clearing hurdles
folks who know me that i follow football as well as track & field. not too long ago i caught a video from NFL Films titled “Clearing Hurdles” which featured analysis from both Lolo Jones & Renaldo Nehemiah.
last week versus jacksonville, lions running back Joique Bell showed off his hurdling skills by leaping over a defender, a photo of which was later shared via twitter by @adamschefter…
…so, on a whim i tweeted…
i wonder how @lolojones would rate @joiquebell hurdling MT @adamschefter: Jacksonville hopes to do better than this… twitter.com/AdamSchefter/s…
— jerry cameron (@jerrycameron) November 8, 2012
…which received the reply…
@jerrycameron @joiquebell @adamschefter His lead leg is kicked out to the right & trail leg foot needs to be more dorsi flexed.B+ effort
— Lolo Jones (@lolojones) November 8, 2012
…and a follow up from Joique…
@lolojones honestly LoLo… I do have pass on… Lol but if u wanna go on that track without the pads on we can set up a date…
— Joique Bell (@JoiqueBell) November 8, 2012
pretty cool, eh?
Chicago Lakefront 50K
three laps along chicago’s lakefront. each lap a bit further than ten miles.
begin northbound into a headwind for five miles then head back with the aid of a tailwind.
runners set. go.
four miles. detour to a bathroom. over hydrated. wonderful.
six miles. music player says “battery low.” power off. save it for later.
eight miles. detour again. same bathroom. over hydrated. great.
first lap finished. stop at the porta-john. seriously. over. hydrated.
second lap. into the wind. loud music would be nice right about now. focus on downing GU to avoid the bonk.
turn around. southbound again. a brief appearance by the sun while the tailwind assists. more GU chased with H2O.
third lap. this will hurt. fetch water bottle filled with defizzed cola. head down. cap reversed so it won’t sail into the lake.
final turn around. five (plus) miles to go. refill the water bottle at the aid station with more cola. power on the music player. turn the volume up. way up.
blow past the last aid station without stopping. slowly imbibe the high fructose corn syrup powered beverage. music player battery dies.
watch beeps. twenty nine miles. sub-four out of reach. personal record all but assured.
set cruise control. ease into the finish.
Finish: 4:03:02
Avg pace: 7:49 per mile
Overall: 9th/143
M40-49: 2nd/26
Splits
Mile Split Elapsed 1 7:50.6 7:50.6 2 7:47.1 15:37.7 3 7:44.7 23:22.4 4 8:12.9 31:35.3 <-- break #1 5 7:40.3 39:15.6 6 7:36.4 46:52.0 7 7:25.9 54:17.9 8 8:05.3 1:02:23.2 <-- break #2 9 7:31.7 1:09:54.9 10 7:39.2 1:17:34.1 11 8:52.1 1:26:26.2 <-- break #3 12 7:57.8 1:34:24.0 13 8:25.6 1:42:49.6 14 8:16.7 1:51:06.3 15 7:56.7 1:59:03.0 16 7:59.1 2:07:09.5 17 7:30.8 2:14:32.9 18 7:39.8 2:22:12.7 19 7:09.9 2:29:30.0 20 7:12.3 2:36:42.3 21 7:50.9 2:44:22.8 22 7:52.1 2:52:17.9 23 8:07.8 3:00:25.7 24 8:04.8 3:08:30.5 25 8:02.5 3:16:33.0 26 8:28.4 3:25:01.4 27 7:26.0 3:32:27.4 28 7:03.5 3:39:30.9 29 7:15.6 3:46:46.5 30 7:44.0 3:54:30.5 31 7:58.6 4:02:29.1 .1 0:33.5 4:03:02.6
going back
one sunday morning a few weeks ago i was sitting cross legged at center court of my high school gymnasium with my nine year old daughter. she chose to wake up early and accompany me to support my brother in-law who was running the lakefront marathon, which begins at the high school.
gone are the mascot that i knew and the mural that my sister had painted. still remaining seems to be the PA system which relayed instructions to the runners prepping to depart. honestly, it was a bit trippy to sit and listen with my daughter sitting next to me rather than classmates from years gone by.
after watching the start of the race, we headed south and was able to see him twice along the course with a quick breakfast in between views. we brought along some lightweight folding chairs and found a nice spot near the finish to cheer him along as he finished his second marathon; which was significantly faster than his first marathon earlier this year.
