Some stats from the Women's Olympic Trials Marathon

Yesterday I posted some pace graphs from the men's olympic trials marathon. Today - the women's race.

Here is the link to the women's spreadsheet. Download the original file and open it in Excel for the formatting to be correct.

I am missing some mile splits for almost all of the competitors when they crossed the 1 hour mark (due to formatting that I don't feel like spending the time to fix right now), and also a few random splits later in the race (due to the splits simply being wrong on the USATF results website). Still, the graphs are interesting to look at...

The first graph shows the average mile splits of all finishers, and then separated into groups. A couple things jump right out - the women started off a lot slower than the men, the course was not completely flat, and its very common to slow down towards the end of a marathon!

Next up - the Top 10 women. I am missing some splits in here, but you can see that the top 3 (Shalana, Desi, and Kara) really hammered it home. Amy got dropped around mile 19, but put up a heck of a fight over the last couple miles.

Now, the DNFs - like the men's race, there were some blowups...

Zoomed-in view of the same graph. What I find interesting is that a lot of women dropped out when they weren't running all that slowly (yet). Quite a few made it through the halfway point of the race in that 5:45-6:00 pace range, but it just wasn't their day.

That's all for now. Maybe I'll do some more when I have some more free time.

Some stats from the men's Olympic Trials Marathon

I'm not going to offer any recap of the trials marathons, because there are dozens and dozens of awesome articles and photo galleries you can check out. Just head over to Letsrun.com and you'll be entertained for hours.

As everyone who watched / read knows, both races were incredible, and we are sending very strong teams to London this summer. It was cool to watch, but Andrea and I definitely felt like watching from home was not the way to experience the trials... it was exciting to be watching, but at the same time - very bittersweet. We want to be competing in 2016!

Being a total dork, I converted the mile-by-mile splits from the race website into a more usable spreadsheet. You can download it below. I've also made a few graphs. If time permits, I'll do this for the women's race as well.

Here is the google doc link for the Olympic Trials mile-by-mile splits spreadsheet. You'll want to download the original file and open it using Microsoft Excel, or else the formatting will be all jacked up.

For all of these graphs, the Y-axis is the mile split / pace, and the X-axis is the mile marker. The trials had timing mats at every mile, which is a stat geek's dream!

First up - here are the splits for the Top 20 finishers...

Now here are just the Top 4. You can see where Ritz lost it, around mile 20 - but he fought and clawed his way back in the last couple miles. 

Here are all the DNFs. While there were a few slow miles in there, most guys dropped out before they crossed that threshold into 6-minute mile land. They knew when the wheels were falling off.

This graph is similar to the first one, but just picks out some selected individuals. Paul Peterson, one of our fellow Fast Running Bloggers, was one of the few guys in the history of the marathon to slow down, and then manage to speed back up over the last 5K. Very impressive... he's a tough racer!

Here is what Paul said when I showed his these graphs: You can definitely see how the course was NOT flat, as some mile sets were consistently fast or slow (ie - Mile 8/16/24 are all the same stretch of road). The mile with the 180-uturn was 7/15/22, and those were all slow miles for everyone, etc. You can also see the utter carnage/chaos of the last last 6 miles pretty clearly...for everyone.

And finally, here's the average (+/- SD) splits for the entire field of finishers, versus just the top 10 finishers. I found it interesting that the "field" managed to kick it in over the last 0.2 relatively better than the top 10 guys :-)

Making Lemonade

Andrea told me this morning that "wasatch and beyond is getting pretty pathetic!"

Unfortunately, she is right - but its not our fault! We are having one of the driest and most pathetic winters in history. In terms of snowfall, right now 2011-2012 is primed for a podium spot in the "least snowy winters of all-time" competition. This is obviously the exact opposite of last year's 800" winter, where every day was a powder day! Backcountry conditions are sketchy at best in the spots where there is even enough snow to make turns. I hate to admit this, but we've only been out on skis once so far - and that was to skin inbounds laps at Brighton.

When winter hands you lemons, you make lemonade, right? The upside of the mild winter is that I've gotten my mileage back up into the 130-140 / week range a lot quicker than expected, and I'm feeling great. So good, in fact, that I've decided to run a spring marathon. Yesterday I got an elite entry to the Boston Marathon.

And now that I'm running Boston, I'm sure the weather patterns will completely shift and it will get downright stormy for the next couple months :-)

I'm really excited about the opportunity to run Boston, and hopefully have a breakthrough race that will be redemption of sorts after falling apart in Philadelphia last fall. A lot of friends from Utah are also heading east in April, so we'll be traveling with a great group of folks and this is going to be a lot of fun.

