We're trying something new here- providing some format to the race reporting.
Race Importance (to my season)- B+
This race is meaningless to any objectives I have. But I want to run well here.
Race Course- A
This is a great course. The early hill divides the wheat from the chaff, and the route in the first mile is the same one the parade has just gone on, so there are plenty of spectators. In fact, the whole course has spectators on it except for the fifth mile, there are plenty of water stops, and this is one challenging course, with a nice combination of short hard and longer gradual hills, some nice downhills, and good sightlines when you're chasing the faster people.
Race Organization- B+
Well organised. Started on time, awards were timely. Volunteers were great. Ken Platt is an awesome timer, which is why things went pretty well considering that the 'd-chip' was used and a number of people weren't recorded crossing the finish line, due to the extremely fragile nature of the 'chip'. Because the Lions (I think) sell food after the race, the post race food is never as good as it ought to be for a hard race. The entry price is low so I wouldn't mention this except that burgers and hot dogs don't do it for me. As a counter-balance, they have an awesome raffle and despite the complaints here, I love this race and recommend it to everyone.
My performance- A-
My goal was to finish at least third. I ran a very solid race, but I wonder- if my goal had been to finish second would I have found 4 seconds a mile...
Showing posts with label 10k. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10k. Show all posts
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Grading the Dave Yurgaitis 10K at Lake Compounce
Race Importance (to my season)- B
This would be a C, but it was a state championship and I was there as our #2 runner. Yikes !
Race Course- B
This was a solid course. Except for the big hill in the first and last half mile, the course is a set of gradual up and downhill slopes. The course is an out and back and it's easy to follow. But with the natural beauty of the area it would be hard not to design a nicer looking course. You'd just have to avoid running it through an office park. Still, it's a solid course and adequate for a championship. It also take advantage of a good venue.
Race Organization- A-
Well organised. Started on time, no problems with timing I know of, decent food post race. I didn't stay for the awards so I don't know how that part of the race went, so I'll hold off giving an A. Volunteers and water stops well-done.
My performance- B
After throwing up that 18:23 in the 5K, I was worried about repeating my Durham 10K of 2007, where I went 38+. Instead I was just 2 seconds off last year. I'll take that.
This would be a C, but it was a state championship and I was there as our #2 runner. Yikes !
Race Course- B
This was a solid course. Except for the big hill in the first and last half mile, the course is a set of gradual up and downhill slopes. The course is an out and back and it's easy to follow. But with the natural beauty of the area it would be hard not to design a nicer looking course. You'd just have to avoid running it through an office park. Still, it's a solid course and adequate for a championship. It also take advantage of a good venue.
Race Organization- A-
Well organised. Started on time, no problems with timing I know of, decent food post race. I didn't stay for the awards so I don't know how that part of the race went, so I'll hold off giving an A. Volunteers and water stops well-done.
My performance- B
After throwing up that 18:23 in the 5K, I was worried about repeating my Durham 10K of 2007, where I went 38+. Instead I was just 2 seconds off last year. I'll take that.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Durham 10K- Memorial Day
The Durham 10K is a race I really like to run. It's often been the tail end of a major spurt of racing like it was this year. I had a run of years at this race where I finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th three straight years, and 3rd again.
Someone asked me what I wanted to do this year and I told him I wanted to finish on the podium and that I'd take third place. Coming off a 10K the day before, and knowing my speed is not there yet, I figured that, like all races, it would depend on who showed up. It didn't matter. One of the other bonuses of the race is that Margit's aunt and uncle live in Durham, so we can drive up there, hand off Ian, and both run the race with no worries.
I didn't get the great warm-up that I was hoping for- some strides had to do. We also were using a new timing system. I'm not going to get into my feelings about the d-chip here in this post. I'll just say that the Champion-chip is a tried and true method of timing races.
I got in my strides and then we were off.
I love the start of this race. It's a family and community event, so, you get the excited kids and so on at the start, but then you climb this big hill out of the school, and it kicks the ass of everyone who isn't really competing for the top spots. The 4k and 10k also start at the same time from the same line, which I totally space on. There were four of us heading up the hill together, including one really big guy that, from the view I had of him the whole race, was a dead ringer for Eric Hodska, and the guy who I'd picked out and told Margit would easily win the race, Patrick Dooley from Durham.
