stroke me stroke me

This weekend, I headed down to Philly for the Strides to Stroke 5k. I blame this entirely on Flo (also known in internet circles as Girl In Motion). I don't remember the last time I ran a flat 5k. Honestly, I may have been 12. In NYC, I run a lot of cross country 5ks which are anything but flat. I do, however, enjoy running through the woods and know the course here very well so even though it's very hilly, I always have fun. So I figured I'd go to Philly, run a flat 5k, and see how fast I could do it.

Here's the thing: I ran a marathon on May 3rd. I ran a half marathon 2 weeks ago, I ran a 10k last week. Adding this 5k makes it 3 races in 3 weeks. And ya know what? That's dumb. It's dumb because I RACED all of them. I'm usually good at pinning on a number and going for a run. I didn't do that here. The Brooklyn have I wanted to run all out and PR. The 10k was a team race and I raced it like a moron and blew up. 

Anyway, on to this one. I dont know how to race a 5k. It's too short. So we walked over to the start from Flo's house and got our numbers. We met up with Judy (a gal from the RWOL Boston girls) and warmed up. My intention was to warm up for 3 miles. I really need to go for a while before something short. Loren and Bea came with me for most of it. I'm so use to NYRR races where there are thousands of people and you need to be in your corral 10 minutes before the start time that I was worried about getting back to the start in time. I ran a bit over 2 miles with some striders. 

The course is flat and out and back. I've run here before, but not since I dropped out of the Philly marathon. That feeling of being hurt and not even being half way done came back to me as I ran behind the art museum.

I lined up with Flo and Judy close to the front. I was really hoping NOT to go out too fast. If last year was any indication to who shows up for this race, I should be up front with only a handful of women.

And we're off. I felt pretty good to start. I knew Flo was going to run a lot faster than me so I intentionally stayed away from her so I wouldn't blow up.  I was figuring my first mile should be between 7-7:10. I hit the marker at 6:58. Ok, maybe a hair too fast. I had 2 women pass me in the first mile and one right in front of me that I was working on catching. When I did catch her, she sped up and passed me back. I let her go. I wasn't going to spend a whole lot of energy going back and forth with her. 

As we got to the turn around, there was water. I went to grab it but the woman holding it didn't let go. Oh well. Oh and the woman who passed me pretty much came to a stand still to drink so I passed her back and never saw her again.

I started running with this boy who looked like he was about 12. He was working hard and I just sorta stuck with him. When I got to the mile 2 marker, I was pissed. 7:38. Are you kidding me? I totally fell asleep at the wheel. I dont know what happened. That's part of the reason I dont like these short races, there's not a whole lot of time to make up for a mistake. 

I left the kid behind. I went into this race with a goal of 22:30. I've wanted to break 23 minutes for years. Earlier this year I came close with a 23:17 on a hilly course when it was 30 degrees out.

I was sorta in no mans land. There were a few guys strung out ahead of me and as far as I could tell, no one too close behind me. Then I heard footsteps. I took a quick look back and it was a woman. 

Crap.

I didn't want to be passed. I knew I was maybe 5th at this point. She passed me. I kept her in my sites. Man, this last mile feels like forever! It shouldn't feel this way! This race is only three miles!

I knew there was a bend in the road and then I'd see the finish line. And there it was. I was also pulling back the chick who passed me. Like usual, I was obsessively looking at my watch.  There were about 10 cones leading up to the finish line, I passed the chick in the cones to finish just ahead of her.

22:36

Ok, so 6 seconds off what I was hoping for. Not bad considering I didn't run the best race. 

The RWOL girls had a nice showing. Flo was 2nd over all and won her age group. I was 5th over all and won my age group. Judy was 2nd in her age group.

My mom, 2 of my nephews, my BFF Tracy and her kid all came out to the race. That was fun. My nephews had never been to one of my races before. I took Bea to do a cool down (which wasn't enough. My legs were sore almost instantly after this race, something that rarely happens. TOO MUCH RACING). As I was jogging along, I hear this little voice behind me "I'm coming with you!!!" and I turn around and there's my 6 year old nephew, Cole, running to catch up with me. He was such a sport. I slowed down so he could run with me and the dog, I bet we did at least a half mile. When we were done, he just sat on the sidewalk and said "Man, I gotta get use to this". SO CUTE!! I hope later in the summer I can go back down and find a race that has a kids race too so he can run.

