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Date: 09 Sep 2006 09:14:13
From:
Subject: Race Report: Fitness 4 Miler - NYC
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Fitness Mind Body Spirit 4 Miler, Central Park NYC
Men raced at 8:30am, Women raced at 9:30am, (There were more women
runners today then men, side note).
This race is my personal anniversary race, marking 4 years with the New
York Road Runners and my return to racing after about a 7 year absence.
In '02 I was 39, friends persuaded me to race.....relunctantly I
did....showed up...it was storming....that rain created a small turn
out of 1,000 runners.....and I clocked a 25:30 (6:22 min/mile). I took
15th place in the entire field at a NYRR event. Wow. My first race
was, and will always be my highest ranking result race, open field.
Ever since that day I've been getting my ass thoroughly kicked on a
routine basis.
Today's race.: Gorgeous weather albeit kind of humid. Today was an
interesting personal test as I ran 9 miles 10 hours before this race.
Normally I would not do such a thing however I'm trying to play
"catch up" from not running most of '06. I'm trying to get in
shape, get my cardio up, clock the milage and salvage what I can out of
the year with a decent marathon. In sum I'm trying to compress
time....and It all means training comes first and I'm not willing
to lose training time/miles tapering for any race.
I raced a Half-M 13 days ago and clocked about 160 miles over those
days w/no rest days. I was tired this morning at the start. I
bypassed this race a year ago because I sensed it would be a soft
field. I was right. My average for this course over a 3 year period
would have gotten me 1st place in my age group had I ran it last year.
I've never placed in a race as a Master and that is a notch I'd
like to have in my belt.
So though tired, I thought there was an outside chance I'd catch a
NYRR race in "low tide". So here I was at the start, glancing at
the field....noting some heat....but also the clear absence of a deep
and strong field. Could today be the F#&%ing day I finally place? I
had my mind on my money and my money on my mind. (translation for
white folks, that means acquiring the currency of achievement, _an
award_ for placing).
Race starts....I feel light and I immediately try and get in a relaxed
mode for the first mile uphill....cruise it....course flattens
outs....I note I'm breathing hard....I try and get my bearings and
gain awareness where exactly I am at (gait, arms, breathing count,
posture)...I had to "settle in".....felt aligned and
controlled....first mile market comes up and it's 5:58. Oooh
Swwweeeeeeet! I think for a moment..."I haven't seen some shit like
that in over a year....this though again causes me to recheck all my
personal gauges for fear of rabbiting this race. I go into auto-pilot
minimal arm movement mode as the course is flat for the next
mile.....2 mile market comes up and I see 11:58. Ooh Shit I'm
thinking.....this is very cool....let me somehow get through these next
2 F#%@ing miles and there's a damn good chance I'm placing!
The hills cometh. Long story short, the hills kicketh my ass but good.
I don't give a rats ass if you skinny bastards don't want to see
it. The 25/26 BMI is killing me right about now...but good. Pushing
all this muscle and shit into and up these hills is a MFer. I was
tired, I was tanking....notions of "placing" were falling through
my hands, crumbling with every effort to maintain my gait & pace up
these hills. I was tired, breathing very hard, and simply thought
"press through this, get through this, it's Okay not to place, but
it's not Okay to give anything less than total effort". I was
spent a 3 miles....did not want to look at the time. Pressed through
and simply then convinced my self the revised goal is to hold off as
many runners as possible from jumping me (passing me). I'm sucking
right about now into this final mile but I was felling kind of Okay
about it because I was not being passed in droves by better runners.
Only 2 runners jumped me in that final mile (as much as I was
tanking....I could only imagine everyone was tanking...it was sunny and
very very humid out there today 71F 76% Humidity...you kind of felt
this combo out the this morning)
Looked at the results and I was fooling myself the whole time thinking
I had a chance at placing. This year it seems plenty of serious & team
runners in my age class indeed showed up and I never had a chance in
hell of placing today. In my age group, the first 6 guys ran 5:40
min/mile and lower (down to 5:11 min/mile). A top 10 finish was
possible...and I screwed that up. However on a more positive note, I
only got beat by one independent guy like me today....the other 10
guys ahead of me were all team runners...(errr....and yes...fly weights
on the BMI scale). No surprise there.
I've done zero speed training since I've been back running 10
weeks....so I suppose I should not expect too much. Bottom line?
I'm a little bit faster at 43, than I was at 39 and that's a big
victory over which I am all smiles! On that note folks...Gotta go
put in a 9 miler, it's a gorgeous day in New York City!.
69th out of 1,421 Men
12th in 192 Men 40-44
25:03 Clock, 25:00 Net
6:15 min/mile
72.8% AG Rating
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Date: 10 Sep 2006 12:46:34
From:
Subject: Re: Race Report: Fitness 4 Miler - NYC
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> That's great to improve into your 40's, but you've run faster in the past 3
> years right?]