We went down the other side of the hill and by the time we took the turn, I knew the two guys in front were gone and that there was no chance that I'd be seeing them for long. However, the Eric clone was holding a decent pace in front of me but he was so big that I knew I'd have a chance to counter his opening when we got to the hills. We final hit the second turn and were off the main round- there was some goofiness at the intersection with the State Trooper, but I ignored it as it didn't affect us. Then were were sloping around a bend and taking another turn and the sun came out and it was hot and humid, but now we were running downhill and I was starting to feel a rhythm. It was the first time this season that I felt like I was running well, like I really was in control, well, since Brian's anyway.
It's funny how you can forget so much of why you do what you do. I put a lot of time into training. Why do I train ? So I can race. Yeah, I love balling around local roads on my bike, a little out of my head sometimes, doing stupid things like racing cars and motorcycles because I just can't help myself, but some of it is drudge work, too. Getting up at 5:30 am to spin even though it's going to be a nice day out, squeezing 50 minutes of running into an hour of lunch... Then you get out there in a race and you've got your racing stride, and you're settled in almost where you want to be and you are running downhill and people are handing you water to dump on your head and it's a road you know and almost everyone in the race is chasing you and they aren't going to catch you.
When it feels good, it's such a simple, pure joy. Pain and all.
Then you're around the next turn and you give up on the leader for the second and final time and you see the 10K/4K split and the guy in second is headed right down the 4K turn and for a minute, the guy in third looks like he'll turn too...
But he doesn't. I'd raced against him before here at Durham, coming up short. He started up the first of the hills on the back part of the course (he'd been the one that, when we crested the very first hill, responded to another runner's comment that the first hill was out of the way with 'There's more than one hill ?'). It's a hard hill because it's probably 6% but long, and it gets steeper at the top. I avoided the sprinkler and did my best to keep my effort moderate while holding my ground. There are crowds all over this course and the local support for the race is incredible.
As someone who never looks back, it's also a great way for me to know who's chasing me. I know Charlie Iselin was right back there and who knew who else, but I could tell by the noise that we had a gap. I climbed, then descended, then repeated that, waiting for the 5K mark to really assess where I was and whether I had a shot at 2nd. We blew through that point in the race and we'd both slowed down a little. I was about ten seconds out of second, chasing this shirtless giant who runs with EH's stride and I was trying like hell just to be patient.
We took the big right hand turn at the back of the course and a short downhill gave way to the longest uphill of the course. I should have attacked him here, but with the giant downhill at the end of the climb, I felt it was tactically unadvisable. I was wrong. We went through four miles on the downhill and then I forced myself to take a cliff shot as we worked our way around the lollipop loop at the back of the course. I was neither closing nor losing ground and I'd determined not to even try anything until after 5 miles, given that I'd burned myself with an early move just a week ago.
When we turned back onto the course at around 5 miles, I thought I still had a good shot at closing the gap, but I would have to start pushing again. I'd been racing within my comfort zone- my racing comfort zone, protecting my 3rd place spot, nursing calves that were not thrilled about this much racing (and in 2007, I blew out my left calf as a result of this 10K just two weeks before Eagleman, costing me my next race and hobbling me for two week going into Eagleman, where I ran well, but not as well as I wanted to). As we crested the big hill in the last mile the guy ahead of me, Michael Maffei, played a single pitch and catch of a football with a kid on the side of the road. I considered doing the same thing, asking for the ball, because it would have been cool, but when I'm racing, I'm racing, and I'm not laid back enough for that. Should I be ? Probably.
Maybe it's OK to take yourself way too seriously if you know you're doing it...
I descended the backside of the hill and never let up the pressure. Mike was just being nice, but he said he felt pressured the whole way and really had to keep working. I'm not sure I believe him, because he put 8-10 seconds on me in the last 600 yards, but I ran my ass off through the finish line.
At 37:30, it was certainly nothing to brag about, although it was 59 seconds faster than two years ago, when I'd felt fine until the day after the race. Still it was a strong third, with the next runner a minute and sixteen seconds back. I'd made it in where I wanted. Margit took second in her age group. My son was having a ball with his great aunt, great uncle, and their neighbours. I got to hang with Charlie Iselin and his family- warm down with him and then talk for a while.
