Hahnster blog

Indy MM 2009 photos

2009-11-14T04:37:00.001-08:00

This was my 5th marathon since Spring 2008.

http://www.brightroom.com/go.asp?63242530

Email link to photos from the Monumental Marathon just came today. Overall the Indianapolis course was even and flat, with a few stretches of road full of potholes. There is one uphill stretch that is very minor from miles 15 to 18, with a nice downhill afterward.

The whole course was pretty twisty and turny, with a lot of stretches where you run across or against traffic separated by orange cones. The marathon field was around 2000, so you just can't get the whole road in these smaller races. As usual, after the half marathon split it was a ghost town. I ran close to a 3:10 pack most of the way, so there were always people in sight. Lots of water stops, which was nice.

The pre-race expo was pretty tiny, and nothing good was in the bag outside of a protein drink that I downed immediately after the race.

The weather was perfect except for the wind, which gusted and blew pretty consistently through the whole second half. I would definitely race this one again if I wanted a smaller field on a flat course.

Lesson learned to turn off auto-lap on my garmin for my next race.

2009-11-07T11:45:00.001-08:00

disappointing performance in the race this morning. finished over 3H16m after hitting the wall before mile 24. even with the blowout i broke my pr by 2 minutes. paced 7:15 until mile 23.

IMM: MICHAEL HAHN
Bib#: 208
Place: 107
Pace: 07:29
Time: 3:16:21.6
woo Marathon!

2009-08-23T12:21:00.001-07:00

ky state fair

2009-08-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

chicken nugget

San Francisco Marathon 2009

2009-07-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Its over! I finished the race a full 2 minutes ahead of my 3:20 goal - despite a misguided pacer.

The Red Rooster

2009-06-28T11:54:00.001-07:00

Hyde Park Blast 2009 race result!

2009-06-27T08:11:00.001-07:00

Wow! It started off pretty warm, and got hotter by the mile. I averaged a 6:38 pace over the 4 mile course, which I am happy with considering the heat and the crazy hills at miles 1.5 and 3.

burger chef

2009-06-26T18:11:00.001-07:00

happy 10th birthday

2009-06-12T15:59:00.001-07:00

happy birthday to cassie

2009-06-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

Lactate Threshold - hot stuff

2009-05-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Today's run included a 5 mile LT workout. Not sure if it was the lack of dedicated training, the slightly-higher-than-average temperature (72F,) or the newly tuned LT pace, but the run was very difficult. School of thought says that a good LT run is a pace you could maintain for an hour (15k or half-marathon,) and that to calculate your LT HR, you should do a 30-minute hard-effort run using standard practice.

Anyway, I ran a 10-mile race average 6:50 pace this spring with no troubles. Today's 6:50 pace run was a real barn-burner. Comparing effort shows little difference in max HR vs pace. Looks like the 20+ degree temperature difference is the culprit.

April 2009 (avg hr 171 - 6:45 pace - 45F)

May 2009 (avg hr 175 - 6:50 pace - 72F) - you can see where I ran out of steam

Sportpower Kings Land Wooden Playset - finished!

2009-05-25T14:20:00.001-07:00

Wow! That was a bunch of work. With the help of another, we used the holiday weekend to knock out the final steps. Nearly 90 pages of instructions. The finished product is a little less than sturdy, and the 'lumber' is not pressure treated. well, the kids love it. So next step is to treat the wood.

New Training Paces

2009-05-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

Week 3 long run. I have calculated new VDOT paces for my training runs, looking back on recent Flying Pig and 10-mile performance. I opted to enter my time from 10-mile performance as VDOT predictor.

These values are derived from Daniels' Running Formula, 2nd edition.

For anyone interested, this chart was generated at the following website:

http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp

Definitions of the various pace zones:

http://www.coacheseducation.com/endur/jack-daniels-aug-00.htm

Post-Flying Pig

2009-05-23T14:08:00.001-07:00

YT - looking somewhat distracted at the finish line.

San Francisco Marathon - 10 weeks and counting

2009-05-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

Perhaps a bit of craziness came over me after completing the Flying Pig marathon. I have since entered the New York marathon (acceptance still pending until mid-June) and now the San Francisco Marathon. The SF marathon seemed like a good idea after reading a USA today article on the best destination marathons this fall. Of course Chicago was listed, but that sold out months ago. Friends at work are running that, and admittedly, it would be a much more attainable destination.

So, now I'm officially enrolled in the SF marathon - July 26th - with only 10 weeks of training to go.

