Carrera RbK 10 Kilometros

Race: Carrera RbK 10 Kilometros
Start: 9:00 a.m.
Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Weather: clear, sunny, cool, 60s
Official Time: 46:52
Actual Time: 46:15

Well, it was every bit as tough and grueling and nasty as I expected. It was awesome. This was a great race for me; I had everything I needed in the tank, the blisters didn't act up and I came in with a slightly better time than I was shooting for.

Although the race was at 9 a.m., registration started at 7:30 a.m. The starting line was only about 3 kilometers from my house so I walked over, got my number and race shirt and came back home to stretch here, go to the bathroom and bandage my injured toes. I used non-latex band aids and lots of neosporin, completely omitting the medical tape. I also relaced my left shoe to losen the fit along the part where the toe is.

I wandered back to the race area at about 8:30 a.m. I stretched some more, really concentrating on my ilitobial band and hamstrings. I drank water throughout the morning so I left off right prior to the race. When I originally walked over I ate a powerbar so I figured that would give me what I needed during the race itself.

Races in Peru are pretty much the same as in the US with your usual assortment of race rats, amateurs (like me) and excited teenagers. But there are some unusual differences. The weirdest is the shoeshine guys working the crowd before a race offering to clean up your running shoes before you head out. I was also a bit surprised by a number of older ladies with as much makeup on as they would wear to a state dinner. I guess a 10K is a social event here as well as an athletic endeavour.

One thing that really threw me were a few dozen really frightening old guys that had to be in their 70s but were running the thing in a flat out sprint. It was simply incredible to behold. My favorite guy in the whole race was the aging punk rocker whose mowhawk had noticiable bald spot. He seemed a little confused when I said "YOU TALKIN' TO ME?" when he passed me during the race.

Pretty much everyone was cool and the whole experince was really nice but there were a couple things things I didn't dig about Peruvian racers.

First, it is normal for everyone here to wear the race shirt during the race. Given, it's a nice breathable running shirt (and for an entry cost of about $5 US, a steal!) but, come on, earn the thing before you wear it. And, more irksome, there is a penchant for cutting corners like you wouldn't believe. I mean cutting out whole half blocks if they can get away with it. I'll hug corners and hop sidewalks as much as the next guy but, at a certain point, you gotta get in the full distance to have a realistic time.

The race got off on time with about 3,000 runners total. I was a bit back in the pack and it took me about a minute to get through the starting gate. That initial crowd was a bit of a pain for me since I really wanted to hit a steady pace to start. I had my iPod on and trusted the shuffle option.

The weather was cool with that morning mist/fog near the cliffs. It was clearer in the streets of Miraflores, particularly as the morning drew on. (Here are some photos of the event that give a good idea about the conditions.)

After about a kilometer and a half the pack thinned out and I was able to find a good spot to work in. The start of the race was almost entirely uphill, which was good given the initial adrenaline rush but bad after the first big turn where you got out on this street and the reality of the race hits you. Luckily, my iPod decided to play Love and Rocket's "Ball of Confusion" at that point and I slipped back into indestructible mode.

Over the course of the thing, I found my pace was changing with the music but thats OK cause the elevations - although none were extreme - were monkeying with it too. I just tried to keep a steady even rhythm and not overextend on my stride. I kept a running inventory of my danger spots - the toe, the knee, the stride - but things stayed humming along pretty well. I dropped my iPod at one point so there is probably an iShuffle in my near future.

I really started feeling the toll of the thing at about the 2/3 mark. Luckily, the Nine Inch Nails came on and gave me a God-like adrenaline boost I sorely needed but, on the downside, it probably arrived about five minutes too early. I didn't have as much in me for the finale as I was hoping. I stroked it home but not with anything truly special.

Afterward I had a bit of ache in my knees standing in line waiting to get my post-race goodies (everyone got a medal!) and I took a huge honking nap in the afternoon. But no knee pain, no blister issues and no suprise aches at all. But, oh yes, I am certainly creaky and moving slow. All in all a good effort. A solid time to base the rest of my training on and a good performace to measure what needs to be done in the future.

For now, I take a week off. I am heading to Ecuador on work and so running will be out of the question (the altitude different makes it inadvisable as well). I will get back to Lima at the beginning of June and re-start training then.

Week Wrapup

Distance: 20 kilometers (12.42 miles)
Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Comments: Strange week. Not the most auspicious for preparing for my first 10K in years but I guess I can't be picky. It would be a bit naive to expect my 37-year-old body to respond to race training like it did two decades ago.

I didn't complete a single workout I planned on when I set out on my individual runs but, looking back at the week in retrospect, I probably trained harder than I should have - particularly in light of my illness last week. I have felt pretty sore the last two days and have slept inordinately hard at night. That's not what I need to be doing before a race.

Injury wise there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that I have developed a real blister issue on my left foot. I will be going into this race with two toes rubbed raw and in a spot where the band-aids tend to come off after about 20 minutes of running. The logical option, tape it better, has led to other spots being affected.

