Bobby Doyle 5 Miler - 2016 Race Report

This race requires a relatively early rise, and a reasonably long drive.  This normally isn't an issue, but Elizabeth and I had already spent a lot of time in the car driving to the south shore/cape/home the previous two days.  Nonetheless, after dropping Elizabeth off at a cafe to squeeze in some weekend work-hours, I arrived with over an hour to spare.

I need to add in a bit of a gripe at this point - what is up with only five functioning portos for a Grand Prix event?  The sixth was out-of-order, but even six is too few.  A minimum of ten sounds about right.

...so after waiting in line for a good 20+ minutes, I was only able to get in a ~1m warm up, and a handful of strides.  With a heat advisory in effect, I certainly didn't need a 'warm-up' but I do like to get in some pre-race mileage.

On the starting line as the national anthem was being sung, I was glancing around at the runners next to me and one thing stood out.  Everyone was dripping sweat.  During post-race discussions, Kevin made a point of the same thing, and we both would place these conditions as some of the toughest we have ever run in.

I had no expectations for this race, and out of the gate my goal was to simply find a pace that worked and wouldn't leave me ragged for continued summer training.

I came out of the gate with a 5:34 mile and that felt slow for my legs, but unsustainable.  The air was so heavy to breath, that I could feel my breathing begin to labor.  And temps were so warm that I could feel my internal temperature rising.  I prepared myself to run 5:45 for the next two miles, and was moderately successful in executing that plan running 5:53 and 5:46 for miles two and three respectively.

After passing the 5k mark in a shade under 18 minutes, I started to feel the gorilla on my back.  The course goes up a moderate incline, not worthy of being called a 'hill', but it felt incredibly difficult.  I wish I could remember how Terry phrased this feeling, but he said that going uphill in conditions like those "not like hitting the wall, more like slamming your head on the ceiling."  I think that's a horribly accurate way of putting it.  I saw quite a few runners walking during the fourth mile, and they weren't happy about it.  I slowed to a pedestrian 6:24 mile, but that pace allowed me to recover enough to finish.

After turning to the half-mile-to-go point, I slowly picked up the pace, passing loads of runners who were looking roasted.  With just over a quarter mile to go, I noticed someone doing the 'lean back' as they continued to move forward.  His face was pale, and he looked like a man lost in the desert.  I surprisingly recovered quite a bit during the fourth mile, so I slowed a bit here and told some of the onlookers who were saying, "keep an eye on that guy," that he should be stopped ASAP.  He was about to fall over and risking serious injuries and heat stroke wasn't worth it, regardless of how close he was to finishing.

I moved on and pulled just ahead of a group of young guys that looked like senior hs/freshman college age, and I was excited for a battle to the line.  I didn't get a chance to truly test out my kick though, as I comfortably eased away with another gear or two left in my back pocket.  Very much for the best though, because I was still dry heaving at the finish line with even a moderate kick.

Final time was 29:52.  Meh.

Quick mention that John Sullivan, of HFC, and Dan Verrington of CMS, are both beasts.

8/7/16 to 8/13/16: Summer Training, It's so Damn HOT!

Good grief, so humid.  Really, it's...it's...



This week was really challenging.  While the beard was long ago trimmed, I wasn't far off from the above.  I'm continually wishing I owned a scale so I could see how much water weight I'm losing with each run.  It feels like a not insignificant amount.  And it shows in the everyday fatigue and wariness.  The 8 lbs I lost on last Sunday's run now seems paltry as I would bet that's what I lost on more than half of my runs this week.

You want, YOU GOT IT!