That's the formula- friends, family, and racing. It was the right exclamation point to ten days of racing.
Someone asked me what I wanted to do this year and I told him I wanted to finish on the podium and that I'd take third place. Coming off a 10K the day before, and knowing my speed is not there yet, I figured that, like all races, it would depend on who showed up. It didn't matter. One of the other bonuses of the race is that Margit's aunt and uncle live in Durham, so we can drive up there, hand off Ian, and both run the race with no worries.
I didn't get the great warm-up that I was hoping for- some strides had to do. We also were using a new timing system. I'm not going to get into my feelings about the d-chip here in this post. I'll just say that the Champion-chip is a tried and true method of timing races.
I got in my strides and then we were off.
I love the start of this race. It's a family and community event, so, you get the excited kids and so on at the start, but then you climb this big hill out of the school, and it kicks the ass of everyone who isn't really competing for the top spots. The 4k and 10k also start at the same time from the same line, which I totally space on. There were four of us heading up the hill together, including one really big guy that, from the view I had of him the whole race, was a dead ringer for Eric Hodska, and the guy who I'd picked out and told Margit would easily win the race, Patrick Dooley from Durham.
We went down the other side of the hill and by the time we took the turn, I knew the two guys in front were gone and that there was no chance that I'd be seeing them for long. However, the Eric clone was holding a decent pace in front of me but he was so big that I knew I'd have a chance to counter his opening when we got to the hills. We final hit the second turn and were off the main round- there was some goofiness at the intersection with the State Trooper, but I ignored it as it didn't affect us. Then were were sloping around a bend and taking another turn and the sun came out and it was hot and humid, but now we were running downhill and I was starting to feel a rhythm. It was the first time this season that I felt like I was running well, like I really was in control, well, since Brian's anyway.
It's funny how you can forget so much of why you do what you do. I put a lot of time into training. Why do I train ? So I can race. Yeah, I love balling around local roads on my bike, a little out of my head sometimes, doing stupid things like racing cars and motorcycles because I just can't help myself, but some of it is drudge work, too. Getting up at 5:30 am to spin even though it's going to be a nice day out, squeezing 50 minutes of running into an hour of lunch... Then you get out there in a race and you've got your racing stride, and you're settled in almost where you want to be and you are running downhill and people are handing you water to dump on your head and it's a road you know and almost everyone in the race is chasing you and they aren't going to catch you.
When it feels good, it's such a simple, pure joy. Pain and all.
Then you're around the next turn and you give up on the leader for the second and final time and you see the 10K/4K split and the guy in second is headed right down the 4K turn and for a minute, the guy in third looks like he'll turn too...
But he doesn't. I'd raced against him before here at Durham, coming up short. He started up the first of the hills on the back part of the course (he'd been the one that, when we crested the very first hill, responded to another runner's comment that the first hill was out of the way with 'There's more than one hill ?'). It's a hard hill because it's probably 6% but long, and it gets steeper at the top. I avoided the sprinkler and did my best to keep my effort moderate while holding my ground. There are crowds all over this course and the local support for the race is incredible.
As someone who never looks back, it's also a great way for me to know who's chasing me. I know Charlie Iselin was right back there and who knew who else, but I could tell by the noise that we had a gap. I climbed, then descended, then repeated that, waiting for the 5K mark to really assess where I was and whether I had a shot at 2nd. We blew through that point in the race and we'd both slowed down a little. I was about ten seconds out of second, chasing this shirtless giant who runs with EH's stride and I was trying like hell just to be patient.
We took the big right hand turn at the back of the course and a short downhill gave way to the longest uphill of the course. I should have attacked him here, but with the giant downhill at the end of the climb, I felt it was tactically unadvisable. I was wrong. We went through four miles on the downhill and then I forced myself to take a cliff shot as we worked our way around the lollipop loop at the back of the course. I was neither closing nor losing ground and I'd determined not to even try anything until after 5 miles, given that I'd burned myself with an early move just a week ago.
