Course Preview – Austin Half Marathon

It has been almost a year since last year’s Austin Marathon.  A race that if I try hard enough, I can run the course over and over again in my mind.  Part of it is due to the fact that it was the first local marathon I had ever completed, allowing me to not only drive the course a few times prior to race day, but also allow me to run large sections of it beforehand.

Last Year's Austin Marathon

If you race enough in Austin on some of our downtown courses, you are eventually going to run a majority of the marathon course miles.

The Run for the Water 10-miler, The Congress Avenue Mile, The 3M Half Marathon, The SI Labs Marathon Relay all feature portions of the marathon course – there are only a few areas of the race that go “untouched” by other local events throughout the year.

This year however on the road to Boston I am not running the full marathon, only the 13.1 mile Austin Half Marathon, which means that as runners head North to Exposition and on to the “top half” of the Marathon Course, I will be making a right turn off of Winsted Lane onto Enfield just before Mile 11 and running an area of the city I have never tackled before. 

One of the hilliest and toughest areas to “race” in our city.

I wanted to get a firsthand look at these hills to help me finalize my race plan and start to visualize the opportunities I will have to push pace a bit on Sunday, where I need to run smart and reload and just how much I am going to have to “leave in the tank” for the closing 2+ miles of the race, which are as unforgiving as any I will have ever run at the end of a road race.

If I run a similar strategy to The Texas Half a few weeks ago, I am going to crash and burn in a big, big way on the Austin course.

That is not opinion, that is fact. 

This is going to be the most technical of all of the three half-marathons I will be racing preparing for Boston – giving me a tremendous training opportunity to run smart and stick to my race plan mile after mile no matter what is happening around me.  Exactly the type of race I will need to run if I am going to PR in Boston.

Once again, EXACTLY.  So how does the race set up?

The Start:  Runners will gather on the North Side of the State Capital on Congress Avenue.  Flags flying in the pre-dawn light for a 7:00 a.m. gun time.  Close to 20,000 runners between the marathoners and the half-marathoners, it will be quite the spectacle.  I will need to be lined up with the first 150 runners or so to get out clean and fall into rhythm.

Start of the Austin Marathon & Half Marathon

Miles 1 & 2:  The start will take runners on a slight downhill stretch from 16th street to MLK Boulevard where the crowd will make a 90 degree right turn and then another right turn onto to San Jacinto just two blocks later.  I will want to find a good spot on the righthand side of the road, careful to not get caught against the curb, but close enough to tangent tightly.

Things will start to spread out just a bit on San Jacinto as the road goes 6 lanes wide and the runners crest the hill up to 11th street.

This hill is the final climb on both the marathon and half-marathon courses before making the final turn to the finish line.  It won’t seem like much of a climb over the opening mile – more of a nuisance than anything.  But the second time the runners reach this spot at the end of their respective races, it is amazing how much “higher” it appears to have grown after 12 or 25 miles raced.  It is cruel and somewhat brutal that late in the race.

On 11th street we will reach the 1 mile mark and make a quick left turn onto Guadalupe.  This section will begin a long, steady, descent that lasts virtually the entire 2nd mile.  This is the time when many runners are going to make their first mistake of the day.  They are going to drop pace and try to “bank” some time while they can with long climbs up S. Congress (Miles 3-6) and the stretch from Winsted to Enfield (10-13) to come.

This is the part of the race where I am going to rein it in.  Run smooth, let runners pass me by and just lock in on “effort”.  6:30 effort is going to be the name of the game, that might result in a mile split around 6:20 or 6:15 which will be o.k., but nothing faster.  The smarter I run this part of the course, the better my finishing time is going to be.

:10 seconds slower here may very well gain runners :20 to :30 seconds late in the race.

