Category: Race

Categories
Race Swimming

2019 Boston Light “unofficially”

So it seemed like we were going to swim when we started out. As you can see from the photo below, it was pretty clear as we loaded the boat and set out for the lighthouse.

Boston Light “Loading the boats”

By the time we got out to the lighthouse things had changed quite a bit. The photo below was taken about 30 minutes after we all set out.

So as Erin, Jan, Karen, Mike and I sit on the boat waiting for the start of the swim we hear over the radio “Boston Light Swim has been cancelled, please return to the dock to unload”. As all the kids say today, “Wait, What?”. Did they just say that the swim was cancelled? Yup, that is what they said, the swim was cancelled. Several of the other boat captains asked for confirmation. One even asked can they go ahead and swim anyway, which was met with silence.

After realizing that the race director could not broadcast over the radio that we could swim on our own Mike called her up. We asked if it would be ok to just take our time and swim in and in response we were asked to remove all signs of the race information from the boat and just check in every hour.

And with that, I jumped into the 59 degree water and started swimming. Below is a short clip on relive of our day.

Categories
Race Swimming

Misery Challenge 2019

Leading up to this years race there were reports of a shark sighting. Race directory Josh Crosby even sent out an email offering a partial refund for those that were too nervous to swim. My friend Mike and I were not deterred and I picked him up and off we went to do the swim.

Unfortunately we did not make the first bus from the offsite parking lot. You might think, no big deal. However, it seems that if you are not one of the first people there you don’t get a shirt. Even though you are supposed to get one when you sign up. We were both told that the shirt would be mailed to us at a later date, I’m not sure when that date will be but it is now August 31, 2019 and I still have not received my shirt. This is the second year in a row that I did not get a shirt after pre registering.

Anyway, on to the race. It was was perfect weather day and the water was between 67-70 degrees for the swim. Mike, Karen and Dave did the swim without a wetsuit. I prefer to be as fast as I can be and used the wetsuit. I started out with Mike and swam pretty much along side of him for the first half of the race. Once we got to the turn buoy I started to pick up the pace and ran into a pack of swimmers. It took me a while but I managed to get around them. I felt pretty good the whole race and the water was perfect with no waves or chop really.

I ended up being first in my age group. Probably won’t get anything for that either, a lot of races would mail it to you if you are unable to stay around for the awards ceremony.

As much as I enjoy the swim, I’m not sure what I’m paying for. For the second year in a row I didn’t get a shirt because they ran out before I got there. This is probably the fifth or sixth year of the race, by now these issues should be ironed out and if you signed up ahead of time you should get a shirt. By the time I walked over after the swim all of the pizza was gone. There were no oranges/bananas like in years past. As far a race amenities it was pretty poor.

Bottom line is that it is a nice swim, but not worth the money. You are essentially paying $75.00 to swim 3 miles, that’s what you get. Mike has a boat in the marina next door so we might just show up and swim on our own.

Categories
Cycling Ironman Mont Tremblant Race Running Swimming Triathlon

Ironman Mont-Tremblant 2016 – Race Report

This was my third Ironman and I think the first thought that will come to my mind or anyone else that did Ironman on this day is the weather. All week long the weather was predicted to be rain/thunderstorms. I was just hoping for no Thunderstorms early because I didn’t want the swim to be cancelled. The rest of the day I would just adjust to weather and have to accept whatever came. Well, rain and more rain is what came and lots of it!

The Swim

The swim is a wave start at Tremblant. They have the Pro Men and Women and then they had the age groups go out, the men and then the women. I think I was probably the 5th wave to go. I didn’t really like this start at all, it meant that I would have to swim through all of the waves in front of me. I would have much preferred the rolling start or mass start that I have experienced at Lake Placid. At least with those starts you can seed yourself or get out in front of all the novice swimmers.

The swim itself for me was nice. My plan was to relax and enjoy the swim and be ready for the bike. The beginning of the swim was probably the worst part of it with trying to navigate around the large pack in front of me. By the time I was about halfway down I had already passed probably every color cap but the pros. The water itself was about 72 degrees and with the wind there was some chop and swells. Nothing really all that bad though. Total time for the swim was 1:10:04, so about 5 minutes slower than my IMLP times. I think most of that time was wasted navigating around the other swimmers.

