Bucks County Marathon – Race Report 2012: Part 2

Bucks County Marathon – Race Report part 2: Now what?

If you haven’t read Part 1, you can find it here.

After learning of the NYC marathon cancellation we finished our meal at the restaurant and headed home. Once we got home we dumped our bags in the hallway and exhaled. It was a relief to not have to get ready for a race that had suddenly become the center of frustration and anger for several million New Yorkers. For my kids this meant firing up the computer and PS3 for some video game time and for the wife it meant updating Facebook and seeing what she missed in the last hour and a half on Pinterest (just kidding sweetie). For me it meant finding another marathon… and fast!

I realized once word of the cancellation began to spread there would be 47,000 or so other runners looking to hop into a marathon in the next few weeks. Any races that had space available would fill up fast. Philly’s marathon was already closed to registration so that wasn’t an option (though they would later open up 3,000 slots for NYC refugees for the bargain price of $200). As luck would have it, the race director for the Bucks County marathon (and my new best friend) was able to get me into his race which is about 45 minutes north of my house. I was already planning on attending the race in a Gatorade capacity to support the event, the only difference now would be I’d be running in it as well. Even better I had two more weeks to recover and heal, giving myself an even better shot at breaking 3 hrs. All was right in the world.

Race Day

Yes, I’m excited but I’m also flippin’ cold so let’s get this thing going!

I showed up early race day morning to deliver a few things for the race then spent the remaining time in the car with my race day photographer trying to stay warm. There was a good amount of frost throughout the park and the temp was about 30 degrees with a forecast high in the upper 40′s. With a good amount of cloud cover that morning, gun time approached and the car thermostat hadn’t budged so I stuck to my original wardrobe selection (siglet, shorts, gloves and arm-sleeves). I just planned on being chilly until the start.

Race start to mile 2

As silly as this might sound, we had wave starts even with a field size of less than 450 runners. The initial pavement section and the very narrow towpath just wasn’t conducive to a mass start. We went out in groups of 50 and being in wave one I didn’t have much traffic to deal with until..

Mile 2 thru 13.1

After the first mile and change we left the park area and hit the towpath. This was also the last time I would see pavement for another 23 miles. A point I want to make at this point is that I had prepared for a full pavement, large scale marathon while Bucks is a great small town, trail race. Every marathon I’ve ever run (and practically every training run) has been on pavement. So while Bucks is an outstanding race, it wasn’t what I had prepared for physically or mentally.

Racing this course was a challenge, to say that parts of the towpath were narrow would be an understatement. There was just barely enough room for two runners to run side-by-side in many sections of the course. In fact when running on the river side of the towpath I could easily see how a misstep would put you in the drink.

Between miles 2 and 5 a pack of about 10 runners formed around the lead woman and by the splits we were hitting we all seemed to have the same sub-3 hour goal in mind. Running with the pack, along with the challenges of an unfamiliar trail course, made me have to focus on my footfalls and surroundings more than I’ve ever had to before. There wasn’t more than a step or two of maneuver room within the group I was around so I tried to hang toward the back. It was a bit nerve wracking to be honest. While there were good stretches of packed dirt and cinder there was also sections of gravel, some post Sandy rocks and branches and the occasional cleared (but too close for comfort) downed tree. Adding in some Horse droppings and the occasional dog-walker made the first 13 miles mentally taxing. The first 13 is when I’m usually holding back and conserving my energy, here I was clocking good splits but it was taking more effort than it should have, and I knew it. There wasn’t going to be as much in the tank as expected during the second half.

Mile 14 to 19

After the turn around I spent a mile or two running with the lead female Justyna Wilson who was coming off a first place women’s finish in the inaugural Trenton Double Cross Half-Marathon the weekend prior. We talked for a bit, both of us looking for a 3 hour finish time that neither of us were able to achieve (she got a bit closer than I did on her way to a solid women’s 1st place finish).

As you can see from the splits on the left, Mile 17 was when the course was starting to take it’s toll on me. My Inov-8 150′s which are stellar on pavement were “less than optimum” on the course. I could feel some hotspots developing on the bottom of my feet and my left hamstring was starting to tighten up. I kept leaning hard on the pedal for mile 18 but when the mile 19 split came in at 7:15, with my hamstring beginning to prevent me from maintaining pace, I knew getting in under three hours was most likely out of reach. It now became a matter of holding on to that PR and managing my left side.

Mile 20 to Finish

I had passed the 20 mile marker and a few minutes went by without hearing the familiar “beep”. I looked down and my watch was dead. After looking at the data post-race it was apparent that the tree cover made connectivity to the GPS satellites sporadic. The additional searching drained my 4+ year old Garmin to zero. On the positive side, I didn’t have a constant reminder of missing my sub-3 hour goal. The down side was there weren’t any clocks on the course so I was flying blind and going purely by feel. I basically ran as hard as I could while not allowing my hammy to affect my form.

The final mile was a circular trip around the park so with about 8/10 of a mile to go you past close enough to the finish to see the clock. A solid PR was still there so I finished strong, taking 18th overall and 3rd in my age group. In checking the results recently, I noticed that everyone who finished in front of me was younger than I was. Granted the two guys in my age group were only a year younger but it still counts

Post Race details coming soon in part 3.

Bucks County Marathon – Race Report 2012: Part 1

Note to readers: I’m publishing this race report many weeks after writing it. With all the changes and obstacles that had to be overcome to get to race day I wanted to make sure my emotions weren’t clouding my perspective. Hope it was worth the wait.

- Rob

Buck County Marathon Pre-Race

What I experienced in the training, preparation and execution of running my 2012 fall marathon I’m confident would send any type-A, obsessive compulsive runner to the psychiatrist’s couch. It got weird early and never let up, but in a good way. I’ve discovered the best learning experiences occur and my most fond memories are created when I venture well outside of my comfort zone. The farther, the better. It’s there where you have no choice but to let go of whatever preconceived plans and expectations you have and you give God an opportunity to intervene and send you in new directions.

Jules: This was Divine Intervention! You know what “divine intervention” is?
Vincent: Yeah, I think so. That means God came down from Heaven and stopped the bullets.
Jules: Yeah, man, that’s what it means. That’s exactly what it means! God came down from Heaven and stopped the bullets.
Vincent: I think we should be going now.