Miles 3-6:  This is where the initial excitement and downhill start begins to subside and the Austin Course starts to fight back.  After reaching Cesar Chavez the runners will turn left for two blocks and make a right turn onto the Congress Avenue Bridge, immediately after crossing Town Lake (The Colorado River), the course starts to climb up, up, up for the next 2+ miles through the hip South Congress Area, past the Magnolia Cafe where my post-race breakfast will be, and up to Ben White.

Leaders Heading Up South Congress

After a right hand turn onto Ben White the runners will run up the exit ramp and make another right turn onto S. 1st.  With the climbing done, it’s now time to drop the hammer and gain back some of the time lost climbing South Congress.

Miles 7-10:  The next three miles are quite frankly a blast.  If you were able to navigate the first half of the course to this point and stay within your limits, it’s time to run free and easy and make up some time.  After a little bit of a rolling start to the first downhill stretch along S. 1st street the course just falls away from you.

A nice relaxed downhill grade, steep in some sections that deposit runners at a water stop on the right hand side of the course just past mile 8.

This will be a water-stop I skip actually, as I will start to work my way to the left side of the S. 1st Street Bridge and prepare for the left hand turn back on to Cesar Chavez.  Mile 9 and most of mile 10 will provide a gentle downhill stretch as well, the only exception is where the road begins to climb as the course approaches the entrance to Mopac (Loop 1) in the last 1/4 mile of mile 10.

You better have enjoyed the ride down to this point, because there is nothing but climbing left until the finish.

Miles 11-13:  Here we go.  Legs are starting to feel heavy, 5 kilometers left to race.  Lactic Acid has been slowly accumulating and your quads are starting to feel heavy.  It’s go time and the course is about to get pretty gnarly.

At the start of mile 11 the course heads up a steady incline along Winsted Lane.  There are no breaks, just up.  At Enfield, just before the 11 mile mark the course turns to the right and you start to head towards the Capital and the finish line.  But there is still more than 2 miles to go, and it is up, up, up.

Just before reaching Lamar Boulevard the course will provide one downhill stretch for you to gather yourself and get ready to climb again, it is steep and refreshing, but it is short-lived.  One of the toughest parts of this stretch is the way the course actually “looks”.  As you come thundering down the hill at the midpoint of mile 12 you can see nothing but the mountainous climb that is waiting for you on the other side of the bottom.

Pace is going to slow dramatically here, even fresh legs would struggle up this incline, dropping :30-:45 seconds per mile at this point would be a victory over this stretch of the course.  It will more than likely push us into the 7:oo+ pace area as we fight to the top of 15th street and finally make the right hand turn back on to San Jacinto and retrace our steps to the finish line.

There will be that last, final hill to crest, the same hill we tackled at the end of the first mile of the race before we can then turn for home and let gravity pull us to the finish.

Finish:  Outside of the Denver Half-Marathon I cannot remember a steeper close to a race course.  Once the final right hand turn is made onto 11th Street at the top of the last hill it is time to empty the tank 100%.  A fast city block will pass, followed by a 90 degree left-turn onto Congress Avenue and the finish line and chute will be there in the first 1/4 block. 

Probably the greatest “Finish” to any Austin race held in the city.  It is a well-deserved downhill respite after a long punishing race.

Goals for the Race:  To me this is a tough course to estimate a finish time on without ever having run it before. 

When a runner has previous race results to compare setting a goal-time becomes a function of training, the weather on race day and effort.  It is easy to look back at a previous performance, drop :15-:45 from that finish time and set the bar.  We just won’t have that luxury this time around.

That said, I am looking at 1:27:00 to 1:27:30 as the range which will be considered a “win”.  That would put is in the 6:37/mile range vs. the 6:32 we ran at the Texas Half on January 28th.

Anything faster and I think we are running the risk of blowing up too early and having nothing left for the final 2+ miles of racing.

I expect to be passing a lot of runners on the way in if I can run a smart opening 6 miles.  Again, this is really just a dress rehearsal for Boston, where running  a smart opening 14 miles will be the goal.  It takes a lot of patience to really “nail” a race on a technical course.  We are going to be tested on Sunday, of that I am certain.

