Race Preview: Jailbreak 5K 2012

May 16, 2012 by Greg Fowler

This year is Jailbreak VI and will be held on May 26, 2012 in Lexington, South Carolina.  The race supports the Lexington County Sheriff’s Foundation and has become quite popular, with over 400 participants last year. The usual Columbia area superstars normally show up and take the overall prizes, but the Lexington High School cross country/track long distance guys are gaining ground quickly (4A State champs in both cross country and track this year!).  Don’t be surprised if one of these young guns  comes out on top.

The Course

The course starts and ends in front of the  Lexington County Sheriff’s Department on Gibson Road in Lexington.  The first two miles are very flat to slightly downhill.  The course bottoms out early in the third mile and there is about 200 feet worth of climb in the last mile to make it back to the finish.   Here are the course and elevation maps:

To register go here: http://www.strictlyrunning.com/gpscrlgnReg-9f.asp

Personal Notes

This will be my 4th time running in this event.   I believe I have set a 5K PR each year in this race.  I hope this year is no different. My current 5K best is 22:37.  Last Jailbreak, I broke 23:00 in a 5K for the first time, with a 22:49.  This year, I’m gunning to break 22:00.  As a bonus to me, it is one of the closest races to my house, and the two non-racers in the family will come out to watch the finish.

And the finish should be a close one – at least in the Battle of Fowler Running Supremacy.  See, I probably only have this one last chance to beat my son in a 5K.  I’ve never lost to him, but those first couple of years of us “competing” really weren’t a fair competition.  He was a little kid, and I was  a grown man.  But things have changed.  Lately, he has not been training as much, but physically he has grown a good bit since we last raced in December 2011 and can almost look me in the eye.  If I don’t get him this go round, I seriously doubt I’ll ever come close to him in a 5K again*.  That’s one of the reasons my target song for the end of my playlist is going to be It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M.  If you have any suggestions for the first 18 minutes of my playlist, let me know!

POFIFOTO!

* My son’s 5K PR is lower than mine, thanks to cross country team training, but the times we have run head to head, though, he has not been in the middle of cross country season and in his peak fitness, so I have been able to beat him.

 

 

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Random Running Ramblings

Apr 27, 2012 by Greg Fowler

If you’ve poked around my site here, you probably know I have been a runner a relatively short period of time – since December of 2008.  Here are some random (and mostly useless) facts about my journey since then. Enjoy!

Most unusual find on a run: Smashed iPhone.  It had been run over by a car. I was tempted to take it with me to try to locate the owner.  It did seem to power on.  I had many more miles to run, though, and did not want to carry it.

Weirdest roadkill encounter: Raccoon.  OK, not really all that weird.  Encountering roadkill is one of the bummers in running, though.

Strangest live animal encounter: I startled a turkey vulture as he had a big deer breakfast in a ditch.   He came up out of there fast and returned the favor, startling me.

Strangest smell: There are many farm fields on my usual run routes, so at various times, I am hit with fertilizer or onion harvest smells.  However, the other week, on a new route, I passed a house that sits very close to the road, and I swear I caught a whiff of some stuff that was prevalent in concerts I attended in the ’80’s at Greenville Memorial Auditorium.  Hmmm.

Races run: 25 (2009: 10, 2010: 5, 2011:7, 2012 YTD: 3)

Race Distance Breakdown:

• 5K: 7
• 10K: 6
• 12K: 1
• 15K: 1
• Half Marathon: 7
• Full Marathon: 3

Age group medals won: 2 – a 1st and a 3rd in a couple of small 5K’s.  Both in 2009.  In my second ever race, a 5K, I was pretty excited about winning first place in my age group (yes, there was more than one in the group) until I saw the overall winner was my age.  He beat me by about 8 minutes.  My first encounter with local running phenom and ageless wonder Eric Ashton.

Miles run: Almost 3300

Pairs of shoes I’ve used: 13 (not including the two pairs from the Merrell Barefoot line that I use for casual wear and work.)

Books purchased about running: At least 11. That’s all I could find in 2 minutes of searching my bookshelf.  I’m sure others are scattered about.

Current running magazine subscriptions: 3 –Runner’s World, Running Times, Trail Runner

Pounds lost: 20

Waistline inches lost: 3

POFIFOTO!

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Product Review: iFitness Hydration Belt

Apr 25, 2012 by Greg Fowler

The week before the Columbia Marathon, I had a couple of dilemmas.   The biggest, of course, was my playlist, and I wrote a lengthy post on that.  The second problem was how to carry all the junk I had decided I needed to carry for the race – 3 gels, a water bottle, car keys, and my iPhone (I’ll explain later).  Car keys could be handled by the drop bag station, if I wanted, so I wasn’t too worried about those, but I wanted to carry the others.