While not completely intentional, this has been a major theme for the whole year. In fact I’ve been so successful in venturing outside my comfort zone recently I’d say with a high degree of confidence that I am now somewhat lost. I seem to be in the midst of a continual out-of-body experience without a compass to find my way back (…but in a good way?) along with a dead GPS on my wrist (more on that later). We’re not talking hallucinations here or scenes from a Quentin Tarantino movie, but weird none the less. With all that in mind let’s begin.

Back in April I had a fast enough half marathon time to qualify me for guaranteed entry into the NYC marathon. It was really exciting for me to get into NYC in 2012 since it was exactly 25 years since I ran it back in 1987. It was also my son’s 18th birthday on race day so we had a family mini-vacation planned for that weekend, we were all really looking forward to it.

Spring turned into summer and some exciting things started happening. I became an ambassador for Gatorade and got to met Greg McMillan who mixed up things a bit with my training and put together a custom training plan for NYC. As a result during the summer and fall months I spent a lot of time working with local training clubs and educating athletes on Gatorade’s latest products along with hitting the pavement hard and adapting to my new training plan. It was honestly the hardest working summer for me since 2004 where I was going to Grad school, working full time, and also consulting on the side. I remember taking text books with me on the family vacation that summer (yikes!). Also the record heat we were experiencing in the Northeast this year made all the additional speed work that much more challenging.

It was then in the late summer when I started having some hamstring issues. It wasn’t due to a pull or a specific incident, but just a tightness in the upper part of the muscle where it connects to the pelvis. This has been a reoccurring issue for me the past few years that usually works itself out with some rolling on a tennis ball and sitting on a heating pad during work hours. It was mostly on my left side and looking back I know I wasn’t as aggressive in treating it as I should have been. Over time some tightness then developed in my mid-hamstring area and during a few speed workouts I could feel some twinges shoot down my left leg all the way down to my calf. It wasn’t enough to cause a gait change or hamper my workouts much but I knew it wouldn’t get better on it’s own without some professional help.

By this time it’s early October so I’m getting concerned as race day is about four weeks away. A couple of appointments with a massage therapist did wonders but as most of you know, hamstrings take a notoriously long time to heal. My last massage appointment has 10 days from NYC and at that point I was just hoping things would just fall into place. Since I seem to always have issues leading up to a major marathon, I looked at this as just another obstacle. I mean it wasn’t like some apocalyptic event was going to hit us during race week, right?

Enter Sandy

In the days prior I saw the forecasts and listened to the typical “worst case” estimates but I honestly thought it wasn’t going to hit us. Since Jim Cantore and crew at the weather channel are always hyping up the most recent weather blip I didn’t pay too much attention to it. I realize the forecasters have the health and safety of all of us at heart but the cynic in me just can’t get passed the conflict of interest between alerting the public and the higher viewership the Weather Channel gets along with the higher ad rates they can charge. I continued to work on race day planning and preparations and focused on what I could control.

Landfall

“I’d keep playing. I don’t think the heavy stuff’s gonna come down for quite a while.”

Thankfully there were just some sporadic power outages in my area and no notable damage. As you’ve seen from the news reports though, millions of others weren’t so fortunate. I have many relatives and friends in North Jersey and Long Island. Suffice it to say all the reports of power outages and damage you heard on the news was not over stated, in fact I’m very surprised there wasn’t much outrage in the media regarding the response of FEMA and other federal agencies. I can’t say I’m surprised though, media outrage has become more of a political tool than genuine concern for human suffering in recent years.

On the Wednesday prior to race day, the extent of the damage hadn’t really sunk in yet for me so when the New York Road Runners (NYRR) and Mayor Bloomberg announced the marathon was going to go on, I was excited. I thought the mayor and the NYRR would be in the best position to determine the feasibility of holding the marathon, unfortunately no one factored in the desperate conditions that many New Yorkers were currently in.

It was evident over the next day or two that the marathon had become a symbol of government mismanagement and New Yorkers were now using it to vent their anger and frustration. The negativity and anger had reached a point were I sat down and spoke to my wife about the concerns I had for my safety out on the course. I’d love to say it was out of concern for the suffering (my family among them) that had me thinking of not running, but in all honestly it was the potential of violence from protesters that gave me pause. NYC has no shortage of radicals and nut-jobs that wouldn’t give a second thought to hurting others if it supported some political agenda or protest.

On Friday afternoon we were having dinner at a local restaurant a mere 30 minutes from taking the drive up to NYC when my mother-in-law called us to say the race was cancelled. All four of us (Myself, my wife and two boys) were relieved. We decided to just head home and enjoy the free weekend.

Relief quickly turns into frenzy in Part 2 as I start the search for Plan B.

Seven Days

As much as I game planned and analyzed my race day strategy for Boston, due to my schedules and workload these past four months I’ve hardly given my NYC Marathon strategy much thought. Rest assured I diligently followed (and adjusted when appropriate) my McMillan training plan, I just haven’t had the time to think much about the actual race. So with that in mind I though it was appropriate to write a Frankenstorm, Halloween themed game-plan post since I have no idea what may jump out and bite me on Nov 4th.

Before you die, you see the ring….

Seven days…

Back in 2003 a movie came out called ‘The Ring’. It’s pretty dated by now even though it’s less than ten years old (honestly, when was the last time you were in a video store?). Anyway, the basic premise is there’s this video and after you watch it a 12 year old girl calls you (on a landline phone) and says only two words: “Seven Days”. Of course she doesn’t state it matter of factly but in that creepy, Scooby-Doo mysteries tone. We find out very early that “Seven Days” means in a week she’s coming for you and nothing on earth is going to stop her from tracking you down and killing you. Wouldn’t you know in about a week the NYC Marathon is coming, I’ve done all the preparation possible but those 26.2 miles are coming for me… and the similarities don’t end there (que the ominous spooky music).

Wave Placement

I was very fortunate that my USATF team has great leadership and submitted all of our team’s runners for the ‘Local Competitive’ start and I was also fortunate my Philly Rock and Roll Half Marathon time was fast enough to get me in. There will be three starts for NYC; Blue, Orange and Green. The Local Competitive group is right up front in Wave 1 at the Green start. This should allow me the opportunity to get out in front of any crowds or congestion and control my pace. Also by the looks of it the Green Start will be on the lower level of the Verrazano Bridge giving me a lower elevation to climb at the start and also giving me some temporary cover from any race day weather in that first mile or two.