At the end of the day, this race is going to be about effort and feel more than sticking to an individual mile split on my watch.  By 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning we’ll find out just how well we are handling this training plan to date and whether or not we may be pushing things a bit too hard. 

One thing for sure.  It is going to be interesting out there.

It’s Race Week – Livestrong Austin Half-Marathon

It’s race week once again!  Man, it feels like we just had one of these, and truth told, we did.

When I set up this training cycle for Boston I knew that the stretch of weeks between January 9^th and February 19^th were going to be the most challenging. 

Smack in the middle of our Boston Marathon training cycle we would be stretching our weekly mileage from 58.63 to 65.50, racing a half-marathon, then increasing our weekly mileage to 71.25 and then 75 miles followed by a second half-marathon just three weeks later.

This is the “break it down” stage of the training cycle, which will be followed by the “build it back up” stage leading to our third and final half-marathon on March 18^th – leaving four final weeks to the Boston Marathon to recharge the legs and taper properly for the marathon of our life.

So realistically, how well can I expect to race on Sunday at the Livestrong Austin Half-Marathon?  Including the race itself, I will still be logging a 50-mile week – I am definitely not “tapering” for an “A” race.

Well that is pretty much the point.  In the end I am just adding a very intense 13.1 mile speed workout to my marathon training.  Hoping to run those 13.1 miles over a very challenging, hilly monster of a course at somewhere between 6:28 and 6:32 pace.

Course Profile - Austin Style

A workout that without the competition of race day would be virtually impossible to duplicate.

That said, it is more than a workout for me on Sunday.  Running at a Livestrong event is something that will always take on special significance and meaning.  I’m racing for Dom on Sunday as well as my Mother who when faced with Brain Cancer last year at the age of 82 never asked “why me”, never passed on a Dr.’s appointment, treatment strategy or post-surgery test or procedure.

She beat the odds and is now in full recovery mode, no sign of any tumor on any scans, moving full-speed ahead towards her 83^rd birthday this spring.

So on Sunday I’ll be alongside 11,000 other half-marathoners and more than 8,000 marathoners taking to the streets of Austin, trying to lay down something “special” for those that we care about.  Bringing awareness and support to a disease that knows no boundaries and discriminates against no one.

Whether you are a 38 year-old father of two small children or an 82 Mother and Grandmother who is universally loved – nobody is safe.  Cancer is a part of almost everyone’s life in America today.  If it has not effected you or someone that you love, consider yourself immensely fortunate and blessed.

One of the things that was so humbling during Run for Dom in 2010 were all of the letters, e-mails and notes I received that shared a story from someone about their own battle with the disease or the loss of a loved one.

It is something that never leaves you once you experience it firsthand – it makes you value the everyday experiences much, much more than you ever did before cancer became a part of your life.

So on Sunday morning I won’t be thinking about the miles on my legs over the past two weeks or the lack of time to recharge and reload.  I won’t be fretting the weather, the course, the wind or the hills.

I won’t be concerned with the runners around me, what place we are in or if we are on pace to beat our time from the Texas Half three weeks earlier.

My strategy for this race is simple.

I am going to go as hard as I can for as long as I can until I reach mile 12.  As the final hills try to take their bites out of me, I’m going to instead take bites out of them.

It won’t all be pretty on Sunday, but the finish line is going to look pretty beautiful when we get there.

No chance of anything being left in the tank at the end of this race – I owe it to Dom and Mom to lay it all on the line.  I’m going to welcome the hurt, embrace it and leverage it in the form of fuel and fire.

If you plan on finishing ahead of 13056 on Sunday, bring your A-Game.  Just Sayin’.

71 Mile Week – Sharpening the Sword

The week Immediately following a race is always an interesting one when you choose to incorporate shorter races in your marathon training.