After finishing the Flying Pig, I ran about 4 miles each day while on a business trip in Las Vegas, and essentially took about 10 days off of running. So now I'm starting fresh, and validating my next steps. I'm hoping to run the SF marathon in 3:25, so this will be a nice challenge. I finished Cincinnati strong, so hopefully some of that stamina and training will carry over.

After overcoming the realization that I'll be running in SF, I began looking for validation that it could be done. After talking with my Cincinnati pacer, and learning that he ran a marathon every week for 4 weeks, I figured that it is possible for me as well. Pfitzinger confirms that it can be done with the proper training in his Advanced Marathoning book.

The next challenge was finding a good training plan to rejuvinate my legs. Once again, Advanced Marathoning yielded the result I needed. Contained in the book is a 12-week repeat marathon plan. So, after shaving weeks 1 & 2 off - I now have a 10 week plan.

So this Summer and Fall is going to be a series of destinations - SF in July, possibly NY in November, and LV once again in October.

Capitol Records

2009-05-15T14:41:00.001-07:00

capitol records building

David and Min Hahn

2009-05-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

congratulations!

Las Vegas

2009-05-07T16:28:00.001-07:00

in Las Vegas this week at a conference. This is the view from the hotel.

marathon odometer

2009-05-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

Original LaRosas ca. 1960s

2009-05-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

Yum

Flying Pig PR - 3:28:30

2009-05-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

Finished the flying pig at 3:29 on the clock. Had a great run. Even though the forecast called for rain, the weather held out and was cool all morning. Could not have done it without the support of my family. Will post pictures when time permits.

Update:

Official time was 3:28:30 - finally beating my goal of 3:30, and finishing strong. Many thanks to a good pace group and good training plan. Also looks like an even split. Great pacing.

first half - 1:44:19
second half - 1:44:11

Here is the link to race results!

David did great as well, beating his goal and coming in at 4:53!

Great job for everone.

Flying pigs

2009-05-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

Cincinnati!

2009-05-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

this is the view from our hotel room.

Flying pig marathon tomorrow

2009-05-02T06:58:00.000-07:00

One final day before the Flying pig marathon. The race starts tomorrow at 6:30am. The training routine has wound down, and the intensity of the training has tapered as well. Today is spent resting, with a 4 mile jog, and review of the race course.

The only major hurtle that looms on the horizon is miles 5-8 which are a 100ft/mile climb, and a couple of bumps across the remainder of the course. My focus in long runs has been hills, so that should provide the leg strength to endure at marathon pace along the course.

My pace goal is 8:00min/mile, which - for the third time - sets my goal of a 3:30 finish.

more updates to come as we head up to Cincinnati.

Wish me luck.

Sportpower Kingsland Wooden Play House - day 15

2009-04-25T17:22:00.001-07:00

15 days and counting assembling the "sportpower kingsland wooden play house." Truth be told, only 3 days of work have gone into the project, but it has been a challenge from the start. I should have known that the 6 hundred-pound boxes containing the unassembled swingset would bring nothing but challenge. For those considering tackling such a beast, the boxes contain nearly 500 individual pieces of wood, and easily thousands of maddeningly small screws and washers. I'm sure it will be great when it is finished. hopefully the kids havent gone off to college by then.

Science Museum

2009-04-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

cassie getting her hair spiky

14 nails brain teaser

2009-04-24T09:38:00.001-07:00

balance 14 nails on the head of another

Water inside Garmin 305

2009-04-19T11:09:00.001-07:00

Another rainy day, and 16 miles down. an interesting problem.that i have seen in the past has happened again - water inside and behind the screen of my Garmin Forerunner 305.

i depend upon this watch for pacing and recordkeeping during my training. this problem has been happening for a while. The first time it occurec - sometime last fall - it really worried me. now i am pretty used to it. it doesnt seem to affect anything electronic, and the maisture goes away pretty quickly when i finish my run. my only issue is that it can make the display difficult to read. it seems others have had this problem too.

Rain rain

2009-04-19T06:49:00.001-07:00

This has been a bad week for running. Only days since my Papa John PR, weather and work have conspired to prevent me from adhering to the final days of my Pfitzinger training plan.

Having missed my 10 mile run on Friday, and facing a day-long rainstorm today, preventing my 16 mile run, i am concerned with staying on track. Hoping the weather will improve, we are sitting back and waiting it out.

Two Weeks until Flying Pig

2009-04-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Papa Johns 10 miler

2009-04-11T07:41:00.001-07:00

heres the quick update. started about 3 minutes behind the group and dodged runners until mile 3. finished at 1:09 on my watch. the weather was clear and sunny.

papa johns race packet

2009-04-10T14:55:00.001-07:00

T-shirt is red this year. Not much in the way of freebies at the 'expo' either. lets hope the rain lets up for the race tomorrow.

