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I was both really looking forward to this race (being ran on rail trails is novel) and simultaneously dreading it (I don’t enjoy  running outside when it is very hot and humid out).   My training had gone well in the weeks leading up to the race.  I had not been doing anything intense, just trying to run steady mileage and stay injury free.  The plan for me and my friend and twice-a-week training partner Jon was to use this as more of a training run than a race.  We both have goal races coming up later in the year (me trying to qualify for Boston (probably at Harrisburg), Jon is aiming for a 50 mile ultra-marathon).

The week before the race I had my highest training volume ever (54 miles).  I didn’t want to taper too much since this definitely wasn’t intended to be an ‘A’ effort, but at the same time I wanted to make sure I was in a position to finish comfortably and not be risking injury.  In the week leading up to the race I backed it down some running 3 miles on Mon, easy biking Tues, 10 miles on Wed (w/Jon and James), 4 miles on Thurs, and 1.5 miles Fri morning.

Jon, Nate, and I arrived at the Colebrook trail head where the race would begin about 30 minutes before the race started.  We picked up our bibs and race t-shirts and asked about the trail.  The race director had to change the course a little since they didn’t realize until the night before that part of the section they planned to use (towards Lebanon) wasn’t finished.   The race director ended up shifting the course so that instead of running out-and-back 4 and then out-and-back 9.1 we would run out-and-back 6, and then out-and-back 7.1.   This caused a little dorkiness with the aid station layout but overall wasn’t too bad.

I think there were about 30 people that started the race, but I don’t think everyone was there to run a full marathon. Jon and I settled into an easy pace during the start and were probably running around 20th place after the first mile.  The first aid station was at mile two and consisted of an unmanned table with 20oz bottles of Gatorade, bottles of water, and unflavored gels.  I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade, took a few sips for about a minute while running and then tossed it to the side near a landmark to grab on the way back.

We caught up to a runner named Tom and stayed with him for about 5 miles and had a nice time chatting with him.  Around mile 7 Jon and I started picking the pace up a little as we headed back up the incline towards the starting area.  We saw Nate coming down the trail around mile 9 on his bike as expected.   The sun was definitely out in stronger force now and there were some areas that didn’t have much shading.  Jon and I were still feeling pretty good and made our way back to the starting area at mile 12.  I stopped for a minute to grab some ice from my cooler and rolled it into my bandanna, we grabbed some fluids and then we headed off towards the Lebanon section of the race.  We hit the half-marathon mark in 1:56.  This put us on pace for a 3:52 finish .  I know we had gone out conservatively for the 1st half but wasn’t sure how much the heat would take a toll on us later in the race as it got warmer out.

Luckily, the Lebanon section of the trail had good tree coverage most of the way, and this mitigated the heat to some extent.  We kept pressing on and started passing runners.  Since Jon and I had ran on this section of the trail over the previous 3 weekends, we had a good knowledge of the trail and knowing what was coming up made the race a lot less intimidating.

Nate, Jon, and I were having a lot of fun chatting and joking through mile 20 or so.  We stopped at an aid station (and I had parked my car by it) to grab some quick food and I replaced the ice in my bandanna (which felt really nice!).  Miles 21-23 were running back up an incline and we were still having fun, but definitely had to put in more effort so had a bit less chatting.  At this point, I could feel some heaviness in my legs, but it was nowhere near as bad as what I felt at the same place in Harrisburg.  We crested the incline somewhere around 23.5 miles and then started the descent back towards the finishing line.  At this point, we were feeling stronger and started picking up the pace.  We saw a runner ahead of us and started trying to reel him in.  When we got to within 30/40 feet or so, he turned off into a side trail.  It turned out he wasn’t part of the race and was just out for a run.  Oh well.

I was looking at my watch and doing some mental calculations. With about 2 miles to go, if we kept under an 8:30 pace, we would just about hit my time from the Harrisburg Marathon.  We started kicking the effort up some more.  I checked my Garmin and it showed we were now running at about a 7:15 pace.  Sweet!

