This was a beautiful day to run hard. Elizabeth elected to stay home, while I carpooled with Terry, Bill and Rahul up to Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester. The ride up provided a good opportunity to talk goals, weather, upcoming races, and in general get amped up for the race. I didn't get quite the long warm up I was looking for, but it was enough to have me feeling ready to roll, with adequate drills and strides. As always, it was fun to have a big CSU crew during warm ups.
The course was slightly different from previous years, and after the gun went off we were going up a short & fairly steep hill that in years past would be the final stretch. That first quarter mile, I was primarily focused on not getting tangled up; we were squeezed in tight at the start. As the pack stretched out I fell into rhythm and tried to find my target pace of 5:25/mile. I wasn't looking at my watch for feedback, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the clock hit 5:25 on the dot as I passed the first mile marker.
SRR runner Patrick Haneberg had overtaken the group I was in at the early part of mile two, but ended up yo-yoing just a bit and he settled back into the pack. I was running evenly and soon found myself leading a group of about six or seven runners. I was happily surprised to pass the second mile marker in 5:25 on the dot - good pacing so far!
With the new course, I didn't know what to expect. It wasn't too hilly, but it wasn't flat either and I felt myself working hard when the pack approached a short but steep hill as we neared the 5k mark. I was worried that the I could potentially lose contact on the hill. Instead, as the runners around me shortened their stride up the hill, I seemed to power up it and I found myself back at the front of the pack. My garmin read 5:30 for the third mile and I took note that my 5k split according to the race clock was 17:02. It would be a challenge to hit my 'A' goal for the day.
I didn't want to let up, and cresting that short hill gave me confidence that I was running well relative to the pack. There were a few moments during the 4th and 5th miles when the pack surged ahead of me, and then slowed to come back. I stayed steady and remained in contact on the first surge, and when they came back (or I surged to catch up?) I kept the pace even. We passed the 4th and 5th miles in 5:16 and 5:30 respectively (could be a garmin error or elevation?).
During the final stretch to the finish the pack splintered. There were two runners who started to pull away, but not by a significant margin. As we were on the 'pre-straightaway' I worked extremely hard to catch up, and as we turned towards the long stretch to the finish we passed a lot of runners battling home. One of the additional benefits of running in that pack was that each of us wanted to beat the other just that little bit more. I'm not sure how it all ended up except that a Green Mountain runner was able to outlast me to the finish by just a hair.
But since I finished in 33:51, I didn't really care as much about my overall place considering the depth of the Grand Prix.
1m - 5:25
2m - 5:25
3m - 5:30
4m - 5:16
5m - 5:30
6m - 5:20
.29m (garmin) - 1:21
Final time: 33:51
Overall: 57th Place
NER Photo
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
9/17/18 to 10/7/18: Three Weeks of Good Training
The past three weeks have been fantastic. I only had the chance to get in one good long run, but the workouts have been fantastic meat and potatoes type work.
- The double on the 20th was particularly strong, with 5 miles of tempo work in the morning at a little slower than MP, and 10 miles of tempo work in the evening at MP. That's a great day of volume at pace.
- The combo workout on the 25th was very challenging, and in brutal conditions. The rain wasn't nearly as bad as the wind on the back stretch at the Harvard Track.
- Yet another combo workout on the 2nd, with a similar setup to the Tuesday prior. This time I opted for mile repeats, and the conditions were even more brutal.
- This past Friday may have been the most challenging workout of the cycle. I started my tempo right from work and it took awhile to feel good. Running with a backpack isn't a big deal for my normal commute, but it makes running fast a bit awkward. Once I got home I was able to ditch the pack, and eventually join up with Terry/Amory/Rahul. I was amazed at how much better I was feeling at the end of this workout vs the beginning. All in all 14m of work at close to marathon pace.
The stuff:
- The double on the 20th was particularly strong, with 5 miles of tempo work in the morning at a little slower than MP, and 10 miles of tempo work in the evening at MP. That's a great day of volume at pace.
- The combo workout on the 25th was very challenging, and in brutal conditions. The rain wasn't nearly as bad as the wind on the back stretch at the Harvard Track.
- Yet another combo workout on the 2nd, with a similar setup to the Tuesday prior. This time I opted for mile repeats, and the conditions were even more brutal.