When we turned back onto the course at around 5 miles, I thought I still had a good shot at closing the gap, but I would have to start pushing again. I'd been racing within my comfort zone- my racing comfort zone, protecting my 3rd place spot, nursing calves that were not thrilled about this much racing (and in 2007, I blew out my left calf as a result of this 10K just two weeks before Eagleman, costing me my next race and hobbling me for two week going into Eagleman, where I ran well, but not as well as I wanted to). As we crested the big hill in the last mile the guy ahead of me, Michael Maffei, played a single pitch and catch of a football with a kid on the side of the road. I considered doing the same thing, asking for the ball, because it would have been cool, but when I'm racing, I'm racing, and I'm not laid back enough for that. Should I be ? Probably.
Maybe it's OK to take yourself way too seriously if you know you're doing it...
I descended the backside of the hill and never let up the pressure. Mike was just being nice, but he said he felt pressured the whole way and really had to keep working. I'm not sure I believe him, because he put 8-10 seconds on me in the last 600 yards, but I ran my ass off through the finish line.
At 37:30, it was certainly nothing to brag about, although it was 59 seconds faster than two years ago, when I'd felt fine until the day after the race. Still it was a strong third, with the next runner a minute and sixteen seconds back. I'd made it in where I wanted. Margit took second in her age group. My son was having a ball with his great aunt, great uncle, and their neighbours. I got to hang with Charlie Iselin and his family- warm down with him and then talk for a while.
That's the formula- friends, family, and racing. It was the right exclamation point to ten days of racing.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Lake Compounce 10K
The open half of my second double in two weeks was the Trisport Dave Yurgaitis 10K Memorial race. This race has been on my calendar for two years now because it was voted onto the USATF-CT calendar- including by me.
It's the sort of race that doesn't fit into my schedule. It's the day before a race I really want to run well every year- the Durham 10k. It's a haul from my house for 8AM. My own teammates don't like the location or timing of the race, and as a bonus, they kind of avoid it.
However, at the same time, it's a good race. The location may be unenviable for my team, but other teams are closer. There are some great runners that do run the race. The course is fair, and the advantage of the early start is an early finish. It also gives me a few more hours to recover for the next race, which is the next day. So the fact that I am going to get spanked and do not have to consult the results before leaving, that I'm missing a chance to do a long ride, none of it really matters.
I warmed up alone, getting a nice two mile run in which included the big hill on the course, which is at about a third of a mile and is, well, a significant hill.
I talked to George Buchanan for a while, found out he'd been doing trail races, did some strides, and then Wil Graustein got us started.
It was an older crowd- a lot of masters runners. So the start wasn't crazy. I tried to hang with George Buchanan. I was somewhere in the top 10 as we went up that first big hill. The EKG guys, including Jess Efrom, were behind me for some reason. I found out later they had been in Boston at a track meet, got home at midnight, drove up to Compounce at 5:30 AM and then found out their fifth guy had blew them off.
I was running pretty well, not blowing it up, but hanging in as best I can when I'm surrounded by people faster than me. Then after the first turn I heard this unmistakable cadence. Kind of a pitter-patter. Jim Zoldy. I said 'I'd know that cadence anywhere,' and he replied 'I don't want to talk right now'- he'd read my duathlon post. He went by, and headed on up to where George was. I ended up in a tangle of Hartford Track and Mohegan runners. That sorted itself out to the point that there were three of us running together. We took the cone at the turn-around and started back. I was still hanging in with the two of them. The EKG guys had long since passed us and were kind of toying with the course, running as a group, so I was back in 15th-16th place.
The course doesn't offer any big hills until after 5 miles, and I didn't want to try and attack stronger runners on the false flats we were running on. They eventually started pulling away and at four and a half miles I took a Cliff Shot and kept a steady pace.
As I passed 5 miles and climbed the big hill coming back, I heard someone closing on me, but I couldn't tell if it was a bike or a runner as I was hearing both sounds. I didn't look back.
As we crested the hill the baby stroller went by me, being pushed by Gregory McKirryher. He went by and thought, OK, probably a 5K runner putting on a big push or something. WRONG ! He beat me by eight seconds.
