A Real Gem of a Race

It was great running the Hidden Gem Half Marathon today.  I had a good race in May at the LincolnWay Half Marathon, but missed the signup for the Hidden Gem. Luckily, Carol Milkins sold/transferred her bib to me. I had been running in the 8-12 mile range for a few weeks, but since I got the bib on August 9, I only had 3 more weekends for long runs. So I compressed the time a bit in between long runs and squeezed 5 long runs into 4 weeks:

• ·       Sat Aug 9 – 12 miles
• ·       Thurs Aug 14 – 14 Miles
• ·       Wed Aug 20 - 12 Miles
• ·       Mon Aug 25 – 10 miles
• ·       Sat Aug 30 – 8 miles
• ·       Sat Sep 6 – Race Day

I would not recommend this, but I have occasionally done one or two  long runs on 5-6 days rest, instead of 7. Usually because of weather, work or other schedule conflicts. I have been getting more running in than usual, running 4 days instead of 3, or running 5-6 miles during the week instead of 3-4.  But it has been hard to focus on training because I was laid off from my job in March.  I am still in limbo of a bit too early to fully retire, and a bit too much gray in my hair for some jobs, apparently.

The whole organization and community involvement of the Flossmoor area is awesome!  It reminds me of the spirit of the Park Forest 10 Miler, which was my first race over 5K.  I probably ran with the FNRC group more often than recent years, and that camaraderie gave me a good boost. Laura and I joined the group for a picture before the race.  Bill and Pat were talking about what pace to run.  I ran the 2022 Hidden gem race in 1:55, and the LincolnWay Half Marathon in May 2025 at 1:50, so I wanted to break 1:50 today, which is about an 8:15 pace.

This race draws a lot of running groups, from FNRC, Yankee Runners, CARA, Prairie State Road Runners, etc.  And a lot of serious “racing teams” from Chicago and other suburbs, with paid coaches.  It is a mix of inspiring, and a little intimidating for someone who can’t “run with the big dogs” anymore. (LOL!)

It was 46 degrees at the start, and I was in shorts and short sleeve T, but I had cotton gloves and a buff to put over my ears.  But by the start I was handing them off to Laura.  The start line was full, but the street is pretty wide, and the pack opened up.

I could see the first couple of miles were closer than 8 min miles than 8:15, but I felt that I was staying within my pace. Then a few miles after that showed up under 8 minutes. I ran an 8 minute pace in my first half marathon in Valparaiso over 20 years ago, and ran that pace numerous times, with a PR of 1:38 in the LincolnWay/Frankfort Half Marathon. I did not see running 1:45 today, but I was going to enjoy it and take what they day gave me.

In addition to great weather, the day gave a flat (but winding) course, and phenomenal support in the numerous pretty neighborhoods we ran through. I would love to run with a Go-Pro camera with sound on to capture all the signs, people and music. It seems that every neighborhood had a local DJ, cranking up the jams.  The neighborhoods had themes, like “You Are a Star in the Movies”, which was one of my favorite. Lots of references to Broadway musicals/movies. One set of signs where they were playing the Sound of Music soundtrack said “Fa…” “A Long, Long Way to Run”.  This was a favorite of mine since our daughter recently had her bridal shower with a Sound of Music Theme. See if you recognize the surprise guest in the attached picture.

(Lederhosen Courtesy of Chad Rapsky)

The Homewood-Flossmoor HS  campus was full of cheerleaders and crowds.  The marching band was facing each other across the course, alternating the music of jazzy swing number. Then the drum line took over and the crowd went wild!  Another highlight for me was getting a cup of water from a 2 foot high SpiderMan. He look pretty pleased that I reached down for his cup. I felt some that Spidey Energy course through me after that!

As uplifting as the crowds and music were, the highlight of any race for me is seeing Laura on the course, multiple times.  Actually, with her lusty cheer and Mighty Cowbell, I hear her a half-mile before I see her and for a half-mile after.  She cheers for ALL the runners, but I had her hand off mini water squirt water bottles with water or Gatorade. That allows me to skip a couple water stops, and I can drink a lot more out of a squirt top than I can out of a paper cup. Plus, at one of the seven places I saw her, I swooped over for a kiss. Must not have slowed me down, because that was one of my faster miles.

(Photo Credit - Calvin Jordan)

The fast miles did catch up with me.  During the hot summer, I did stop several times during long runs to get water.  I had run 3-5 miles at a time close to an 8 minute pace during a 10-12 mile, but not sustained over 8-12.  Regardless, I was having a lot of fun, commenting to the crowd and thanking them, seeing other FNRC runners like Dan Doyle, and our friend Kristen Salk who lives in Homewood.