T1

I came out of the water and jogged up to the wetsuit strippers. They had me lay down, quickly pulled the wetsuit off and had me back on my feet in a few seconds. As always the volunteers are awesome at Ironman. The transition took me 7:21, exactly the same time it took me at IMLP 2013. Heading out of T1 Kelly and the kids and my father-in-law were cheering me on as I headed out onto the bike.

The Bike

This time around on the bike it wasn’t raining when I started it and after all the predictions of rain I thought we might get lucky. Well, that luck rain out about 20 miles into the ride. Actually probably a little sooner but because the wind was at my back and didn’t realize just how hard it was raining until I turned around out on 117. At that turn around is when the weather turned around as well. The rains came and the wind and it was just a miserable ride after that. There were times when it was raining so hard that it hurt.

I’ve done plenty of riding in the rain and I don’t enjoy it. It just comes with training for Ironman, if you have a ride scheduled and it is raining, you just head out and ride. However, I’m a lot more cautious rider when it is raining. On the downhills I did a lot of breaking, I just don’t feel the need to end my day early. I did ok in the beginning of the rain, but by the time I got to the short turnaround on 117 before coming back on Monte Ryan was I getting cold. I had to sit up out of aero position and work harder to generate some heat. At the time I was getting worried about having to do another entire loop in the pouring rain.

By the time I got to the end of Duplessis I was warmer and feeling a little better. I started to eat the Cliff bars they had on the bike course because I just couldn’t drink enough because I was cold. I knew I needed the calories so I started eating the bars through each of the support stations along the bike course. I had planned on taking in 6 bottles of nutrition and ended up only drinking 4 of them.

The second loop of the bike was just rain, rain and more rain. I saw my family again at the short turn around on 117. They all had on rain gear and cheered me on. It lifts your spirits momentarily, then it rains a little harder to ruin the moment.

My total bike time was 6:13:55, this was a little faster than IMLP 2013, but considerably slower than what I had trained and planned for. I just wasn’t willing to push the envelope on the downhills in the rain and I paid for it in time. I’m ok with that, considering that there were some pretty nasty crashes on course and people didn’t get to finish because of it.

T2

The transition to the run was pretty easy, the awesome volunteers grab your bike and rack it and you just head off to change. For me I changed everything. I just wanted to start out the run feeling a little dry. I ran out of T2, stopped to pee and then headed out for 26.2 Transition was 6:31.

The Run

When I got off the bike my legs felt cold and tight. I figured they would loosen up a bit once I started running. The other thing that I was a little surprised about was that my lower back was really tight. I started out jogging a long and felt ok at around a 9 minute pace. Just before I got to the trail out and back Kelly and her Mom were on the side of the road and they cheered me on. I think I remember telling Kelly this just sucks. It was still raining and would rain even harder.

Around mile 4 I felt better and was averaging around 8:30 pace, that had been my target. I manage to run and not walk for the first half of the race. At that point my legs hurt too much and I would walk through each of the aid stations. I was still taking in plenty of calories and water and of course the rain was keeping my cool. I made sure to have a gel every 30 minutes or so and I had water and Gatorade at each of the aid stations. The back half of the marathon was just very disappointing. Total time for the run was 4:20:16. Over an hour slower than my standalone marathon time.

The sun did finally come out for the last 3 miles of the run.

I want to thank my family for all of their support. Kelly, who has put up with all of my long training rides on the weekends. Mackenzie and JP have been great throughout the training, of course they just figure Dad must be out on his bike somewhere if I’m not in the house. I keep asking Mackenzie when she is going to do an Ironman with me. She says she will, but I think she is just humoring her Dad. This time around my in-laws made the trip to see the Ironman. I’m not sure they realized what they were getting into with all of the walking around, but I appreciated the support.

Thank you to Julie Valenti, Melinda Vaturro and Mike Yako for training with me. A big part of the journey that is Ironman is having some good people to train with. Congratulations to Mike on having a killer first Ironman, next time around try not to get hit by a car in the middle of training! Congratulations to Julie and Melinda on finishing what I think is their 3rd Ironman.

