Black endurance athletes

I have played two of the American big three sports with a fair amount of acumen over the years. High school varsity football and basketball for most of my life. I was never particularly gifted but at 6’3” and fairly strong (peak bench 315lbs, squat 605lbs) I had my advantages. I ran track and had an above average showing at all distances (4.5 40 yard to a 5:20 mile), but one year didn’t give me enough exposure to the sport.

When I stopped league flag football after 9 years of playing in order to support my kids weekend activities I needed another competitive outlet. Running was something I enjoyed, but didn’t pursue so when my wife brought home a Runner’s World magazine and asked me to help her train it was on. This was in 2008. I took that push and have never stopped. I love the accomplishment and fanfare of the marathon (best of 4 is 3:53:32; age grade 53.49; an 8:54/mi pace) even though I know my best age grade result is the 5K (21:06; age grade 62.13%; an 6:54/mi pace) or the 10 mile (1:12:57; age grade 61.33%; an 7:17/mi pace). I am training for 2 more marathons this year and am giving it the work and respect they deserve.

I also have become enamored with the idea of triathlon. I am addicted to Universal Sports and see these events all the time. I was a spectator to a neighborhood friend’s sprint triathlon and I am considering trying it out. I am definitely not afraid of swimming, but I am not trained. I think the bike issue is not a problem with ability, but rather with expense (I can’t spend $1K per year on a bike). So what do I do? I want to race. I also think Kona is on my bucket list (yes, I know this is highly unlikely).

So, I spent a little time just wondering to myself, “where are the other black people in endurance sport?” Some of my college acquaintances (mostly women) run, few are competitive, but do give it their all. I see these sports as a most white area, which in and of itself is not a problem, but I wondered why I see less black people in these niche sports. I saw a few bulletin board posts on the web, that attempt to answer this question, but I doubt they were answered intelligently. I do think economics come into play, but I don’t I am not a high income earner (marathon entry fees hurt my budget) and I definitely see a lot of distance runners (again mostly women) and serious bicyclists in my neighbor, which is most a black community (in the DC suburbs). Once again, I don’t want to make this anything racial, but why are there so much fewer black endurance athletes in the pro ranks. I think just one (like a Tiger Woods – though he doesn’t market himself as Black) would do wonders for the participation.

This weeks training was:

- Tuesday: 7.11 miles in 1:01:19
- Wednesday: 7.31 miles in 1:01:33
- Thursday: 7.02 miles in 1:02:53
- Saturday: 16 miles in 2:41:47

I totally *bonked* today running out of energy early at 9 miles and did a lot of run-walking until the end, which was 4 miles short of my goal 20 mile run.

So far the month of August has been:

- 28.38 miles
- 39.78 miles
- 37.44 miles

So much fun…

I am having so much fun training. I went to watch a friend race a sprint triathlon this weekend and was newly excited about the prospect of this hobby. Without running as a common thread we may not have talked and connected, now I can call him a friend.

I am having a lot of fun putting in the miles and hard work. This morning I was to run 7 one mile repeats at 10K pace. Though I left two intervals on the table I worked hard for an hour and felt the effort. The run went like this:

• Interval 1: 7:06
• Interval 2: 7:22
• Interval 3: 7:33
• Interval 4: 7:37
• Interval 5: 7:50

Distance: 7.26, Time: 01:03:49, Average pace: 8:47/mi

I am working hard on my hard days. I am not sure that I am going easy on my easy days. I like the work. I am split between the two training programs. I am going hard.I like it.

I’m not dead yet…

I’ve been running. Since my last post 4 weeks ago I’ve run 94 miles. I’ve done intervals, hill work, long runs, and tempo runs. I have even competed in a winning swim relay team.

I still plan on running the Baltimore Marathon on 15 October 2011. I am in week 9 of a 20 week training program where I’ve missed quite a number of workouts but have done 33 miles last week and am looking to do the same this week.

So, I am saying that I am not done running, but my blogging is lacking. I need to get more accustomed to being present on-line as I am doing a post-graduate course this Fall and may be beginning a Doctoral program. I am going to continue to strive for my BQ, I also am saving for my bike because the tri-bug has bit me and I am thinking that I’ll get into triathlon sooner that I have expected.

Week 4: First Cycling Cross Training

I have always seen my cyclist brothers and sister in endurance training on my long Sunday runs, but haven’t joined them until today. Today, I went out for a 37.5 mile jaunt through the Bowie and Davidsonville region with my neighbors. It was a glorious morning, starting at about 65 F and climbing to the low/mid 70s.