NYC Marathon Start area

On the other hand if a zombie hoard were to come at us it would definitely be coming at us from Brooklyn which means I’d be in the first group to go down. Something to consider because zombie sightings on Staten Island are pretty rare. Where I line up might have to be a race day decision. Moving on…

Elevation and Fueling

Click here for the full elevation map. As you can see there’s not much to worry about. The Verrazano gives you the biggest challenge of the race right at the start along with the Queensboro Bridge a little later on (about 150 foot climb for each). Everything else is 50ft bumps here and there until you hit Central Park at mile 23 where you go up about 100ft over 3/4 of a mile. You then get some mild rollers until you hit the finish. The key will be to take the start nice and controlled, let the downhill side momentum carry me for a bit and then find that sweet spot in pacing to lock in as I move through Brooklyn and Queens.

For my fuel plan I’ve moved from gels to Gatorade Carb Energy Chews and I like the freedom that’s given me. With gels you need to time the intake near water stops to get the fluids needed to dilute them enough to make the gel digestible. That’s caused some issues for me in the past. Over the past four months using the Carb Chews I’ve been able to take them when I want and also break up a pack over a longer distance. With the gels it was always all-or-nothing. A nice benefit for planning is they have similar carbohydrate and electrolyte content so it made it easy to substitute a pack of chews for a gel. I’ll be augmenting my fueling with on course Gatorade Endurance Formula but I just might steer clear of any water stops manned by middle-schoolers with long dark hair, especially at mile 19.

Seven miles….

Bottom Line:

I could slice and dice my previous races this fall and try and figure out where I am, but I think I’m going to try a simpler approach. No doubt I’ve trained harder and put in more speed work than during any other training cycle and my recent race performances and training runs show it. If I was in the ball park of a sub three hour performance for Boston, I’m even faster now. In conclusion I’m going with the Pam Beesley race day strategy:

Jim: So what’s your strategy for this race?
Pam: Well I’m gonna start fast.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Pam: Then I’m gonna run fast in the middle.
Jim: What?
Pam: Then I’m gonna end fast.
Jim: Why won’t more people do that?
Pam: Cause they’re just stupid.

See you in Seven days…

Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon – Race Report 2012

Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Pre-Race:

With the race just a short 20 minute drive over the Ben Franklin Bridge, not much race prep was needed. The expo was in the Philadelphia Convention Center which is common and convenient for the big Philly races. I drove in on Saturday and walked a few blocks to the expo. I got into the registration area, picked up my bib and headed in to the expo to check out the vendors. As soon as I left the registration area I found myself in what had to be one of the largest race-related apparel shops I have ever seen, it was huge! Competitor, which took over the race a couple of years ago, is a for-profit organization so I wasn’t terribly surprised but the amount of apparel was quite impressive.

It was great to be able to meet up for a bit at the expo with a Daily Mile friend (don’t worry Marcie, I won’t put our picture on the blog ). We had a great conversation about marathon training, race day strategy, and the overall chaotic state of our lives. It’s funny how you tend to be more conservative in your advice to others than you give to yourself, and Marcie caught me on this when she asked me, “OK, now how are YOU going to run the race?”. We had a good laugh because she’s seen my training and past race reports and knows I tend to have one speed on race day. I did have in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to put myself in a position to jeopardize NYC in November and if I had any warning signs during the race I’d shut it down. That being said there was no reason given good weather that a PR wasn’t possible, in fact I was expecting it.

Race day morning was uneventful. Got up, got out the door and found a good parking garage about a mile from the start. I wanted to get in about a 2 mile warmup and 2 mile cool down so I figured if I parked far enough away it would force me to get the mileage in for the day to count as a long run. It worked out perfectly as the garage was right next to a Holiday Inn which allowed me to use a proper restroom before heading to the start.

Pre-race tip for Big Philly races: Don’t line up at the first porta-potties you see on the Ben Franklin Parkway, walk further down toward the art museum. I saw the lines at least 20 or 30 deep at the first set while the potties by the art museum had no line at all. This was true last year at the Philly Marathon as well. This is because 90% of the runners are heading west on the Ben Franklin Parkway and usually line up at the first row they see.

Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Race Start:

It was nice to be in corral 1. While it wasn’t a seeded placement and only based on the estimated finish time I submitted, it was cool to be upfront. The elites were just in front of us and it seemed that most of corral 1 was filled with running teams from NYC. I counted a good 5 or 6 teams from Brooklyn, Central Park and the like. The weather was really nice, there was a cool breeze and the temperature was comfortable. If I was greedy I would say I would have taken another 10 degrees cooler but after the summer we had I wasn’t complaining. The gun went off right on time and we took off headed into the heart of Philadelphia.

Miles 1 thru 4

Only the first four miles take you through the city and the rest of the course takes you up and down the Schuylkill. As long as you can get out in front of your corral as you head into the city you’re OK. If you get caught in a large pack of runners (or the dreaded pace groups) you can get stuck and spend some time and energy navigating around runners and avoiding getting bumped or tripped up. I had planned going out at about a 6:30 pace but I felt good and let my legs dictate the pace a bit. First four splits were 6:20, 6:23, 6:29 and 6:21.

Miles 5 thru 9

At the mile 5 marker you pass the Art Museum where the Rocky statue stands arms raised to cheer you on. The course is very flat and the only flatter course you’d find in the area are probably down by the shore where the only elevation you get is when you pass over bridges. Heading north on Kelly Drive is very scenic, there weren’t a lot of spectators on this part of the course but I was pretty ambivalent about it. I was just enjoying the shade, cooler temps and locking in my pace. The only split that wasn’t in the 6:20′s was mile 9 as we hit the only elevation on the course as we crossed over Falls Bridge to head south on MLK drive.

Miles 10 to Finish

Had less shade, warming temps and splits in the mid 6:20′s as I came around the corner of the Art Museum toward the finish. Knowing I had a PR in hand I just maintained my pace rather than fight off any runners who had spent the last 12.9 miles saving themselves for their finish line photos. I crossed the finish at 1:24:30, 44 secs off my previous best. I knew in my heart that had this been my ‘A’ race I probably could have dialed it up and got in under 1:24 but it wasn’t worth the injury risk or the risk to my training schedule for extra recovery time (see Marcie! I was conservative!). I’ll save a sub-1:24 for next year…

Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Post Race:

Got a solid PR, some good confirmation of my training and a chance to push myself hard in the heart of my NYC training schedule. As of 9/23 I’ve got six weeks of training left with two of those being recovery weeks. Still a lot of wild cards are out there but a day doesn’t go by where that sub-three isn’t on my mind so the next six weeks will be very focused.

