Bill Menees's Blog

I finished yesterday's Country Music Half Marathon in 1:45:37, which was over an 8 minute PR for me. It was also much faster than my 2:14:47 last year. Just about everything went right, including the weather. It rained all morning right up until the start of the race, but then it stopped. During the race it stayed cool and overcast, and the wind was very mild.

The only thing that went wrong was I accidentally started off in corral 4 instead of in corral 5 with the 1:45 pacer. I somehow got ahead of the rope when the corrals moved forward. So I ran an 8:20 pace until the pacer caught me in mile 4, then I hung with him until the end (at a little under an 8:00 pace). Overall, it probably did me some good to start off slower the first 3 miles. I hadn't done any warm-up since I was trying to stay out of the rain as long as possible.

Here are my final splits and stats from the race:

• 5K: 26:01 (8:23)
• 6Mi: 49:02 (8:11)
• 10Mi: 1:20:13 (8:02)
• Finish: 1:45:37 (8:04)
• O'All: 1335 / 21398 (6.2%)
• Sex: 1040 / 7921 (13.1%)
• Div (M35-39): 162 / 1249 (13%)
• Age Grade: 57.10%

Last year, the CM Half was my first huge race (>5000 people), and it was exciting because of all the fanfare. But this year, I guess I'm just older and more crotchety because I found all the fanfare annoying. It really made me appreciate small, quiet local races that have no expo, crowds, corrals, chips, bands, buses, spectators, charities, certification, or cheerleaders. I like quiet running with beautiful scenery.

My next race is the Wild Thang 9 Mile Trail Run in Long Hunter State Park this Saturday (May 3, 2008). My next big, long-term goal is the Greenway Marathon on October 4, 2008.

Labels: Running

I wrote a little iGoogle gadget today that displays a user's total distances from RunningAHEAD.com. It uses the scripts feature that you can access from your RA Tools menu. The gadget is not fancy, but it allows you to set its title and the log ID for the user you want to track. You can add multiple instances of it to your iGoogle page if you want to track multiple users.

Click the following link to see a screenshot and optionally add it to your iGoogle page: RunningAHEAD Distance Totals

By default, it will show my log totals, so you'll probably want to change it to show your own or someone else's. Click "Edit Settings" off the drop down menu in the gadget's upper right corner to change the title and log ID. The log ID is not the person's RunningAHEAD user name. It's the long hexadecimal string from the user's summary page URL. For example, the URL to my log summary page is http://www.runningahead.com/logs/23fbfe3407d54034bb604d607cb56919. So the log ID for me is 23fbfe3407d54034bb604d607cb56919.

Note: A user must have their log shared publically (i.e., for everyone to access it) in order for the scripts to work. So if your log is private, then you won't be able to use it with this gadget.

Labels: Running

Yesterday at the Walk & Roll - Focus on Abilities 5K, I came in third overall and first in my age group (M30-39). So that's two age group awards in two weeks! This time I hung around to get the award, and it included more in gift certificates than I spent on the race. Making a profit on a race is cool. I'm really glad I decided to run this one. I hadn't planned on it, but the opportunity presented itself at the last minute.

Unfortunately, my age group award streak will be broken this week at the Country Music Half Marathon. I'm in corral 6, so there will be 5000 runners starting ahead of me. It seems highly unlikely that I'll be one of the top three men in the 35-39 age group. Last year the top three in that age group finished in 1:18:45 or less, which is 35 minutes faster than I've ever run a half. They were all in the top 25 runners in the CM Half. It would take a miracle of Biblical proportions for me to run that fast this weekend.

Labels: Running

At Saturday's Purity Moosic City Dairy Dash 10K I got my first age group award! Or at least I qualified for it. I came in third in my age group (M35-39), but I didn't know it because I had to leave immediately after the race to take my son to swimming lessons (indoors!). The official results weren't posted until three days later, so I didn't find out until yesterday that I'd actually placed. I emailed the RD, and he said he'd mail me my award.