The better news is that my knee has not been a problem at all. No real aches or stiffness either during the runs or afterward. I have even played around with some range-of-motion exercises searching for the "hot spots" but have come up empty. Again, I am not about to declare this thing "solved" but it is the best progress I have made in years.

So now I just wait and take it easy until the race itself. I already have a bit of pre-race jitters and that's not helping my anxiety about my blisters and my conditioning. But there is nothing left but to see the thing through now...

Fitness Run

Distance: 6 kilometers (3.7 miles)
Time: 30 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: sunny, warm, 70s, late morning run
Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru

Comments: Another good day running sidetracked by blisters. My goal was to put in the 45 minutes and it felt very possible running wise but at about the 25-minute mark my toe started to feel raw and I stupidly held off another five minutes before dealing with it. Now both my pinkie toe and the next one have raw spots and I have only two days until my race.

The problem is that the point of contact between them is such that it pushes a bandage off after any prolonged running. The bandages - now a band-aid held in place with a strip of medical tape - may work to cover the bad spot but they also create other points of friction as well.

So now I haven't run a decent long run in half a month prior to this race. That's got me a bit worried. And the pre-race jitters probably are only going to get worse from here on in.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4.2 kilometers (2.6 miles)
Time: 20 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: sunny, warm, 70s, early afternoon run
Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Secret weapon: none

Comments: The good, the bad and the ugly of runs. 

The good was I started strong, held a good pace and felt I had scads of entrgy. The bad was I got another blister from the bandages intended to protect from the prior one. The ugly was giving in at the 20 minute mark rather than go the whole 45 minutes I intended

So what happened? Well, I started great and was in the perfect mood to run. The glorious boon of a sunny fall day in Lima just added to that. But, I added a few things to my repertoire that caused problems. First was the blister taping. A single band-aid on the pinkie toe doesn't do it. But, now, it looks like the medicine tape rubs the bottom of the next toe raw. 

Next, I wore a butt pack for the first time and it needed a ton of ajusting to fit right during the run. The addition is to carry some of the stuff I will be needing as I start to get into longer runs. Working through the problems these changes bring is to be expected but it really kept me from a satisfactory run today.

And so, when I stopped to address the pain in my toe I just let the run go. Prior to that, though, I ran a strong pace for the whole way - probably 2/3 my race pace or so. Pushing that pace across a full 10 kilometers is going to be a real test of my ability at this point and, to be totally honest, right now I am more than a little bit anxious about it.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4.2 kilometers (2.6 miles)
Time: 20 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: cool, cloudy, 60s, late morning run
Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Secret weapon: none

Comments: Started with a good stretch and situp regimine. I felt a bit creaky after my first day back after my being ill. The minute I hit the road it was like running through molasses. I didn't feel like I had anything in my legs for the run.

Stuck with it knowing it would get better and it did but it never got good. My pace was a good bit faster than yesterday but I knew I wasn't going to go any real distance with it. I gave in after 20 minutes mostly because I am still very nervous about making myself sick again.

I plan on taking tomorrow off (I might do some gym work) then a 45 minute run at near race pace on Wednesday followed up by a recovery run the day after. We'll see how successful I am in carrying it out.

Fitness Run

Distance: 5.5 kilometers (3.4 miles)
Time: 30 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concrete
Weather Conditions: cool, overcast, 60s, noon run
Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Secret weapon: none

Comments: Not as bad as I feared. Although the flu has clearly left me weakened, I still got a very satisfactory run out of it. I kept my stretching and warm-up to a minimum and just went out and ran it. I just tried to keep a slightly-better-than-a-jog pace but, somewhere just past the halfway point, I fell into a nice easy rythm and just rode it the whole way.

Obviously, the true test of this run is going to come later today and tomorrow as my body decides if it is going to go with the flow or decide to be sick again. The strategy? Eat well, force fluids and sleep hard.

Week Wrapup

Distance: 10.2 kilometers (6.35 miles)
Time: 50 minutes

Comments: Hugely disappointing week but not necessarily from a running standpoint. I came down with a flu on Wednesday and didn't feel even close to human again until today. Needless to say, I wasn't about to take the scheduled long run and, instead, opted for an additional rest day to recover my strength a bit.

The meltdown of my immune sytem late in the week confirmed my concerns about it during my early week runs. While my performance was fine and the runs went well, it was clear I was dragging for some reason. This is the second time my training has been derailed by illness and it is damn frustrating.

Despite the letdown I have to admit it is not a real setback training-wise since I was looking at doing this race more to establish a baseline than anything else. My plan is to scrap my running plan and treat next week as a normal training week leading up to a 1 hour long run on Sunday.

After the disappointment of last week's illness abreviated workouts I have to reassess my plan to prepare for the 10K race next Sunday. An hope of making it a banner effort has completely evaporated and it will, instead, be a measure of what exactly do I have in the tank.