This is something that I started doing participating in last year’s Austin Distance Challenge, leading up to the Austin Marathon in February of 2011 and a strategy I continued preparing for the New York Marathon this Fall.  Racing the half-marathon distance of 13.1 miles presents a great training opportunity when preparing for the marathon.  Without a “race day”, I know that I will not be able to run a 13 mile workout at the same intensity level and pace.

There is something about race day, whether it is the adrenaline rush, the other runners or simply the rhythm of the event.  The warm-up, pinning on a bib and competing against yourself and the clock all combine for a workout that I cannot duplicate alone on a quiet trail before sunrise.

Most marathoners would agree that if your goal is to run 26.2 miles at 6:52 pace, running 13.1 at 6:32 pace, or hopefully 6:25 pace in either the Austin Half Marathon on February 19th, or the Shamrock Half Marathon on March 18th in Virginia Beach will pay off in a big way come marathon morning.

But more importantly to me is to be able to bounce back from those races and continue to sharpen the sword by falling right back into marathon training.  This week after the Texas Half I was able to put together a tremendous series of workouts.

16 miles on a snowy trail in Buffalo, NY on Tuesday, 12 miles up-tempo on Wednesday back in Austin, 10+ miles of hill repeats on Thursday, another up-tempo 12 miler on Saturday morning and finally a 21-mile long run on Sunday.

All totaled 71 training miles, which marks the highest mileage I have ever covered in a seven day period – and despite being a bit fatigued to start the week after racing last Saturday – I got stronger and stronger as the week wore on.

Another 70 mile week lays ahead of us over the next 7 days and then we will once again dial things back a bit leading into the Austin half-marathon to give ourselves a chance at running a solid time over a tough hilly course.

Despite being a bit disappointed by the weather last weekend at the Texas Half and my finish time that was slowed by the windy conditions to a 1:25:35 I was very encouraged after looking back at my 10th place finish overall and seeing some of the race photos from the closing 1/2 mile of the race.

Below is a shot when I made my move with just under a half mile to go to the finish as I passed a pair of runners I had been tracking.

1/4 mile to go in The Texas Half

I have seen that look on my face in race photos before, closing out the Run for the Water 10-mile race last year and again over the final stretch at the 3M half Marathon in January of 2011 – both PR races where I was zeroed in on only the finish line, form still strong – running with an attitude.

At the finish line less than 1/4 mile later the two runners I passed are no longer in the picture.

Texas Half Finish – 1st Place Age Group

At the time of the race when other runners were hanging on, I was getting stronger.  Exactly where we want to be with Boston now just over two months away.

A few more high-mileage weeks, two more half-marathons and finally the Cap 10K as our final tune-up with a chance to work on our leg turnover and we will be ready to lay it all on the line April 16th in Boston.  Our training schedule still has 545 miles to go before our “A” race, but for the first time this training cycle I am starting to get a view of that starting line.

I have a sense right now that barring injury we are going to be better than we have ever been on Marathon Morning.

Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.

Running Doubles

Back in December one week before our official start to the 18-week Boston Marathon Training Cycle, I ran my first day of “doubles”.  A six-mile run in the morning at moderate pace, followed by an up-tempo 8.3 mile run roughly 11 hours later.

This was one month post-NYC Marathon, after I was able to recover fully from that race and with the benefit of some time between crossing the mat and a return to marathon training, I had some new perspective on my race at New York.  Some of the things I did good to very good that day, and frankly a couple of areas where I still needed to do some work if I was going to make an honest run at 3 hours at Boston.

I needed improved endurance and strength to help me push through those late miles when my legs were fatigued and my mind was ready to be done racing.  I also needed to continue to improve my stamina to hold pace late when my body started to seek out the path of least resistance on the way to the finish line.

Knowing my training and injury history, my solution was not as easy as simply adding a 6th day of running.  I knew that I needed to keep Mondays and Fridays as my rest days – as showing up to the starting line in Hopkinton, MA nursing an injury would cost me far more on race day than any gains in those additional 18 workouts would help me.