Wild Half Marathon – Race Report 2012

Wild Half Marathon Pre-Race:

It took 16 months but I finally ran this race. I originally registered in April 2011 for the then 2011 Wild Half Marathon. Unfortunately Hurricane Irene had similar plans for a weekend trip to Wildwood, NJ and decided to pay a visit on race day resulting in a cancellation of the race and our family weekend getaway. Fortunately all of the 2011 entrants were given a free entry into the 2012 race and our motel had a nice hurricane friendly deferment policy so we were all set for our in-state vacation this year.

In the interest of full disclosure, this was originally planned as a race weekend masquerading as family fun time (now wipe that look off your face, like none of you have ever done that). After waiting for almost a year and a half I can honestly say I was looking forward to the fun more than the running. This summer my schedule has been completely bonkers, sleep has been at a premium and I had fought a bad head cold all week so I needed some downtime. Add to that my oldest son is entering into his last year of High School so at this time next year we’ll be saying goodbye to him at some college campus. All of that made for a perfectly timed trip for all of us.

We drove down early on Friday afternoon. Part of the race package included free weekend admission to Morey’s Piers which are three large piers with rides and a waterpark. We arrived at the hotel, dropped off our bags, made a quick trip to the expo and then ‘hit the boards’. I don’t want to make this into a vacation report so I’ll try to sum up the non-race part quickly. The rides and waterpark were fun for all of us (even the teenagers), we had a blast. We also spent some time exploring the boardwalk and parts of that were fun too. On the downside, once you spend a couple of days in Wildwood you’ve seen pretty much seen everything. Also some of the boardwalk shops (and their clientele) were… how would my boys say it?… a bit ‘sketchy’. While we had fun I can honestly say we probably won’t return. There are plenty of better beaches, better rides and more family friendly towns in NJ to visit. Glad we went but been there, done that.

While the hurricane activity remained in the Gulf Coast region, this race weekend still had some eventful weather. We experienced the most intense lightning and torrential rain storm I’ve ever seen. Saturday night starting at about 8PM until about two the next morning was unreal. It sounded and felt like the strikes were hitting the motel sign outside our window. The thunder wasn’t making a ‘boom’ sound but instead a sharp, loud ‘CRACK’ along with a blinding light. We were honestly afraid to go too near the windows. Needless to say trying to get to sleep for a 7:30AM gun time was a bit challenging. Also having to reset the hotel alarm clock very 20 minutes or so due to the power going out kept me occupied between midnight and 2:30AM. Things eventually quieted down and I dosed off for what turned out to be a 3 hour nap.

Wild Half Marathon Race Day:

When you can see the air, that’s usually a bad sign.

My loving, supportive wife got up with me at about 6AM and we walked to the start together (did I mention she was loving AND supportive). We knew better that to wake the dynamic duo so we slipped out quietly. First thing that hit me as I opened the hotel door was how thick the air was. High humidity and barely a cloud in the sky… lovely. Temps in the mid 70′s were of little comfort as I thought “Again! Really?!?!”

This race was put on by CGI Racing which holds a couple of Half’s and Tri’s in the NJ/PA area. This is a for-profit company and while I’ve done one other race with them I noticed more this time how frugal the race seemed. The expo had maybe six vendors if that and while some of you may see that as a good thing it felt a bit weird. There were plenty of volunteers and a good crowd at the start though as we lined up and the gun went off promptly at 7:30AM.

Start to Mile 2

The course takes you over the boardwalk for the first mile and a half. I was a bit concerned that morning about traction but it had rained so hard the night before that the boards had a decent grip to them. The biggest problem with that first part of the course was as you came off the boards and onto the street there was an ankle-deep, 20ft diameter puddle you had to run through. Made for a steeplechase feel for the next mile as the water drained from your shoes. What made this it even better was that we ran though that same puddle again around mile 9 (Woo Hoo!).

Middle Miles

Around mile 3 I really started feeling the humidity and a pace that started out in the 6:30′s moved up to the 6:40′s. As I anticipated I was back in heat management mode as the weather made for the limiting factor on my pacing for the rest of the race.

The course was well marked with a good number of water stops (with Gatorade!). As I flew through one stop with the huge G-Bolt logo on my singlet I heard one of the volunteers call to one of his buddies “Oh Yeah! That guy’s taking the Gatorade!” Overall the course was fairly flat and puddle free. There were two bridges we crossed over twice on the out and back but the elevation was trivial.

Mile 11 to 13

By mile 11 I had passed the last runner in reach of me and I settled in on my pacing for the final two miles. There was one runner I saw up in the distance but I didn’t have any realistic chance of catching him, he had a good 30 seconds or more on me as we were approaching mile 12 and I wasn’t about to risk injury or increased recovery time in an attempt to catch him. In a ‘B’ race I was willing to just finish strong and keep runners off my tail.

With about 3/4 of a mile to go we turned into the final stretch where the course went over a cement bike path that wasn’t very runner friendly and that along with navigating around the back end of the 8k finishers made for a less than ideal finish. I did take note that the runner in front of me was getting a little closer. Then he did something you should never do, he looked back…several times. I really had no desire to try to catch him with less than a 1/2 mile to go but there was blood in the water and I felt myself unconsciously picking up the pace.

Coaching Tip: Resist as much as you can the urge to look behind you late in the race. While I’m guilty of this on occasion it results in giving the guy behind you a mental boost because it sends a signal that you’re in trouble or that you want to slow down. Either way you don’t want to give up a mental edge late in the race. Just tough it out and slam the pedal down and you won’t have to worry about who’s behind you.

The Finish

The final 200 yards was over wet mushy sand which made for an unceremonious end to the race. I had closed the gap to about 8 secs but I ran out of course before I caught the runner in front of me and crossed the finish with a official time of 1:28:30. Good for 2nd place in my age group and 17th overall in the official results.

Wild Half Marathon Post Race:

Not the race performance I was hoping for but we all had a fun weekend and any time you bring home some age group hardware you really have no right to complain. So after downing my recovery beverage along with some serious post-race hydration, I received my award and we headed back to the hotel to hop in the car and head home. My wife made the obligatory stop to pickup a Christmas ornament on the way back to the car. Memento in hand, our weekend trip was now complete and it was time to head back to the realities of soccer practices, lesson plans and long weeks. So how many days are there until June 2013?