I thought I’d do well; I had the reservation that this is a different exercise and these guys could push me to my limit, but wow that was hard. They introduced me to hill climb repeats on steep country roads and tough road miles that made me respect the effort of a long bike when compared with a long run. The original plan for today was to run 1 hour at 15 seconds slower than my 10k pace (~7:15/mi).

The muscle tension/fatigue of biking is similar to that I feel 5k running. I am now a fan of cycling and will likely be purchasing a bike and joining my local cycling friends for many long rides.

Week 4 of Baltimore Marathon Training:

• Tuesday: Tempo run; ran 1 mile warmup, 6 mile tempo at marathon pace (8:00/mi), 1 mile cooldown. 8 miles in 1:07:55
• Wednesday: Easy run; 6 miles at easy pace with 5 strides. 6 miles is 53:19
• Thursday: Supposed to be hills training instead did Runervals 3.0, 5 miles in 48:27
• Friday: Easy run; 7 miles in 59:37 with 5 strides.
• Sunday: Supposed to be a 1-hour run at 10k-15s, switched to cross train road biking. 37.5 miles in 3:15 with 4 major hill climbs.

Summary:
Running – 26 miles in 3:44:20
Biking – 37.5 miles in 3:15

Not my best

I have had my fill of preparing only to know that on the day of judgment I wasn’t ready. Presenting at a conference in front of more than a hundred is one thing, running in a marathon another. Expertise is required. The ability to respond to adverse conditions is similar. Your response is where you will be judged.

I spoke today to a group of developers, technologists, and engineers with my slides in limbo and faltered. The rebound was okay, but I feel like I followed the half marathon group at the split only to have to retrace my steps to get back on the marathon course in a big city race. I had the respect of keeping a stiff upper lip and finishing, but there was no reason to celebrate a job well done. Not my best work.

I went for a run when I got home.

Week 1 synopsis:
- 4 runs: Tu, Wed, Thu, Fri
- 16 miles
- Notes: busy weekend had me skip the long run. I am going to accept this as I am in a 20-week cycle instead of 18 weeks.

Soundtrack:

1. Heart of the City – Jay-Z
2. Picture Me Rollin’ – 2Pac
3. Sabotage – Beastie Boys
4. The Next Episode – Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg
5. (Rock) Superstar – Cypress Hill
6. The Choice Is Yours – Black Sheep
7. Snap Yo’ Fingaz – Lil’ Jon

Planning my running for the Fall Campaign

I ran my second WarriorDash™ last Sunday. Once again, I competed hard in a fun race, but didn’t go all out for the win. I finished 238^th  of 8,279 overall for the Sunday group, which was 20^th of 562 in my age group.

Later this week I went for a slow run in the heat of midday. This long run was attempted with nothing but a liter of water and two Endurolyte™ capsules. I did 13.83 miles in 2:28:57. Though I was dragging most of the time, it was probably 90°F, the fueling before and during was not appropriate, and frankly I just want to run and did not care at all about my pace. It was fun and gave me a chance to think about how I want to prepare for my Fall marathons.
I have checked Jack Daniel’s Running Formula out from the library in order to get some pointers. This plan will be put together as I had read more and thought about it. In the meantime, I plan to run long once a week and do my Runervals™ training (Treadmill Tempo and Cheetah Fast) twice a week. With some supplemental miles I’ll try to get up to about 40-50 miles a week. I’ll do this over 3 weeks and judge how things are going by attempting a Runerval base pace (BP) of 3.5 mph until it gets easy. For those who have not done Runervals 3.5 mph seems slow, but the workout will have you running BP + 5 mph at 5-6% incline. In order to not arbitrarily decide what is easy and what is not easy I will use my heart rate monitor. I will sign up for a 5K race in for the last weekend of June.
For supplemental training I’ll be doing the hundred pushups challenge, P90X and swimming. I’ll try to get some stretching in and eat right (better). I’ll try to have my full training plan and race schedule set up in couple of weeks.

Runervals 2.0 kicked my butt

I did the Runervals Treadmill Tempo run yesterday after an extended amount of time off due to vacation. This workout really tested me. I set my cruise pace to that of my predicted 5K time of sub-21 minutes. The workout went something like this. Warm-up running at 4mph.The intervals began with 4 times running cruise pace plus 3 mph faster (7 mph) and 3% grade for 90 secs then rest 30 secs. Coach Troy then gives you a 2 minute break for you to recover then run cruise plus 4 mph (8 mph) and 4% grade for 90 with 30 sec rest. The next was 9 mph at 5% grade for 90/30 but I could only go for 2 reps before backing it down to 8 mph. I then reset for the last set of 1 min on at 9 mph 5% grade and 1 min rest at cruise pace. 3 of these and I was done. 5 miles in the book. I’ll get out for a long easy tomorrow. Today is for family.