(Here is Jon and I hurdling a cable around mile 24)

I felt fantastic running back towards the finish line.  Ended up crossing in 7th place @ 3:45:03 (2.5 minute PR) with Jon just a few seconds back.  We ran a 7 minute negative split for the 2nd half of the race (1:56 and 1:49).

Besides a bit of ache in the arches of my feet right after finishing I felt great afterward.  Way way better than right after finishing the Harrisburg Marathon.  I’m pleased with the results and I think it bodes well for my ‘A’ race marathon in the fall (probably Harrisburg).

Thanks a lot to Nate for providing bike-based support which meant I didn’t need to wear a fuel belt and it was really nice having an extra person to talk and joke with during the race.  Definitely helped make the miles fly by.

MotionBased

In theory, results will be posted at Applied Race Management’s website, but given there isn’t really any information on the site, I am not holding my breath.

I have been reading up on the effects of heat on athletic performance given that it is supposed to reach  up to the high 80s this Saturday for the marathon.  One of the techniques I came across was wearing an ice-filled bandanna (IB)  around your neck.  When you are running there is a lot of blood flow across the back of the neck, so it is a particularly effective and easily accessible area to apply some cooling.

I tried out the IB technique this afternoon when I went running with Nate at the Carlisle Barracks.  The temperature was about 87/88 degrees.  When I put on the IB, it initially felt very cold on my neck, but after a few minutes into the run it felt wonderful.  I ran for 4 miles/39 minutes and despite the heat was able to keep my average HR under 130.  I was pleasantly surprised there was still some ice left in the bandanna when I finished, hopefully it will last an hour or longer during the race.

While it is pretty hard to do a one-person control experiment, but I felt sure it was helpful in keeping down my temperature.  I’m definitely going to use this technique during the marathon; it is quick, cheap, and effective.

It was pretty simple to setup the bandanna, just pour some ice cubes a few inches from the top and then roll the bandanna down over the ice like a burrito.  Then place the ice-filled part against the back of your neck and tie the ends in a knot near your wind pipe.  If you don’t own any bandannas you can pick up 2 for $1.88 at Walmart.  For the 50% of you that think I spelled ‘bandana’ wrong, wiktionary says bandanna and bandana are alternate spellings.

It is 6 days until the Mid-Atlantic Summer Marathon. I had a good training week, although I ended up doing more running than I had originally planned. The majority of it was at a very easy pace (HR average < 135) and I feel pretty strong. My goal for this marathon is to run it as a training run with my friend Jon (his plan too) and not try to push the pace at all. This is mostly about getting some more experience with marathoning before my ‘A’ races in the fall and the fact that a rail-trail marathon seemed neat. I’m predicting a finishing time of around 4 hours, but the biggest variable is likely to be the heat. Weather.com is currently predicting a low of 69 degrees and a high of 90 for Lebanon on Saturday. The race starts at 6 AM and the majority of the course offers some degree of shade, so that should help quite a bit.

I tend to think of rail-trails as generally flat, but that isn’t quite the case for the Lebanon rail trail. While the course doesn’t have any really steep hills, it does have some very long incline and declines. Here is the elevation profile from my attempt at plotting the course on mapmyrun.com ( a handy site when trying to figure out new routes):

Weekly Workout Recap:

Plan: Roughly 40 miles with a 15 mile long-run on Saturday

Mon: Ran two loops of Wildwood with Nate. It was nice to get some hills in. 6.3 miles

Tue: PennDOT/City Island run with Mark and then added on a bit. 8.3 miles. Mark has a 35+ day running streak.

Wed: Camp Hill/Harrisburg run with Jon. 11.1 miles

Thu: Felt like left hamstring was sore while walking up stairs so did 30 mins easy on stationary bike @ LA Fitness

Fri: PennDOT/Greenbelt run with Nate. 4 miles

Sat: Long run with Jon at Lebanon Rail Trail (we ran from Cornwall trail head towards Lebanon until the trail deteriorated and then back towards Colebrook). 15 miles which seemed like a walk in the park after last weekend’s 21 miler.

