A little late...
To start my week of vacation on the Cape, I made the short drive from Truro to Wellfleet for another attempt at the Wellfleet 5 Miler. Last year's race was a lesson in what not to do the night before a race. This time around, I had only run ~15 miles total the previous two days, which left me relatively fresh. And, more importantly, I was well behaved the previous Saturday night.
I arrived early and had plenty of time to get in a little under five miles for my warm up, plus strides, light drills, and I made my way to the line feeling good. It was a warm and muggy morning, and the course is hilly - but those things worked in my favor. With very little speed work since Boston, I'm not remotely sharp. However, I've been mixing in hard running on hilly routes whenever the legs feel up for it, and I've run everyday regardless of the heat & humidity. So looking back now these conditions were ideal.
On the line I noticed last year's winner, a guy in a Janji singlet who looked familiar, and a small handful of other guys that looked ready to run fast. When the gun went off, I did what seems to be my normal routine at road races lately, and took the lead. I wasn't going out quite as hard as I did at the Truro 5m, but I still passed the one mile mark in a 5:25. At that point I had probably a 10 meter lead on the pack behind me. I was comfortable and felt in control, though expecting company at some point soon.
The second mile has a gradual hill that then has a steep decent on the back end. I pressed just a little bit before trying to take big advantage of the downhill. Knowing the third mile has a much tougher hill before the turnaround point, I gave myself a bit of a cushion so I could get a glimpse of the chase pack and mile two passed in 5:35. I was definitely working hard as mile three gains ~150ft of elevation. I made my way around the Great Island parking lot, and back towards the start/finish. I saw that I had one runner hot on my trail about 10 meters back, while the rest of that chase pack must have broken up on the hill. I past mile three in 5:45, and approached the base of the hill that I had previously taken advantage of when it was a downhill.
I was starting to really overheat at this point, and I slowed a bit to pour some water on my head. The cool water hit my bald spot, and felt like hot tea by the time it hit my neck. As I began to ascend the hill, I purposefully slowed more to let myself get caught. I then ran stride for stride with the runner who was chasing me, and tried to get an idea as to how he felt. I gave up the lead for about 5 seconds on the hill and watched him as he didn't seem to have an extra gear to pull away (thankfully!). If he had pushed hard at that point to the top of the hill, he may have fooled me, but on such a warm day perhaps he would've overheated as well. In any case, those few seconds of slowing down, and the water on my head really did the trick as I took back a lead that I would not relinquish again.
The long gradual uphill during mile one was now a long gradual downhill heading towards the finish, and I was feeling strong. I made note of two landmarks during my warm up, and as I passed the first landmark - a set of cottages just prior to the wide turn on Kendrick Ave - I turned the screws. I had roughly a half mile to go at this point and after passing my second landmark - a small single level cottage - I changed gears again and started to sense the daylight between us.
He was still there as we both turned into the parking lot, but there was now a couple meters between us. Once we hit the straight I was going to the well for my kick, and thankfully it was there! I passed the line in 26:50 for the win.
This was a full minute faster than last year, and against some good competition. It's a short course, so I can't count it as a PR, but it's one of the top races of 2017 so far.
Results
Garmin Stuff
No comments:
Post a Comment