                                                                (Photo Credit - Calvin Jordan)

At mile 8, my pace went back above 8 minute pace, and was close to 8:30.  I had an 8:12 in Mile 12, but Mile 13 was 8:42.  This is typical for me to go out a bit fast, and slow down in later miles. That Mile 12 was a bit out of character that I got the pace back, and did not totally drop.   I was determined to not have a mile above 9 minute pace, and I did not come close.  

Laura was in the final stretch before the long straight finish, and was urging me to “Go! Go!” I smiled because I was giving it all to finish strong.  When I ran the Green Bay Marathon, a guy jumped in to run alongside his buddy for a while and give encouragement. One of things he said was “Don’t leave anything on the table but the corncobs!” I took that to heart that day. When I crossed the finish line, my legs would not hold me up, and I ended up in the medical tent (low electrolytes/cramps). I qualified for Boston, but that was the one time in 20 years of running and triathlons I ended up in the med tent.

I could see on the clock and my watch that my time would be under 1:48, so I met my goal of going sub 1:50. I got my medal from a cheery Girl Scout. When I went to get fluids, I had to lean on the fence for a bit. I did not collapse this time, but I didn’t leave anything on the table but the corncobs!  By the time Laura got to the finish line area, I was in line for a stretch by PTs from Athletico. I leaned on her a bit and she went off to meet some friends. The bottom of my quad has been tight near the knee where I had meniscus surgery 12 years ago.  The PT did a good of gently stretching it, so I did not have to stand on one leg and pull it up behind me. 

I changed out of sweaty clothes so I would not get chilled in the cool September air.  I had a delicious egg sandwich and a free(!) beer.  The race and after-party seem as popular with the locals as it does with the runners. That, by the way, is  one of the joys of Marathon Monday in Boston. It is a public holiday in Massachusetts, and all the towns along the 26.2 miles come out in force. This was a Festival Saturday for Flossmoor, and they loved having 1200 sweaty guests in their home(town).

I had tons of fun at this race, and am very happy with my time. My races, especially long ones are fewer these days, but this is a 13.1 PR for this age group, which I am at the top end of. As far as the next age group, whether I am retired permanently, I won’t be retiring from running anytime soon. 

Marvelous Night for a Moon Run

I am taking a rest day today (Thursday).  I have had a full week of workouts already.  Sunday’s indoor bike ride was not too hard – I did not ride as long as Laura did because I had to change the pedals on my bike because I had it setup so our son could ride it while he was home from college over the holidays.   On Monday morning, I did my tempo run workout.  The streets were clear, and it was right around freezing, but pretty windy.   On Monday evening, we went to Master’s Swim Practice.  This is a good structured workout, but most of the members are former high school and college swimmers who enter meets at the master’s level.  They separate speed by lanes, and I am in the slowest lane.  That is fine, but with 4 people in the lane, we were bumping into each other a lot.  A couple of the members act as coaches, and say on the deck, explaining the workouts.  They have a lot to improve on my stroke, and I get good suggestions.  The swim cross-training in my marathon program calls for about 45-55 minutes of swimming – about 1600 yards.  This workout was 2500 yards, and stretches to 90 minutes.  I am okay with that, but the session starts at 7:30 pm, so we are getting home from the high school between 9:45-10 pm by the time we get showered and dressed.    Our plan is to do this on Mondays and Fridays, but with my first 20 miler on Saturday morning, I am going to pass this Friday.   

On Tuesday night, we started another new venture – CompuTrainer ‘Lab’ workouts.  This is a group indoor bike session in the basement of our friend, Bernie Conway, who is a multiple time Kona qualifier Ironman. ‘140Point6 Computrainer Lab ‘ has 8 CompuTrainers hooked into a common computer network, with large video screens displaying our progress, remote-controlled fans, and  music, lights and TV/video screens.  Bernie designs workouts for a group workout- we have signed up for a six-week session.  Tonight is an FTP test (Functional Threshold Power).  It measures in watts the amount of power you could deliver for 1 hour, at 100% of your effort.  This test approximates  that 1 hour measure by looking for 105% of power for 20 minutes. 

