New Haven Labor Day 5k (3.1 Miles) 00:16:29, Place overall: 7, Place in age division: 2
Easy Miles
Marathon Pace Miles
Threshold Miles
VO2 Max Miles
Total Distance
3.00
0.00
0.00
3.10
6.10
Summary: A solid race for me and a small (6-second) PR in the 5k - 16:29. 7th out of 2500+ runners. Ran even splits, passed a ton of people, and had a respectable kick. The time was quite a bit faster than I was expecting given that I haven't done too much speedwork yet and that I had a rough last week in terms of training, motivation, and injuries. This was the first of a number of larger regional races I'm doing this fall.
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Got up at 5:20 and jogged 2 miles. Achilles was similar to last couple of days, stiff and slightly sore. Stretched and ate my usual pre-race breakfast of oatmeal, banana, and tea. Unusually, did not hit the john before I left. Drove up to New Haven (about 60 miles) and got there about 7:30. Hit the john first thing there in a big way. Got registered, etc.
Around 8 got a call from Kevin (running the 20k today) that Chris (planning to run the 5k) had overslept after staying up half the night fixing a leaky pipe and wouldn't make the start. Bummer! Met Kevin for a short warm up and made my way to the starting line for some strides.
The race organizers brought in Ryan Shay's dad to present the awards this year because Ryan was a past 20k winner and I think he did the race every year. His dad was saying a few words before the gun when I noticed I was missing my chip - it had fallen off my shoelace. I momentarily freaked and ran out past the start line to look for it where I'd been doing strides, but I couldn't find it. Later I realized I just hadn't tied it on right. That's totally uncharacteristic of me because I never lose things and I usually triple-check everything. I was mad at myself but decided to just run as I would have anyway and get the time from my Garmin even though I probably wouldn't show up in the official results. I was happy with myself for putting that out of my mind and just focusing on the race.
The weather was about 70, sunny, with a slight breeze and the course was flat and paved - in other words, conditions were fast. At the gun it took me a couple of seconds to get out of the crowd since I sort of lost my spot when I went searching for my missing chip, and I was about 5 rows back. Tried not to trample all the little kids that lined up in front. (On the one hand, it kind of irks me that race directors let kids line up in front, but on the other hand I sometimes line up behind them on purpose because it helps me not get carried away and go out too fast.)
When the dust settled after the first turn a couple hundred meters in I started moving up. After that point I didn't get passed by a single person the whole rest of the way. The course winds through New Haven, which besides Yale is really an awful place and I wouldn't recommend going there to anyone. I hit the mile in 5:16 and felt about as I expected I would. At that point I was pretty sure I was going to easily hit my goal of 17:00 unless something really went wrong. In the 2nd mile I continued to pass people (mostly HS kids) and tried not to let myself get comfortable. Came through in 10:40 for a 5:24 split and I think that mile was slightly uphill. The whole last mile was a straight shot into the finish line and it was slightly downhill. Kept moving up and hit 5:17 for that mile. The last tenth was at 4:38/mile pace according to the Garmin and I chased down a guy from quite a ways back and nipped him at the finish line. The Garmin had the course at 3.12 miles (it's certified) and a time of 16:29. Afterwards I felt like I had run a solid race but I wasn't collapsing at the finish line or anything, so I wouldn't say it was all out.
Met up with Chris who had finally arrived, then we watched the elites come in in the 20k race and cheered for Kevin who had a good race in 1:21 for 20k. When we checked out the unofficial results, I didn't expect my name to be on there (either that or "Unknown Runner") on account of my missing chip, but they had me in 6th place in 16:18. I guess they got my bib number, but not sure how they came up with that time and place. But I'm taking my Garmin time of 16:29, and since there were 6 runners in the results faster than that, I'm gonna say I got 7th. 3 of the runners ahead were HS kids.
After the race we hung around the New Haven Green for a long time and talked. Gradually all the yuppie runners left and the alcoholics, junkies, and hoboes filtered back in. Around 1pm Chris and I headed into the countryside to his co-worker's house where he had procured a party invitation. Ate, drank, and played tennis until it got dark. Won all my matches, both singles and doubles. Pretty awesome day. Ended up not falling asleep till 3am.
Oh yeah, I was talking to a woman I didn't know at this party about the race and I used the term "get chicked" which I picked up from reading this blog, and let me just say, that did not go over well...