MMS post from my cell phone!

2009-04-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

It seems that this service has been around for a while. Since i now have a camera phone with a full keyboard, this may be a good feature. I have attached a picture from a recent trip to San Francisco.

Papa John's 10 miler 2009

2009-04-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day before the papa john's 10 miler, and I was wanting to do some research on the race, and its course. As usual, the course and race information is located on the race website, linked below.

http://www.papajohns.com/louisville/course.htm

USATF approved course map is located at the usatf website (KY05011PR,) and is essentially a scan of the map located on the PJ website.

http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/search/searchResults.asp?courseID=KY05011PR

I recall from the 2008 race that the course is extremely hilly through Iroquois park. Below is the elevation chart recorded on my Garmin 305 during last year's race. Iroquois park runs from approximately mile 3.5 to mile 6.25.

Kristina and I will be heading out sometime today to pick up the registration packet from the stadium. Last year race day was freezing, this year the forecast looks chilly again. Will let you know how it goes.

I finished this year's Rodes 10k in a PR time of 42:00. Made it to the start line about 15 minutes ahead of time, and was able to get a good position near the starting line to avoid being bogged down in slower runners. My goal was a 7:00 pace, but the morning was cool and the course was fast, and I was able to finish at an average 6:40 pace.

Here I am flying across the finish line. Overall finished 165th.

Artpad

2009-03-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Cassie created an "art animation" at Artpad. Check out the link below and watch the replay of her painting. It allows you to speed up or slow down the animation.

http://artpad.art.com/?kgvlt4gohd0

Check out some other paintings from their gallery:

http://artpad.art.com/gallery

18 miles and a tanned forehead

2009-02-16T20:11:00.003-08:00

forehead tan stripe,
originally uploaded by mhahnster.

Completed my Sunday long run yesterday, at 18 miles. It was a nice sunny day, and cool. So sunny, in fact, that I discovered a nice tanned stripe across my forehead afterward.

Marathon Finish Photo - Louisville Marathon

2009-02-16T19:43:00.001-08:00

398962488_img_0147,
originally uploaded by mhahnster.

Fast forward another 6 months or so to the Louisville marathon. I spent a lot of time training for this, and training thoroughly. Though, still not realizing the benefits of following an intense speed, vo2max, and lactate training regimen. Instead, the training was almost entirely base-building. This sounded good on the outside, and made running long distances a piece of cake, as the speeds were relatively slow, and the fat metabolism was high.

This is me at mile 26. I had run strong all the way to the finish, but had a difficult time pushing myself to my goal pace of an 8min/mile. In fact, I couldn't maintain it. Instead, the finish averaged an 8:22 pace. Still not bad, but like the last marathon, the legs were sore for days.

Next up is the flying pig marathon, and hopes of no problems with speed or fatigue.

The other finish photos were pretty grisly, this one is the best of the bunch. You can find the others on my Flickr photostream.

Marathon Finish Photo - Derby 2008

2009-02-16T19:38:00.001-08:00

marathon-derby-2008,
originally uploaded by mhahnster.

I was digging around on the various photo sites that go along with race finishes and tracked down the finish-line photos from my first two marathons. This picture is the finish photo of my first marathon, the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon 2008. This is probably the best of the set. As this was my first marathon, I totally ran out of steam about 8 miles before this, and had spent nearly an hour dragging myself along the final leg of the race. It's amazing what seeing the finish line, and knowing that there is a photo being taken, can do for you. By this time, I was totally dehydrated, physically exhausted, and running on burning quads. The next few minutes after crossing the finish was a mix of excitement, and fatigue.

Looking back, my marathon training was pretty lackluster, and I took some lessons from that as I decided to run the Louisville Marathon later that year.

Marathon Training

2009-01-31T18:51:00.000-08:00

I'm adding this entry to keep a list of the sites and information that I have found useful in training for and running my last two marathons. In many ways this information has helped me understand how to train effectively, and in some ways it has been very misleading. The truth of the matter is that experience is the only source of understanding. For now, these links are posted with some basic descriptions, some day soon I'll go through and add some feedback on the useful information contained within.

For the most part, the sources of information derive from the big running authors - Daniels, Higdon, and Pfitzinger. I also have a link thrown in covering the Maffetone method, but I have found that type of training best suited for Aerobic base building, and not well suited for competitive running.

I have tried to organize the information below into a few categories. Wisdom from the masters, Calculators, and reference articles.