I realize this is minor in "the grand scheme of things", but it's pretty motivational to me. It makes the hard work seem a little less hard and a little more satisfying. Hopefully, this won't be the last age group award I get!

Overall, my running is getting better. I'm running faster, smoother, and finishing stronger. My pacing is getting better in my training runs and in my races. And I've lowered several PRs this year:

• 5K = 22:44 (7:20) at the Tom King 5K
• 10K = 48:12 (7:46) at the Purity 10K
• Half Marathon = 1:53:58 (8:42) at the Frostbite Half

Next up is the Country Music Half Marathon on April 26. I'm hoping for another PR there, of course.

Labels: Running

Since I'm such a newbie, I'm always worried about my pace. So I was happy when Runner's World sent me a free pace chart. But after using it for a while, I decided I wanted two different pace charts.

I wanted one chart with only the most common race distances I run, so I could keep it out for easy reference. And I wanted another chart with lots of distances for those rare occasions when I get to run a 15K or a 30K.

So I made a spreadsheet that contains both versions, and I exported them both as HTML. The results are linked to below. Enjoy!

• HTML chart with common distances (5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon)
• HTML chart with lots of distances (2 mi - marathon)
• Excel spreadsheet with the above charts

Labels: Running

A couple of weeks ago I tried running barefoot outdoors for the first time in 30 years. I ran on some soccer fields behind a YMCA near where I work. It felt a little weird at first, but overall it felt great! I ran 4 miles that first day with about 1/2 mile of it on asphalt. The asphalt felt like sandpaper on my feet, but the grass felt wonderful. Soccer fields are nice, but I hope to run on some golf courses soon too.

Running barefoot really seems to help my running form because it makes any form flaws immediately apparent. There are no shoes or padding to mask the pain of bad moves with my feet, legs, or hips until they build up to an injury. Running barefoot provides instant feedback so I can correct form mistakes quickly. Overall, it makes my legs feel stronger and more efficient. In most of my runs lately, I've felt better and been running faster at the end.

I might be able to toughen up and run barefoot on asphalt someday, but in the meantime I'm trying to do the majority of my asphalt runs in the most minimal shoes I can find. I did some research and found several options like water shoes and Vibram Fivefingers. The best site I found for minimal shoe coverage was Tue Jepsen's, which has several great reviews.

As a first step I bought some $4.99 water shoes at Academy Sports and some $5.99 water shoes at Target. They're both very comfortable, and after getting used to them I can run fairly fast in both of them. The ones from Academy Sports are a little more snug, so I feel a little better running in them. But I prefer the Target shoes for walking around during the day. My friends and family think I'm crazy for wearing water shoes all the time, but I really feel like my feet and legs are getting stronger and more efficient.

One of the first running books I read was Gordon Pirie's Running Fast And Injury Free. He recommended running barefoot in the sand (e.g., on a beach or in a long jump pit) to check your form. He also believed that "any and all additions to the body damage running skill," and he was strongly in favor of a minimal shoe. His book is free and available for download as a PDF, so it's well worth checking out.

Google has plenty of barefoot running links if you're interested. If you're brave enough to try it out and you can overcome your fears about pain or social stigma, barefoot running has a lot to offer.

Labels: Running

I wrote the following article for the Nashville Striders's March 2008 Funrunner magazine. I'm posting it here for non-local runners and for those few local runners that haven't joined the Striders for some reason.

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Some say an idle mind is the Devil's playground. That was true for me after the 2007 Flying Monkey Marathon destroyed my legs for a month or so. As I sat around wishing I could run, I spent a lot of time on the message boards. Eventually, I came across an interesting thread by "Curvy" where he went on a run to check out the "PWP Lake on Hwy 100".