CompuTrainers apply resistance to the rear wheel of the bike to simulate hills based on a computer program.  I bought one from Bernie for Laura 2 Christmases ago, and that is where Laura does her bike workouts, usually following an interval workout, based on an FTP test Bernie did a couple of years ago.  Or, she runs a course profile of an Ironman or Triathlon course, and rides that for 1-2 hours.  Sometimes I will switch my bike onto the CompuTrainer, or adjust the seat on Laura’s bike for a CompuTrainer ride.  But there is some setup and calibration with CompuTrainers, so if I ride on a morning before work, I just hop on my bare-bones fluid trainer and start pedaling.

Bernie must have had our data from 2 years ago, because he gave me a base FTP of 180.  I was surprised, because I rarely hit that in our basement, and I gear my workouts to hot 130-140.  I guess I need to ramp that up.    We had 8 people in the basement, all of them I have met before either in our triathlon club, or master’s swim.  Bernie helped get our bikes on the trainers, and do all the warm-up and calibration of the bikes and equipment necessary to ride.  He had us warm up for 20 minutes, and we tried to keep our watts at 50% of FTP, and the RPM about 85.  The output from our bikes was displayed in front of us on large video screen, with a “dashboard” effect, where if your watts drop below 45%, it shows blue; if you are in the 46-54% sweet spot, it shows green, and if you go above that, it goes from yellow to orange to red.   For further distraction, Bernie showed video of an Ironman race from Louisville.  Bernie has done that, and Laura has gone to Louisville a few times to watch our friends. 

We did some short intervals where we hit 100% of our FTP for a minute at a time, and then we did some recalibration.  Now it was time for the FTP test.  The idea is ride a course with a constant 0.2% - 0.25% grade at 105% of your FTP.   I took a GU, and water, and got ready to wrap my head around this.  When Bernie started the test, there was a tendency to spike your FTP, I did not immediately get above 105%, but when I did, I went WAAAY over for a few seconds.  Pretty soon, I was staying between 100-110% so about 180-200 watts.   I tried to focus on delivering power by applying constant pressure through my foot contacting the pedal, both on the down stroke and the upstroke.   By 5 minutes in, I was dripping with sweat, and wondered how I would keep this up.   After that, I got into a rhythm for a while.  Bernie had switched the Ironman video with one of an “alley cat” bike race in NYC.  So, instead of Olympic caliber athletes riding bikes we would love to have, these were bike messengers and hipsters dodging traffic, and giving cyclists a bad name.   Bernie had told us to keep steady until 5 minutes left, then start maxing out.  So at 10 minutes, I could envision holding that 105-110% for another 5 minutes.  After that, we would see what I had left.  There were a few times when I was getting water and my power meter showed blue when I was in the 95% range; so I focused on keeping my power constant even when I was drinking water or wiping off sweat with a towel.  To get my watts up, I would either have to increase my RPMS, or shift gears, or some combination of both.  I did not want the higher gear right away, so I spun at a higher cadence for about 30-45 seconds, and then when I got in a groove, I shifted to a higher gear.  It felt harder at first, but after 15 minutes, it all felt hard.  I got settled into this newer reality, and with about 3 minutes to go, pushed the pace back, seeing numbers over 120%.  My FTP number was above 190 – I think 192 or 193.  I got into the last couple of minutes, I was grunting every breath. Bernie urged us to ‘fight for that extra watt!’  I was at 194 watts, it would be nice to have a round number like 195 – kind of like getting a 95% on a test. We got to zero seconds, I had hit 195, I geared down, spun out slower, drank water.  Everyone in the room was beat.   I felt exhausted, but was pleased with the outcome.  I never even considered that I might have gotten 200, because that will be the basis for all my workouts the rest of the outseason, and we would not want to make them unrealistically hard based on an aberration.  I need to learn to ride like this outside.  I wore a heart rate monitor, and the few times I looked at it during the FTP test – it was 134 or 138 during the first 15 minutes.  When I cranked it up in the last 5 minutes, it read 148.   The next time I take an FTP test, I will register splits during on the watch, because the watch will show average, and max heart rate for those times.  Then, I can use that HR to approximate the power I should apply during workouts and races.  