7-Aug		Long Run		2:03:56		16.42		AM: 16+ with Kevin at Battle Road averaging ~7:30/mile.
		Shakeout		0:32:15		4.07		PM: 4+ shakeout at 7:55/mile.
8-Aug		Easy		0:54;38		7.1		AM: 7+ at 7:42/mile.
		Moderate		1:08:31		8.73		PM: 8+ 7:50/mile.  Did drills and barefoot strides across the street as well.
9-Aug		Easy		0:56:55		7.11		AM: 7+ that felt meh.  My right shin has been a little weird the past few days.  Need to keep an eye on it.
		Easy & Ultimate		0:52:22		6.57		PM: 6+ at around 8min per.  Really wiped out and shin is meh-ish.  Ultimate after the run.
10-Aug		Easy		0:56:33		7.18		AM: 7+ at 7:53/mile.
		Easy		1:18:56		10.01		PM: 10+ at 7:53/mile.  Why is everything averaging 7:53?
11-Aug		Easy		0:55:31		6.56		AM: Dear God that sucked.  Worst run of the year.  So humid.
		Easy & Ultimate		1:07:02		7.88		PM: Still TERRIBLE.  Just under 8m, then a full game of ultimate.
12-Aug		Easy		0:57:21		7		AM: Make it STOP!!!
		Easy		0:52:38		6.53		PM: I'M MELTING!!!!
13-Aug		Off		0:00:00		0		AM: 4+ hours of cleaning, sweating buckets.  Jeebus.
		Easy		0:38:43		5		PM: Late-ish run, but got in the 5.  It's much nicer out at 8pm.

No track = splits this week, but I adhere to the notion that Ultimate is a useful cardiovascular workout.  I just don't get any mileage out of it.  WHICH IS A BUMMER!

Total: 100.16

7/31/16 to 8/6/16: Summer Training w/Quality & Mileage

This was a pretty darn good week of quality and mileage.  Running a long run solo tends to lead to some faster miles for me, especially when I'm not at Battle Road or in a particular area that I want to explore.  Running on Long Island on Sunday, the total mileage wasn't great, but after an easy ~2m to start, I ended up settling into a pretty good groove.  It was yet another humid morning though, and I was cooked by the end.  I weighed myself before and after the run, and ended up losing ~8lbs.  But it's always keeping the weight off that's the hard part...

Tuesday, I skipped ultimate to head to the track, only no else was there!  Terry was on vacation, and apparently no email from him means everyone SLACKS!  Well, not me or Kristi, or Eli, or Amory.  I had come up with the interesting workout of 600/800/1000x2/800/600/400/200x2 with short rest after the four and two (see below).  It ended up being a tough solo workout, but I was relatively pleased with the splits considering I haven't been touching these paces often this summer.

Thursday and Saturday were somewhat unexpected tempos.  Both days were a mix of heat and humidity, and though they were nothing to write home about - still solid.

Here are the details:

31-Jul		Long Run		1:56:36		16.01		AM: 16+ at 7:18/mile.  Solo on Long Island.  I lost about 8lbs.
		Off		0:00:00		0		PM: Driving.
1-Aug		Easy		0:55:38		7.1		AM: 7+ at 7:50/mile.
		Moderate		1:27:02		11.22		PM: 11+ at 7:45/mile.
2-Aug		Easy		0:56:04		7.14		AM: 7+ at 7:52/mile.
		Harvard Track		1:38:36		13.18		PM: 13+ total.  Commute home & to Harvard.  600/800/1000x2/800/600/400/200/200.  5k/5m/mile pacing.  1min rest after the 400, then 30s rest after the 200 to keep the heart rate up and work my kick a little bit.  Did the workout solo.
3-Aug		Easy		0:58:36		7.49		AM: 7+ at 7:50/mile.
		Easy		1:05:40		8.22		PM: 8+ at 8:00/mile.  Most was quicker, but the final mile+ was with Raleigh as we ran to meet Eli.
4-Aug		Easy		0:55:29		7.1		AM: 7+ at 7:48/mile.  Felt really tight in the lower legs and knees.  I gotta stretch or something.
		Tempo/Hills		0:57:49		8.15		PM: 5m tempo at 6:17/mile.  Felt meh the whole time, likely due to the heat (~90 degrees).  Finished up with 4 Poplar Strides.  Left hamstring was meh too.
5-Aug		Easy		0:56:29		7.1		AM: 7+ at 8ish.
		Easy		0:58:32		7.46		PM: 7+ at 7:52/mile.
6-Aug		Workout		0:47:14		6.13		AM: Run to the bank the Fresh Pond 1-lapper in 14low.
		Easy		0:00:00		0		PM: Off.

Splits:

600-2:01.14

800-2:42.01

1000-3:28.21

1000-3:26.44

800-2:40.48

600-1:57.96

400-1:13.61

200-33.09

200-32.47

Total: 106.30

7/24/16 to 7/30/16: Summer Training Week WHATEVER!