Before that race, my running gear inventory consisted of 2 different belts.  The first is a thin belt from Nathan with a small pocket just big enough for a cell phone or a couple of gels but probably not both.  I bought it at the race expo before the 2011 Myrtle Beach Marathon and used it in that race for my gels (Gu’s at that time).

My other belt is an older 6 bottle Fuel Belt with a pouch that could hold a couple of gels and has a wide enough belt for you to clip a cell phone on if you’d like.  I was leaning toward this, but wasn’t really excited because it really doesn’t fit well any more.  I’ve lost a few inches around the waist since I bought it, and it uses Velcro to fasten. To get it tight enough to not slip, I don’t have much connecting Velcro. More than once the belt has come loose during training runs.

So, what to do?  The answer came to me at the race expo the night before the race.  A vendor was selling the iFitness Hydation Belt.  I tried it on, liked it, and bought one of the 16 oz versions for $40.  The 16oz version means two 8oz bottles.

From the iFitness web site here are the belt features:

• Water resistant pouch, stretchy and sturdy, made of neoprene will keep your cell phone or iPod (any size) dry.
• Two 8oz  bottles (BPA free)
• 2 elastic slots will hold your gels on your belt, for easy access.
• A special inner pocket will keep your ID/credit cards or room key securely.
• Comes with two reflector strips in the front and one in the back, for night time safety.
• Also featured are two toggles to hold your race number, under the pouch.
• Comes in TWO sizes: Small/Med (26 to 38in comfortable). Large (30in and 42in).

Here is my experience:

Pros

Overall, I am pleased with the belt.  It fits really well ( the pocket is right below your belly button), is comfortable,  and does not move around while running.  The belt really feels a part of you, not some something bulky hanging off. The fastener is a clip and much better than Velcro.  I like the angle of the bottles and the “formed” bottle holders make it easy to insert the bottles with one hand.  My Fuel Belt is a two hand operation with its soft elastic bottle spots.

I did not try to use the race bib holder feature.  I tried it the night before the marathon but did not like the way the bib hung, so I just pinned the bib to my shirt.

Cons

Con 1: My bottles leak too often and my pants and shirt end up wet.  I usually clip my iPod Nano near the bottle as well, and I don’t want that wet.  I usually have to undo and redo the cap and really torque it down to get the leak to stop (or maybe it stops when the water level is lower), but I shouldn’t have to work that hard for a leak free bottle. For the marathon, I only used one bottle.  I wanted to have my own bottle of water to use my Nuun electrolyte tablets.  I’d refill it along the way with either cups of water from the volunteers or I’d hit the water cooler behind the volunteer tables.  I used the other bottle holder for my iPhone.  It fit nice and snug in there.

Con 2: The pocket does not hold as much as I had hoped.  Part of the trade off for snug, I guess.  If you loaded it before wearing the belt, you can probably cram more in, but I was only able to put two gels and my key fab (sans key) in it.

Why did I not use the gel holders?  Con 3: My gels would not fit in the gel holders.  My smaller Gu gel packets would have, but I switched to Accel gels.  Their packet is wider and would not work. Maybe I could have really crammed them in there, but I was afraid of busting the package. Luckily, my friend Craig was working the miles 2/15 aid station and had my third gel waiting for me.

Overall, I’d give the belt a B+.  Had it been $30 or the bottles didn’t leak, I’d give it an A.

Editor Update 7/9/2012: iFitness read this review in late June and contacted me.  Apparently, they had redesigned the bottles to prevent the leaking I mentioned above, but some old style bottles were still out there.  They sent me two new bottles.  I have tried them several times now, and I’m happy to report they are leak free and I am happy with them.  They no longer have the pop-up top. Instead, they are “hands free” – just tilt up and suck in.  Not sure what this style top is called.   I now give the belt an A. Here’s a picture of the two different caps:

POFIFOTO!

PS – About that iPhone…

I used an iPod Nano for my tunes, so why did I carry the iPhone? Answer: I activated the Find My iPhone feature so my family could track my progress during the run.  This worked OK for about two-thirds of the race then it lost the signal and never picked it up again.  Next time I am going to try one of the run tracking apps that sends emails during the race.

 

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The Tim Tebow Effect

Apr 20, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Sorry readers, this post has very little to do with running.   If you’ve read through my website, you know that as a runner I try a lot of different things to learn and improve.  As a blogger, I try to experiment as well, and this is one of those times.  I heard a pastor say the other day that if he mentions Tim Tebow in the title of his blog, then readership doubles for that post – The Tebow Effect. Shouldn’t be too hard to go from 2 to 4!

Here’s my Tim Tebow comment, just to make it partially legit:  As a graduate of The University of Georgia, I have a sworn duty to be anti-University of Florida in anything sports related.  I’m pretty sure it is written in fine print on my diploma.  However, in this case, I am making an exception. I like and admire Tim Tebow, and wish him the best in New York.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming….

POFIFOTO!

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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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