Race Review: Palmetto Half Marathon 2012

Apr 15, 2012 by Greg Fowler

I waited pretty late to enter the 2012 Palmetto Half.  The main reason I waited was March’s Columbia Marathon. With only five weeks between the two, I wanted to make sure I came out unscathed in the marathon before shelling out the money for the Palmetto Half.  I did, and I am sure glad I ran the Half.

The Event

As I said in my race preview, I was impressed with the first Palmetto Half in 2010, and I looked forward to them outdoing themselves this year.  Once again, I was impressed.  I cannot comment on the pre-race meal or expo, since I could not attend those.  I waited until race day to pick up my packet, but from my view, everything went well.

Five hundred runners turned out for the half marathon on April 14th.  Another 400 or so ran in the 5K.  Jud Brooker of Columbia won the men’s division in 1:14:13, and Amy McDonaugh of Irmo won the women’s division in 1:23:28.  The course was well marked had plenty of aid stations with water and Gatorade.  The finishing spread had the standard water, bananas and oranges and a special treat – Krispy Kreme glazed donuts.  I showed some will power (not sure why) and only had one, along with half a banana.

The organizers also outdid themselves on the race shirt and finisher medal.  The 2010 shirt was a tech tee and had a great design, but it was gray.  So it was pretty good, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the gray.  This year, the shirt was also a tech tee but is red with a lime green palmetto tree.  Very nice (my picture doesn’t do it justice).  The finisher medal is also one of the better ones I have seen, with a very neat palmetto tree.  Since this is PalmettoStateRunner.com, I am partial to all things Palmetto :-).

Finally, the weather. I was worried when I wrote my preview.  The early warm weather around here had me concerned.  Well, those fears were not to be.  It might have  been the best running weather ever.  Yes ever.  There was almost no humidity and the temperature at race time was around 48 degrees.  The sun was just coming up at race start, and it warmed quickly. It may have been low 60’s at finish, but the low humidity made it very comfortable and a great day.

My Race – Some Firsts

This race had three firsts for me. Read on.

I have to admit, 14 hours before the race, I wasn’t too terribly excited.  I had worked in the yard a good bit on Thursday, so I was a little run down on Friday.  My wife even commented I was way more chilled about this race than usual.  For example, before the Columbia marathon, I had tapered properly, and I was bouncing off the walls the few days before, just ready to hit the road.  This week was opposite. I hadn’t even prepared my playlist by dinner on Friday!

Then Friday night, that all changed.  My friend Ben called.  He was running the race and wanted to run with me.  He’d seen that I was going to shoot for a pace around 8:00/mile, and he wanted to stick with me.  That sounded great.  I was now pumped up.  Maybe those 40 bales of pine straw weren’t such a good idea on Thursday after all, though.  Was I up for pacing and 8:00 miles? We’d see. This would be the first time I tried to pace somebody during a race.

So, Ben and I set out to meet or beat an 8:00/mile pace. That would give him a PR, and if we could do 7:59/mile or better that would give both of us PR’s.  I knew we could do it the first half.  The second half had me concerned.  This course works it way downhill the first half, then clobbers you the second half.  Our plan was to bank a bit of time on the downhills, giving us the extra seconds we’d need on the hills on the way back.

Well, we reached the halfway point right on plan, around the 51:40 mark and a pace of 7:53.  My legs were already protesting a bit as we started to climb the first of the tough hills on the way back up.  Then, by a stroke of luck on my playlist song placement, Freddie Mercury called out in my ear on Queen’s Somebody to Love Live in Montreal “OK, let’s do it” (at the 1:00 mark of the video below).  I may have had said out loud: Freddie, you’re on.

For the next 51 minutes, Ben and I had one of my most amazing runs of my short running life.  We didn’t break 8:00 minutes on that first hill from about mile 7-8, but after that we started reeling in people and beat 8:00 miles on each mile on the way in.  We also passed a bunch of people.  I think only one person passed us briefly on that second half, then we left him behind around mile 11.  Mile 13 was our fastest of the splits at 7:22, and according to my GPS watch, our last .1 was at a 6:16 pace.  We finished with a 7:51/minute pace for a total time of 1:42:40, and by all the crunching I can do with my watch software and Excel, we achieved the elusive negative split on a course that is not setup for that.  I believe this is my first negative split.