The other group I would like to thank is Breakthrough Performance Coaching. I had decided to write my own plan this time around, but I have to give them credit for being able to do that since I learned so much from them when they worked with me while training for my last Ironman. They were and are always super supportive at the races and it was great to see and hear them cheering out on the course. I did ok on my own, self evaluation is tough. If I do another and I’m hiring a coach, Dave Sek and BPC would be my first choice. Thank you again for all your support Dave Sek, Jeff Capobianco, Jonathan Steeves and all the rest of the BPC athletes. Also Congrats to Dave on his 1st place AG, awesome!

Categories
Race Triathlon

Race Report – Patriot Half-Ironman

This is my fifth time doing the Patriot Half. Like last year, my goal again this year was to break 5 hours in a half-ironman. I wasn’t really sure that I would be able to get there. After last year when I pushed, or at least I thought I pushed pretty hard on the bike and barely dropped anytime from previous years I wasn’t as hopeful that the bike would be there for me this year either. I was thinking that I would have to do it all on the run. So the plan was to cruise the swim, not push too hard and do the same on the bike and then try to run 7:30s for the half marathon.

The Swim

The swim was the rolling start that they have had the last couple of years. I moved up the front of my wave so I wouldn’t have to swim around them. Although I was in the 7th wave I think so there were already plenty of people out in the water when I started. I almost forgot to start my watch and did it just as I was wading out into the water. I stayed a little to the right and just swam at a relaxed pace, bi-lateral breathing, sighting every 10 or so strokes. The water was a bit choppy on the way out and going across to come back in. I did the swim in 32:52, about a 1:20 slower than last year. I was fine with that considering the little bit choppy water on the way out.

SWIM NOTE: My friend Jan did NOT beat me this year in the swim. I got her by 8 seconds. I will remind her of that every time we swim at the pond now 🙂

The Bike

I made one change to the bike from last year. I put on tires that were a little bit wider. I went from 23mm to 25mm. I feel like it makes the bike more stable and comfortable. Realistically the thinner tires should be faster.

For the most part the bike was a very comfortable for me. I just stayed aero and took what the road would give me. Tried to keep a steady effort the entire ride. At about the half way point I took a look at the miles per hour and saw that it was 21.3. I was thinking I feel pretty good and as long as the wind doesn’t pickup I should be able to equal that effort on the second loop.

Well, the second loop I actually went a little faster than the first and ended up finishing the bike in 2:36:30 for 21.5 mph. By far the best ride I have ever had on that course. I knew I had just made up about 7 minutes from last year on the bike. Now I’m thinking if I can just stay under 8s on the run I have a shot at sub 5 hours.

The Run

I felt pretty good starting out the run, I looked down at my watch half way into the first mile and it said 7:30 so I backed off a little bit. I didn’t want to blow up early and then not be able to finish. Just keep it under 8s and keep my breathing and heart rate in check. From there I just clicking off the miles, all sub 8s until mile 10. Mile 10 there is a hill just before you take a left to come back on the main road to Camp Cathedral. That mile was 8:05. I just kept telling myself to get back down under 8 and I managed to do it for the last couple of miles. The run was 1:41:34 for 7:42 pace. That was probably my fastest half-marathon in a half-ironman.

Overall

The overall total time was 4:57:43. That was cutting it pretty close. I was really happy to be able to finally put a solid half together. Now if I can just do it again at Ironman Mont-Tremblant. I think all the long rides I have been doing for Ironman really helped with the bike this year. When you do a century 4 of the previous 5 weeks before the race, riding 56 feels like nothing.

 

Categories
Marathon Race

Race Report – Baystate Marathon

This was my second attempt at qualifying for Boston. The first attempted ended with my time coming up 2 minutes and 15 seconds short at 3:17:15. Now that I will be in the 45-49 age group bracket for the Boston 2017 I get an extra 10 minutes, so a 3:25:00.

Going into the race I was pretty confident that I would be able to hold at least 7:30s for the first 20 miles. At that point I would reevaluate how I was feeling, but at least I would have about 6 minutes in that bank at that point. I would just have to hold 7:49 the rest of the way and I would be in. Well, that was the plan anyway.