Solid workout on the stationary bike at the Y. 7 miles cross-training equivalent. 53 minutes consisting of 10m w.u., 6 x (3m fast, 3m slow), 10m w.d. 17 miles total.
Rode on the far RHS bike at the Y. HR reached between 170 and 175 at the end of the 6 workbouts, which were done at around 110rpm @ 11 resistance.
A much better bike workout than the similar one 2 weeks ago. Glad to have this done as I don't look forward to stationary bike intervals.
4M easy on the Y treadmill at 1pm. 8:00 pace. Boring.
Injury report:
Left achilles: A lot better. Noticeable during run but not really sore, more like stiff. Iced Tues, Thu, today (after run) and soaked in hot water before today's run.
8M in 58:58 at 7:30am. Ran up to the OCA bike bridge and back. 70 and very humid - drenched when done. Easy pace but felt sluggish.
Injury report:
Left achilles: A little sore the first 2 miles, OK afterwards. Didn't soak in hot water beforehand. Not sure if I should be running easy like this or not running at all. Need to get back to speedwork ASAP.
Quads dead, probably from biking earlier in the week.
5M in 36:50 on the treadmill at the Quincy, MA Marriott. Couldn't get out the door for a real run. Boring.
Injury report:
Left achilles:
Same as always: a little stiff and sore the first 2 miles, OK afterwards. Iced in the sink afterwards. Later in the day, both Achilles were feeling pretty bad, not just the fleshy part of the tendon that sticks out but down by where it connects to the heel, which is worrisome. This is similar to how it was last September when I trashed it on that long run in the Catskills. Decided to take a week off.
5M in 39 minutes at RSPP, S/F at Gory Brook. Ran at 1pm. Cool at 65 deg. End HR 135. Felt a bit sluggish and out of it.
Injury report:
Left achilles:
Having taken 8 days completely off while on vacation, I had hoped it would have felt a little better than it actually did. Not really sore but stiff and I could feel it. Will try to run through it till end of November and at the same time try to determine and fix the underlying source of the problem.
Other: Right achilles also stiff. Right forefoot sore. Knees crackly, probably from hard bike ride Saturday.
4.7M in 35 minutes to Irvington and back. Ran at 3pm. 70 and sunny. No problems cardiovascularly, but legs felt sort of weird like I was off-balance the whole time. Running felt unnatural, like I was doing it for the first time. The sensation wore off as the run went on.
Injury report:
Left achilles:
Not that bad. It is stiff and sore mainly down where it connects to the heel.
Right achilles: Stiff, not really painful.
Right forefoot: Sore and tender the whole way, right on the ball of the foot down from the big toe. Worse than yesterday.
5.2M in 39:18 at RSPP, S/F Gory Brook. Ran at noon. Sunny but cool. Easy pace. Slowly getting back into it.
Injury report:
Left achilles:
Same as yesterday, not really an issue.
Right forefoot: A little better than yesterday.
Planning to race the 5th Ave Mile tomorrow. Can't expect a great performance, and probably not smart injury-wise, but I really want to do the race. And the reason we train is to race, right?
5th Avenue Mile today - my heat at 10:15am. Got up around 7 and jogged for maybe 12 minutes, mostly around the dirt track at the grade school. Easily the coldest morning of the Fall out there today - could see my breath and my hands got cold.
Did all my normal pre-race routine and walked down to the train station to catch the 8:39 train into the city. Very crowded for a Saturday morning with a lot of Wall St. types getting on. Evidently everyone that still has a job is working weekends now.
Got off at Harlem 125th St station just after 9 and started my warm-up down to 80th St, which is about 2.5 miles. The first 15 or 20 blocks go through some semi-rough neighborhoods (well, what passes for "rough" in Manhattan, the safest big city in the nation, these days - they are slowly getting gentrified) until you get to Central Park and all the expensive apartment buildings start. I wouldn't run through that part of town at night, but on a Saturday morning, it's a non-issue.
Around 85th St by the Met I started looking for the registration tent. Couldn't quite figure out why 5th Avenue wasn't shut off to traffic yet, or where the hordes of other runners warming up were. Got down to 80th St, the race start, and really began to get confused. Where was everyone? I thought the heats started around 9, and it was pushing 9:30.