Ben, congratulations on your run, and thanks for that call.

One last note – the final first.  Since I try to amuse myself with song placement on my playlists, I stuck an ABBA song in this time – their first appearance on my run playlists. Huh?  You say.  Is this guy a loser?  Maybe, but the song was Waterloo.  I tried to place it right before the long uphill stretch of the course between miles 10.5 and 11.5 (Valhalla Dr, I believe).   I wanted to remind myself to not make this stretch my Waterloo. OK, so maybe I have issues.  I mistimed it a bit and it was too early, but the dumb luck of the Freddie Mercury comment at mile 7 more than made up for it.

For complete results, click here: http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/12PHM.txt

POFIFOTO!

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Race preview: Palmetto Half Marathon 2012

Apr 1, 2012 by Greg Fowler

In 2010, I ran in the first Palmetto Half Marathon. I was very impressed with the organization of the race, especially for a first time event. I could not run in 2011’s event because of injury, so I am looking forward to an even better event this year.

The Course
The course is a nice run through mostly residential areas of Columbia’s northeast.  Starting near The Plex in The Village at Sandhills shopping center, the course is an out and back route that winds through the Woodlands and Wildewood neighborhoods. A word of caution if you’ve never run the route: the first half works it’s way downhill and bottoms out about the half way point. Then, it’s a climb back up to the finish at the Village at Sandhills fountain. The climb up is pretty gradual, except for two tough stretches, the mile starting about mile 6 1/2 and the 3/4 of a mile or so starting at mile 10 1/2.  These two stretches are pretty steep.  Here’s the elevation map that I tracked one day in my car at lunch (my office is not too far from the route):

The last short uphill spot at the Two Notch Road to Clemson Road ramp is tough, too, mainly because it is so close to the end. It is definitely not The Governors Cup Blossom Street climb, but a tough final hill nonetheless.

Personal Goal
In 2010, I went out too fast and the second half was painful. I finished with a time of 1:46 something. I’d like to think I’m smarter and better fit this time around. Doubtful on the smarter part, but that’s what I’d like to think.  So here’s my plan to beat 2010’s time and possibly set a PR (personal record): attack the downhills. I’ve got to bank some time on the downs to make up for those two tough stretches I mentioned earlier. To beat my 2010 time, I have to beat an 8:05 pace. To set a PR,  I have to beat an 8:00 pace. I figure at best on those two stretches I have an 8:15 in me.

Another factor could be the weather. At this writing, the race is too far away for an accurate forecast, but warm weather arrived early in Columbia this year. Even with a 7:00am start, the second half might be pretty warm, especially if it’s sunny.

Come join me on April 14th!

POFIFOTO!

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Training Change Update

Mar 22, 2012 by Greg Fowler

I’ve added a new section to my blog site called Heart Rate Training, where I outline changes I made to my training last November and the results so far.  It is too lengthy to post here, but the link to it is at the bottom of this post.

The basic premise: All of my training for about 3 months starting last November was done keeping my heart rate in a small, specific range.  I used a heart rate monitor to make sure I was in the right zone and had my watch beep to indicate too high or low. I had to really slow down to do this.

For much of the last two years, I followed training plans laid out in the book Run Less Run Faster.  This program does work, and I still think it is valid under the right circumstances.  Maybe I’ll do a post one day comparing the two programs more thoroughly.  For the time being, though, I’m going to continue with the heart rate training.  I’ve been really happy with the results.

If you are a beginner/restarter or  frustrated with a plateau or dealing with nagging injuries, I’d encourage you to adopt this type of training for 3-4 months!

Please click on this link to read the new section and learn more: http://palmettostaterunner.com/hrt

POFIFOTO!