The weather race day morning was going to be cold. A little colder than I had actually hoped for. I like it cold, but I didn’t want it so cold that I was going to have to wear running pants. I got to the race early and walked over to the Tsongas Arena and back to get a feel for how cold it was. I finally decided when I got back to the car that I would go with shorts and my long sleeve tech shirt and one other shirt that I would throw away if I got to warm. I think the temperature was 37 and the high for the day was going to be around 43.

Looking around at the start of the race as we are all lined up I noticed the pacer holding the 3:15 sign. I know that is about a 7:27 pace. I feel like I’m close to that, but then I read the back of his shirt and they have taken into account that to qualify for Boston this year you needed a BQ-2:30. That means this guy is going to run a 3:12:30. I know I’m not going to hit that, if I’m having a good day 3:15 is possible. I decide that I’m going to try to keep that group in my sites for the first half of the race.

The race starts and it is pretty crowded until the half-marathoners break off, but not to bad. There is a guy next to me dressed as bacon as we run. EVERYONE keeps yelling to bacon, “Yeah bacon”, “Bacon is awesome”. It was really pretty funny, but around mile 5 bacon disappeared. During those first few miles we were going at a pretty good clip, average 7:21 for the first 5. I had made a decision to take a Gel every 4 miles this year instead of every 5 like the previous marathon. I made sure they had more sodium in them and also made sure to drink at every water stop. I was determined not to have my calves cramp up like last time.

I was feeling pretty good and the miles were just ticking by. The next 5 miles (6-10) were 7:27 and I fell a little behind that 3:15 group, but I could still see them. They were probably about 100-150 yards ahead of me. I was ok with that though, I needed to run my race and stay in my zone. Another 5 miles go by and we cross the bridge to head back out and the crowd is getting thinner, people have either kept up with the 3:15 group or they have dropped way back because it was just too much for them. I’m averaging 7:25 for these 5 miles (11-15) and still feel pretty comfortable.

Running out toward the bridge the second time there is a group that fell off the back of 3:15 and they are chatting and discussing strategy and I thought I heard them say they were going to try to average 7:30s the rest of the way. I’m thinking great. I can do that! The problem is they are slowing more than that and they are all in the way. Running out to the bridge all you have is a little shoulder to run on. I finally decided I need to be away from them and take off around them and get out in front of them a little bit. I don’t see them again. However there is a young woman that was running just a few yards ahead of me for a while and she was also stuck behind them. When I made the move apparently she did too. When she catches up to me I joked with her that “hey my pacer is back!”, because she was doing a great job of just ticking off the miles and I was hardly ever having to look at my watch.

The next 5 miles (16-20) were tough. They were into the wind and on the road with busy traffic. I couldn’t wait to get over the bridge. Average pace was 7:30 according to my watch. Unfortunately at this point it seemed like my watch was off on the distance a little bit. Not enough to have me overly concerned, but I knew that I was really about 5 seconds slower overall than what the watch was telling me. As I crossed mile 20 they a picture of a wall painted or chalked out on the ground. I didn’t really care for that. Really, we need that psychological nonsense while we are running?

Twenty miles in. This is the point when I thought, just 10K to do. Don’t do anything crazy like pick up the pace, don’t skip a Gel, don’t skip a water station. Keep on ticking off those miles. This strategy was working pretty well, until around mile 22 and 1/2 when I my left quad started to tighten and I thought to myself just relax, don’t get excite, it will pass. Well, it never really went away, but it didn’t get any worse either. Miles 21 and 22 were both 7:30s so still rolling along.

Mile 23 I kind of caught up with a group and we rolled through a water station together and as we came out I was feeling good. A little too good as I’m running along with this group I look at my watch and it says 9:30 pace. Holy Shit! Am I lying kid? Luckily the entire mile wasn’t over and I picked up the pace and managed to get it back to 8:07. It would be my only mile that was over 8 minutes. My pacer friend had fallen behind and I wasn’t paying attention. Luckily I didn’t lose too much time. I rolled through the last 3 miles at 7:35, 7:35 and 7:32.

It wasn’t until I crossed the last bridge with about a half mile to go that I finally let myself believe that I was going to qualify. After my last experience I just wanted to cross that finish line. Total time was 3:17:57. A BQ-7:03!!! I’m thinking 7 minutes should be enough of a buffer to get into the Boston 2017 Marathon.