It isn't a question of "Am I strong enough to finish the thing?", because I clearly am. But rather, the more pertinant inquiry is "How will I hold up under race conditions?" It looks like this one is going to be a real baseline for my work over the next six months - which is what I intended, just not to this degree.

Anyhow, I think I am going to do an easy run today and a bit more tomorrow if I feel OK (the last thing I want is a relapse and the Lima weather is not being very cooperative). I will take a day off and do two longer runs on Wednesday and Thursday. Then I will sit tight until the race.

Fitness Run

Distance: 6 kilometers (3.75 miles)
Time: 30 minutes
Surface: asphalt, concrete
Weather Conditions: cool, misty, 60s, late morning run
Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Secret weapon: Run Lola Run Soundtrack

Comments: Well, the magic running coach said get on out for five miles with three at a bit more than race pace. I came a bit short on my goals to reach that but I wasn't disappointed at the run at all. 

The numbers broke down like this: I ran the first 2.8 kilometers (1.75 mi) in 14:39 and the second 3.2 kilometers (2 mi) in 14:45. Or roughly at a 8.2 minute mile pace and a 7.2 minute mile pace, respectively.

It was a good run. I felt ready setting out and comfortable pace wise the whole way. Obvously I wasn't able to do the distance I set out for myself but I will make up for it doing some speed work on the treadmill tomorrow (the extra off day this week on the chart that the guru dinna think was necessary).

The biggest negative today was the return of the ilotobial band discomfort. After running I got one of the infamous sharp twinges on the outside of the left knee and it has been lurking about ever since. I think it is because I was full striding a lot rather than concentrating on shorter steps. Nothing major yet, but clearly a warning to watch my stride in the future.

And, figuring out my distances for this run I discovered I have been shortchanging myself by almost half a kilometer in my calculations over the past few weeks (I do the runs by time and then calculate the distance by a map). I'm not going back past this week and change things cause it's just been a guideline up to now. But it will be correct from here on out.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4.20 kilometers (2.6 miles)
Time: 20 minutes
Surface: asphalt/concretes
Weather Conditions: cool, misty, 60s, early afternoon run
Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Secret weapon: 

Comments: I did not feel good when I got up this morning and it didn't improve much with the day. But this was a short follow-up run for my long one this weekend and then tomorrow is off. So I laced up and went out and got it done.

Not too shabby. The training guide suggested a pretty slow pace so I kept pulling back when I got going too quick. I went sans headphones which was a good change. It made me focus more on the mechanics of my run. There was plenty of go left in the tank but, like the other day, the illness kind of made me feel generally blah.

My knee gave me a few little hints for the first time in awhile. Just a faint soreness that could be as much general muscle pain as anything. It wasn't really enough to make me nervous again but I figured it best to document it in case the problem increases.

Week Wrapup

Distance: 27.5 kilometers (17 miles)
Time: 3 hours, 5 minutes

Comments: Well, I got through the first week of "training" but it certainly wasn't pretty. Like I mentioned in my last Running log, I think I have the beginnings of a sinus infection cooking in my head and that took it's toll as the week went on. I assume that between the rapidly-slipping-into-craptacular weather allied with the fatigue factor is behind it all.

Running wise, it went very well though. My times were not great but now I know I can put in the miles necessary to train for the races I want to run. I am still a long way from being ready for the marathon (or even the half-marathon I'd like to do in July, for that matter) but I have passed the point where I was trying to build enough strength to survive the training.

Which means things get harder from now on, rather than easier. I really have to keep to the running schedule and keep an eye on my diet and sleep pattern and all that funness so my body can do the things I want it to do. But one big difference now is that I am shooting for specific goals in these upcoming races rather than just one big vague finish line almost invisible out there on the horizon.

The single best news this week is the complete and total absence of knee issues. I have not had a single twinge, ache or warning stiffness at any time during the week. It is still way early to declare the death of the wicked witch of the left - throwing on more miles per week could well bring it back with a vengeance - but I have not allowed myself to be this hopeful about it in years.

My left foot was somewhat stiff the other day, like after that 2 hour run, so I iced it and took that early off day and that was that. I seem to have developed a blister issue on the little toe on my left foot. it kind of folds under the knuckle of the next toe when I run and when I put in anything more than half an hour, it rubs raw. I gotta keep that in mind in the future.

two weeks to get ready for this first 10K. I went over to the Runners World website to look through their training guides to come up with a gameplan and I stumbled on their SmartCoach feature.

Basically you put in the criteria of your training schedule and it spits out a plan for you. Like this:

I gotta admit, that's as good as a plan of attack as I could ask for. It mixes the workdays with the rest days in a way I like and hits the right mileage numbers for what I want to do.

Of course this is only a general guide, but it gives me something to work from rather than just hitting the road with a vague idea of what I'd like to run like I have been doing.