Swimming and the FTP test kept Laura and me up late, so I did not wake up early and run yesterday.  Instead, because Laura was working late, I ran after work on Wednesday night.  The temperature was about 20 degrees, and there was a faint wind, so the wind chill was probably 15.   Today’s workout was speed work – 5  x 1000 m.  I thought it would be at 4:07 splits, but my schedule said 4:03.  That sounded right from prior years.   I had a lot of heavy clothes on, but my fingers were a little cold.  I knew even during my warm up that 4:03 per km would be hard to achieve tonight.  I think my first split was 4:15; then I had a 400m rest.  I have 200m spots marked out in a mile loop around my street and the one next to it.  So, I can run a mile with only 4 turns.   By the third interval, my fingers warm, but I was not getting any faster – 4:12 was the best.   I guess my last speed session was on a treadmill, and I have done 2 on the indoor track – I may have done one outside, too.  What is tough with speed work outside in the winter is that you get all lathered up running hard, and then if you jog or walk intervals in between, you can get chilled from being so wet. 

I finished the 5 sets, and I was okay once I got out of the wind.   I think it is possible to do quality speed work in the cold, as long as the ground is dry (which it was), but I may have been fatigued from 3 tough workouts the day prior.    Yeah, let’s go with that.

Ice, Ice, Baby

The Polar Vortex that brought prolonged subzero temperatures and massive snow to the Chicago area has receded.  But, as the temperature got above zero, and then above freezing, the snow accumulated on lawns and driveways melted, drained back into the streets, and in some cases re-froze as patches of black ice.  On Friday, we received heavy rains, that when they reached the ground that had been in a deep-freeze for over a week, immediately froze much larger swaths as a slushy frozen layer.  I am not sure why this surprised meteorologists and road officials, but there was not much response in the way of salting the road.  

The rain relented in the hours before dawn, and when I went out to get my newspaper at about 6:00 a.m., it looked like the pavement had absorbed a lot of the moisture, and was not as slippery as the day before.  I walked to both ends of my street, and found 2 strips of black ice.  A little later when I went to buy milk, I decided to drive the streets of our running route, and see how icy they were.  I took the subcompact car that our kids get the use of on winter break after their grandparents have (smartly) escaped to Florida.  This car has rear wheel drive, so any ice present when I hit the brakes would result in a skid.  Sure enough, the streets adjacent to mine were much more coated.  These are older streets, and have more trees and bigger lots, so I suppose there was more melting snow to drain and re-freeze.  I left the store, and drove in the main part of town.  This is not my usual running route, but I was hoping that the heavier traffic melted the ice somewhat.   As I drove the streets, I could here particles hitting the underside of the car.  This was not an area with gravel, so I figured it was road salt.  Most of the times when I tested the brakes, the car did not skid.  I drove a few more streets, and I decided that running in this direction would be an option if our regular, hillier route was icy. 

As I drove the regular running route, I kept coming across large stretches of sheer ice.  At first, I concocted detours on less icy streets, but as the icy patches become more regular, and stretched longer, I aborted the rest of my test drive, and decided to punt on the flatter route.

My wife woke up, and I texted my friends, Dale and John.  Our planned distances were John and I – 17 miles, Dale – 8, and Laura 6.  Since we were running out and back, Laura would turn around first, and Dale would do 8 miles with John and me.  I was hoping that it might warm up by then, and John and I could finish on our regular route.

We called out all the slippery spots as we passed them – within the first block, we had to skate across a 5-10 foot patch of ice.  I kept promising the others that it would be less icy when we cross the busy street, Wolf Road.  The streets right past my corner are in unincorporated Mokena, and I expected the Village of Mokena to a better job at salting the streets.   Those streets were marginally better, but we still managed to find icy spots here and there.   To get to the main part of the running route, we had to run on a busier street – Schoolhouse Road.  The speed limit is still 25 mph, but people go faster, because it is only part residential.  The road was not icy because of the traffic, but we also had to cross railroad tracks.  The rubber material they use for street crossings can become slick even in a morning dew, so I slowed down, and looked for trains, and waited for the others to warn them.  Running on the ground towards a tree, I saw a silvery-gray/white animal.  It was the color of a possum, but looked like a squirrel.  Yep, there on the tree trunk, was a squirrel with fur as white as the snow on the ground, with a couple of silver-grey spots on it.  It was playing with another brown squirrel, the more typical brown color.  I don’t normally bring my phone on runs, but I did because of the dubious road conditions, so I took a picture of this rare sight.  I have seen jet-black squirrels in Vancouver, BC, and in Benton Harbor Michigan, and the Quad Cities, but I have never heard of a white squirrel. 