>Don't
> implode like last year. 18 + a 4 mile race in a 24 hour period sounds risky.
valid point...but i'm kind of stubborn & i've always pushed the
envelope. speaking of which i'm seriously kinda thinking of running a
marathon next sunday closer to you up there, Poughkeepsie...Wappinger
Falls...Dutchess County Classic.
http://www.dcclassic.com/
very very small race however it's USTAF certified, I emailed the RD and
they tell me they indeed are too a BQer race. Only $35 & Reg can be
as late as this Wednesday.
I don't really want to LSD train. I'm slated for one 18 Miler here in
NYC......and If I have to do another LSD run before the NYC
Marathon....I figure I might as well make it more than a basic run.
Who knows...I could possibly fool around and BQ with a less than total
effort. 2 x my 1/2M + 20 Minutes = BQ for me. The course looks
favorable for such an outcome without pushing it. And if I could do
this....I would then really be out to rock and roll gamble on the NYC
Marathon and run a high risk race in hopes for a spectacular
performance (for me).
Just considering it....it's a very small race I hear...
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Date: 10 Sep 2006 21:20:41
From: Doug Freese
Subject: Re: Race Report: Fitness 4 Miler - NYC
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<lanceandrew@aol.com > wrote in message
news:1157917594.502508.232470@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
> valid point...but i'm kind of stubborn & i've always pushed the
> envelope. speaking of which i'm seriously kinda thinking of running a
> marathon next sunday closer to you up there, Poughkeepsie...Wappinger
> Falls...Dutchess County Classic.
> http://www.dcclassic.com/
Don't be thinking about coming into my crib without my permiussion. Hmm,
I may run the half staying right next to you and talking trash. ;) I
could get a picture of you from the side.
> Just considering it....it's a very small race I hear...
Yes and no. It's 5k, 1/2 and full marathon. last year the 5k had 267
finish, the 1/2 189 and the marathon only 38. So there are lots of
people around but only a few doing the full show.
Please note that the 1/2 and full go off together so don't get into some
big D contest with someone doing the 1/2. By the way, the full is the
1/2 done twice.
Lot of gas for your SUV.
-Doug
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Date: 10 Sep 2006 21:10:20
From: Tony S.
Subject: Re: Race Report: Fitness 4 Miler - NYC
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<lanceandrew@aol.com > wrote in message
news:1157917594.502508.232470@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
>
> > That's great to improve into your 40's, but you've run faster in the
past 3
> > years right?]
> >Don't
> > implode like last year. 18 + a 4 mile race in a 24 hour period sounds
risky.
>
> valid point...but i'm kind of stubborn & i've always pushed the
> envelope. speaking of which i'm seriously kinda thinking of running a
> marathon next sunday closer to you up there, Poughkeepsie...Wappinger
> Falls...Dutchess County Classic.
> http://www.dcclassic.com/
I guess 18 + 4 is no more stress than a 22 miler with some hard race tempo
in it. Poughkeepsie is about an hour north of me - I'm actually a bit closer
to the city than there. Don't know about that course, though I'm sure Doug
has either done it or knows someone who has.
> very very small race however it's USTAF certified, I emailed the RD and
> they tell me they indeed are too a BQer race. Only $35 & Reg can be
> as late as this Wednesday.
>
> I don't really want to LSD train. I'm slated for one 18 Miler here in
> NYC......and If I have to do another LSD run before the NYC
> Marathon....I figure I might as well make it more than a basic run.
> Who knows...I could possibly fool around and BQ with a less than total
> effort. 2 x my 1/2M + 20 Minutes = BQ for me. The course looks
> favorable for such an outcome without pushing it. And if I could do
> this....I would then really be out to rock and roll gamble on the NYC
> Marathon and run a high risk race in hopes for a spectacular
> performance (for me).
>
> Just considering it....it's a very small race I hear...
Sounds like an interesting idea, provided you don't run 18 miles the day
before and 18 miles the day after ;). Doing something interesting for a long
run does make it a lot easier. For many of my extra long training days I've
gone up to the Catskills, not just for the better hills, but for the
scenery. Making it an event is easier than grinding something really long
out locally.
If I were you, I'd forget the BQ and run it at MP + 2mpm for some true LSD
isolation on those slow-twitch, which would probably be better specific
conditioning than racing a marathon at this point, even if not pushing it.
-Tony
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Date: 10 Sep 2006 19:06:40
From: Tony S.
Subject: Re: Race Report: Fitness 4 Miler - NYC
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<lanceandrew@aol.com > wrote in message
news:1157818453.411709.51980@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Fitness Mind Body Spirit 4 Miler, Central Park NYC
...
> I've done zero speed training since I've been back running 10
> weeks....so I suppose I should not expect too much. Bottom line?
> I'm a little bit faster at 43, than I was at 39 and that's a big
> victory over which I am all smiles! On that note folks...Gotta go
> put in a 9 miler, it's a gorgeous day in New York City!.
That's great to improve into your 40's, but you've run faster in the past 3
years right?
> 69th out of 1,421 Men
> 12th in 192 Men 40-44
> 25:03 Clock, 25:00 Net
> 6:15 min/mile
> 72.8% AG Rating
Damn fine job Lance. Keep up the good work. So 160+ in 13 days? Don't
implode like last year. 18 + a 4 mile race in a 24 hour period sounds risky.
-Tony
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