I knew the answer laid in more mileage and more “tough” mileage at that.  But without adding another run day, the only solution I really saw was to add a second run on Tuesdays.

I was careful not to schedule them during race weeks, which would make the workout show up 3 out of every 4 weeks on average, and I was careful at first to go “easy” on the early workout, leaving myself some wiggle room in my afternoon session to run more up-tempo.  Lastly, I made sure to schedule a nice and easy run on Wednesday mornings so that I could recover well before Thursday’s hill repeat session(s).  I share that to illustrate that this was not a “willy-nilly” decision I made to just “train harder” – it was calculated after thinking about all the pros and cons.

Over the last 6 weeks, I’ve run 4 sets of doubles and the results have been pretty darn impressive.

12/6     Run 1     6 Miles     Run 2     8.3 Miles 56:49 (6:51 pace)

12/20  Run1     7 Miles     Run 2     8.3 Miles 55:07 (6:38 pace)

12/27  Run1     7 Miles     Run 2     8.3 Miles 53:21 (6:26 pace)

1/17     Run1     7 Miles     Run 2     8.3 Miles 52:57 (6:22 pace)

The last two attempts at this workout were “breakthrough” moments as I was able to run more or less at half-marathon race pace over a training route by myself, full of hills and 4+ miles of crushed stone after a previous 7-mile run just half a day earlier.

My legs have shown up for all of the workouts and I have frankly felt very strong throughout.  Not only have my times come down each time I have taken on this workout, but the pace at which I have run the early morning workout has quickened as well:

12/6     Run1     7:45 min./mile

12/20  Run1     7:39 min./mile

12/27  Run1     7:11 min./mile

1/17    Run1     7:09 min./mile

With The Texas Half Marathon on deck for next Saturday, I will be running long (16 miles) next Tuesday morning to compensate for a reduction in mileage over the race weekend.  I will do the same thing in the week leading up to The Austin Half Marathon on February 19th and the Shamrock Half Marathon on March 18th.

During the other 5 weeks of training between now and the Shamrock I will be doubling up with 7 miles at a moderate pace in the morning, followed by a tempo workout of 8.3 miles in the afternoon.  The benefits have started to show as I am running training paces at this point that I have never run before.

Some of it is the fact that I am taking these runs more seriously than most workouts, the other of course is confidence.  I feel like I can go out and really “nail a good one” late in the day on Tuesdays and as long as the weather cooperates, I think I have a few more seconds here and there that I can drop from my paces.

The real test of course will be proven out over our next three half-marathons and the Boston Marathon on April 19th.  Fast training runs look great on your workout sheets, but don’t mean a whole helluva lot if they do not manifest themselves on race day.

The fact is however that if we are able to run a new Half-Marathon PR in Dallas next weekend – bettering my time of 1:23:55 set last year at the notoriously fast 3M course here in Austin, then I think it is safe to say that this training cycle is going far better than any we have had before.

Doubles on Tuesdays, Religious Hill Repeats on Thursdays and a 20-mile long run Sunday after Sunday is a lot of work for sure.  My mileage totals are higher than they have ever been before – but I also feel stronger and more confident than I have in the past.  There is a delicate balance that needs to be struck between the two, even I am smart enough to know that.

But for now I can’t help but feel like we are threading the needle and putting ourselves in an enviable position for Boston.  We’re down to just 5 more sets of doubles, 8 more sets of hill repeats, 6 more runs of 20+miles on Sundays and 3 half-marathon races.

In total just 22 more days where we are really putting ourselves out there and “pushing it” – with 15 scheduled off-days over the same period of time.

We’re by no means all the way there yet.  But the view from where I sit right now is a pretty good one.

For the first time I am starting to think the Boston Marathon should start worrying about me a little bit more than I should be worried about it.