I want to thank my family for coming out to support me and be there at the finish. Also thank you to coach Fernando Braz for preparing me for the race.

Here is the Garmin and Strava uploads, because if it isn’t on Strava it didn’t happen. As you will see the distance was a little off. Says I did 26.45 miles.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/931546948
https://www.strava.com/activities/415687723

 

Categories
Cycling Race Running Swimming Triathlon

Race Report – Mass State Triathlon

This was a first for me. I have never done the Mass State Triathlon even though it is one of the more popular races in the area. Having done the race I can see why it is popular, it has a lot to offer. The swim is in Lake Dennison and the water temps are usually low to mid 70s for the race. The bike is a pretty fast and flat course, a few rollers in it, but nothing that you can really call a climb. The run course is pretty flat as well, it does rise as you go out so on the way back you have that slight downhill and much of it is shaded. Finally there is the fact that my employer Neighborhood Health Plan is sponsoring the Max Performance triathlon series this year. Oh and lets not forget all the really cool swag!

The Swim

For the swim I had decided I was going to push a just a little more than usual because my friend Kristin Murray was also racing as part of a team. We had been talking some trash before the race. I knew she was probably going to beat me, but I just didn’t want her to beat me too badly. I started in the third wave of the day and moved up to the front of the group. The annoying thing with the swim is all of the triathletes that think they can swim and try to get up front. As usual the swim starts and all these guys start sprinting around me, within the first 400 yards they are pretty much all behind me. I end up coming out of the water 6th in the group and managed to pass quite a few of the  people in the first two groups. Kristin, did beat me, but only by a minute.

The Bike

I had a plan for the bike of holding 90% of FTP for the hour. I figured that would get me done in over 22 mph. Since I was never on the course and I heard it was flat I thought it would be a reasonable goal. I wasn’t able to hold the watts, at least not for average. The problem for me was the downhills. I think that I need to put different tires on my rims, the 21mm tires make me feel unstable. In the end I was able to finish at 22.2 mph. The bike remains a work in progress.

The Run

I didn’t have a plan for the run. Just go out and do the best I could given the conditions. Even though the run is mostly in the shade, it kind of felt like an oven with no breeze. I felt pretty good on the run, heading out it is slightly up hill so my pace was a little slower than I wanted. On the way back I managed to get down to a 7:15 pace and ended with an average of 7:33.

Overall

Felt pretty good with the overall result. The race is convenient so I would definitely consider doing it again. The race starts at 8 am and by 10:30 you are done. Unless you are staying around for awards you could get out of there pretty quickly. Even if you hang around it is still not an all day event. The race is well organized with lots of volunteers and lots of support on the course. Thank you Neighborhood Health Plan for sponsoring the race series!

Categories
Race Triathlon

Race Report – Patriot Half-Ironman

I think this is my fourth time doing this race. Coming into the race I was feeling pretty good about my level of fitness and my shot at breaking 5 hours. That was my goal. Sub 5 at a half-ironman distance event. I knew I could cruise the swim and still have a decent time of around 31 to 32 minutes. The bike was going to be the question mark though. In years past I was never really able to hold the Watts I wanted to and feel good coming off the bike. This would usually lead to me averaging around just over 20 mph. Anyway, here is my story of the race.

The Swim

This year was the first year I would experience the new swim start they implemented. It is a rolling start, where 3 athletes start every 10 seconds. It is still broken up into age groups, but it does help space out the swim start. I felt pretty comfortable the entire swim and kept my breathing under control. Nothing exciting happened and I ended up going 31:30. A pretty good start to the day. I was happy with that.

SWIM NOTE : My friend Jan beat me in the swim again.

The Bike

This is where the race became frustrating for me. The last time I did this race my goal was to hold 200 watts. I couldn’t do it, barely held 185 average in 2013.