Sun: York Heritage Trail run with Nate. Thought we were doing 8 miles but Nate switched it to 10. I’ve never been there before, so it was neat to checkout. If you aren’t a fan of urban decay you should not start near the Old Colonial Courthouse in downtown York. It is rail-trail ghetto from there for the first mile or two. Brillhart Station is much more scenic place to start.

Total for the week: 54 miles.

This is definitely my highest mileage week ever, but I think running so many miles at a very low heart-rate doesn’t beat up my body as nearly as much as when I am adding in tempo runs and intervals. I still definitely need to drop back a bit this week to make sure my body is able to handle and recover from the marathon this weekend.

My wife pointed me towards Modest Needs, a “mini grant” charity designed to help people who are generally self-sufficient  but encounter one-time needs that might be pushing them towards poverty or preventing them from taking a job.   An example might be someone who is generally able to pay rent but had to miss two weeks of work due to an injury or something else beyond their control or who have a job offer in-hand but need to renew some professional license before starting work (like a nurse).

Modest Needs makes all applicants submit paperwork electronically and contacts the employers/landlords/merchants directly to verify the situation and disburse funding directly to the creditor if the grant is approved.  If you donate money to Modest Needs, you can pick which individual applications you want to help fund.

If you are feeling in a generous mood, check it out: Modest Needs.

Here is their rating on Charity Navigator.

Mon: ran 6 hilly loops around my development (40 mins, 4.4 miles)

Tue: tried running on treadmill in very hot + humid fitness center at hotel, but bailed after 3.3 miles since I was pouring sweat even when going at an easy pace. Didn’t know where to run outside so ran 5.4 miles of loops in the parking lot of a strip mall across the street which offered some shade. Boring boring boring. 8.7 miles for the day

Wed: got a tip from my customer yesterday about running locations and ran along the Erie Canal Heritage Trail which was really a nice. The locks where they can raise/lower boats were neat. Sure beats the strip mall parking lot. Weather was also much cooler in Rochester than in PA. 10.5 miles

Thu: ran along the Erie Canal trail again. Did 6 miles super easy, HR averaged under 120.

Fri: Off

Sat: ran 21 miles on the Lebanon Rail Trail with Jon. We went down from the Colebrook trail head to the Conewago trail 5.5 miles, headed back, refueled and then ran 5 more miles out and back in the other direction. Jon is a madman since he had to work the night before and basically came straight from work to run. Hardcore.

Sun: Legs felt pretty good and HR was totally recovered, but didn’t want to push it so went to LA Fitness and rode the stationary bike for 45 minutes.

Overall: Just over 50 miles (my highest volume in a long time) and feeling pretty good. Looking forward to the rail trail marathon in two weeks. Nate has volunteered to provide bike-based support crew duties for Jon and I during the race. Thanks Nate!

Sunday: 2 miles on treadmill from LA Fitness (had traveled back from Florida earlier in the day and was beat from all the travel)

Monday AM: 3.6 miles looping around my development (thrilled to be running in a brisk 57 degree temperature after spending a few days in Florida)

Monday PM: 4 miles going back and forth twice on the wood chip trail at WildWood Lake (boring, shaded but lots of gnats)

First double workout I’ve had in a long time

Tuesday AM: 2.2 miles looping around the development

Wednesday PM: 10 miles with Jon and James running a slight variant of our normal Wednesday (or Tenesday)

Thursday PM: 6 miles going back and forth three times on the wood chip trail at WildWood Lake (boring, shaded, almost an obscene amount of gnats, at times it was ridiculous)

Friday: off from running

Saturday:  met up with Jon at the Colebrook trailhead of the Lebanon Rail Trail and did 20 miles ( 7 miles out and back, took a short break to refuel/etc and then went 3 miles out and back).  The trail has a lot of shade which made the run bearable given the temperature.  Legs generally felt good during the run although my feet were sore towards the end.  After the run we met a guy in the parking lot who pulled up next to us and was getting ready for a bike ride. He seemed nice at first but then he quickly started giving a “problems with America” diatribe, so we excused ourselves as quickly as we could and headed for some food.