- This past Friday may have been the most challenging workout of the cycle. I started my tempo right from work and it took awhile to feel good. Running with a backpack isn't a big deal for my normal commute, but it makes running fast a bit awkward. Once I got home I was able to ditch the pack, and eventually join up with Terry/Amory/Rahul. I was amazed at how much better I was feeling at the end of this workout vs the beginning. All in all 14m of work at close to marathon pace.
The stuff:
| 17-Sep | Easy | 1:13:28 | 9.02 | AM: 9m commute keeping it easy at ~8min per. Bumped into a familiar face that I hadn't met yet - Jimmy. Good to run with company. | ||||
| Easy | 1:04:24 | 8.18 | PM: 8m commute plus Raleigh running. Averaged 7:53/mile. | |||||
| 18-Sep | Easy | 1:03:51 | 8.04 | AM: 8m commute at 7:53/mile. | ||||
| Harvard Track | 1:51:44 | 13.88 | PM: Commute home and then track. (1600/800/800)x2. Pacing wasn’t very consistent, but that's fine. Went well enough. | |||||
| 19-Sep | Very Easy | 1:09:01 | 8.43 | AM: 8m commute at 8:11/mile. Easy recovery. | ||||
| Very Easy | 0:51:17 | 6.26 | PM: 6m commute at 8:11/mile. Calves are tight. Another easy recovery. | |||||
| 20-Sep | 5m Tempo | 0:40:18 | 6.14 | AM: 5m tempo at about 6:10/mile. | ||||
| 10m Tempo | 1:16:54 | 12.01 | PM: 10m tempo at about 6:05/mile. | |||||
| 21-Sep | Recovery | 1:07:17 | 8.18 | AM: 8m commute recovery at 8:13/mile. Legs feel pretty good considering yesterday's double, but I was certainly tired. | ||||
| Easy | 0:48:28 | 6.29 | PM: 6+ at 7:42/mile. | |||||
| 22-Sep | Easyish | 0:42:46 | 6.05 | AM: 6+ at 7:04/mile. | ||||
| Off | 0:00:00 | 0 | PM: Off. | |||||
| 23-Sep | Bernie's Run PS | 0:15:58 | 3 | AM: Bernie's, 5th place. Good run. | ||||
| Warm up | 0:55:00 | 6.88 | W/up + C/down | |||||
| 24-Sep | MLR Moderate | 1:12:25 | 10.07 | AM: 10+ at 7:15/mile. Not a bad MLR, though a little short. | ||||
| Easy | 0:53:50 | 7.01 | PM: 7m at 7:40/mile. | |||||
| 25-Sep | Easy | 1:05:29 | 8.25 | AM: 8m commute at around 7:56/mile. | ||||
| Long Workout | 1:45:20 | 16.01 | PM: 10k progression at ~95% MP, 3 x 2m at MP. Solid work. | |||||
| 26-Sep | Recovery | 1:07:45 | 8 | AM: 8m commute at around 8:30/mile. Slow recovery. | ||||
| Recovery | 0:52:04 | 6.3 | PM: 6+ at 8+. | |||||
| 27-Sep | Easy | 1:07:21 | 8.35 | AM: 8+ easy at 8per. | ||||
| Progression | 0:47:27 | 7.22 | PM: Progression averaging 6:34/mile. Started at 6:30 down to 6 flat, and never felt good. First mile 8min as warm up and included in the average. | |||||
| 28-Sep | Easy | 0:48:26 | 6.2 | AM: 10k easy at 7:49/mile. | ||||
| Off | 0:00:00 | 0 | PM: Pamet and Blackfish. | |||||
| 29-Sep | Easy | 1:04:00 | 8.04 | AM: 8+ easy at 7:58/mile. | ||||
| Off | 0:00:00 | 0 | PM: Off, drive to Plympton then home. | |||||
| 30-Sep | Lone Gull 10k GP | 0:33:51 | 6.2 | AM: Lone Gull 10k in 33:51 for a brand new shiny PR. Very happy with this race. Accomplished two goals, 1.) PR, 2.) break 34. | ||||
| Warmup/Cooldown | 1:10:00 | 8.78 | AM: Warm up and cool down mileage. | |||||
| 1-Oct | MLR | 1:16:10 | 10.14 | AM: 10+ at 7:31/mile. Felt pretty good. | ||||
| Easy | 0:56:51 | 7.33 | PM: 7+ with a chunk of miles with Eli. Averaged 7:45/mile. | |||||
| 2-Oct | Easy | 1:05:35 | 8.37 | AM: 8+ at 7:50/mile. | ||||
| LR Workout | 1:38:00 | 15.02 | PM: 10k at ~95% MP, 4 x 1m at 105% MP. Solid work. Averaged ~6:30/mile including warm up and cooldown. | |||||
| 3-Oct | Recovery | 1:06:35 | 8.17 | AM: 8+ recovery. | ||||