On the official Percy Warner Park (PWP) maps this little body of water is known as the Willow Pond, and it's just north of the Deep Wells entrance off Hwy 100. It's a good-sized, shallow pond, but like most things in PWP, it's very beautiful. A small parking area by the road provides access to it, and a few picnic tables are placed around it for visitors. I'd driven by and admired the Willow Pond many times on my way to run in the park, but I'd never stopped to examine it up close.

After reading Curvy's thread, I decided that I was going to check out the Willow Pond as soon as my legs were up to it. By the time Christmas vacation rolled around I was running semi-normally again, so I decided it was time to head to the pond. But I didn't want to get to it by Hwy 100. That didn't seem adventurous enough. I wanted to get to it from the park trails.

The "white trail", known as the Warner Woods Trail on the official PWP map, comes within about 600 feet of the Willow Pond at its closest point. Unfortunately, there's no official trail between the two. So one warm day in late December, I decided to run the white trail and go in search of the Willow Pond.

It did not go well. At the closest point between the white trail and the pond, you can hear the cars on Hwy 100, so I tried following the noise to see where it took me. I didn't get lost in the woods, but I didn't use good sense either. I ended up going too far north, and after toiling through the woods and underbrush for 10 minutes, I turned around and made my way back to the white trail. I knew I'd been close to the pond, but I never got to see it. All I'd discovered on this attempt was a rusted old chair, some tires, and a few beer cans from the 70s. I'd love to know how they got out in the middle of the woods, but discovering them wasn't the satisfaction I was looking for.

After I was safely back running on the trail, a few things occurred to me. Number one, it's stupid to go wandering off in the woods by yourself without letting anyone know what you're doing. Number two, I was wearing my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch, so I should have used it to navigate instead of using "the force". Number three, I should have followed the water to the pond because I crossed a small creek early on in my trek. In retrospect, all of these things seemed obvious.

That afternoon, I analyzed my run data to see where I'd gone wrong (too far north, not enough west), and I started to plan my next attempt. I used Google Maps to get the latitude and longitude of the closest points on the white trail and the Willow Pond, and I entered them into my Garmin as labeled navigation points. Its GPS helps me navigate to either of the points, so I know the best place to stop on the white trail, the exact direction I need to go to get to the pond, and how to get back to the trail when necessary. Armed with this data and my fancy gadget, I knew I'd have better luck next time.

A couple of weeks went by before my next attempt, but on the first warm day I had off in January I headed to the park. Once I got on the white trail, I activated my GPS, and it took me to the optimal spot on the trail. Conveniently, there was a large, clear gulley that led down to the small creek I'd seen on my first attempt. The creek was full of water, so I didn't want to walk down it in my running shoes. I tried to move along its edge, but the growth around it was pretty thick-even in winter.

After scouting around for a few minutes, I finally found a useable "path" on the north side of the creek. It may be an animal path used by deer, bobcats, or monkeys, or it may be an old, dried up offshoot of the creek. This small rocky trail is 20 or 30 feet north of the creek, and it parallels it most of the way to the pond. Once I found it, it was relatively easy to cover the remaining distance to the pond.

As I came out into the marsh at the eastern edge of the pond I felt like Lewis and Clark reaching the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It was very exciting for me, but then I don't get out much. After a quick look around to note where I'd come out, I ran a triumphant lap around the pond to celebrate my discovery.

As I ran, I began to wonder if I was now part of a select group of Willow Pond questers that had secretly made the path I'd found. Perhaps other runners have made this trek in silence for many years. If so, how would I contact them? How would I let them know that I'm interested in the mysteries of the Willow Pond too? If they exist, then finding this secret society of Willow Pond questers would be an interesting adventure on its own.

As I pondered that, I heard the cry of a flying monkey in the trees to the north. I never saw it, but I got the sense that I'd overstayed my welcome. Some say that the Willow Pond is the breeding ground for flying monkeys, but I didn't see any of their eggs (assuming that flying monkeys lay eggs). Either way, I decided not to hang around too long since I'd obviously gotten a monkey's attention.

