the data, oh well, the watch doesn't lie)

After the first mile I knew it would be a decent day provided I kept my pace under control. Miles 2,3,4 were still in the 8:00 zone. Hmm, keep it up, or risk blowing up? I decided to keep it up since I knew the course was relatively flat. Miles 5,6, and 7 led me to a personal best (in recent history) at 7 Miles in 56min. I was feeling outstanding. Yes.

I knew the last 3 miles would be tough as the elevation showed a blip at around mile 8. The hills couldn't have come at a worse time. I survived them without walking, but dropped the pace quite a bit before it leveled out for the last mile. I was able to pick it up in the last mile and have a strong finish. I hadn't bonked after all.

The unofficial results: 1hr 22min. 8:12 pace.

It's rare that I exceed my expectations going into a race. I would have been thrilled with a 1:30 finish, so coming in well ahead of my expectations was a great feeling. I guess the tapering/rest worked after all. The human body can take a lot more than you think and I'm thankful for that.

My wife earned a whole bunch of bonus points by having waffles and a chai tea waiting for me when I got home. Now that is sweet!

Tonight, I'll be enjoying the beer Sunny Haze I eyed in the fridge the night before.

10-Miler on Sat., Oh yeah, that!

At some point in January, a wise man convinced me to sign up for the first ever Charlotte 10 Miler. Today, that man became a fool thinking that my motivation level is still high enough to accept the 10 mile challenge with open arms. The adrenaline rush I had when clicking the register button is a far cry from the rush I am experiencing this week.

I put a lot more effort into the Winter Challenge (WC) than I realized. In the week following the race, my mind said GO, but the body said NO. That's usually a sign that I've ramped up too quickly. Particularly on the running front. Without a lot of miles under my belt, I pushed through three 10+ mile runs leading into the WC. In my excitement, I forgot to listen to my body and everything else that I learned many years ago. There is a general rule NOT TO EXCEED your weekly mileage by more than 10%. Anybody in any kind of formal or informal running/training program will tell you that. A simple Google search ("how to increase running mileage without injury") will tell you the same EXACT thing. I even told my wife of the RULE a few weeks ago, but did I follow my own advice? NO. Rules don't apply to me, but fortunately rules do apply to my ailing body and it's telling me to slow down. So, that's exactly what I did last week.

After a few dismal runs (one outside, one inside) I knew that I needed to back off a little in order to survive the upcoming 10-Miler. I just don't want to suffer during the race. I don't mind suffering in training. I love it , in fact. While I wanted to push it in the Winter Challenge, I'm going to have to adopt a more conservative strategy in the 10-Miler. So, as usual, I have a few goals. for the 10 Miler, they are:

1. Finish in 1hr 30min - This is a pretty realistic finish time based on my prior training runs. This is what I love about my data. I know that if I try to run any faster I'll blow up, so that leads me to goal #2
2. Pace myself - I really need to stay on 8:30 miles to make goal #1 a reality. Road races tend to make you go out like you've been shot out of a cannon. I've made that mistake so many times. That's why I always wear my Garmin. It doesn't lie and keeps me from making a fool out of myself by running 7:30's with people who "look" like they should be slower than me. 

The weather this week has been great with one exception...the mornings have been cold. This Saturday, umm, well yeah 29degF. With a potential sub30 start, it's going to be a factor in this race. 

I'm a little disappointed that I'm not 100% for this race, but that's reality. I'm tapering this week for moderate greatness on Saturday. If by tapering you mean pigging out in Charleston and sampling many delicious micro-brews, then YES. Tapering.

By the way, I love Coach Troy of Spinervals. Here's a sampling of his motivation over the past several weeks.

"While you were sleeping in, I was working out."

"When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on FIRE."

"Either you run the day or the day runs you". -Jim Rohn

"Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory" - Mahatma Gandhi

Rock on Coach Troy!

If you want to seriously improve your performance, buy some of his training videos. I didn't know what I was capable of until I followed a few of his plans.

Winter Challenge by the Numbers (Geek Content)

I'm a data geek. Yup!  I started recording all my workouts in 2005 with my very first Garmin. It's rare that I go out without it and when I do, I feel a little sense of panic. My Forerunner has catapulted off the bike twice. Once in the woods and once on the road; both times recovered by a tenacious search party. It was blown apart and glued back together in its most recent episode. It just won't die and that is good for me. More data.