New Years Resolutions

Here is a list of all our New Years Resolutions that we made last year, followed by our goals for 2012. Jake tends to set very high goals for himself, whereas I try to be more conservative.

[This post goes along with our 2011 in Review posts: Andrea - Jake]

ANDREA

2011 Resolutions -

2000 miles run total - Ran a total of 2929 miles this year! 
PR at the half marathon distance - Dropped my time from 1:34 to 1:17. Huge improvement.
Run a marathon - Ran the Philadelphia Marathon in 2:49.
Stretch 5x a week - Stretched almost every day to keep my back and hamstring healthy.
Don’t be overly sensitive :) - Debatable!!
Take vitamins every day - Missed a few days, but overall stayed very consistent with iron and multivitamin.
Become a valuable asset at work - Got a raise at work and a new position in New Product Development.
Make 2011 the most memorable year yet No doubt the most fun, most adventurous, best skiing, best trips, best running, least stressful year of my life.


2012 Resolutions -

Have lots of fun!
Be healthy and injury-free
Take vitamins everyday
Run 2500 miles
Do 7500 pushups
Sub-17 minute 5K
Sub-1:17 half marathon
Win USATF-Utah LDR circuit
Run a relay/team race
Core and hip exercises 3x a week
Backcountry ski 100,000 vertical ft
Take vacations to new places (ideas - Portland/Oregon coast, Wind River Range, Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Sierra Nevadas, San Diego, Escalante, Canyonlands, etc)


JAKE

2011 Resolutions -

5,000 miles run - Ran 5806 miles. Crushed that goal!
200,000 feet vertical gained (skiing / hiking) -  About 150,000 through the end of ski season, the stopped keeping track of hiking and biking. If I counted running in my vertical challenge, it would be at least double that number.
5,000 perfect pullups - Didn’t keep track, and didn’t come close to this number. Pulled my groin in May and was afraid to re-aggrevate it, so I didn’t start doing Perfect Pullups again until the end of November.
20,000 perfect pushups - 26,500 perfect pushups! Guns blazing!
Run ultramarathon - Antelope Island 50K in 3:38, course record.
Run marathon - Utah Valley 2:21, Philadelphia 2:25
PR at a distance that I’ve run before (half-marathon or shorter) - PR at every distance - 5K, 10K, 15K, Half Marathon.
Explore Wyoming - No Wyoming! We spend time on a pair of Southern Utah trips instead of going to Wyoming. This wasn't a failure by any means, because there is so much to see in Southern Utah.
Ski in lesser known Utah ranges - Nope, stuck to the Wasatch! Skiing was too good to bother driving anywhere else.
Shred the Cascades - Went to the Sierra Nevadas for summer vacation instead. This turned out to be a great choice!
Get promoted at work - Somehow made this happen despite doing all the things listed above!

2012 Resolutions -

Run 5,000 miles
20,000 perfect pushups
5,000 perfect pullups
Sub 1:05:00 half marathon
Sub 15:00 5K
Win a marathon
Win USATF-Utah LDR circuit
Run a relay/team race
Go to Wyoming!
Do a really cool, possible EPIC, trail run
Ski some new lines in the Wasatch
Ski a 10,000 foot day
Eat healthier
Be less annoying
Go to the Doctor (not for anything specific, I just haven't been to a doctor in about 8 years, and its about time I get a physical and some baseline bloodwork done).

2011 in Review (Andrea)

I have to say, 2011 has been an awesome year for me. This was my first full year living in Utah, and the place has definitely grown on me. I already anticipated lots of fun and lots of adventure this year, but my expectations were far exceeded. (Jake made a recap too - Link)

Just a quick recap of the year -

Ran 2930 miles! Average of  8.0 miles a day/56.3 miles per week. Wow, I've never even run 1500 miles in a year before. Quite a leap.

Ran 16 races. Lots of 5ks, a few half marathons, and a mix of other distances thrown in there as well.

58 days of skiing (mostly in the Wasatch, but also including a trip to Lake Tahoe and Mammoth).

150,000 ft climbed during ski season! I'm convinced that this is what made the difference in our athletic pursuits.