So the short of it (ok, not so short, it's taken me longer to write this than it did for me to run the race) is I'm happy with my time, I'm happy with winning my age group. I'm not too thrilled with the way I ran the race. Oh well. I dont plan on doing a whole lotta 5ks that aren't XC. 

traveling twice the speed of sound, it's easy to get burned

I had a decent week of running. Tues night I went out and ran hill repeats/tempo with my team. I hadn't done a team workout in a while and it was great to see 30+ people out there working together. It was a weird balancing act to recover from last weeks half and get ready for this week's 10k. I wouldn't have run this race if it wasn't a team points race. 

The women's mini is the oldest all women's race in the country. It has a pro field and I haven't run it in years. I usually do a tri on this weekend. There are 2 things about this race, however:

1. It has an unusual course. It's the only 10k NYRR puts on that has the first mile out of Central Park. It's up Central Park West and it's a FAST mile. Too fast.

2. It's always hot as hell. Or feels like it.

1 and 2 were true today.

I'm not going to go into the messy details of the race except to say I knew I was in trouble when I hit mile 1 in 7:10. Rachel came past me not long after that and said YOU'RE RUNNING TO FAST! I said I know and tried to keep it under control. Honestly, I didn't feel well even before I started. Even though I knew I started too fast and it was totally stupid, I did try to save it a litte.

I finished 47:37, 5 seconds faster than I ran the last points race 2 weeks after NJ.

So not a total wash, just not really what I was hoping for (why I was hoping for anything is a totally different story).

So right now I'm going back and forth about running a 5k next week in Philly with Girl In Motion, mostly because it's flat. I never get to run 5ks. Plus, I like to watch GIM get smaller as she pulls away from me.

No sleep til Brooklyn

Yesterday was the Brooklyn half. This has always been a popular race. Most years it starts in Coney Island on the boardwalk and ends in Prospect Park where 4 miles or so of hills wait for you. It's an ugly way to end a race. Well, this year, they started it in Prospect park and ended in Coney Island. The course was set up so we did about 6.5 miles in the park, so like a loop and a 3/4. Front loading the hills which is fine for me.

Except there were 9400 people running this race. Last year there were 5800. And it's a big difference having all those people start in the park rather than finish there.  See course map here. It was insane. When I got around to mile 1, I could see down the transverse of the start. There were still people standing there waiting to cross the start. It took me close to 3 minutes so these poor folks stood there for at least 15 minutes before they even started.

So my goals for this race: well...I've still be recovering from NJ. I got 1 10 miler in last weekend. I've done some speed, the xc race last week, an 8 miler this week with 4 at sub 8 pace. I wanted to run well but wasn't sure how I was going to feel just starting to get back in the swing of it. I was hoping to run a 1:45 which is 8 minute pace. 

Mile 1 7:52 . A little fast. Really, just trying to get through this crowd.

Mile 2 8:04. Not bad. Mile 2 has the hill for the first time. Luckily, it's followed by a mostly down hill rolling section.

Mile 3 7:40 A touch fast but no worries. Had some gatorade just before mile 3, good thing too.

Mile 4 7:36 This mile is mostly down hill which is nice since we're about to go up that hill again.

Mile 5 8:06 Yup, there's that hill again. Not only that, but I'm lapping people on their first lap. At this point, it's not too bad. Oh BUT WAIT!

Mile 6 7:58 Back to the rollers. The crowd approaching mile 3 is getting thick as is the crowd hitting 6 miles. There's 1 water station for both groups which is totally out of cups and complete chaos. Really poor planning on such a warm, crowded day. I bypass the hellishness thinking I'll get fluids at the next stop and take my Clif shot. 

At about 6.5 miles, we exit the park to head on to Ocean Parkway. It is not at all clear what lane who is suppose to be in, with people lapping people, people leaving the park, people going on there other lap of the park, and a partridge in a pear tree.  We get a nice down hill to head out of the park.