I should be really pissed a guy pushing a stroller beat me. But I'm not. He ran a better race, and to be honest, I ran a good race. Two seconds slower than last year, but I was coming off a much harder previous weekend of training- and I didn't skimp on the Saturday ride and run either- a two and a half hour brick. I was 17th overall and 7th in my age group, but I ran a good solid race. I didn't go ballistic early or blow-up late.
Better yet I was read for the Durham 10K the next day.
The truth is, after the 18:23 in Rochester the week before, I was prepared to have trouble breaking 38 minutes, and instead I'd run right around the same as last year. I was encourage that the larger running volume the last two weeks was paying off and that the speed, what little I have, might be in there someone...
Next: The Durham 10K
It's the sort of race that doesn't fit into my schedule. It's the day before a race I really want to run well every year- the Durham 10k. It's a haul from my house for 8AM. My own teammates don't like the location or timing of the race, and as a bonus, they kind of avoid it.
However, at the same time, it's a good race. The location may be unenviable for my team, but other teams are closer. There are some great runners that do run the race. The course is fair, and the advantage of the early start is an early finish. It also gives me a few more hours to recover for the next race, which is the next day. So the fact that I am going to get spanked and do not have to consult the results before leaving, that I'm missing a chance to do a long ride, none of it really matters.
I warmed up alone, getting a nice two mile run in which included the big hill on the course, which is at about a third of a mile and is, well, a significant hill.
I talked to George Buchanan for a while, found out he'd been doing trail races, did some strides, and then Wil Graustein got us started.
It was an older crowd- a lot of masters runners. So the start wasn't crazy. I tried to hang with George Buchanan. I was somewhere in the top 10 as we went up that first big hill. The EKG guys, including Jess Efrom, were behind me for some reason. I found out later they had been in Boston at a track meet, got home at midnight, drove up to Compounce at 5:30 AM and then found out their fifth guy had blew them off.
I was running pretty well, not blowing it up, but hanging in as best I can when I'm surrounded by people faster than me. Then after the first turn I heard this unmistakable cadence. Kind of a pitter-patter. Jim Zoldy. I said 'I'd know that cadence anywhere,' and he replied 'I don't want to talk right now'- he'd read my duathlon post. He went by, and headed on up to where George was. I ended up in a tangle of Hartford Track and Mohegan runners. That sorted itself out to the point that there were three of us running together. We took the cone at the turn-around and started back. I was still hanging in with the two of them. The EKG guys had long since passed us and were kind of toying with the course, running as a group, so I was back in 15th-16th place.
The course doesn't offer any big hills until after 5 miles, and I didn't want to try and attack stronger runners on the false flats we were running on. They eventually started pulling away and at four and a half miles I took a Cliff Shot and kept a steady pace.
As I passed 5 miles and climbed the big hill coming back, I heard someone closing on me, but I couldn't tell if it was a bike or a runner as I was hearing both sounds. I didn't look back.
As we crested the hill the baby stroller went by me, being pushed by Gregory McKirryher. He went by and thought, OK, probably a 5K runner putting on a big push or something. WRONG ! He beat me by eight seconds.
I should be really pissed a guy pushing a stroller beat me. But I'm not. He ran a better race, and to be honest, I ran a good race. Two seconds slower than last year, but I was coming off a much harder previous weekend of training- and I didn't skimp on the Saturday ride and run either- a two and a half hour brick. I was 17th overall and 7th in my age group, but I ran a good solid race. I didn't go ballistic early or blow-up late.
Better yet I was read for the Durham 10K the next day.
The truth is, after the 18:23 in Rochester the week before, I was prepared to have trouble breaking 38 minutes, and instead I'd run right around the same as last year. I was encourage that the larger running volume the last two weeks was paying off and that the speed, what little I have, might be in there someone...
Next: The Durham 10K
Sunday, May 25, 2008
CT State Championship 10K
After racing three times in four months, I found myself in the middle of a three-week arc of once a week racing- and only my 3rd road race of 2008.
It was a last minute decision to do the race. I certainly had known about it- after all, I was one of the people who'd voted for the race to be part of the USATF-CT grand prix this year. But John Hirsch was having a really cool 110 mile ride today, which would have been awesome training, but also a completely unfair monopolization of time.