Trips to  -
Phoenix (visit family, race, hiking)
Park City (ski trip with family)
Lake Tahoe and Mammoth Lakes (ski/mountain bike/running adventure)
Knoxville (visit family, rafting)
Long Beach CA (half marathon)
Southern Utah (hiking, Moab, Arches, Zion, Snow Canyon)
Philadelphia/NY/CT (visit family, marathon)

Highlights of the year for me -

Personal record in EVERY DISTANCE I raced. 2011 has been such a special year for both Jake and I in our running. We began to realize our potential in the sport, and it was much better than we had ever expected.  For example, last year at this time I couldn't even dream of running a sub-3:10 marathon, much less than a sub-2:50. My goal for the 5k was sub-20 and I ran 17:16. My goal for the half marathon was 1:25 and I ran 1:17:03. Best race of the year was definitely Long Beach Half Marathon. I have to give a ton of credit to Jake for coaching me - helping me to stay consistent and motivated, outlining all of my workouts, etc. His knowledge of the sport is great, and I have learned a lot this year about training correctly.

Epic ski days. A couple of my favorite ski days of the year are -

Silver Fork Meadow Chutes April 4th

Stupid Chute and Elevator Shaft May 1st

Super Fun Mountain Biking - I've decided that cross country trails are the best for my mountain biking skill level!

Lake Tahoe XC Biking Trails 

Hiking - We ended up not hiking nearly as much as in 2010 (skiing and running took priority!), but all of the hiking we did in Moab was pretty awesome! I loved Fiery Furnace especially. Another trip back to southern Utah is a must next year.

Getting promoted at work. I am now a Super Engineer nerd!

Best decisions of the year - 

Joining the fastrunningblog.com. This site has been a great resource for finding other runners in the area and being able to get running groups together, train with others, make friends, etc. I have found so much motivation in my running through this site.

Buying mountain bikes. Our mountain bikes are awesome! They have become so useful in the warm months for cross training and trail riding. Because Jake run much more mileage and farther workouts than I do, I have been able to hop on the bike and ride along with him.

Eating ice cream EVERY NIGHT! I tribute at least 15% of my happiness to getting to eat ice cream every night - one of the great benefits of exercising so much!

Overall, a pretty amazing year. I feel like I missed so much of this year in this recap blog because we were so active! It's going to be hard to beat it next year, but I have a feeling we'll find some way to have more fun :o)

2011 in Review (Jake)

A quick rundown of the numbers, highlights, and some final thoughts from 2011... I'm a total dork and have tons of data on everything! (Click this link for Andrea's Recap)

First, some data, starting with running - I ran 5806 miles this year (average of 112 miles per week). That is at least 2000 more than I have ever done previously. I wish I had more complete training logs from prior years, but I am 100% certain that I never ran more than 3500 miles in a year before. So this year was a huge leap forward in terms of consistency and health. Obviously the payoffs were huge, as I ran PRs in every distance from 5K to the marathon (more on that shortly).

The month-by-month totals - obviously June and November were the lowest, when I ran my marathons

Build the base, and the cycle up and down for important races

To keep my upper body from getting too scrawny, I did a pretty good job on perfect pushups this year. My final pushup total was 26,500. About 90% of those were perfect pushups, the other 10% was regular pushups (when I was traveling and didn't have access to my shred-handles).

Perfect Pushup-ing

While I didn't put in 100+ days of skiing like I did during the 2009-2010 winter in Vail, we still did a ton of high-quality skiing. The final tally was 60 ski days (48 human-powered, 12 lift-served) and were did a little over 160,000 feet of vertical climbing on those human powered days. The quality of the turns we earned was almost unreal - we only skied a handful of days in marginal conditions - almost every day was either light powder (winter) or creamy corn (spring/summer). The Wasatch range received over 750 inches of snow during our first winter skiing here!

On a resource conservation note, I only drove my car to work 98 days this year. The majority of days I ran back and forth from home, thus saving valuable time and gas money.

Now, some personal highlights, starting again with running - this was quite a freaking year! I didn't expect to accomplish even a fraction of what I did, but as the year went on I just kept setting my sights higher and higher, and ended up having the best year of running of my life! In total, I ran 17 races (full list) and notched personal bests in every distance from 5K (15:04) to the marathon (2:21:47, which was my debut at the distance). A pair of half-marathons (1:05:40 at Top of Utah and 1:05:45 at Long Beach) were probably my best performances of the year. Halfway through 2011, Andrea and I started running for Saucony, which has been an awesome relationship to date. We love the company and representing them out on the roads and in the running community. 

This year has been the most FUN I have ever had running as well, which is a big contributing factor to the success I've had. Joining the Fast Running Blog was one of the best things we did all year - I not only learned a lot from some of the other great runners on the blog, but made some new friends, gained new training partners, and now have an unbelievable support system.