Mile 7 7:38 On to Ocean Parkway. NO WATER at mile 7. Not even an aid station. So now I've gone several miles with no fluids. This isn't a huge problem, I do that all the time in training. It does kinda suck however.  There's a bit of a climb up to mile 8

Mile 8 7:53 Finally, fluids. And someone with a hose. Ahhhh. I take my clif shot. I heard that later on, they ran out of fluids as well. Doesn't surprise me since I went almost 5 miles with out. This long stretch of road kinda sucks. It's hot. It's a false flat. I can't really see what's ahead of me but roadway and runners.

Mile 9 7:55 I'm on pace. I'm hot. I'm looking at my watch too much because I'm not really comfortable. I know, however, that Marty will be at mile 10 in a green man costume (google it) and a FRNY singlet. Holy crap did that make me laugh when I saw her. It was so needed at that point. I want her out at every race in that thing.

Mile 10 8:00 ok, I'm on pace. I'm ahead of pace. I just have to hold it for 3 more miles. UUUGGGHHHHHHHH

Mile 11 8:00 I'm really starting to do math. Mostly because I want to be done running. Somewhere around 11.5 Donna, long time FRNY member, is standing alone cheering. I love it when people are in the perfect spot. Ok, mile and a half to go.

Mile 12 8:04 Ah, a breeze off the ocean...wait...that's a headwind off the ocean. Damn it. 

We make a slight turn in the road, still head wind, before making a turn up to the boardwalk. Sandi is in the perfect cheering spot going completely mad when she sees me. Then I see it. 

A fucking ramp. 

We have to run up this short steep ramp to get on to the boardwalk. The ramp is also made of boardwalk. Running on this stuff kinda sucks.

I'm trying to pick it up but really, there's not much left. I have no idea how long we're running on this. It seems like forever. I can't see the finish since it's totally flat. There's just masses of people. I pass the aquarium, Astroland (RIP), Nathans. Holy crap it has to be soon! 

Mile 13 8:06 Ok, .1 to go. Seeming endless. Kick with what's left which isn't much. I've known for a few miles I'd go under 1:45 so I started aiming for 1:44. I cross the line and hit my watch:

1:43:41

Last .1 43 seconds. 

Ugh. I've thrilled with my time. It's exactly 6 minutes faster than I ran the Bronx in Feb. And it's a lot hotter. As I move to baggage I feel like a baking potato. 

I find Rachel and we make our way to the freezing cold ocean and stick out legs in. It feels so good. It reminds me of sitting in the creak post run when I lived in Big Sur. 

We hung out for a while and watched other team mates finished then headed out for a Big Girl Brunch ( a women of FRNY tradition!)

I was pretty pooped when I got home. I have a knot in my calf, that's new. I think it just needs to be worked out. I'm pretty tired today.

I still can not believe I had such a huge PR. In the fall, I hope to take it down below 1:40.

Next week I have the women's mini 10, a points race. And the FRNY Pride run is the end of the month. After that, I'm going to limit my racing over the summer and focus on marathon training for NYC (oh and the going sub 1:40 in the half). I need a bit of a break, I've had some hard running in the last 6 weeks and I dont want to beat my body up any more than I have to.

more dust bowl days

Last night kicked off the Van Cortlandt Track Club's summer cross country series. Every other Thurs. night, head up to the Bronx, pay $5 for your chance to win a pie (over all winners) or a muffin (age group place).

Van Cortlandt is a pretty famous cross country course. It's hosted the Footlocker National HS race, National championships, all kinds of college championships. Everyone comes to race here. It is not an easy course however. I did find these videos that take you on a video tour (4-6) which is pretty cool. The course VCTC uses varies slightly in the exit so you get one more up hill and one less long down hill.

Going into this, I didn't have much of a plan. Of course in my head there's always that little PR voice. The reality is, I'm not very sharp right now. I ran hard on Sat and all my post marathon runs have been slow and not very long. 

Hilary and I lined up fairly close to the front. For the first race of the series, it was crowded. FRNY had about 10 people racing which is a great turn out.