We got going, and after we turned the corner, we got into a neighborhood with both a lot of room on the shoulders, and a fair amount of traffic, but a low speeds.  We had the wind at our back, and more reliable footing, so our fastest runner in the group, John, let go of the reins, and took the lead.  It felt good to not land tentatively for a mile or so.  We came close to the 3 mile mark where Laura should be turning around, and I hung back and turned round to tell her to be careful.  I kissed her, and tried to catch up to John and Dale.  Dale was 1-2 blocks ahead of me, and John was almost that far ahead of Dale.  I was clocking a 6:30 pace, and if I had to keep it up for more than a half mile to catch them, I would be too winded to keep up with them once I did.  Luckily, they had to stop for an extremely long light at LaGrange Road. 

We continued the rest of our fourth mile in the eastern half of Mokena, and again hit a mix of clear and icy spots.   When my watch hit 4 miles, John and Dale still were under the mark (probably because I doubled back a few hundred yards to send Laura back home).  When we turned around, we broke a cardinal rule of running and ran on the right side of the road, because we had already encountered all the icy spots there, and hopefully would know where all the icy spots were.  Now the running was tougher, because we were running directly into a strong west wind, which we would almost the entire way back.  We did manage to clock a couple for quick miles, but they were silent.    As we got within a mile or two of my house, we were getting pelted by small droplets of snow/freezing rain.  This was just adding to the slickness on the street.  I had been considering doubling back for a second helping of this grueling icy out and back, but John and I decided that we should go to the health club for the last 9 miles.  

We finished in front of my house, and Laura was outside with our dog.  We said good-bye to Dale, and John used the bathroom, and I changed out of my soaking wet top into something dry and more lightweight for the “dreadmill”.  I came prepared with a sweatband, and lots of fluids, and a Gu, but I should have brought headphones to either plug into the TV screen on the treadmill, or to play music on my phone.  I am just not in the habit of listening to music when I run or ride. But 9 miles, combined with being worn down by the city terrain outside made it hard to stay motivated.

It was almost 10 am, and there were lots of people in the health club.  The had the heat going like it was still subzero, but all the rain the previous night gave it near 100% humidity.   I wasn’t sure what my pace was supposed to be, but I was pretty sure I had been below it outside.  So around 8:30 minutes per mile seemed right.  I varied it a bit every mile- added 1% instead of 0.5% incline – increased the speed to 8:22 or 8:15 for a quarter to half a mile.  I don’t think it is good to have the EXACT same speed/incline for miles and miles, because you never have that outside.  Plus mentally, it distracts you from the monotony to see the numbers change a bit. 

One thing that helped was seeing familiar faces in the health club. I have been coming to Body Tech since it opened 10+ years ago, and my wife and were members of the YMCA that occupied its space the 7-8 years before.  But drenched in sweat, beat up from the outside run and wanting to be done, I could manage a nod for the parade of old friends, but hoped they would not walk over and engage me in conversation.  At least John was sharing in the monotony.   His pace was faster, and as much as I tried not to play catchup, I did increase my pace sporadically for 0.25- 0.5 miles at a time, since he was going to give me a ride home, and I did not want to make him wait.

We had to reset the treadmills when we hit 1 hour, and I had 2 miles to go.  I figured I would hold steady until 1 mile, and then increase the pace.  But I was getting anxious to finish and bored of seeing the same numbers, so after a half mile, I started to tweak the MPH up by 0.1 every eight to a quarter of mile.  By the time I got to 1 mile, I was already at an 8:00 pace.  That sounds great after 16 miles, but at this point the treadmill seems like it is calling the shots, not me.  Since I ran a little extra outside, I only needed 8.75 miles to reach 17.  So now, I was about same distance from the finish as on our outdoor route when we say we start to “smell the hay in barn”.  Well, there was a barnyard aroma emanating from the treadmills, but it was stronger than hay!  I started to notch the speed up, and finished the last quarter mile at a 7:30 pace.  I thought I saw 8.75 miles pass, but I might have missed it and gone to 8.8. I started decreasing the speed bit by bit, and jogged a tenth of a mile, and then walked a bit. 

I was drenched, sore from the tough, tentative run outside, and mentally numb from the zombie-like repetition of the treadmill.  But it was done, Week 3 of 16 in the books.  John had already wiped off his treadmill, and he left me the spray bottle of disinfectant and paper towels.  The floor, my gym bag, and every part of the treadmill had dried sweat drops.  And I still was drenched, because there was not evaporation happening, which also means cooling is limited.    

I changed my shirt, stretched a little, and got in John’s car.  It was almost eleven o’clock.  We had tried to start around 7:30.  Just as we pulled onto my street, we saw the first salt truck of the day.   If I had known for sure the streets would be seated at a certain time, I might have waited – but they are not very reliable.