Sweat Equity

I’ve got to be completely honest, right now my head is spinning and my legs are a bit gassed. Not only has this been the busiest July on record but we’ve gotten some intensely hot weather recently in the Northeast. Of all the months on the running calendar, I dread July and August the most. The heat takes a real toll on me no matter how easy the pace. Long runs, speed work, recovery miles…doesn’t matter. It’s at this time every year I think of buying a summer home in Fairbanks, Alaska.

You know it’s bad when you start daydreaming about shoveling out your driveway.

For two months straight as I’m lacing up my shoes I dawdle a bit too much before heading out the door, trying to delay the inevitable. These summer runs never disappoint either because very one of them is a battle. Spending that 40 minutes to 3 hours wiping the sting of sweat from my eyes, trying to manage the heat along with fighting back the occasional bout of nausea at times makes me question my sanity. I walk in the house after practically every workout completely drenched. Most days you couldn’t tell the difference between me post-run and me post-scuba-diving.

I’ve got a serious love/hate relationship with my training during this time of the year, emphasis on the ‘hate’. I love knowing the suffering is contributing to the end result but I just can’t get used to the heat. I’m now into the fourth summer of this going back to 2009 when I began running marathons again to qualify for Boston and history repeats itself four years later as I look to get into a more exclusive club. Right now I have less than 14 weeks to get ready for that attempt.

Eating at Windows on the World gave you a great view!

The NYC marathon has some special meaning for me this time. Growing up on Long Island and going to school in North Jersey, NYC has been a been a big part of my life. Many times I took the Long Island Railroad or the PATH trains into the city with friends and family. I remember taking my then girlfriend and future wife to eat at the top of the World Trade Center and then many years later to Tavern on the Green in Central Park. In looking back, the NYC Marathon was the last marathon I ran in my prime. I was 23 back in 1987 when I stood in a crowd of runners on the Verrazano Bridge waiting for the gun to go off. After we heard the gun we all stood in place or jogged slowly for another five to ten minutes before crossing the starting line. I don’t remember any corrals back then and there was no chip timing either. I remember fighting my way through the mass of runners for several miles until I found some room to hit my stride. The memories of that race are really vivid, each neighborhood had such a unique feel and culture. Brooklyn, Manhattan, South Bronx… I can remember those parts of the course but oddly enough I don’t remember the finish line. Maybe there’s a message there, the destination only has as much value as the journey itself.

A lot has changed in 25 years. From the number of runners to the ethnic makeup of the city and I’m excited to see the differences. I’m also different in a number of ways. More experienced, but (hopefully) more humble. Better prepared but with more wear and tear on the body. I can’t remember what I wore that day in 1987 but my race day singlet for Nov 4th is already safely tucked away in my drawer. For this race I’ve completely changed my training plan and I’ve completely changed how I fuel. Now I’m starting to see a difference.

For all my previous marathons I either used a stock training plan, or in the case of my mid-1980′s marathons, none at all. My McMillan training plan was designed specifically for me to get under 3 hours at NYC. Customized for the time, customized for the race and customized for the runner. I’m only 5 weeks into it so far and I’ve run more mileage below my goal marathon pace than during any 18 week training period to date (that’s a good thing… I think). I’m keeping an eye out for warning signs of overuse but so far good results.

In becoming a Gatorade athlete these past two months I’ve jumped into the product line with both feet. I’m not about to advocate to other athletes on products I’m not consistently using so I’m using everything. The biggest change for me was fueling pre-run. Always being cost and calorie conscious, I would often head out for a run on an empty stomach and only then fuel mid-run on my Sunday runs of 15+ miles. That’s changed as I now use either a Prime 4 oz pouch or Carb Energy Chew before I hit the pavement. For most of my key runs I’m also carrying a sleeve or two of Chews for some mid-run carbs. The water in my hydration pack on Sundays has been replaced by Gatorade Endurance Formula. The difference? I’ve hit every key workout even with the big change in routine and intensity. I’m still in evaluation mode but I don’t think this is coincidental, fueling before and during is definitely having an impact.

95 days to go, a 2:59 finish time to get to and the clock is ticking. Let’s get to work.

photo credit

Marlton Mayor’s Cup 5k – Race Report 2012

Marlton Mayor’s Cup 5k Pre-Race:

The Marlton Mayor’s Cup is my hometown July 4th race. This year was its fifth annual which is coincidental since I’ve tried to run it the previous four years. Vacations and family obligations had always gotten in the way. As luck would have it July 4th fell on a Wednesday and with my sister-in-law’s wedding being 10 days away we had this week free.

Marlton Mayor’s Cup 5k Race day:

For this race I actually have pictures of me as my photographer (and our youngest son) were willing to come to the race. We drove the 5 minutes to the start area and headed over to bib pickup.

The race was really well-organized, a big thanks to race director Carmen Tierno and all the folks in the township for all they did. The field size this year was a record 650 runners and considering the hot weather there was still plenty of water available on the course and in the registration area post race. It’s easy for a local 5k race to get overwhelmed by unexpected crowd size and harsh weather but the Mayor’s Cup had it all handled. We’ll need to figure out how to get Gatorade on the course for next year Carmen…

Before the race and during warm ups it was great to run into some folks I hadn’t seen in years. We got to catch up with a few friends whose kids played in the township leagues with our boys. The conversations centered around High School activities and college acceptance letters and made you realize just how many years had passed since our 8 year-olds were running around the town’s soccer fields.

Me and some shirtless, hairless High School runners. I’ve got some shirts older than these kids.

At about 8:15 I finished my warm up, downed my 01 Prime and then staked out a spot near the front for a 8:30 gun time. This is the fourth race or so that I’ve used the 01 Prime pouch before the start. In all those races I’ve had great starts so I consider it now part of my permanent race day routine.

I stayed over to the side where there was a little slice of shade. I was still sweating just standing at the start as the weather was similar to last Saturday at the Independence 10K. My plan was to go out a little more controlled due to the weather so as not to wilt in the last mile. I didn’t have a time in mind and decided to go out on feel.

Start to Mile 1

The gun sounded and in a mass rush every teenage boy in the township then bolted from the start as if they were giving away free Green Day concert tickets down the street. I made a conscious effort to hold back and not get sucked up into the sprinting hoards. About a half mile into the race the over-zealous and under-trained started falling back and the pack started to spread out a bit.