The 10K is one of the harder distances. You basically have to hold something as close to your 5K pace as possible for twice as long. Of course you can't hold 5k pace that long, and you're much better off going out a little slower, but you can only go out so slow, especially at a state championship race. When all I was doing was road racing, I considered 10K my distance- long enough to weed out the pure speed guys, too short for the real endurance runners. But the truth is I was a better 5k runner- neither my patience nor experience was were where they needed to be. Now that I have more of both, I no longer have the modest speed I once did.
I got to the race nice and early, registered, took the long hike to the bathrooms.
I wound up talking to Jim Zoldy, who's doing Alcatraz next month. That at once seems like one of the coolest and most intimidating things in the sport. You jump in water that's always ridiculously cold and hope to hell you can make the shore... have a great race, Jim.
I also saw Oscar and Bart in the parking lot and we were swapping stories. It was a pretty low-key morning- sunny, not too windy, warm enough for a singlet. I found myself not warming up quite as hard as at the duathlons, in part because I wasn't sure where the start was.
The course is pretty flat/rolling, except for about 3/10th of a mile in, where there's a pretty reasonable little hill. That was the only thing I remembered about the only other race I'd run there. According to Google, that was in 2001. By 2/10th of a mile, I think we were already joking about how there seemed to be two races going on, the elite runners and the rest of us. We climbed the hill, crested, moved to the left and I found myself yelling loudly 'Incoming'- grey sedan in our lane coming right at us, but plenty of room and time to work that out.
The separation between the top 8 or ten guys and the rest of us was tremendous before the mile mark. I joked that it seemed like they were running 1k pace instead of 10k pace. But for the rest of us, the race started to settle in and somewhere around 1 mile, we really started to thin out- Brian Talon in front of me and Shannon McHale going by, one of the guys from Sound Runner in front of me. The course seemed like it was mostly downhill on the way out to the turnaround and we went around turns and through rollers. I could hear a number of people behind me, breathing loudly, including one runner I'm not going to mention by name that breathes really loudly/coughs/grunts. He makes the same noises in every race, I swear. It was that kind of day, where you could the people 50 yards behind you. But no one was close and I just had three people in range in front of me.
Brain and Shannon passed the guy in yellow and white in front of me before the turn-around. I saw all the leaders, then I saw George and Jim running together, and before I knew it, we were at the turn-around. I had not looked back once, I just won't do it, but you have no choice at a turn-around. The entire field of 50-59 guys I know seemed to be about 30 yards behind me, Steve Johnson from my own team and several other guys I'd be lucky to be as fast as when that time comes, plus some guys in my own age group. You tend to exaggerate how close people are at a turn-around. I thought a mass of people where bearing down on me and I was about to be engulfed. That was at exactly three miles
No one would pass me the rest of the race.
I passed the guy in yellow and white, there was some back and forth and finally I started to exert myself. The course had seemed downhill the whole way out but as we rolled up and down small inclines I realised it wasn't.
The rest of the race was more of the same. I never did look back, but until I hit 5 miles, I was convinced that I was barely holding of the people behind me. Brian and Shannon were still close, but not close enough. While I'd rather be the last guy not to get beat by any woman, I was at the back-end of a long set of training (my easy day was an hour on the bike, hour run brick Saturday), and last year I pretty much blew up my calf at a Memorial Day 10k. We went up the hill and I realised that no one was really back there.
My heart rate hit 176.
Then it was down the hill, the oddly long swooping turn until finally I could see the starting line and then, the finish line.
I felt like it was a good race. It hurt while I was doing it, and then it didn't hurt when it was it over and I was warming down with George, Brian, and Paul Moyse. That was what I was really aiming for. Normally, 6th master would be a little disappointing, but I could hardly expect better at a state championship. I think our team, and even our men's masters team, despite me being there 3rd man, did okay.
Back on the bike for three hours tomorrow...
It was a last minute decision to do the race. I certainly had known about it- after all, I was one of the people who'd voted for the race to be part of the USATF-CT grand prix this year. But John Hirsch was having a really cool 110 mile ride today, which would have been awesome training, but also a completely unfair monopolization of time.