Did you watch any of Lance Armstrong's  post race interviews after his 2nd place Panama Ironman 70.3 this weekend? No, well, whether you like Lance or not, you can't argue the fact the he, and those he surrounds himself with, are brilliant planners. He revolutionized the way teams train and prepare for the Tour de France. The guy knows how to train and use data to improve performance. Every second counts. Roll to 1:27 in the video. DATA. Yeah, that's me.







Now for the Winter Challenge data... I mentioned yesterday that the official results were off as compared to my Garmin data. The professionals must have figured it out before I had time to file a protest since the online results were fixed sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning. The corrected official results were:

• 14th place overall (no change)
• 1:03 Run (18th, no change)
• 1:11 Kayak (21st, up from 23rd)
• 0:55 Bike (13th, no change)
• 3:12 Overall

Comparing my efforts from 2009 and 2012:

...and against the winners times:

This data is helpful as I plan for next year. It's obvious that I need to work on paddling. I'm convinced a lot of it is technique related. I feel like I'm horribly inefficient in my paddle stroke and fumbling with hydration was a sore spot with me. If I continue running throughout the year and keep up some bike trainer miles over the holidays, then I think a 3hr finish is within reach next Feb. 

Now for some interesting race data.

• The average age of all the participants was 46. That's a little hard to believe, but really cool. I really hope I can compete in something like this in my 50's. How motivating is that?
• The oldest participant was 60 and the youngest 25.
• AVE RUN TIME = 1:04:49 (1:03 in '09)
• AVE PADDLE TIME = 1:09:49 (1:09 in '09)
• AVE BIKE TIME = 1:03:35 (0:58 in '09)
• AVE OVERALL TIME = 3:20:39 (3:12 in '09)
• The male winner of the 2012 Winter Challenge is the current South Carolina State Marathon record holder. Remember when I said the race was competitive? Here's proof.

Finally, thanks to Google fusion tables, you can see the distribution of participants across NC/SC. This has no real useful value to me other than I think it's kind of neat.

Winter Challenge Race Report

Ok, so the results are in. Let's start with the data.

14th place overall
1:18 Run (18th)
1:11 Kayak (23rd)
0:55 Bike (13th)
3:27 Overall

I'm not quite sure what's going on the with the official timing as I thought my Garmin indicated a 3:12 finish. I'll have to look at that tomorrow. Overall, I'm happy. It wasn't quite the 3hr finish I wanted, but for the race conditions, this was good. Now for the details:

The Run: Since I've been fixated on running since Nov., I knew what to expect here as long as I didn't blow up in the first two miles. Pacing is the most important thing in any race and I'm generally terrible at it. In endurance races, the last thing you want to do it use up your reserves early in the race. Luckily, experience helps here. Experience = failing many times before. I felt like I started too fast, but the first mile clocked in at 8:30 which was exactly where I wanted to be. Perfect. Nobody was passing me and I had picked off two people by around mile 6. Then something unexpected happened. The group chasing the leaders shows up running towards me. They (and I) had missed the turn off. The funny part was that the group included the race director. Luckily, for me, it was maybe a quarter of a mile off course. At this point 8-10 of us regrouped and finished within about 30 seconds of each other. The total distance ended up being about 7.5 miles which was a little longer than expected, but that's what I love about this race. You never quite know what to expect. I got tangled up in some briars half way through and drew first blood. Overall, I averaged around 8:21 on some overgrown trails. Success.

The Kayak: Oh boy, what to say here.  Definitely better than 2009, but just plain hard. Paddling for time is not something I EVER do except at this race. This part of the race is more about survival than competition. I fumbled with my water bottle the whole time in the kayak. I debated whether or not to use my Camelbak bladder for this which would have allowed me to drink while still paddling. As I was fumbling with my bottle a guy passed me drinking from his Camelbak hose with ease. FAIL. The wind was so bad that if you stopped paddling, the wind would carry you off track in seconds. Even more problematic when trying to take a sip of water. I don't really remember much of this part except for the bottle shenanigans. I'll fix that next time I do this race. Oh, go ladies. The top 2 female finishers passed me in the kayak. Yes, I tried to keep up.