This summer continues to be a grind.  Hitting 100+ for the 6th week in a row, with ultimate one to two times a week - I think it's safe to say I'm in the part of the training cycle where I'm tired all the time.  I'm eating pretty much everything in site, and frequently cranky.  So...what the heck am I training for?  LONG TERM GAINZ!!!

data!

24-Jul		Long Run		2:17:32		17.01		AM: This felt kind of like a slog.  Ran my Truro loop, plus mileage with Eli and Raleigh.
		Off		0:00:00		0		PM: Off.
25-Jul		Easy		0:50:32		6.35		AM: 6+ at 7:57/mile.
		Moderate		0:36:02		4.7		Noon: 4+ at 7:40/mile.  HOT.
		Easy		1:00:35		7.68		PM: 7+ at 7:53/mile.  Drills and  barefoot strides.
26-Jul		Easy		0:52:40		6.38		AM: 6+ at 8:15/mile.  Felt oof to the max.
		Moderate & Ultimate		1:28:19		11.5		PM: 11+ at 7:40/mile.  Followed that up with ultimate.
27-Jul		Easy		0:56:26		7.16		AM: 7+ at 7:53/mile.
		Easy		0:48:04		6.25		PM: 6+ at 7:42/mile.  Stomach blech.
28-Jul		Easy		0:50:33		6.33		AM: 6+at 8/mile.  Stomach blech.
		Moderate & Ultimate		0:53:51		7.01		PM: 7+ at 7:40/mile then ultimate.
29-Jul		Easy		0:55:51		7.05		AM: 7+ at 7:55/mile.  Bonked, but kept moving.
		Easy		0:50:40		6.62		PM: 6+ at 7:39/mile.
30-Jul		Workout		0:43:50		6.12		AM: 6+ at 7:10/mile.
		Easy		0:00:00		0		PM: Rest

Once again, no splits, but I'm starting to do a decent job of cross training.

Total: 100.16

Friday Night Lights 10k 2016 Race Report

When I signed up for this race back in May, I had tempered expectations. I have a specific 10k goal in mind that I think is realistic (sub 34min, if you are wondering), but late July tends not to be the time of year to set PRs. I thought there was a possibility it would be extremely warm, and...I was right.

Kevin showed up to the track and cheerily notified Terry, Neil, and me that his car's temperature gauge read 96 degrees. I bumped into Joe as well, who has run more than his fair share of warm weather races, and he made a good observation that the track didn't seem to be giving off heat. So, at least we weren't running on blacktop and roasting from every direction.

As for the race...

Looking at the splits, I went out at an ok pace. I wasn't really far off the leaders after the first lap, and there were two clear leaders and two chase packs that formed. I was maybe 2 seconds back at 400, then at 600 the gap really started to widen. The second pack started to split up and string out already. I was pretty tempted to surge forward into the first pack and maybe even make sure that there wasn't a huge separation between that pack and the leaders, but I decided against it. I had started to sweat a lot already, and not closing the gap wasn't really a conscious decision, but it was one of those situations where - if I surged that early, I would have paid dearly and I'm sure that I knew it.





I didn't think the first pack was out of reach though and I tried to just increase my pace and close the gap steadily and see how that went. I followed up the second lap with an 1:21 and an 1:22, passing the mile in 5:30. I ended up in no man's land behind the first pack, and slowly started to find the pace that my legs would be capable of handling. I'm disappointed that was around 1:28 per quarter, but this ended up being an "it is what it is" pace. The temps were warm, but I was more concerned with the humidity. I was pouring water on my head, and using the sponges on the back of my neck, and I could tell that nothing was evaporating. So, there was no cooling effect from either my sweat or the water.

In retrospect, there is the chance that I could've run one more quick lap to start hanging on to the back of the chase pack. However, I saw some guys step off the track and I get the feeling that they were all trying to hang on at just too quick of a pace. Even though it was very windy, no mans land didn't seem like that big of a deal at that glacial pace, so there I stayed.

There were a few familiar faces and I was able to focus on them in that swampy middle section of the race, and I trusted my instinct to let them pull away, knowing/hoping they would come back. And they did. I finished with a steadily quicker final lap, that served no real purpose. I thought I was surging to catch a runner, but I was actually lapping him. So, I wasn't catching anyone and no one was catching me. Oh well, finishing a race strong is better than jogging it in. Final time was 36:09. A suffer-fest.

Race Video

Results