7 day total: 435 minutes and 47.8 miles, the highest I’ve had in quite a while.  I’ve also been doing a bunch of exercises for leg strength and stability.

(I’m in the yellow helmet, the instructor is wearing the white helmet)

I wanted to do something fun when I was in Orlando on Friday afternoon and I flipped through a few of the tourist coupon books. I came across an ad for SkyVenture, which has an indoor skydiving facility and looked really interesting. I called and made a reservation for 2:00 PM.

I arrived at SkyVenture around 1:40 and the facility was interesting. There was a small office building next to a tremendous round tower where the indoor flying takes place. I parked about 30 feet from the tower and you could hear the roar of the huge fan ( ~ 1000 horse power!) that provides the 120+ MPH wind that people float in. I filled out the paperwork (basically a disclaimer saying my heirs can’t sue if I fly into a giant fan and get chopped up in legalese), paid, and then headed over to the tower to watch the group that was currently flying.

There were 5 or 6 people in the group taking turns and it all looked like they were having a lot of fun, but I could tell it wasn’t easy. Some of the people were pros and floated around effortlessly while others needed a bunch of help from the instructor. Towards the end of the session I was watching, the instructors jumped into the air stream and did some crazy almost Matrix-like maneuvers.

Around 2:00 out instructor called for everyone to head upstairs to the class and equipment area. The class consisted of a mother with two young daughters and myself. The instruction was somewhat of a let down, it took about 5 minutes and mostly consisted of the instructor telling us to relax, make small movements and then showing us a few hand signals he would give (raising chin up, and straightening or curling your legs) when in the flight tunnel. We would have to use hand signals because there is no way you can hear over the fan noise if you are in the air stream.

In the classroom there was a table you could lay down on and I expected that the instructor would have us use it to practice the skydiving position but no dice. He did show us the position we should use (stomach facing down, chin up, knees bent at about a 70 degree angle, arms bent), but I felt somewhat short-changed on the instruction since the price per minute of time inside the wind tunnel itself was really high (basically $20-30/minute) and it would have been nice if we could have had a bit of more realistic practice first during the “free” classroom time.

After the class session was over, another customer who had about 10 indoor skydiving sessions under his belt also joined us to get equiped. We got suited with knee and elbow pads, jumpsuits, earplugs, helmets and goggles and then headed down to the wind tunnel entrance.

The experienced guy went first and he was able to float around pretty comfortably. One of the young girls (maybe 10 years or so) went next and she required a bunch of assistance from the instructor. Then it was my first turn (I had paid for (2) 2 minute sessions). The first minute or so was pretty awkward, I would feel like I was getting the hang of it and float for a second and then I would shift position a tiny bit and start flying up, down, or sideways. The floor was a spongy mesh and you were never falling fast so it was no big deal if you hit the ground. The instructor helped guide me sometimes with a hand and sometimes with hand signals. Towards the end of the first flight segment I started feeling more comfortable and then the flashing lights went off indicating my 2 minutes was up and I had to exit so the next person could take their turn.

During my 2nd turn it went a lot smoother, I was able to spend much more of my 2 minute turn gliding around and expending less effort trying to stabilize myself.

This is definitely something I would like to do again next time I’m in a location that has this type of facility. It was a lot of fun and I’d recommend this to anyone. Note that there are weight restrictions, so if you think it might be an issue, ask about it when you call for a reservation.

I didn’t bring a useful video camera. Here is a video that someone shot from what appears to be the same viewing area I was at: