After finishing the Adirondack half marathon 

Adirondack Distance Festival

Some 280 kilometres from Ottawa lies the lovely town of Schroon, New York, nestled beside Lake Schroon, in the Adirondacks. Heaven knows what else it is famous for, if anything, but the one thing it has going for it is the Adirondack Distance Festival, on the weekend of September 24-5.

This is the ninth year running, and it offers a 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon. After doing the Alpine Classic eight-mile cross country race in Jordan, New York, a couple of times, I decided it was time to head somewhere else, and a scan of Runner’s World turned up the Distance Festival. Going somewhere for a race within reasonable driving distance in the fall as a mini-vacation for my wife and me has become a bit of a tradition, so Lake Schroon it was.

The half and full marathon wind around Lake Schroon, and the marathon is indeed a challenge, with some significant long uphills in the first half. For almost the first time, I decided to actually “train” for a race, rather than just go out and run around. I adopted the Runner’s World July 2004 issue’s nine week half marathon training guide, at intermediate level, and followed it religiously. I settled on a half pace of 5:15, and the rest was mathematics, and some 260 kms of intervals, speed work, hills, long runs, etc. But it worked, as I did the Terry Fox Run in 46:14 the Sunday before the half, the fastest time ever for me.

It’s a pretty drive to Schroon, about an hour southeast of Lake Placid, just off I-87. After driving the course, I agreed with the organizers that the first half of the half was virtually dead flat, and the second half, coming up the west side of the lake, had “gently rolling” hills, which looked pretty gentle in the car.

I hit the local wine store for alcohol loading the night before, and we took in the pasta dinner as well. I had no idea this area was so into the Bible belt. Every church you could think of has some kind of camp or Bible study facility here, including a megacomplex, The Word of Life, site of the dinner, which makes General Motors look like Dinky Toys. There is a Word of Life Bible study centre, an Olympic training centre, a campground, an Inn, their world HQ on an island in the lake, and probably more, all over the place. In a long conversation with the manager of the Inn, where the dinner was held, I learned they are “conservative Baptist” in their outlook, which probably accounts for the fact that the most exciting drink they had was herbal tea.

Race day dawned perfectly; overcast, virtually no wind, and about 12 degrees (50 something for Americans). After the marathoners took off from the centre of town, the half marathoners climbed into buses and were taken to the halfway point on the other side of the lake, and an hour later, off we went. Amazingly, I even connected with another running blogger who had entered the race! My not-so-trusty Garmin Forerunner 201 died at one minute and five seconds into the race, and only rarely came back to life during the entire race, to tell me I was pretty much on pace. I had neglected to start my stopwatch, relying on the Garmin (my bad) and so was running kind of blind, but the pace felt good.

There were plentiful water stations all along the route, and a couple of bluegrass bands. The 1500 or so souls of Schroon really get into the races, with lots of cheering. Traffic control is excellent.

About halfway along the “gently rolling hills” started, but they were not too serious; mostly long inclines and declines. The last one at the 12.5 mile mark was a long upward slog, however. As we neared the finish, a little mental mathematics told me I might even better my target time. I sprinted for what I thought was the finish, only to discover that it really was another 300 metres or so around the corner. “Arrrgh” said the legs, but I finished in 1:47:10, nicely under my target of 1:50, and about nine minutes better than the 2004 NCM half, my last race of that distance. Maybe this training stuff actually works.

To my pleasant surprise, my time was good enough for second place in my age group, exactly one second behind the first place guy. If only I had sprinted just a bit harder…
There was one other runner in the half from Ottawa; Layla Prieur captured third place in the 30-34 age group with a nice 1:37:43 time. The male winner was Drew Best, a 23-year-old from Southington CT, with a 1:12:34 time, and the top female was Katherine Danner, a 31-year-old from Mecklenberg NY, with a 1:24:59 time, and a new course record by almost two minutes. The male marathon winner did it in 2:48:30 and the top female came in at 3:13:46. There was one female marathon runner from Ottawa, Susan Killeen Ramsay, who finished second in her age group, 50-54, with a 4:25:58 time.
The race ended up with a free dinner for racers and volunteers at a local pub. The Distance Festival is a well-organized weekend, with great community support and a very scenic course. Next year it will be one week earlier, with expanded events, to celebrate its 10th anniversary. See http://www.adirondackmarathon.org/.

It's almost here!

After about two months of serious training, some 260 kms of running, a fair bit of sweating and cursing, I am finally ready to head for Lake Schroon tomorrow morning for the race on Sunday. My wife and I plan to make this into a mini-vacation and come back on Monday. Seems like lots to see and do in the Adirondacks, to say nothing of the race. Found one other blogger who is going for her first half marathon; maybe we will meet up along the way. Hopefully we do not run into any major gas shortages with all the terrible stuff going on down south.

So stay tuned for race results early next week. I thought about taking my laptop and doing quick reports on my blog, but decided this is supposed to be a little vacation and that can wait until our return. The training has certainly helped, I feel good and so let's go!

Hooray for tapering!

Final week of training for the Adirondack half marathon, and it's tapering. Gotta love it! Just a few short intervals and some easy runs this week. No doubt this training plan works, as I can tell I am running better than before. Hope it translates into a satisfying result on Sunday. Also got in some nice bike rides of 25 and 35 kms, on lovely days, not too warm, just about right.

Terry Fox Run 2005

Yesterday I did the Terry Fox Run in Ottawa, and while it is not technically a race, many people use it as such, as it is almost 10k, on pretty flat terrain, and it's a great cause. It is especially important to me as I was the main creator of the first TFR in Bogota Colombia in 1996 and again in 1997.

My training for next Sunday's Adirondack half marathon called for a six mile run on this past Sunday, so it was perfect. The training must be helping, as I completed the 9.63 k in 46:14, the fastest I have ever done the course, at an average 4:43/km pace, which was very satisfying to me. Conditions were good, and while it was getting up to about 18 degrees Celsius, it was not nearly as hot as it has been on some recent days. The run felt good and so did I.

This week is now tapering towards Sunday, with just some short cruise intervals and a couple of short easy runs of two or three miles. Eight weeks of pretty serious preparation are now over.

Heading out soon for a 25km bike ride, on a glorious fall day in Ottawa.

Getting ready for the Terry Fox Run in Ottawa in 2004 

Garmin Forerunner 201

I use a Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS personal training device, to keep track of distance, time and pace, among other things, when running. It's a pretty amazing device, and you can download all your running data to your computer, to track your progress. I have been having some trouble recently downloading all the data, and a few other little glitches, but Garmin is working on them and basically, the thing works. Sure helps you maintain a desired pace, and gives you a whole bunch of other data.

Anyone else out there doing the Adirondack Distance Festival on September 25??

countdown to Adirondack Distance Festival

Just another few days to the Adirondack Distance Festival in and around Lake Schroon, New York. I'm doing the half marathon, and have been training hard since the beginning of August. For the first time in a long time of running, I am actually training, vs. just going out running. I'm following the Runner's World half marathon program from the July 2004 issue, and it really works. Getting stronger and faster, and hope to maintain my target race pace of 5:15 per km.