 

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Not My Car

Mar 19, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Many runners adorn their cars with with stickers.  The white oval 13.1 and 26.2 are very popular.  Others go the extra mile…

This is not my car, but some might think so.  I saw this car for the first time a few weeks ago while driving to a race. I could not get a good picture while driving.  Two weeks later, I saw it parked outside the Columbia Convention Center during packet pickup for the Columbia Marathon and snapped this photo.  Enjoy!  If this is your car, please contact me!  I’d love to hear from you.

POFIFOTO!

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Columbia Marathon 2012 – Additional Ramblings

Mar 14, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Earlier this week, I posted my Columbia Marathon review.  Now that I’ve had a few more days to reflect, I have some thoughts to add.

Ideas For Next Year

Need More Cowbell

One thing the marathons I have completed (a whopping 3) have in common is lack of spectators.   Most, if not all, runners are used to this.  We train countless hours in solitude.  I understand watching long distance running MAY not be the most exciting thing, but on the rare occasion when there is a crowd, it is appreciated.  How can this be improved for Columbia?

University of South Carolina was on spring break, and that might have been strategic on the race director’s part, but as I ran down Green Street and then on Sumter Street in front of the U.S.C. Horseshoe, I could almost hear crickets chirping.   What about a U.S.C. pep band in this area or some bands in other areas?  What about a noise contest between fraternities and sororities as we passed the Greek Village on Blossom Street?

Contest Within The Contest

In the neighborhoods, we passed several churches, but only one had any people outside cheering (both laps!) – thanks Wesley Memorial UMC! .   Maybe  churches and other business organizations could setup unofficial aid/cheer stations.  Perhaps someone can come up with an idea to get  neighborhoods more involved to put on a display (adopt-a-street?, “Welcome to the neighborhood” signs?) and get a crowd.  Some humorous motivational signs up Trenholm Road would have been funny.  The runners could then vote on the best street/area at the end.  I think the now defunct Labor Day 15K at Ben Lippen did something like this.

Finish Announcer?

Maybe this is impractical for a large race, but one nice feature of some races is an announcer who lets the crowd know runners’ names as they approach the finish line.

Random Personal Notes

My quads ached for two days.

The official website lists the marathon as having 653 feet of elevation gain. That’s roughly the equivalent of climbing 65 flights of stairs.  I think that it had more.  Either way, it is no wonder my quads hurt.

Near the end, as I struggled up the Gervais Street hill the second time, a young girl blew past me.  “Curse, you, young person,” I thought, “How can you be that fast up hill at this point?”  Then I noticed her Newton shoes.  I smiled. “Go, Girl!”

One lady had a sign that said ‘Your feet hurt because of all that @$$ you’re kickin!’  I wanted to ask her: Since my @$$ was hurting so bad, was I the one getting kicked?

In the mid-late ’90’s I worked at a small, now defunct  start-up company in Columbia. We had less than 15 employees at that time, I think, and no runners.  This weekend, three of those former co-workers completed marathons, one even at the bottom of the world!  Congrats, Ben and Dean!

Here’s a video of Ben talking about his experience (6th video down the page, labeled 3 Friends Talk about the race): http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/10/2187014/videos-columbia-sc-marathon-2012.html

In the 13 weeks leading up to and including the race, I logged 353 running miles and 141 exercise bike miles, totaling 73 1/2 hours of training.  That’s just over 27 miles running and 5 1/2 hours of training per week.  My wife might argue that seems too little, but the GPS watch software doesn’t lie!

Here’s the video my son shot as I finished:

 

 

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Final Marathon Details

Mar 4, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Less than one week to go, and I’m in taper mode leading up to the Columbia Marathon, winding down the training to allow my body to recharge for the big day. I’m trying to refrain from attempting anything dumb that might cause a senseless injury.  Now, it is time to turn my attention to one final detail that will be of great importance come race day.  Plan this wrong and dire consequences could arise.

