Road Racing & Training Thread: Week Ending 1/7/2023

Male, 30, 6'4", 150 lbs
Goals: Increase Mileage to 75+ mpw, Strides and Strength Work x3/week
Races: 5 Miler 2/17/24

Mn - 10 @ + 4 Strides
Tu - 5 @ 7:25s
Wd - 11 @ 7:40s
Th - 4x1mi w 2' rec + WU/WD = 11
Fr - 11 @ 8:00s
Sa - 15 @ 7:50s
Su - 7 @ 7:40s
Total - 70

Th - 6:17 5:57 5:59 5:56 (first and last mile were probably 6:05 effort but had hills)
General - Nothing special, did not feel great at work Tuesday so just ran short and easy. Some strides/strength work during the week but need to keep track of them better.

Will get this going

M35, 5'10/155
2023: 4:47/18:09/24:06/1:20:53/2:57:30
2024: 5:09 hilly mile, Upcoming- Gridiron 4 mile, NYC Half, Boston Marathon

M: 5.2R @ 9:57
T: 7.4 ft. 5x1200 w/ 1' rest, 3x200 w/ 1'20" rest (4:32, 4:30, 4:26, 4:29, 4:26), (38.6, 38.3, 37.0)
W: 5.9R @ 9:10
TH: 6.5M @ 8:09
F: 4.6R @ 9:50

SA: 3.5 ft. Hilly Mile in 5:09 (3rd Place)
S: 6.4R @ 10:16 (will do long run today with bad weather yesterday)

Race Report:
Weather: 31 degrees but windless, wore light pants, merino under and light long-sleeve on top with light hat/gloves
Course: 1 mile, 86' elevation gain is the consensus from everyone's GPS, 2 major uphills (~25-foot climb from around 200 in to 350, and a ~40-foot climb from about 1,000 to 1,200), steep downhill from 1,400 to 1500, slightly more gradual one after the first climb from 400 to 650

Result: 5:09, 3rd place overall with 1st at 5:01, 2nd 5:07, 4th 5:10

Race Day: Friends who live in the town helped a lot and was able to get a pretty ideal warmup. Got about 15' of warming up/strides, changed into old school Vaporfly Flyknit 4% which are good on corners. Surveyed the competition as this race was won in 5:29 last year, and it looked like there were more fast guys. Didn't really know what to expect and lined up in the second row on the extreme right. Goal was to compete, win if I could, otherwise finish as high up as I could given I haven't done mile-specific stuff and limited fast stuff (200m hills a couple weeks ago, some extended strides Tuesday).

Race (splits via Runalyze, course was unmarked): It went out HARD and fast. Like most road miles, people sprinted to begin. I tried to settle in but a group of 5 or 6 built immediate separation on me and I was in a group with another 4-5 runners. I reminded myself a mile isn't won in the first 30 seconds, but considering how many blowups were required I had doubts. We hit the first hill quickly (200m in) and definitely all went too fast for that stage, getting us almost immediately into lactic. Split roughly a 73 first quarter despite a solid hill in there.

I did start to gain ground on others in the more downhill second quarter (74). At first the downhill was relatively steep, but from 600-800m it was a comfortable grade. Like everyone else I'm sure, I was hurting. But I was probably hurting a bit less having gone out a second or two slower on that quarter, and probably in better fitness than some. At about 700m in, we made the right hand turn for a brief straightaway before turning back to the start. I hadn't processed we were this far along as I glanced at my watch just before halfway, and it was encouraging even if I was certainly still feeling the early race, and knew there was a big hill to come.

Right after halfway we turned back onto the parallel street to head back to the start. Immediately the big, daunting hill came into view. This climb was noticeably bigger than the first. Yikes. Fortunately I wasn't the only one who was struggling. The group in front of me immediately started splintering, and I was picking off runner by runner methodically on the hill though the leader was still a fair bit ahead. My friend encouraged me to keep rolling and push ahead for the win. I was all the way up to second and had made it to the top of the hill (just before ~1200m). The very uphill quarter was an 86 split.

I tried to keep all believability about winning, but the leader still had distance, and then a runner came bolting by me on the very brief flat section at the hill's peak that led to an uncomfortably steep downhill. That was a rude surprise. I did my best to keep it together before starting on the -5% downhill, but it wasn't easy to run fast on that steep a down. Second place built a nice lead on me and seemed to be gaining on the leader. At the bottom of the hill, I was relieved to not have the grade any more. There was just about 200m to go, and the downhill had been very unpleasant. I began to dig deep and about 125 to go as it turned into the final straight suddenly it seemed there was a pack on my heels. I really wanted to be podium, and went really deep into the well to push through the lactic, protect my spot and hold off 4th place and the others. 2nd maintained his margin as he gained about 2 seconds on the downhill. I ran 5:08.x and 5:09 was my official time beating 4th by about 15 feet. They posted race video, and my form is breaking down and I am noticeably gassed. 74 last downhill quarter. The cold air got to me and I had the indoor track type sensation for about 30 minutes where my breathing was not great though I managed a cooldown.

Post-Race: I was of course surprised I ran 20 seconds faster than last year's winning time and was a hard-fought 3rd. The race had drawn some ringers. The winner was a 3:51 1500 guy in college ('22), and second was a former 2:20high marathoner. Definitely pleased with my fight within the race and time on the challenging course, despite some sub-ideal (but understandable) pacing. With more experience I'd relax more the first quarter (especially on the uphill). And I'd find a way to run the last downhill more efficiently. I got some food with my friends and wife and then was back for the award ceremony. Which would've been a total fail as they didn't award the podium, sticking to the winners and AG winners (2nd place was in the same AG). But then in a funny twist, my wife won the raffle for free New Balance supertrainers, so us sticking around worked out even if I didn't get my photo op. Fun break to early marathon training, and a race I'll look to do again!

RRR reporting back after some years. Ran 3 miles today sub 9 pace... the plan is for a comeback. Glad to see the thread still going boys.

Happy to have you back running RunRinseRepeat, it is a little light these days on the thread, though this week more than normal.

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