Smile for the camera!

Over the first mile the heat and humidity hadn’t unleashed their full effect yet but I was mentally preparing for when they did. I heard the beep on my watch as we passed the mile one marker. I looked down and saw 5:53, right away I knew that was too fast in this heat so I let off the gas a bit before my body did it for me.

To Mile 2

The second mile I focused mostly on pace and heat management. I hit every water stop but didn’t drink a drop. It all went on my head to cool me down. I remembered reading it can take 15 to 20 minutes for the body to process about 5 to 7 ounces of water if you are well hydrated. For a race that will last only 20 minutes I didn’t see the point in trying to take in fluids. It did more good on my head. Moderating my pace was working well, I was maintaining position on a few runners and gaining on others. I passed the mile two marker with a 6:12 split.

Mile 2 to the Finish

Either work hard or you might as well quit! – MC Hammer

The heat and humidity were starting to become a factor after the mile two split, temps were in the 80′s and with the heavy rain earlier in the morning it made for another challenging finish. While the field in front of me consisted of mostly High School boys I noticed in the distance one of the runners looked much older. As I closed on him after mile two I noticed a few grey hairs on the back of his head. A tell-tale sign of middle age and possibly in my age group. He had fallen back to me slowly for the past mile so I knew I had an advantage. As I caught up to him he made a comment about us old guys needing to get these young bucks. I agreed and shared with him my disdain for youthful arrogance. We both picked up the pace a bit but he eventually fell back as I was able to pick off a couple of slowing teens.

At about the 2.5 mile point I was jarred a bit as two High School girls went right by me in a gear I haven’t had since Reagan’s first term. Turns out that one of the girls was the three-time champ in the women’s field and she was being challenged by a younger athlete looking to knock her off her throne. The champ out kicked her and came in about 30 secs ahead of me which meant she must have run that last 1/2 mile around a 5 min/mile pace. Very impressive!

My mile three split was again 6:12 and the last tenth was under 6:00 giving me an official time of 18:55, just 12 seconds off my PR from March. Good enough for 15th overall and 1st in my age group. One thing I noticed on the results sheet was that other than a 25-year-old who finished 2nd, every other finisher ahead of me was 20 years old or younger. Lots of fast College and High School track athletes out there so being able to hold my own in that group was an accomplishment.

One oxygen tank and an ice bath please!

Looking back

In four days I had two races, two age group awards and no injuries. I probably won’t do that again (ever) but it was a good experience to test my limits and see the after effects. I think it’s time for a victory dance so feel free to get up from your desks and join me.

Exit question: Where can I get pants like these?

Pineland Striders Independence 10k – Race Report 2012

Pineland Striders Independence 10k Pre-Race:

This was a local 10k about twenty minutes from my house so the only race related activity was filling out the entry form online a few months in advance.

One interesting thing to note is that this race came at the tail end of my first week using my custom McMillan Running NYC Marathon training plan which consisted of the following:

- Tuesday: Approx 10 miles with 20 mins in the 6:40/mile range (VO2Max)
- Wednesday: 75 min easy (9 1/4 miles at 8:00/mile), temps in the 80′s.
- Thursday: Sprint/Leg turnover workout (9 miles with Strides). Outside temp above 90 degrees.
- Friday: 40 mins easy (approx 5 miles, outside temp above 95 degrees)

Now Greg knew I had this race on the schedule and with my goal of breaking 3 hours at NYC in November I stuck to the training plan in full, not at all concerned about my time. It was forecast to be in the mid-80′s with humidity for gun time so I was looking at this as another opportunity to get in more speed work in adverse conditions.

Pineland Striders Independence 10k Race Day:

When I first checked the weather at 6:30AM the temperature was 78 degrees and with the rain the night before I knew the humidity was going to be up there. After a quick banana and Gatorade breakfast I headed out to the race which starts and ends at Shawnee High School in Medford, NJ. I got there about an hour prior to the 8:30AM gun time. Bib and t-shirt pickup was fast and easy so it was just a matter of doing warm ups and trying to stay cool for the next 50 minutes or so.

Start to Mile 2

I’ve experimented with going out harder on the 10k and shorter races recently just to see how I perform. I know that if I’m running for time my best strategy is to go out controlled and a little behind race pace and then work my way into the run and finish strong. Recently I’ve gone out hard and tried to hold on to see if I can eventually get my splits under 6 mins/mile at these distances. A PR was unlikely to happen at 85 degrees with the humidity but I was still curious so I went out hard. My goal was to get my splits in the 6:00 to 6:15 range and I hit that with my first two splits of 6:02 and 6:10.

Mile 3 to the Finish (or “Hey, it’s hot out here”)

After mile two the I was really stating to feel the heat and getting flashbacks to Boston in April. I pulled it back a bit to try to manage the heat but there wasn’t any way to cool off except to throw a cold cup of water down my back at every water stop. From mile 3 on I ran in surges. I would pick up the pace for a bit but then have to pull it back when my breathing got out of control. It was very frustrating to know your legs can go faster but your other physical systems can’t handle the load.

It’s at those times where it’s easy to get paranoid about how close someone might be behind you. At mile 2 I noticed I had a solid lead on the next runner behind me when we hit a turnaround point but when you know you’re slowing you always think someone is gaining on you. On race day I have a pretty hard rule of no looking back. I don’t look back because when I’m trailing and I see someone in front of me looking back I know they are in some kind of trouble and are starting to worry. That’s usually an opening for me and it gives me a shot of adrenaline because now they know I’m there. The whole hunter-hunted instinct kicks in and I get even more motivated to catch them.

The only time you can look back is if you’re in a hard turn and can do it discreetly. As luck would have it around mile 5 there was about a 135 degree turn as you came to the end of the school property line and then cut back to the track and the finish area. I was hot, tired and couldn’t resist so after hitting the turn and taking about 20 steps I looked out of the corner of my eye and turned my head just a bit to the left and looked… no one there, good deal. I waited another 15 secs or so and the combination of heat and curiosity got me again. I took a little harder look… still no one, great! Then for whatever reason I took one last Monty Python, whip my head around “stare” which lasted for several seconds. I saw no one at all in it what appeared to be about a quarter-mile or so of course behind me. I thought ‘OK, my place is locked in. It’s all about time now’.