Of course, I’m referring to my playlist for the race.  Some people may just hook up the old tunes player and hit shuffle.  Not me.  As you maybe have figured out by now from this blog, I tend to put too much thought into some things.  This might be one of those times.  Here’s my playlist thinking.

Short Distance

For shorter races, like a 5K or 10K, I like to have upbeat music almost immediately and throughout the run.  Inevitably, there’s some rocking, guitar driven ’80’s throw back to my revisionist history glory days of high school.  Most Night Ranger is good for this, and tunes from one of my all time favorite albums, Van Halen’s 5150,  have been known to be in my lists (Hey, 1986 was a good year!).  Finally, at the end, I’ll make sure I have a power song to push through to the finish. A 10K is very similar, but I may start out with a bit slower music to remember to not get caught up in the opening surge.

Different Story

For marathons, my thinking is different.  I view the playlist in 3 parts – beginning, middle, and pain, I mean end, each serving a different purpose.  The beginning of the marathon play list will usually last 30 minutes or so with slower tempo music.  The adrenaline will be flowing as I run with the crowd, and I need to remind myself to keep the a slower pace.  It is going to be a long day.  Once that early easy pace is established, I’ll put in a about 2-3 hours of various stuff from my tunes library.  Nothing here with any real rhyme or reason, just passing time.  Mostly, this section will remind me that my musical tastes are stuck in years gone by.   Finally,  there’s the pain part – the last hour or so; the part of the marathon where you ask yourself “Why did I pay good money for this?”.  For this section, I’ll throw in some songs with relevant titles like “Used to the Pain” by Keith Urban or “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac, all leading up to the end of the suffering – The Grand Finale.

The Grand Finale

Finally, the playlist and run come down to one last song, assuming I’m on pace to hit my target time.  This needs to be a tune that can really get me pumping when I’m physically exhausted.  It also really needs to be a fairly long song – this helps to hit the finish window with the song actually playing, and I really prefer it to be a live concert song.  That is why for my first two marathons I have used “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd as my closing song.  (I’m a Southerner, what can I say?). I’m not talking about the 9 minute studio version, either.  I mean the 13 minute 41 second live version from Atlanta’s Fox theater. I’m getting pumped just thinking about it now.  For Columbia, though, I think I’m going to shake it up.  I have a lot of changes going on in other parts of my life; I might as well shake up my iPod, too.  I have not decided what to use just yet.  I’ll reveal my final decision in a race review post.  Right now, here are my top 5 candidates for The Grand Finale:

1.”Rain King” by  Counting Crows from the album August & Everything After  Live at Town Hall.  This live version has their rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” brilliantly blended in the middle. Almost 9 minutes long. Leading candidate. Hard to go wrong here.

2. “Do You Feel Like We Do?” by  Peter Frampton from Frampton Comes Alive.  I’ve heard this is a song about a hangover, so if it is about pain I guess it could apply to the last miles of a marathon, too.  Almost 14 minutes long.  Maybe not upbeat enough, though.

3. “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” by Billy Joel from the album Live at Shea Stadium.  Almost 8 minutes long. Walking down memory lane with Brenda and Eddie.

4. “Jessica” by The Allman Brothers Band from the album Brother and Sisters. Seven and a half minutes long.  No words (sometimes you don’t need them!), but an upbeat jam.

5. “Somebody to Love” by Queen from the Album Queen Rock Montreal.  Almost 8 minutes long.  Awesome Freddie Mercury.  This entire album might be a good choice to put in the middle section of my list.

There you have it.  If you have any other suggestions, let me know.

What a Nerd

One last thing.  How do I know when to start the Grand Finale?  Since, I’m using an iPod and iTunes, I’ll create a new playlist and name it Race+year, like LRAH2012 for last week’s 10K.  Then as a drag songs into the list folder, the total time of the music displays at the bottom.  At this point in my running journey, I understand my abilities and pacing pretty well, so I have a pretty good idea of my finish time and, therefore, how long to make the playlist.  I just make the playlist the same length of time as my target finish time and plop the Grand Finale at the end. Doesn’t everyone do this?

POFIFOTO!

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