The focus for the fall was the Philadelphia Marathon, where I attempted to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Needless to say, that race ended up being a bit of a disaster and huge disappointment (I was on 2:18 pace through 21 miles, then blew up and finished in 2:25:57). But character is often defined by how you bounce back from adversity. This quote pretty much sums up how I feel about that experience - "If you don't fail at something at least once, you haven't set your goals high enough." If I've learned anything about myself as a runner this year, its that 1:05 / 2:21 is far, far below what I am capable of. My ceiling is a lot higher than I ever thought, and over the next couple years (starting in 2012) I'm going to dream big and run a lot faster than anyone (including me) ever imagined I could.

Enough about running - lets get back to more highlights... trips and skiing!!!

This is our backyard! How can you beat living in Salt Lake City?

Some of my favorite ski days... nearly impossible to narrow this down to eight... I can rattle at least 20 memorable days off the top of my head...

• Twin Lakes / Wolverine
• Lone Peak and Bighorn Peak
• Beartrap Fork
• My sister skiing the deepest powder she had ever experienced at Solitude!
• Meadow Chutes / Silver Fork - the deepest day of the season?
• Mt Superior - A rite of passage!
• Cathedral Couloir on Mt Tallac (Lake Tahoe)
• Ellery Bowl (Tioga Pass, Yosemite)

Of the trips we made this year, there's no doubt that our summer vacation to Lake Tahoe and the Sierras comes out on top! I absolutely love the Sierra Nevada range, and Tahoe is a great place as well. Its hard to even want to plan trips to other places because there is so much I still want to do in those areas! We also made a few trips to southern Utah - I thought Snow Canyon was an especially cool park, and Arches is also a fun place to visit. A fishing trip to the Uinta mountains with my Dad and uncles also definitely gets a spot on the best of 2011 list!

The best purchase of the year was definitely our mountain bikes (because technically the BEST PURCHASE EVER - Dynafit bindings - was done in late 2010) - the bikes ended up being a lot of fun and we're looking forward to using them even more next year. I would have to say that my favorite rides of the year were both in California - the trails at Tahoe XC and the Inyo Craters Loop in Mammoth Lakes. I also enjoyed the challenge of riding Park City's mid-mountain trail after doing a long run at Jeremy Ranch - that was a tiring day!

Biking the Inyo Craters loop in Mammoth Lakes

Considering that everything I listed above is only a fraction of everything we did in 2011, it doesn't seem possible, but I still managed to get promoted at work!
There's no doubt that 2011 was the best year of my life. I've been trying to write this post from a "me" point of view instead of a "we" point of view (since Andrea has written her own 2011 in review post)... but I can't overstate the fact that none of this would have been possible (and certainly wouldn't have been as much fun!) if Andrea and I weren't doing all of these things together - attacking life, dreaming big, and following our passions. We make a great team and I completely realize how I lucky I am to be on this journey with her. [Here is a post I wrote on this topic back in November... about how 1+1 equals way more than 2, in our case]
Some photos out of the hundreds and hundreds of good ones... I can't narrow things down so I just randomly picked a few...

Ascending the ridge to Lone Peak

Big Cottonwood Canyon

Andrea climbing Mt Superior

Skiing Mt Superior - big mountain skiing 20 minutes from home

My parents at Snow Canyon

Biking at Lake Tahoe

Summer skiing at Alpine Meadows

Climbing Ellery Bowl

Relaxing in Mammoth Lakes

The High Sierras - One of my favorite places in the whole wide world!

Running in Mammoth

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Andrea and I on Mt Baldy - skiing in mid-July

Fishing in the Uintas with my Dad and uncles

Summertime at Snowbird with my Dad and Andrea

Arches National Park

Andrea and I underneath Delicate Arch

Long Beach Half Marathon

Post race with friends at the OktoberFAST 5K

I like ice cream...

... Andrea also likes ice cream!

Well, we didn't make it to the 2012 trials - but now we know that its
very realistic to shoot for 2016!

Thanksgiving w/ my parents and sister

The one time we dressed up this year!!!
(Yes - Andrea is gorgeous, and No - I'm not sure what I did to get so lucky!)

Goals for 2012: continue living the dream - attacking life!, sub 1:05 half-marathon, redemption in the marathon, ski some steep lines, choke on powder, keep track of even more things (like perfect pullups?), eat lots of ice cream and still manage to get skinnier, do an "epic" trail run, be less annoying (this one is for Andrea), have absolutely no regrets, plus whatever else comes up! :-)