as of late i’ve been reducing my miles to prep for a longer race of my own. i’m a bit old school with my approach and wait until the last few days before the race to register so i can be sure the weather is reasonable. if it isn’t then i’ve got a backup event to consider for the next weekend. this pretty much eliminates me from being able to run the lakefront or chicago marathon’s these days but back in the late 1990’s it was no big deal to register at the race expo for either event.
recent training
Oct 1 – off
Oct 2 – 5 miles
Oct 3 – 7 miles
Oct 4 – 8 miles
Oct 5 – 5 miles
Oct 6 – 9 miles
Oct 7 – off
Oct 8 – 5 miles
Oct 9 – 7 miles
Oct 10 – 6 miles
Oct 11 – 7 miles
Oct 12 – 7 miles
Oct 13 – 12.5 miles
Oct 14 – off
Oct 15 – 5 miles
Oct 16 – 5 miles
Oct 17 – 7 miles
Oct 18 – off
MTD – 95.5 miles (14/18 days)
YTD – 1,828.5 miles (255/292 days)
Odometer – 34,553 miles
cross country
late last week i had the chance to go to my oldest daughter’s cross country meet. i had never seen a middle school meet and was really surprised at seeing the hundreds of kids that were participating. my daughter ran well and it was alot of fun to hike around the course with her sisters to cheer for her.
recent training
Sept 17 – 5 miles
Sept 18 – 7 miles
Sept 19 – 7 miles
Sept 20 – 8.75 miles
Sept 21 – 5 miles
Sept 22 – 10 miles
Sept 23 – 17.25 miles
Sept 24 – 5 miles
Sept 25 – 6 miles
Sept 26 – 5 miles
Sept 27 – 7 miles
Sept 28 – 6 miles
Sept 29 – 20 miles
Sept 30 – 13 miles
MTD – 231.75 miles (28/30 days)
YTD – 1,733 miles (241/274 days)
Odometer – 34,458 miles
Al’s Run
the first three miles of Al’s Run can be a bit tricky and will put you in a real bind if you start too fast. i was a bit cautious and rolled through the first mile just behind my friend dave as we made our way into a bit of a headwind.
we cruised down the 400 foot drop in elevation and safely navigated a ragged section of cobblestone stretching across the road. passing the one mile mark, i glanced at my watch and was a bit surprised at seeing a slower than planned 6:12 staring back at me.
for the second and most of the third mile we climb a series of hills which nets a 600 foot gain in elevation before sliding down Lafayette Hill. i was able to catch a few people through this section and when it came time to roll downhill i was able to lean forward, pick up my cadence and get a bit of momentum going as i headed into the fourth mile.
at best, we faced a crosswind as we ran southbound on Lincoln Memorial Drive. it was nice from the standpoint that we weren’t running into a headwind but it was getting a bit hot. i was able to maintain a solid pace through this section and got a bit of a lift from the cheerleaders yelling as we passed by.
the course zig zags a bit for the last mile with the last left turn leaving a straight shot down two city blocks to the finish line. i rounded that last corner and could see the finish line clock ticking in the low 30’s. digging a bit deeper, i picked up the pace for a final push and ducked under the finish before it rolled to the next minute.
my finishing time of 30:56 ends up being my fastest 8K/5M race effort in nine years and i narrowly missed my best Al’s Run time from 1991. (30:45)
Splits
1M – 6:12
2M – 6:03 (12:15)
3M – 6:15 (18:30)
4M – 6:13 (24:43)
4.97M – 6:13 (30:56)
hanging around the finish line area was nice as i had a chance to catch up with some friends of mine that i don’t get to see often.
after getting home, a quick check of the results posted online showed that the team i was competing on placed first in the corporate division. it was especially cool as i was able to break the good news to the guys at the post-race barbecue.
40th/3063 overall
5th/135 M40-44
1st/44 Corporate Team Division
HillRunner.com – 2:34:12
=========================
#1 – 29:48 Ryan Hill
#2 – 29:58 David Dehart
#3 – 30:56 Jerry Cameron
#4 – 31:11 Marc Woodcock
#5 – 32:19 Edward Pankow
recent training
sept 11 – 4 miles
sept 12 – 6 miles
sept 13 – 5 miles
sept 14 – 4 miles
sept 15 – 1 mile warm up, 8K in 30:56 and 1 mile cool down
sept 16 – 7 miles
MTD – 109.75 miles (14/16 days)
YTD – 1,611 miles (227/260 days)
Odometer – 34,336 miles