I reversed my course down the rocky trail, crossed the creek, and went back up the gulley to get on the white trail. The return trip was easy, and I was smiling from ear to ear when I got back. I greeted some trail walkers, and I enjoyed their looks as I came out of the woods. I'm sure they thought I had relieved myself in the woods, but I was just happy that my little quest was successful and fun.

If you'd like to make your own quest for the Willow Pond, here are some things to consider:

• If you have any fear about being out of sight of the trail, don't attempt this. If you're horrible with directions, don't attempt this. If you have any allergies, phobias, or too much common sense, don't attempt this.
• The woods are probably easiest to traverse in the winter when most of the vegetation is bare, but you should still expect to duck a lot and move slowly. The "path" currently isn't runnable.
• Wear long sleeves, gloves, pants, socks, and old shoes that you don't care about getting muddy. Even in the winter, there are lots of limbs, bushes, weeds, and other obstacles you'll have to get past. There are also lots of cockleburs. In other seasons there are probably spiders, ticks, and snakes, too.
• If you get lost in the woods, follow the creek to the pond even if you have to walk down the middle of the creek. Once at the pond, you can run about a half mile south (to the left) on Hwy 100 to get to the park entrance at Deep Wells. From there should be able to get back to your car without getting lost again.
• Make sure you tell someone where you're going in case you do get lost in the woods.
• Don't attempt this when it's raining, due to risk of flash flooding in the gulley, creek, and pond areas.
• If you reach the pond, you must run a lap around it to show respect to the park and to the monkeys. But don't run too many laps. Monkeys don't take kindly to arrogant runners.
• If you have a GPS device, enter the following points (in latitude and longitude) so you can easily navigate to them. Garmin Forerunners expect coordinates in the second format with degrees and fractional minutes.
  • White Trail Point: (36.081°, -86.880°) or (N36° 4.860', W86° 52.800')
  • Pond Point: (36.083°, -86.882°) or (N36° 4.954', W86° 52.918')
• The easiest path between the trail and pond is not a straight line. It's actually more of an arc. If you go with the contour of the land, you'll head north for a little while until you cross the creek and hit the rocky trail. Then you can follow the trail to the west.

Hopefully, enough PWP runners will attempt this quest that we can forge our own little path between the white trail and the Willow Pond. I'd love to see Metro Parks and/or The Friends of Warner Parks get an official trail made between the two. The Willow Pond is just too cool to leave off the trail system. I plan to visit it again soon, and I hope to see you there!

Labels: Running

I wrote the following article for the Nashville Striders's February 2008 Funrunner magazine. I'm posting it here for non-local runners and for those few local runners that haven't joined the Striders for some reason.

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For almost 25 years, I equated running with punishment. I developed that attitude in junior high and high school when having to run meant that I’d made the coach or P.E. teacher mad. It ended up a deeply-rooted belief that made me avoid running for most of my life.

That finally changed in February 2007 when a friend gave me a free entry into the Predators Fangtastic 5K. I had several runner friends, and they seemed to enjoy it, so I thought I’d give this free race a shot. When I crossed the finish line exhausted and close to puking I told my friends that it was the only race I would ever run, but 10 minutes later I was already talking about doing another one.

I started training to run my next 5K (Goodpasture Cougar Crawl), and my interest quickly turned into passion (or my wife might say obsession). Since then I’ve read a lot, trained a lot, raced a lot, and met tons of very helpful runners. I’ve had ups and downs, including unexpected PRs and unfortunate DNFs and injuries. But I’ve gotten a lot better, and I know I can keep getting better.

As I look back over my first year of running I realize that there’s nothing unique about the lessons I’ve learned. I’ve seen other runners learn the same lessons, but many of the lessons are worth documenting because it might help others learn them easier. What follows are my most important "rookie year" insights into running. These are all lessons I wish I’d known at the beginning of my running life. Given my relative inexperience, these insights may be overshadowed by others next year, but for now these seem important enough to pass along.