The 10K is one of the harder distances. You basically have to hold something as close to your 5K pace as possible for twice as long. Of course you can't hold 5k pace that long, and you're much better off going out a little slower, but you can only go out so slow, especially at a state championship race. When all I was doing was road racing, I considered 10K my distance- long enough to weed out the pure speed guys, too short for the real endurance runners. But the truth is I was a better 5k runner- neither my patience nor experience was were where they needed to be. Now that I have more of both, I no longer have the modest speed I once did.
I got to the race nice and early, registered, took the long hike to the bathrooms.
I wound up talking to Jim Zoldy, who's doing Alcatraz next month. That at once seems like one of the coolest and most intimidating things in the sport. You jump in water that's always ridiculously cold and hope to hell you can make the shore... have a great race, Jim.
I also saw Oscar and Bart in the parking lot and we were swapping stories. It was a pretty low-key morning- sunny, not too windy, warm enough for a singlet. I found myself not warming up quite as hard as at the duathlons, in part because I wasn't sure where the start was.
The course is pretty flat/rolling, except for about 3/10th of a mile in, where there's a pretty reasonable little hill. That was the only thing I remembered about the only other race I'd run there. According to Google, that was in 2001. By 2/10th of a mile, I think we were already joking about how there seemed to be two races going on, the elite runners and the rest of us. We climbed the hill, crested, moved to the left and I found myself yelling loudly 'Incoming'- grey sedan in our lane coming right at us, but plenty of room and time to work that out.
The separation between the top 8 or ten guys and the rest of us was tremendous before the mile mark. I joked that it seemed like they were running 1k pace instead of 10k pace. But for the rest of us, the race started to settle in and somewhere around 1 mile, we really started to thin out- Brian Talon in front of me and Shannon McHale going by, one of the guys from Sound Runner in front of me. The course seemed like it was mostly downhill on the way out to the turnaround and we went around turns and through rollers. I could hear a number of people behind me, breathing loudly, including one runner I'm not going to mention by name that breathes really loudly/coughs/grunts. He makes the same noises in every race, I swear. It was that kind of day, where you could the people 50 yards behind you. But no one was close and I just had three people in range in front of me.
Brain and Shannon passed the guy in yellow and white in front of me before the turn-around. I saw all the leaders, then I saw George and Jim running together, and before I knew it, we were at the turn-around. I had not looked back once, I just won't do it, but you have no choice at a turn-around. The entire field of 50-59 guys I know seemed to be about 30 yards behind me, Steve Johnson from my own team and several other guys I'd be lucky to be as fast as when that time comes, plus some guys in my own age group. You tend to exaggerate how close people are at a turn-around. I thought a mass of people where bearing down on me and I was about to be engulfed. That was at exactly three miles
No one would pass me the rest of the race.
I passed the guy in yellow and white, there was some back and forth and finally I started to exert myself. The course had seemed downhill the whole way out but as we rolled up and down small inclines I realised it wasn't.
The rest of the race was more of the same. I never did look back, but until I hit 5 miles, I was convinced that I was barely holding of the people behind me. Brian and Shannon were still close, but not close enough. While I'd rather be the last guy not to get beat by any woman, I was at the back-end of a long set of training (my easy day was an hour on the bike, hour run brick Saturday), and last year I pretty much blew up my calf at a Memorial Day 10k. We went up the hill and I realised that no one was really back there.
My heart rate hit 176.
Then it was down the hill, the oddly long swooping turn until finally I could see the starting line and then, the finish line.
I felt like it was a good race. It hurt while I was doing it, and then it didn't hurt when it was it over and I was warming down with George, Brian, and Paul Moyse. That was what I was really aiming for. Normally, 6th master would be a little disappointing, but I could hardly expect better at a state championship. I think our team, and even our men's masters team, despite me being there 3rd man, did okay.
Back on the bike for three hours tomorrow...
Monday, May 28, 2007
Washington Trails
No one was more surprised when I told him that I had not run a road race since last December than Ken Platt, who'd timed both that race- Christopher Martin's, and this one, the Washington Trails 10k.
in the interim I'd done 3 duathlons and an Ironman, and I have a half-ironman coming in two weeks. On Saturday I'd done a very hard two hour ride, 40 minute run brick, and yesterday I'd done an extremely hilly two hour ride, leaving my calves sore.
