This is only a race report because I paid money to run a specific distance with bunch of other people. Other than that … this was a tempo run. As I’ve said many times before I over analyze, over think everything. That said, I tend to ignore or find ways around obvious realities. In June, our coach told us due to the upcoming heat of the summer, to throw out expectations of fast times or comparing them to what you did in the spring. Especially me as it was my first summer with the team. It’s a pointless and destructive exercise. I listened, but did not heed the advice. To wit, my summer of craptastic performances. After banging my head against the wall for the better part of 6 weeks (2 races + a DNF), I gave in and came into Saturday’s Run for Central Park 4-miler with the “just run” attitude. No target goal. No watch. No care. How did it work out?
Before the race I got some solid advice from the Beast … who’s identity will be revealed shortly. In a nutshell, he suggested just lock into someone’s shoulders and only think about the mile you are currently running. Seems obvious, right? Not for me. I usually start searching for the least amount of discomfort and begin to blow it up in my head to the point of wondering if my fitness is sound. Then I start thinking about how can I finish X miles when the first 400m sucked, etc, etc. So, I bought into what the Beast was selling. Relax and literally take it one step at a time. I must say that the night before the race and even standing in the corrals (1st corral / blue bib), it was the most relaxed I’ve felt all summer. No pangs of panic or wanting to scratch. Good start.
Mile 1: It was funny when the horn went off because I went to start my watch and it wasn’t there. So what did I do? Run Forrest Run. I didn’t really see how long it took to cross the starting line to get an estimated read on my time, nor did I care. As we headed up Cat Hill, I felt good. I found a couple of teammates and locked onto the orange CPTC jerseys ahead. It seemed to work. Next thing I knew I was passing the first mile mark. If I recall (which I barely do), I think it was around 7:00 … slow, but that’s okay.
Mile 2: Consists of a slight downhill, in which many folks like to hit it hard in anticipation of the brutal mile 3. I kept it easy and maintained the same stride and cadence. The only “thinking” that I did was whether I should hit the water station and the end of this mile. It was warm outside (85 degrees), but not as oppressive as it has been. Still, I decided to be conservative and slowed to a fast walk and sucked down the entire cup. In my last 10k (spring), I didn’t stop for water, but it was also 30 degrees cooler. I could have kept running and grabbed the cup on the fly, but I choose to ease up and get the fluids. Did I need them? Hell no, but it also gave me a second or two to pause and get ready for a hopeful strong finish.
Mile 3: We’ve run 2×2’s on this course many times. The last session our coach was stationed just at the corner of turning into the nasty rolling hills of mile 3. Since mile 4 is predominantly downhill, his view is to invest the energy in scaling these hills as quickly as possible. It will hurt, but he screams, “Do it!!! Do it!!! Now!!! Go now!!!” So as I approached the turn, I hit it … kind of. I went at the first hill pretty hard and passed a number of people. I decelerated on the downhill portion to recover. When I went to push the gas pedal on the 2nd of 3 of the rolling hills, I stalled out. Nothing there. Frankly this is B.S. My neuromuscular speed is competitive with C group, so unless I burned a lot of reserves on those first 2 miles, I should have had something left. I did, but the brief downhill did not allow enough recovery. So I slogged it out on the last 2 rolling hills. I got passed by everybody. It sucked. Still, I kept it together and thought of the recent 4×1 mile workout when I ran the final 2 intervals at sub 6:20 pace on the approaching mile 4.
Mile 4: My composure paid off a bit as I hit the flat starting mile 4 just head of a nice downhill. I went to hit the gas again and while 6:20 speed was nowhere to be found I had enough left to make up the ground lost on the hills of mile 3. I picked off a bunch of folks who were laboring. Was I flying? Hardly, but I was feeling as strong as I had all summer during a race. At this point, I had no idea about time … I ignored the clocks at the mile markers. I know I didn’t I hit anaerobic levels though. I breathing was hard, but I was not gasping. With the finish line about 300m away, I let it go. I started hammering like I was on the track and started flying by everyone. I could hear the Beast screaming at me as I approached the finish. When I crossed the line I was not hyperventilating and staggering like I usually do. Part of this was by design. I wanted to FINISH this race, so I didn’t go as hard as normal … probably 85%. Like I said, it ended up being a tempo-type effort.
At the end of the day, the “race” was more between the ears than against the clock. Official time of 29:17 (7:19 pace) sucked and was slower than both 10ks from the Spring. In fact it’s 2+ minutes slower than my PR on the same course in April. Yeah, heat and I don’t agree. Nonetheless, for the first time in a long time, I ended a race looking forward to running immediately after. I cooled down with the Beast and was starting to get excited about the long medium run for Sunday. I’m getting jacked for a 5k in 2 weeks. I want to hammer that race. From that perspective, I absolutely ran a great race Saturday. Money in the bank for the fall.
Big ups to the Beast for all the advice, who rocked a 22:49 (5:42) (dude is no joke). I’ve been extremely patient with Beast as he delays in getting his blog together, but that ends today. He has a distinct voice and base of running, nutrition knowledge that needs to be shared. If he does not, I will call him a punk. You can call him a punk too at @mpatent. Punk. Get to writing, son.