The first 1k is flat and fast. Too fast. I went out WAY too fast, like just under 7 minute pace. And of course, I did that thing, that thing I know better than to do. I felt really good so I just went with it instead of easing off a bit. I knew I was going to pay for it once we got in the woods to the hills. 

When people see the start and haven't run the course, it doesn't look that bad. You start on a fast flat, you end on a fast flat. All the suffering happens in the woods where no one can see you.

As we heading up the first hill, my HR was hitting close to 190. FUN! Hilary was just ahead of me but already out of reach. 

Yup, out too fast, paying for it now. I targeted women in head of me to try and catch them. I think I got 1. I got passed by at least one (a team mate) maybe 2) . I wore my Garmin last night which I almost never do for racing, I really just wanted to see what my HR was going to do. Of course then I couldn't stop looking at it. Watch only next time.

I was trying to make up time on the down hills but it didn't seem to be working too much. As I shot out of the woods for the lass 800m, the man directing traffic pointed at me and said 7. I took that to mean 7th woman. I charged ahead trying to over take the woman just ahead of me, who turned out to be Gabriel, a team mate. I didn't recognize her at the time. I just missed catching her at the end. 

So the FRNY women did well: 5, 6, 7 over all. I think Rachel C. may have got in the top 10 as well, she finished close behind me. We scored 5 muffins for the night. 

Tough crowd! For being 7th over all, I was 3rd in my AG.

I ran a 23:21 (7:31 pace) 5 seconds off my 5k PR, the fastest time I've posted at Van Cortlandt. As the summer rolls on, I see myself breaking that time and breaking 23 minutes. 

where do we go now

Ok, I'm bored. I'm tired of being in recovery mode, though I know I'm still recovering because I'm still tired. I am running, getting back into it though not fast enough for my liking.

I did race this weekend however. I did the Healthy Kidney 10k. If it wasn't a team points race, I might have sat it out. 

Initially I went into it thinking I'll run with a number but once I got into my corral, I decided I was going to race it. I'm not sure that was the best idea but oh well. I was actually 10 seconds ahead of my PR at mile 3. Then mile 4 came, which is pretty much a mile long incline, and the wheels fell off. What a huge surprise, I had no power. 

Some where around mile 4.5 my team mate Megan caught me. She said "I need help" I said, dont' look at me, I've got nothing. So she said ok, we'll help each other. Then she left me in the dust, no surprise there, I wasn't kidding when I said I had nothing.  I finished in 47:42, about 70 seconds off my PR (Megan finished a minute ahead of me). I was 3rd for my team.

Of course the best part about this race was going out to brunch after.

I ran easy yesterday with Loren and Bea. I love running with the dog, she's gets really into and then she sleeps the rest of the day.

I'm gearing up for the Brooklyn Half on 5/31. I'm still going back and forth on how to get ready for that. At least 1 double digit run before then for sure, maybe 2. I'm thinking a 10 and a 12. I also might run cross country on Thurs. just for fun and a bit of tempo.

Taking suggestions on what to do to get ready!

going off the rails

How crazy did I look during NJ?
Crazy

.

Me and Rachel for the time we ran together.

The final kick, you can see the pig tail flying. Nice face.

STOP LOOKING AT YOUR WATCH!!!

keep on moving dont stop

I took 2 days off from running. This morning I went out for an easy 4. I felt fine. Nothing's sore, nothing hurts.

I ran 2 on my own then came back and got Bea (the dog) and ran 2 with her. She had a toe injury and hasn't been able to run so today was her first day back too. She didn't seem to have anything hurt either. I really love running with my dog. She gets so focused on what she's doing and really seems to like it.

It's such a weird feeling to have this training cycle over. I'd been at it since Christmas. My first few runs in the unseasonably warm weather of Birmingham with Loren. I'll maintain the next few months. I have a few races coming up then I'll start looking ahead to the fall.

A couple things I'm shooting to do for the fall:

Peak at 70 miles a week

Go sun 3:40 in NYC.

I can say these things out loud now that I nailed NJ.