I ran into the park and onto the loop road. Tons and tons of joggers and cyclists out on this beautiful morning but not many that looked like they were warming up for a mile. I was started to get a little panicked. I couldn't find the registration tent, and I wasn't going to have enough time to get changed, hit the porta-john, do strides, etc. Finally I called my wife. In about 3 seconds she had found the Web site and started looking for packet pickup instructions: "...Packets may be picked up on race day, Sunday September 21, at the tent..."
What the deuce? Sunday, September 21st? When I registered several weeks ago, the race was on Saturday! I know this for a fact because I had originally planned to run the 5th Ave Mile on Saturday and a 5k on Sunday, but had decided to forget the 5k. How had I not gotten word that they changed the race day?!?!
I didn't have much choice but to turn around and run back to 125th St and get back on the train outta town. Wearing my backpack stuffed with my racing flats, water, and gear, I probably looked like I was training for boot camp. Got home and felt pretty tired and deflated. Ego slightly bruised, but trying to be philosophical about it.
Turns out I received 2 emails this week from NYRR (which I read) that gave the race date as Sunday, but there was nothing highlighting the fact that the date had changed. Looks like they just quietly erased 20 and replaced it with 21. (Probably the city or NYPD made them change it due to traffic coneerns or logistics or what have you.) But it goes to show, even if contrary information is right before your eyes, you tend to ignore it if it goes against what you think to be true. I believe psychologists call this "confirmation bias" because people tend to seek out information that confirms rather than challenges their existing beliefs.
Total of 6.5M of warm-up and warm-down for a nonexistent race. No time, pace, or HR information recorded!
5th Avenue Mile (New York City) (1 Miles) 00:04:40, Place overall: 19, Place in age division: 2
Easy Miles
Marathon Pace Miles
Threshold Miles
VO2 Max Miles
Total Distance
6.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
7.00
After yesterday's fiasco, I woke up not sure (a) whether it actually in fact was Sunday, September 21, 2008 and (b) whether the 5th Avenue Mile was really going to take place today. It was very Groundhog Day-esque, except that I have more hair than Bill Murray and my wife rather than Andie Macdowell was in my bed.
All the pre-race stuff was pretty much exactly the same as yesterday, except that I felt more tired, more sore, and less motivated. On the train I was lucky enough to sit next to another Tarrytown runner, Jay, also on his way to the race. He is a grizzled veteran and gave me a few tips on the course: 2nd quarter is uphill; don't kick too early because the finish line is farther away than it looks (optical illusion); and never, ever feed your Gremlin a Gu after midnight, or it will throw it back up.
Got off at 125th St station again today and jogged down to 5th Avenue. As I neared 80th St I was elated to see evidence of the existence of a road race. From then till the start, everything went very smoothly. The conditions were very good, around 70 degrees with no wind, and sunny.
The race is done in heats and the men's 30-34 heat was at 10:15. Just in that tiny slice of demographics, there were 330 entrants. Having just turned 30 2 weeks ago, I was certainly one of the youngest. Looking around at the starting line, no one stuck out as looking particularly speedy. Honestly, most of the other dudes looked old, fat, and hairy, and very few were wearing racing flats.
The gun went off and 2 guys shot to the front, one at least 6'4" and the other definitely south of 5'2". The first quarter was slightly downhill and I came through around 65. That was faster than I had planned but I thought I felt OK. I was in 8th place or so.
The 2nd quarter was indeed noticeably uphill. Right away everyone in front starting melting away. At the half mile (2:19) I found myself in a situation I never thought I'd be in: running down 5th Avenue, in the lead by half a stride, with NYPD motorcycles beside me and the timing truck with the big digital clock and a camera crew right in front of me. It was terrifying.
Well, luckily another dude made sure the sensation was short-lived as he moved decisively ahead of me in the 3rd quarter. It was downhill and he really took off. From my high school and college miling days I should have known to push the 3rd quarter, but I didn't or couldn't go with him. (To add insult to injury, he was from Central Park Track Club, which is kind of like the Yankees of the New York-area running club league: big, deep, rich, and successful.) By 1200 he had a gap of about 5 seconds on me. I think I came through in 3:29, which would be a 70-second quarter, way too slow since it was downhill.