Equipment

• Good running shoes are a must. Because of various pressures on the feet while running, your running shoes may need to be a different size or width than your everyday shoes. You may also benefit from additional support or cushioning depending upon your running form. For best results, get professionally fitted at one of the local running stores. It’s fast, free, and well worth it. Periodic refits can also be helpful since your feet can change shape as you run more.
• You don’t need to buy trail shoes to go trail running. You can run the trails in the local parks (e.g., Warner parks, Shelby Bottoms) using any normal running shoes. Many trail runners just wear their old road shoes.
• You can safely wash most running shoes in a washing machine. Wash them in cold water with a load of towels, and let them air dry sitting on a window sill.
• Other than shoes, specialized running clothes and gear are nice but not mandatory. Wicking fabrics are beneficial, but you don’t have to buy a complete wardrobe of the stuff to get started.
• Running "watches" like Garmins and Polars that track speed and distance are really nice. They allow you to take off running anywhere and have a pretty good idea about how far you’ve run.
• Don’t assume that your running watch will measure things exactly. USATF certification measurements are much more accurate than any current GPS or stride sensor measurements. In particular, Garmin Forerunners are only accurate to +/- 35 feet per GPS reading, so they can be significantly off from certified measurements, especially on compact, curvy courses. Don’t be surprised if one Garmin measures 3.05 miles while another measures 3.15 miles on a USATF-certified 5K course.

Training

• Variety is necessary for improvement. If you always do the same things you won’t improve. Doing nothing but "long slow distance" will make you a slow runner. Vary your workouts to include speedwork, trails, hills, group runs, parks, roads, tracks, etc.
• To run better, run with better runners. Or at least hang out with them when you can.
• You’ll often get conflicting advice from runners. Try things out and see what works best for you. No one person, book, or web site contains "the best way" or "the truth" for everyone.
• Don’t increase your weekly mileage or long run mileage too fast. A 10% increase per week is a good limit to minimize the risk of injury. Adding another running session may also be an option.
• You’ll be good at what you train for. The distance and pace you run most often will be the distance and pace you’ll run best.
• Find the distance that’s best for you. It may be 5K or 26.2 miles or something else. Not every runner is the same. Some people will excel at shorter, quicker distances, whereas others can outlast most people and excel at endurance races.
• High temperatures and humidity can really affect your performance. Hydrate often, and don’t try to predict your mid-November pace based on mid-August training times.
• Cold weather running isn’t that bad. You should dress so that you’re cool the first 10 minutes or so. After that you should be comfortable. Cover the body parts that get the least circulation (e.g., hands, ears) if they bother you.
• You don’t have to apologize if you’re running your best but you’re still the slowest member of a group. The faster runners have been where you are, and they understand that in a group they’ll need to make concessions (e.g., slower pace or walk breaks) for the slower runners.
• Keep a log of all your runs. This allows you to track your weekly mileage, shoe lifetimes, PRs, and other stats. There are many free and easy-to-use online running logs. RunningAhead.com is used by a lot of local runners. Online logs have the benefit of being accessible from anywhere, so you can easily view or update them while at work, on vacation, etc.
• To prevent your shoes from coming untied while running, tie a regular bow and tuck the loops and lace ends under one of the laces farther down. This prevents the knot from loosening and the loops from catching on anything, and you can still easily untie your shoes after a run.

Speed

• You should learn to move at a pace where you feel like you’re running – not jogging and not sprinting.
• Running efficiently is paramount to getting faster. Your upper body and lower body must move in sync.
• Speed doesn’t come from lengthening your stride in front of you. That actually slows you down. Speed comes from your feet hitting the ground quickly with an efficient form and rear stride. When running fast, you should spring forward, not up, and you should land on your forefoot to midfoot with a flexed knee and your foot directly underneath you. As you run faster, your stride will lengthen behind you, and your heel will pull in closer to your hamstrings before your foot returns to the ground.