The Bike: I certainly feel the most comfortable on the bike, but I took a risk in this race. I decided to bring my cyclocross bike to this race thinking it would make me faster. With some more cx skills, maybe, but I would have crushed it on my mountain bike. Instead of attacking the downhills and jumping all of the logs, I babied my cx bike throughout the course. The course added a lot more single track from 2009 which is normally a good thing. I struggled more than I needed to, but part of it was mental. I've never pushed myself that hard on the cx bike. I kept thinking that I was going to flat at any moment. Good thing I aired up to 70psi before this race. I normally run 60, so that was a good move as I surely would have pinch flatted with anything less. I should have been able to pull a top 10 performance on the bike, so that was a little disappointing. Nevertheless, it was still my best leg of the race.

Overall: Well, I was exactly mid-pack with my 14th place. Nothing to get over excited about or depressed about. It was a solid finish for me this early in the season, so I'm happy about that. The run will be a good lead in for the Charlotte 10 miler in a few weeks, then I think I'll get back to cycling specific workouts as I've mentally committed to a 40 mile mtb race in April. More on that later.


Of all the races I've done, the Winter Challenge is the most unique. Great atmosphere, unique adventure race format, family atmosphere, casual (yet competitive if you want to be), and great food as well. If you don't have fun at this race you might need some type of intervention.

Recovery time. I'm still hurtling a litte from this race.

It's Go Time

Earlier in the week I made my stop at REI to pick up some essentials for the race on Sat. Tube, CO2 cartridges, an some fuel from honey stinger. I love REI. The energy food market has exploded in the past several years. It's almost mind boggling with the amount of product to choose from. GU is usually my go to choice, but Honey Stinger has some great options as well. I decided to try their energy gel for the Winter Challenge.

As usual, I left everything to the 11th hour to get ready. I found myself packing up the TDI late on Thursday night. Did I remember everything, YES. Was it organized, NO. Nevertheless, I drove down to Springfield after work on Friday.

Before leaving the office, I checked the weather one last time. Rain for camping on Friday night and windy on race day, huh? More on that in my next post.

I've already posted my photos to Facebook, so go check those out. I'll post the full race report on Monday, but here's a teaser. Did I meet my goal of 3 hours? Almost. Unofficially, I crossed the line in 3hrs 12min.

Mission Accomplished

The past several weeks have led to today, which became a significant milestone for me. The significance is, well, not all that significant in reality, but its something that didn't come easy for me. Seven years ago when we moved into our house I was still running occasionally. Occasionally I would venture out into the neighborhood streets for a quick run. Occasionally, I would feel like a hero and try to push myself further. I pretty much always just felt like this guy...Rusty.

At some point along the way, I decided to set a goal to "run the neighborhood". This meant that I would run all the streets (including the side streets) from my driveway returning to the exact same spot at some point in the future. It turned out to be one of the hardest goals I set and it took seven years to check it off the list. I will admit that I didn't try all that hard to conquer this goal, but anytime I felt that I was "in shape", I would lace up and hit the pavement. More often than not, my hopes were dashed as I succumbed to the rolling hills that is Piper Glen. I tried many times. My best attempt came in March of 2009 where I laid down 8.9 miles in 1:25. That was the closest I ever got until a few weeks ago. While training for the WC a couple of weeks ago, I hit 10 miles which was about a mile short of the goal. 

Today was supposed to be THE DAY. I felt like crap most of the day yesterday and wasn't motivated to do this run at all. I was trying to lay down my last long run before the race next weekend. With the iPod sync'd and the Garmin charged, I set out to take down my neighborhood on foot. Here's how it went down:

Pre-Run: 54 degrees, wet roads, overcast. I really didn't want to go out, so I spent the morning pumping myself up.

Mile 1: Went out way to fast (as usual), slowed down a bit after that.

Miles 2-3: felt ok, but the legs weren't turning over that good.

Miles 4-6: the hills were really hurting at this point.

Mile 7: since this is the distance for the race next weekend, I really wanted to quit. Craving for cream soda  begins. I always crave some reward food during my long runs. I'm probably not alone on this one.

Mile 8-10: mostly on autopilot, really suffering at mile 10

Mile 11: Physically dead, finished on will power alone. I could barely walk up the driveway.

Post run: I was a zombie. Wife had to open my cream soda for me. Sheesh. Man did that taste good.

DONE and DONE!

That was hard!  Really hard. I'm glad to say that I finished that goal. As I indicated in my last post, there are three additional sections on my neighborhood that I forgot to factor into the run. The jury is still out on whether or not those are "legally" part of the neighborhood.