I can't remember much of the last quarter except that it went by fast and was not downhill. The clock said 4:38 when I hit the line. The heat winner was 5 seconds ahead and 3rd place in the heat was maybe 5 seconds back, so I was all by myself.
The official results said 4:40. Everyone was saying that official results were 2 seconds slower than what they thought they ran, so it wasn't just me. There were 2 chip mats, and the finish line was at the first one, but some people said the official times must have been taken from the 2nd mat. If that's true, it's retarded.
So I was 19th overall (across all age groups, and not counting the local pros and national elites, who were in separate classifications) and 2nd in 30-34. For some reason, 30-34 turned out to be a super-weak group, but that's OK because it allowed me to get an NYRR trophy and get my name read over the loudspeaker. But to keep myself humble, I'll note that there was a 52-year-old with a 4:40 and something like 6 guys over 40 ahead of me. (In fact, the overall amateur winner was 42 with a time of 4:17 - sick.)
As a competitive effort, it was mixed. I was initially elated with the time and place. After all, I have done literally ZERO mile-focused speedwork, little 5k-focused speedwork, my last month of training has been a wreck, and I ran the thing half injured. On the other hand, I realized later I could have pushed a lot harder since I wasn't collapsing at the finish line. I need to re-learn how to go totally balls-to-the-wall. Also, I should have pushed the 3rd quarter and should not have let the heat winner get away so easily.
Afterwards caught up with the coach and other runners from Westchester Track Club, which I just joined. Watched the elite races from a vantage point about 200m from the finish. Lagat, Symmonds, Sullivan, Lukezic, Rankin, and Leer all jogged by on their warm-ups. Also Erin Donohue. Didn't see Nick Willis, Rowbury, or Sara Hall warming up. Right after the women's race, Ryan Hall ran right past. I thought he looked the same as always, but someone from the club said she thought he looked "heavy."
Later in the day, lifted weights at the Y (lower body/abs).
7.3M in 54:50 (7:30 pace). Ran at about 12:30pm at Rockefeller, S/F Gory Brook. Very nice fall day: sunny, 70, pretty dry. Easy pace, felt pretty good. Longest run in over 2 weeks (ouch).
Injury report:
Left achilles: Not too bad. A little stiff during the run, slightly sore afterwards. Iced the last 2 days. Still very stiff in the mornings, but less painful than before. Probably should continue to lay off the speedwork, as much as I might want to do it.
Right forefoot: A lot better. A little tender at the end of the run.
Knees: A little sore and crackly just like in the bad old days. I chalk that up to slacking off on strengthening and stretching over the last month or so.
Quads are quite sore from lifting 2 days ago, but that's muscle soreness only.
7 miles cross-training equivalent on the bike at the Y this morning. 56 minutes, covered 18.2 miles. 10min wu + 5x(4min hard, 4min easy) + wd. Not a very hard workout as I could only get my HR to mid-160s on the workbouts. That was 110-115rpm @ 10 resistance.
Achilles didn't feel too bad but I wanted to get some kind of quality so I thought it safer to hit the bike. I really hate bike workouts, though.
Also did my full lower body and core routine. Worked hard at that at least.
8.5M steady in 57:30 (6:45 pace). Elevation gain/loss of 600 feet. Ran at noon at Minnewaska SP. Weather 60 and nice - beautiful fall day.
Had the opportunity to run the dirt/gravel carriage roads up at Minnewaska, about 75 minutes' drive from my house. Did the green/blue counterclockwise loop. First 5 miles uphill (600 feet), last 3.5 downhill. Last 3.5 miles in 6:16, :05, :09, :24. Will call it marathon pace. Wasn't planning on running hard but the legs wanted to go and the Achilles wasn't bothersome. The first half, felt like I was laboring a bit and had an upset stomach. Felt better and better as the run went on, and the 2nd half was just awesome. Phenomenal views from up there too.
Best run in a month, Achilles also feeling the best in a month.
Lifted weights (upper body) in the morning before we left, and walked 7 miles with Alana and Ann after the run.
Achilles was sore again after yesterday's solid run so I had to hit the bike. 6 miles CTE. 45 minutes covering 15.1 miles. HR mostly 140-145, mostly 105-112rpm @ 9 resistance. It was one of those days where it was a victory just to get myself to the Y to do this.