Washington Trails is a tough race. I regularly ride the course as part of my longer, hillier rides. It's also a race that I've had some decent results at- a pair of fifth and then back to back third places the last two years, but I never know who is going to show up at the race and kick my ass. There's almost always a local favourite/college division I all-american or other top runner, Chris Schulten or some other top-notch guy. This year was no exception.
While warming up I ran across Dave Pantin, Chris Dickerson, and Mike Gulay, who wasn't, it turned out, there to run. Even John Bysiewicz was there, talking large to Chris. We were joking about letting JB carry us up the first hill, but as I hadn't raced in 6 months, I should have known what would happen.
When the cannon went off, the kids took off, and full of adreneline, I chased them down. Halfway up the first hill, I took the lead, humped over the hill, and turned onto 17 (79?). I was running hard, really hard, but I was also hoping someone, anyone with more brains than me would catch me and allow me to back off. I mean, I knew I was running too fast, but for the second time in eight days I was following the pace car so I had to just keep plowing along, the old man leading out the college kids in hid custom kit, working too hard to even put on the tunes.
Finally, mercifully, two college kids ran me down just shy of the one mile mark and I went through at a totally sick 5:44 on a course I would never run under sixes. I turned the corner and started to wonder when Chris Dickerson would catch me. That didn't happen until well after two miles. Chris is the most awesome guy- he always has a word or words of encouragement as he drops me, never chiding me for going out too hard.
We schleped up more hills, and by the 5k mark, I'd dropped to 6th and I was hurting, but I was still running pretty strong. I got passed for the last time after the big downhill that takes you through four miles and I neither ran down the last guy in range nor did I get caught by Dave Pantin. It was a great day for a race- hot, sunny, and humid, just how I like it. I even took a power gel at about 5 miles and I think it really helped carry me to the finish, sore calves and all.
I've run faster there, finished higher up than 7th, but for my first road race of 2007, I'll take my medal and work on recovering, and I certainly feel like I ran well.
in the interim I'd done 3 duathlons and an Ironman, and I have a half-ironman coming in two weeks. On Saturday I'd done a very hard two hour ride, 40 minute run brick, and yesterday I'd done an extremely hilly two hour ride, leaving my calves sore.
Washington Trails is a tough race. I regularly ride the course as part of my longer, hillier rides. It's also a race that I've had some decent results at- a pair of fifth and then back to back third places the last two years, but I never know who is going to show up at the race and kick my ass. There's almost always a local favourite/college division I all-american or other top runner, Chris Schulten or some other top-notch guy. This year was no exception.
While warming up I ran across Dave Pantin, Chris Dickerson, and Mike Gulay, who wasn't, it turned out, there to run. Even John Bysiewicz was there, talking large to Chris. We were joking about letting JB carry us up the first hill, but as I hadn't raced in 6 months, I should have known what would happen.
When the cannon went off, the kids took off, and full of adreneline, I chased them down. Halfway up the first hill, I took the lead, humped over the hill, and turned onto 17 (79?). I was running hard, really hard, but I was also hoping someone, anyone with more brains than me would catch me and allow me to back off. I mean, I knew I was running too fast, but for the second time in eight days I was following the pace car so I had to just keep plowing along, the old man leading out the college kids in hid custom kit, working too hard to even put on the tunes.
Finally, mercifully, two college kids ran me down just shy of the one mile mark and I went through at a totally sick 5:44 on a course I would never run under sixes. I turned the corner and started to wonder when Chris Dickerson would catch me. That didn't happen until well after two miles. Chris is the most awesome guy- he always has a word or words of encouragement as he drops me, never chiding me for going out too hard.
We schleped up more hills, and by the 5k mark, I'd dropped to 6th and I was hurting, but I was still running pretty strong. I got passed for the last time after the big downhill that takes you through four miles and I neither ran down the last guy in range nor did I get caught by Dave Pantin. It was a great day for a race- hot, sunny, and humid, just how I like it. I even took a power gel at about 5 miles and I think it really helped carry me to the finish, sore calves and all.
I've run faster there, finished higher up than 7th, but for my first road race of 2007, I'll take my medal and work on recovering, and I certainly feel like I ran well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)