Races

• Always thank the volunteers! There would be very few races without them.
• Race day magic exists. Expect to run better, longer in a race than you can in training runs.
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by focusing everything toward one race. Plans may have to change due to injury, family, work, etc.
• Find an energy product you can ingest before a race that sits well on your stomach. For some people this is food; for others it’s gel or a sports drink. You may have to train yourself to get used to racing with something in your system.
• Never experiment with new products (e.g., gels, shoes, tights) during a race. Try them out on several training runs first.
• The night before a race, lay out everything you’ll need on race day. Get up early before the race. Arrive at the race early. Do some short warm up runs.
• Senior citizens and people pushing strollers may pass you. This shouldn’t hurt your pride. If it does, you need to learn to run faster like they did.
• If you don’t have a secure key pocket on your racing gear, you can use a couple of timing chip straps to fasten your key to your shoe laces. I usually strap my timing chip to one shoe, and my key to the other.

Marathons

• Heed the old advice of "respect the distance". 26.2 is more than twice as hard as 13.1. It’s harder to train for, and it’s harder to race. Some say the first 20 miles is half the race, and the last 6.2 miles is the other two-thirds of the race.
• If you’re training for a marathon, don’t skimp on your mid-week runs. Doing nothing but short runs during the week followed by increasing long runs on the weekend is a recipe for injuries. If your weekend long run is more than half your total weekly mileage, you’re probably headed for trouble.
• Marathons get all the press, but they’re not the only race worth running. They’re a big event to organize, so there are very few local ones. Most marathoners expect to travel to races. If you’re happy running in the plentiful local 5K, 10K, and halfs, then you shouldn’t feel compelled to become a marathoner. Conversely, marathons aren’t the pinnacle of racing. There are always more challenges if you want them (e.g., ultras, Ironman®, adventure racing).

Injuries

• Injuries can happen, but with patience and smart work, you can get over them.
• You appreciate an injury-free body more when it’s gone.
• Listen to your body at the first sign of an injury. Don’t try to run through it. There’s a difference between discomfort and "you better stop now" pain.
• Having to DNF ("did not finish") a race or training run is much better than continuing on and injuring yourself further. The difference can mean being out of running for a few days versus being out for several weeks. Severe injuries can also mean more medical bills.
• Running a race when you’re already injured is stupid. That’s a guaranteed way to cost yourself a lot more time off from running.
• If your Achilles tendons are always sore, try cutting the so-called "Achilles protector" off the top heel of each shoe. It doesn’t contribute to heel stability in a properly fit shoe, which should fit snugly to the bony part of your heel. The "protector" material can jam into the Achilles tendon each time you plantar-flex your foot (i.e., point your toes down) and cause constant irritation. The top of the shoe heel should be about the same height as the bony heel of your foot.

Miscellaneous

• Non-runners don’t want to hear you talk about running all the time. This was a shock to me, but several non-runners pointed this out.
• You don’t have to be crazy to run, but it helps. It’s tough to push yourself to ever increasing limits and to do it regardless of the weather, distractions, etc. Runners demonstrate the spirit from the old saying, "Do not pray for an easy life. Pray to be a stronger person."
• All the runners I’ve met are really nice and helpful. The same qualities that make runners strive to improve themselves physically seem to make runners nice people to be around.
• There will never be consensus on a message board, and people don’t always behave the same on a message board as they do in person. This is not running-specific, but it’s worth mentioning given the constant activity on the Striders message board.
• Nashville is a runner’s Mecca. It has so many awesome places to run. Enjoy the greenways and parks! It also has the Nashville Striders, which provide great races, great volunteers, and great community support. Even the weather is nice here. I doubt there’s a better city in the world for the average runner.

Labels: Running