Hal Higdon's marathon training
http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/advancedint.htm

Pfitzinger explains marathon training, including the types of runs that are essential for training. This article describes the basic types of runs that go into a well-rounded marathon plan.
http://pfitzinger.com/marathontraining.shtml

Maffetone marathon training strategy. A good article that describes the Maffetone method, but based upon personal experience, doesn't help with running a Fast marathon. Very useful information on training for building aerobic base. http://www.rrca.org/resources/articles/slowdown.html

Heart rate zone calculator. This link takes you my results, based upon my own personal MHR and RHR. There are tons of these calculators out there, but I prefer this one because of its ease of use on my blackberry, and good descriptions of the training zones. I keep this one bookmarked for quick reference.
http://www.calculatenow.biz/sport/heart.php?rhr=50&mhr=189&submit=Calculate+Zones#zones

VDOT training pace calculator.
I use this calculator to generate running paces for my training runs. Be sure to review the pace definitions.
http://www.runbayou.com/jackd.htm

...associated pace definitions.
http://www.runbayou.com/Workoutdetails.htm

An article describing the benefits of training the "Big Three" - Lactate Threshold, Vo2Max, and Running Economy (Aerobic capacity)
http://faculty.washington.edu/crowther/Misc/RBC/model2.shtml

Marathon Strategy breakdown. From psychology to physiology.
http://www.nyrr.org/resources/training/marathon_strategy.asp

Marathon Nutrition article.
http://www.runningplanet.com/training/marathon-nutrition.html

Fuel on Fat for the long run. Reference article that provides insight on to effectively train the body to burn Fat for energy over marathon distances.
http://www.marathonguide.com/training/articles/MandBFuelOnFat.cfm

Eifler - marathon race plan calculator - generates a race plan based upon the MARCO strategy. MARCO: "Start slowly, pass later, and you will be rewarded with your best finish time." This basically helps you create a plan to "negative split" the second half of the marathon, with the intention of finishing strong. This has its pros and cons, and takes an experienced runner to pull it off.
http://eifler.com/marathonperfect

Road to Boston - marathon training plan generator.
Excellent site that generates marathon training plans. My plan is below.
http://www.roadtoboston.com/djapps/trainingPlans/viewPlan/5

Flying Pig Marathon

2009-01-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

I just completed my registration for the 2009 Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. It will be my third marathon, where I'll try again to hit my goal of a 3:30 finish. After learning a lot about marathoning and training in my last two, I feel more comfortable that I can hit my goal. The course is Hilly, similar to the Louisville marathon, but only over the first 9-10 miles. Best to train for downhill running.

The elevation chart shows a 300 foot elevation change between miles 5 and 9.

Also, added a new video to youtube of Cassie and Lilly playing in the kitchen...

Snow!

2009-01-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Lots and lots of snow. Snow started falling around Louisville on Monday night, shutting down the city for almost two days now. Last night we received a good coating of ice and an additional 5 inches this morning. Photos just can't do it justice...

Videos...

The front yard:

The back yard:

Race results - found some online

2009-01-24T07:24:00.000-08:00

I know that barely anyone follows the hahnster blog, but this is really cool. I realized today that I can use this blog to track my runs and race results. Here are links to my 2008 race results below. On the right side, you can see a log of my realtime running tracks (linked in via SportTraks and gpsies.com.) I have been trying to figure out how to link in my RunningAhead data, but it is manual entry, so I'd rather wait for SportTracks to follow it.

Here's results below:

2008 Louisville Marathon - october

2008 Races tracked at active.com

I have also started training for the Flying Pig marathon, using the training plan generated at the Road to Boston website, from Pete Pfitzinger. It is a very different training plan than my last two marathons, as it focuses on longer runs and building LT and Vo2max.

Road to boston plan

Academic Meet

2009-01-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

Picture slideshow from Cassie's academic meet.

Mahna Mahna

2009-01-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

It's the New Year, and the Hahn's are doing fine. I uploaded some new video and pictures, including some photos of Cassie's Academic Meet. The academic meet is a school challenge, between Cassie's school and a visitor. There is a test, followed by a 'quick recall' quiz section. We were all very proud, and Eastern won the match. Very good job from everybody.

Here is a video of Lilly reciting lyrics from the 'mahna mahna' song.

If you don't know the original, here it is.

Happy after-christmas.

2008-12-26T08:02:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the gifts from everyone! We loved them. Here is lilly playing with her 'popcorn popper.'

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-18T18:33:00.001-08:00

The jibjab christmas dance video link is dead. Replaced by a youtube copy. Enjoy.