| Recovery | 0:49:47 | 6.31 | PM: 6+ recovery. | |||||
| 4-Oct | Recovery | 1:04:50 | 8.02 | AM: 8+ recovery. | ||||
| Commute & Hills | 1:29:01 | 10.34 | PM: Commute home, then 5 repeats with Terry and Stephen. Eli did a tempo on her own. | |||||
| 5-Oct | Easy | 1:02:09 | 8.12 | AM: 8+ easy at 7:39/mile. | ||||
| LR Tempo | 1:30:05 | 14.26 | PM: Tempo home, dropped the bag off, continued, stopped briefly for Terry/Amory/Rahul, then two tempo laps around Fresh Pond. 14+ total averaging 6:19/mile. Yowza!! | |||||
| 6-Oct | Easy | 0:50:47 | 6.47 | AM: 6+ at 7:50/mile. | ||||
| Off | 0:00:00 | 0 | PM: Off. | |||||
| 7-Oct | Battle Road | 2:36:00 | 20.25 | AM: 20 Battle Road miles with a good CSU crew. Averaged 7:43/mile, and felt banged up. | ||||
| Off | 0:00:00 | 0 | PM: Off. |
9/18 splits:
1600-5:33
800-2:41.9
800-2:41.5
1600-5:44
800-2:42.2
800-2:34.6
9/25 splits:
10k - 40:26
2m - 11:50 (10s)
2m - 11:41 (22s)
2m - 11:28 (40s)
10/2 splits:
10k - 39:15
1m - 5:37.4
1m - 5:51.2
1m - 5:47.1
1m - 5:51.4
Totals: 102.36, 100.43, 122.80
Monday, October 1, 2018
2018 Bernie's Run 3m Race Report
The course takes you out and into an industrial park parking lot before doubling back, and I was out well off the gun, though, not with the leaders who hammered a 4:48 first mile. I ran alongside my old rival A.Holmes and we ran an evenly paced first mile in ~5:12. This race was actually the start of our friendly rivalry a few years ago, and as Holmes made a move up the short hill just past the one mile marker it had a familiar feel to it. I thought he may pull away at that point, but I accelerated just enough and his gap remained steady.
Splits:
5:13
5:20
5:13
Final: 15:58, good for 5th place. Good showing by CSUers all around.
After the hill leveled out, we both passed a younger runner(s) and the battle for 5th place was on. With Klucznic a good 20 seconds ahead of us, and no one behind it turned out to be just like old times.
We turned and weaved through the neighborhood's pot-holed streets, and while Holmes kept his foot on the pedal I was able to keep the gap small. As we made the left turn off of the dirt road, I came up close on his heels before making a fairly hard move. We passed the two mile mark, which was well short of the actual two miles, and I kept my ear out for footsteps. I had created a gap, but Holmes was still right there.
We turned and weaved through the neighborhood's pot-holed streets, and while Holmes kept his foot on the pedal I was able to keep the gap small. As we made the left turn off of the dirt road, I came up close on his heels before making a fairly hard move. We passed the two mile mark, which was well short of the actual two miles, and I kept my ear out for footsteps. I had created a gap, but Holmes was still right there.
After making another turn, I saw that I had a ~10 meter gap on him. I stayed steady for a few short time before making another hard push. I heard him breathing hard and knew he wasn't giving in, likely trying to keep it close for a finishing kick. I kept pressing for a minute longer before easing back as we neared the final turn. That extra minute created enough of a gap for me to comfortably cruise into the finish without testing my higher gears (if they're even there during marathon training!). It was a great battle, and has me looking forward to Paddy's!
Splits:
5:13
5:20
5:13
Final: 15:58, good for 5th place. Good showing by CSUers all around.
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