Category: Races

Ming!

Today I ran the NYRR’s Annual Father’s Day Race Against Prostate Cancer Presented by ABC7. It was a 5-mile race in probably about 78-degree weather with about 65% humidity.

I didn’t do as well as last year (click here and scroll to June 21st), but last year was in 63-degree weather. While it was 97% humidity that day, it didn’t feel bad then. I also didn’t precede that race with a 12.3-mile run the day before.

What seemed to match today’s race was the speediness I had in the first part of the race, a negative split for the second mile, plus Ming. Who’s Ming? Ming was this Asian guy with a ponytail I remember from the race last year. I would trail him then he’d walk, then pass me when he ran again. After that race, I asked him about his training, and I incorporated some of his advice into my training last year. This year, he passed me and stayed solidly in front of me. I didn’t talk to him this year, but I almost wanted to!

Unofficial Results per Garmin:

So what were my official results for today’s race? I did this 5-miler in 35:26, which meant I averaged 7:05s. However, by Garmin, my first mile was in 6:44, and my second was in 6:40! After then, I started tapering a bit. My huge blister on my left foot wasn’t much of a problem, nor was my back, which is so messed up with inflammation I had to take ibuprofen last night to make it through the night.

You can see my finish video here. Click on the second video and around the 1:16 mark (about 36:00 on the race clock) you can see my having just crossed the finish and whip up my first to expose my stomach. I was so hot!

Last year I did this race in 34:03, or 6:48s. Considering my training level around this time last year, it seems my current shape is around the shape I was then despite the difference in performance today (which seems attributable largely to heat and humidity and maybe the long run yesterday).

Not That Bad

This morning I participated in the Japan Day “Japan Run” 4-Miler in Central Park. It was a humid morning, a little more than a half-day after completing my long run, and while I didn’t beat last year’s time of 27:47 or the time I got in a 4-mile race earlier this year (27:50), I got pretty darn close. Take a look at my unofficial results per Garmin:

Actually, these results almost identically match the official results. Officially, I ran this race in 27:56, meaning I was doing 6:59s. That’s a second slower of a pace from the R Baby 4-Miler I did about a month ago, but considering that that was in 44-degree weather and today’s run was in humid, 75-degree weather, I think I performed a bit better in today’s race. I even got a final sprint in, which sounded as if it wowed the crowd at the finish line. My time is not all that impressive, though, and I can’t wait until I start posting better times.

Before the run I had a green tea to see if it would have an impact on my run. (I didn’t notice anything.) Going into the run, the medial side of my right lower leg was sensitive again! However, it did not bother me throughout the run. I wondered if adrenaline made it go away.

We started on the 102nd St. Transverse, and I got pretty good speed in that first mile (6:36). For the mile featuring Cat Hill (this race’s biggest hill), I posted a 7:35, but it seemed a bit slower than that. When I hit the 3 Miles marker, I did a quick calculation and realized I had to hustle to beat my time: I had to run the final mile in about 7 minutes or less. Fortunately it was mostly downhill, but given some of my recent history on that portion of Central Park, I didn’t let that fact let me get lazy. I tried to keep my pace up and it was hard, but that final sprint as I rounded onto the Transverse again was wonderful. I hit my Garmin button a few seconds after finishing but it seemed to be the perfect time to do so because it was apparently at the moment of my official time.

I hope to have some photographs up soon!

Exceeded My Goals

Unofficial Race Results per Garmin:

This morning I did the R Baby Mother’s Day 4-Mile Run in Central Park. It was a gorgeous, if surprisingly cold and windy, race. At the start, it was 44 degrees! While winds were recorded at 9 mph, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were gusts above 20 mph.

For this race (my first race of the year), I set my goal as running sub-7:10s. I based this goal on my pace last year for this race, when I did the 4-miler in 7:10s (28:42 net). I haven’t been able to achieve that pace regularly yet this year, so I wasn’t certain I could accomplish it. My secondary goal was to run this race in under 28:00, which would have meant a 7:00 pace. In running it in 6:58s for a 27:50 finish, I exceded both of my goals!

In order to accomplish these goals, during the race I cut a number of tangents, but more importantly I had to push myself. In the first mile I did a nice amount of passing (to my surprise), but inside mile 2 I started getting passed. I found this a little confusing because I thought I had more pace than the bodies of the other runners suggested, but I did wonder if they were burning themselves out and I would eventually pass them with my steadier approach.

It’s hard to say if that happened. Inside mile 3, this hilliest part of the race, I told myself to push myself in it and I did. I pushed just a bit on the hills, doing some passing but not really reaching a blonde who had passed me earlier with a great frame and cute running legs. I immediately dubbed her in my mind “The Gold Standard.” Later, I dubbed her “My Blonde Ambition.” She was a person I imagined other guys between her and me were cursing, or envying, or wishing were theirs because she demonstrated a solid pace and probably finished around 27:30. I never reached The Gold Standard; I just couldn’t get my pace up that much.

Pushing on the hills seemed to pay off in seconds. My body supported the push to a degree and relative to the other runners, I did well. When it came to the turn for the finish, I could tell I didn’t have as much juice to really all-out sprint. I reserved my finishing sprint to pass a couple women who had newly passed me in the last bit. I was also trying to figure out the balance of pressing my Garmin’s stop button while also giving a photogenic finish. I opted for stopping Garmin a few seconds after the finish line as what mattered more to me was the official time. I was a little confused by the finish line, which had a time-track about 30 feet in front of the actual finish line, then the usual two time-tracks at the finish–I had thought the first track was the finish.

ArginMax, quercetin, and a Strawberry-Banana PowerGel powered this race, not to mention another pasta dinner the night before. Afterwards, I got my bagel and water, stretched, then went to the gym for a quick set of abs, back, and arms. This race was nice and just the right amount of challenge for me at this place in my training. It’s interesting to note that I seem to be adapting to training quickly. But I’m very cautious about injury right now and don’t want it to happen in light of 3 important races ahead.

Photos to come in about a week. Check the Photos page on the right to see them.