Pineland Striders Independence 5k/10k Finish

As I hit the track with less than 300 meters to go I saw I was going to finish right around 40 minutes so with one last surge I squeaked in at 39:54. My splits for the last four miles were in the 6:20 to 6:45 range so you can see how much impact the weather had.

Overall I’m pleased with my performance. This was only the second time I broke 40 minutes in the 10k coming in 2nd in my age group and 9th overall. The winner of my age group came in at 37:55 so even on a day with ideal conditions I’m not sure if I would have gone under 38 minutes. No regrets on the pacing.

Pineland Striders Independence 10k Post Race:

Since I’m running a 5k on Wednesday in my hometown (a 5k I’ve tried to run for 5 years), Coach McMillan has given me Sunday and Monday off and just an easy 40 minutes on Tuesday. I had to look at it a few times to make sure I was reading it right. No long run on Sunday and two days off in a row? If I hadn’t been on a training plan I wouldn’t have let that slide and I’d probably be out there now slogging out 15 miles in 96 degree heat. Then I remembered that counting Saturday that was three days worth of speed work in a five-day period. Being prone to injury when I mix speed and too much distance I realized that Coach must know what he’s doing. What am I going to do with all my free time? I can hear the chorus of ‘Cross Training!!!’ so don’t worry, like I’d be just lounging on the couch. I may squeak in a nap though…

Gatorade EndurAlliance: Philly Tri Expo

It was a great weekend. A couple of long days and a lot of hard work but very rewarding. Got a chance to meet some great athletes, both experienced and beginners, and educate them on some great products. Throw in some oppressive heat, torrential downpours, hail warnings and a flooded expo and you have the recipe for an epic weekend.

Gatorade Philly Tri Expo Crew

The reason for us being there was to educate athletes and provide them with an opportunity to try Gatorade products. The products we had to sample were the Carb Energy Chews and Gatorade Endurance Formula. I’ve started using the Carb Energy Chews myself during my runs. I’ve had a really good response to them in my training so I’m at the point now where I’m thinking of reducing my gels or ditching them all together. This isn’t a small thing since I’ve been a gel guy since I got back into marathons in 2009 and I’ve used a number of brands including PowerBar, GU and Accelerade.

The Carb Energy Chews were a big hit. Most athletes weren't even aware of them.

Gels have worked well for me but the chews just work better. There are a couple of downsides to the gels, one is when you open them you need to take the whole packet or lose the rest. You can’t just stick a half empty packet back in your pocket. Gels can also be an issue if your fighting stomach problems or are still a few miles from the water station since each full gel needs to be diluted with a good amount of water. With the chews I can just take what I need, even half a chew if need be. I don’t need to worry about water either with the chews and they digest really well. With the gels on race day I would always have to time it so that I was near a water stop just after taking one. Also a lot of gels leave that pasty bitter taste in your mouth. Our other product Gatorade Endurance Formula is the same G Series Pro product athletes get on the race course. My personal experience with both products made it very easy and natural to talk about them.

There was a lot of coordination leading up to the expo. I had committed to being there before my training in Chicago so as the date got closer the emails flew back and forth at an increased rate as all the details got worked out. Having logistics experience on active duty was a big help for me that weekend. There was a lot of details to keep track of with shipments coming from different directions and all of them eventually converging on Smith Memorial Field in Philadelphia under the big white expo tent. The important items needed for the expo were the signage (back wall, table covers) and the products to distribute to the athletes. The back wall and tables covers arrived on Thursday and the products were being shipped directly to the expo so no problems there.

Early Departure

I got my two guys together early Friday morning, packed the car with our cooler and Gatorade signage, made a quick stop at Wawa to pickup hoagies for lunch and then headed out to the expo. We arrived around 8:30AM to set up for a noon start. Since this was my first Gatorade activation I wanted to get there early enough to work out any issues, make sure we got everything we needed and have enough time to cool the Endurance Formula before the athletes got there. We got the back wall up and tables all set up and then worked on moving the product boxes off the pallet behind the booth and into our area. By 10 o’clock we were all set just waiting on the ice to arrive. Turns out the ice didn’t arrive until about 11:30AM which concerned me a bit since by that time the temps had reached 90 degrees. The first few samples we gave out were a tad on the warm side but once the bottles had a chance to chill in the coolers we were good.

As I mentioned it was a bit warm on Friday so we had to keep ourselves hydrated. Not being sure how much of the Endurance Formula we would have I brought along enough beverages for the three of us (Gatorade of course). We brought two 8-packs of Thirst Quencher and we just about polished those off by the end of the day. On Friday the crowds got a bit heavy around 1PM and then again after 5PM.

Embrace the Epicness

Trapped!!!

Then the rains came. The skies darkened and literally opened up around 5:30PM and for the next hour and a half all the athletes were trapped in the expo tent as sheets of rain came down. It was around 6:30PM that the expo tent flooded, I could tell because I was wearing my Vibrams and I could feel the water seeping into them. The cold water felt good as the earlier part of the day was sweltering and cold hitting any part of my body at that point was welcome. The rains subsided enough by expo closing at 8PM that we were able to get to the car relatively dry and head home.

Saturday!

The weather was much more cooperative on Saturday. Since the Sprint Tri was taking place that morning as well as the Olympic Tri participants coming in to pick up their race packets, the expo was hopping! The three of us stayed busy for most of the day. The expo only ran until 4PM so the time seemed to fly by as a steady stream of athletes came by by the booth.

Got a chance to meet some great people and I really enjoyed passing on my enthusiasm for some great products. I’m really looking forward to doing more events this year, it’s been an eye-opening experience being on the other side of the expo table. It made me appreciate all the time, effort and energy the volunteers, vendors, expo staff and support crews put into pulling off a successful event. As participants we take a lot for granted and tend to nitpick when things go wrong. Next time things go wrong on race day I plan on cutting them a lot more slack.

Gatorade EndurAlliance – Part 3: Opportunities

On to part 3. In Part 1 and Part 2 I got as far as the end of day 1 at Gatorade HQ. At this point the first workday was over, we headed back to the hotel to drop off a few things and then piled on to the bus to get dinner and watch the White Soxs take on the Blue Jays at US Cellular Field. Since many of us flew in that morning it had been a long day so far and from the conversations I was overhearing we were all more interested in the food then the ball game. Once we arrived we headed into the stadium and then went up to the Gatorade corporate suite. If you’re going to attend a professional sporting event, this is the way to do it.

You can watch the game while watching the game...

Words can’t do it justice so take a look at the pics. Widescreen TV, fridge, bar, and plenty of seating. We had Vienna beef hotdogs (which were probably the best hotdogs I ever tasted), steak sandwiches, and after that a dessert truck came by (bigger than a cart but smaller than an 18 wheeler) that had everything you could think of in mammoth sized portions. We all ate like we were running an ultra the next day.

Our seats were right across from Third Base

You know what the really cool thing was, we were all making comments like “Ok, that’s about 5,000 calories for me”, or “Hey, let’s make that 5 mile run tomorrow a 12 miler” and we all just laughed about it. There wasn’t anyone making the “you could stand to gain a few pounds” type comments that we are all use to hearing at almost every family event we attend. We had all just met that morning but throughout the day you could tell there was an instant camaraderie, we were all wired in a similar way. Despite the different ages and backgrounds, we “got” each other. It was a good feeling.

As dinner/dessert was winding down I noticed Coach McMillan was sitting by himself watching the game as most of us were milling about the suite either getting seconds or participating in a group discussion. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. So I walked over and sat down, making sure to keep an empty seat between us (I didn’t want to crowd the guy). You know that feeling when you have so many questions you kind of freeze up and can’t figure out where to start? I had a terminal case of that. After a few minutes I was finally able to get a coherent thought and started talking.

What I was most curious about was what Greg’s thoughts were on form, foot strike and footwear. So I started by asking what his take was on heel vs. mid-foot/forefoot strike and his answer surprised me a bit. He said that where the foot contacts the ground is more important than which part strikes first. He explained that the heel can make contact first but the foot should land under the body, avoiding over-striding was important. He made a point of mentioning that there are healthy runners with bad technical form. “You look at them run and you wonder how they can train and not get hurt”. Some runners land heel first and some don’t, performance and staying healthy are more important than perfecting technical form. Coach McMillan explained that every runner has his/her own unique physiology and quirks so the ideal form for each runner varies. He mentioned that there were also great runners with great technical form but ironically some got injured often. It was clear that Greg felt very strongly that there was no ideal foot-strike, it’s very individualized.

Coach Greg McMillan and yours truly. You feel faster just standing next to him.

Our discussion on foot strike lead to footwear choices, I told him about my situation and how much going zero drop/minimal has reduced my injury rate. He replied “that’s great, you found what works for you but that might not work for someone else”. We started to discuss injury rates and I mentioned that I had read that the injury rates in the 60′s and 70′s were lower when all runners wore flats. He replied “That’s not true, injury rates haven’t changed even going back that far, in fact the raised heel was originally added to running shoes because runners kept tearing up their achilles”. As we talked Greg kept sharing some great insights that challenged me and really made me think.

On a footwear note, Greg is working with Adidas which will be coming out in the fall with running shoes he helped design. The heel in that shoe line starts at 11mm and goes down to 3mm. A bunch of us were drooling over the pair he was wearing (the 3mm version) and a few of the more bolder members of our group were trying to figure out how to score a pair from him. Be on the look out for these this fall and when I get more specifics I’ll pass them on. Overall on the footwear topic, as with foot-strike, I could tell that Greg felt strongly that footwear choices were individual as well, there was no ideal shoe for everyone. Performance and running injury free were key.

During the time we were talking I caught myself saying (rather frequently) “I hadn’t thought of that”. There are those moments where you realize just how little you know about a topic. It’s a good feeling though because it presents an opportunity for learning and growth. I mentioned I was running the NYC marathon in the fall and we talked a bit about training. When we were discussing my training plans his first question was “Where do you live, are there hills near you?” That got my attention and unbeknownst to Greg I felt convicted because I know I was under-utilizing hills in my training. I plan on changing that very soon.

He put NYC in the category of challenging courses. I thought about the hill profile for NYC for a moment and asked him why he thought it was challenging because I really couldn’t see it, even having run NYC once before many years ago. He said “You have the bridges and then the you have the roads which are in horrible shape. It’s not like Chicago where you can zone out for 26 miles. You need to stay alert to avoid all the cracks, manholes and bad pavement.” My reply? “I hadn’t thought of that”. That’s why Greg is one of the top running coaches in the US, because he sees the details most of us miss. I hadn’t consider the mental challenge of the race from that perspective, but I’m considering it now.

Coach McMillan mentioned that he had just submitted a manuscript for a book to be published this fall. He explained that it goes over his approach to training and coaching in detail. Needless to say I’ll be picking this up as soon as it’s available. I’m not big on book reviews (only because I don’t think I’m good at them) but I may have to make an exception in this case.

As the game got into the 8th inning even the 20-somethings in the group were ready to head out and crash back at the hotel. We had a 5 mile group run scheduled for 6:30AM so there wasn’t any resistance in the group.

Team Gatorade takes Chicago

We all met the next morning in the hotel lobby, decked out in our matching G-Bolt black Nike t-shirts. With about eight or so in our group including Coach McMillan and Michellie Jones, we downed some G Series 01 Prime and got on the road. The hotel was maybe a mile or less from Lake Michigan so we weaved our way thorough morning rush hour traffic and were finally in the clear when we hit the lake. It was a great morning, a clear sky and not too warm. We clipped along at about a 7:45 pace which was fast enough to keep us from getting bored but slow enough to encourage conversation. I noticed some startled looks from the local runners who obviously weren’t used to seeing what appeared to be a Black Ops team breezing by them while three different conversations were going on simultaneously. The only thing identifying us was an understated G-Bolt on the front for our shirts and an orange #winfromwithin hashtag on the back.

Day 2 was filled with Retail Training Events, a deep dive on the EndurAlliance Program along with excellent presentations from Michellie and Greg. There was a lot to learn so I soaked up as much as I could and took plenty of notes. If you’re in the Philly area you can see me put all this great knowledge into action at the Gatorade booth during the Philly Insurance Triathlon expo on 6/22 and 6/23.

At the end of the day we grabbed dinner and eventually headed back to the hotel. On Saturday morning I grabbed my early flight out of O’Hare and shortly afterwards was back to reality in Philly. It’s hard to sum up what a great experience this was, there were far more learning opportunities than I could count and I’m sure there will be plenty of learning opportunities yet to come as I reach out to the endurance community and help educate them on fueling and nutrition. I’ll keep you all posted as usual, so as always, stay tuned!