To compare 2013 and 2015

Weight:      157        158
Avg Watts: 185        215
Max Watts: 397       502
NP:               195        222
Avg HR:       141        142
VI:                1.07        1.04
Time:          2:45:39   2:43:53

All this on the same exact bike. I barely picked up 2 minutes for pushing 30 Watts more. Obviously I really need to look at my bike setup and my position on the bike. That was just a huge disappointment to me. I knew after the first loop there was a problem when I only averaged 20.3 mph. I managed to finish at 20.5 mph, but at that point my goal of breaking 5 hours was pretty much shot.

The Run

The run was just a long run for me. My head wasn’t into it and I was thinking about what went wrong on the bike. My total time was 1:46:16 for average pace of 8:07. Not that great.

Overall

Overall I actually ended up with a PR by 14 seconds. 5:07:39. I’m happy that I was able to get a PR, but I was looking for about 10 minutes faster. Especially on the bike. I will do some testing with different positions over the next few weeks to see if I can figure out how to get the extra speed while maintaining the watts. I’m happy with the fact that I’m able to hold the power numbers, but I need to find out why I’m not getting the speed out of it.

Categories
Race Triathlon

Planning for 2015

I’ve started planning my 2015 season. So far the only race I have been able to sign up for is the Patriot Half. I like this race a lot, because it is a fast flat course. If the sun is out, the run get get a little hot, but other than that it is a great place to have a PR. Oh, and there is a lot of cool swag too!

The Patriot Half is going to be the A race of the season for me. No Ironman this year, but hopefully one in 2016. I’ve been looking at other races to fill out the season. I will probably do a half in April, The Great Bay Half, that I usually do with my friend Ray. I’m not sure if this will be a training run or an attempt at a PR.

Another race I would like to do is S.O.S. Survival of the Shawangunks in New Platz, NY. I forgot about the signup on Halloween night so I am in the lottery as of right now. This is an 8 stage triathlon, starting out on the bike and you transition to run to swim to run to swim to run to swim to run…. you get the idea.

If I’m not able to get into that race, then I will probably attempt Pumpkinman for the first time. It’s a race a lot of my friends have done and everyone seems to love it. Like Patriot it is a pretty flat course and it is likely you will have a cool day since it is in early September.

Then there is the Bermuda Around the Sound swim. This year the pond scummers went down and Tropical Storm Fay came along and cancelled the race on us. I know at least Mark wants to head back and I would like to go back and do the race. I’m not sure how many others will go though.

I should have a more solid outline at the end of the month when I find out if I’m in S.O.S.

Categories
Race

Race Report – Great Bay Half-Marathon

Headed up to Great Bay for the annual half with my friend Ray. I felt like I was going to have a pretty good race. Each week up until the race I had been doing a run of almost a half-marathon and even thought the pace is slower at a training pace it does give you confidence going into the race. My projected half-marathon pace is around 7:03, but the problem with that is that it does not account for hills that are what make Great Bay the Great Bay half.

My plan, was to start around 7:30s and gradually pick up the pace as I went. Just before the race I talked to my friend Michelle and her friend Courtney. We chatted a bit and I mentioned that I was planning on trying to do 7:20s and see how it went. Ray decided he was going to just run easy and I was going to run with Pete.

Pete and I start out the race and I’m checking my watch and we are a little quick. Just over 7s. We real off the first mile in 7:11 and I think that is a little too quick. So I try to easy back a little and I do, then I hear someone say “hey, is that Zane?”, it’s Michelle’s friend Courtney. She comes jogging up and says when you said you were going to do 7:20s that was my goal too. I’m thinking cool, another person to run with. Then she promptly dropped Pete and I. She was just moving too fast for us at this point. We could see her out in front and never lost sight of her, but it would be a few miles before we caught back up with her.

Through the dirt road I felt pretty good and Pete seemed to drop back a little bit as we went up some hills and I caught up to Courtney. Pete was not to be dropped though and was not far behind. We ran together through about 11-12 miles and Courtney faded back, but we were not really sure how far back. As we were coming back from the out and back I saw my friend Ray, gave him a high five, felt pretty good.

Pete and I made the turn to the finish out of the out and back and had about a mile to go. I knew that I had him because he started to fade just a little. With about a half mile to go I started to push harder and making the final turn to come down the stretch I heard Pete say “Go get him”. He says he wasn’t referring to me, not that I care, but he was talking to Courtney at the time. She had really picked it up and pulled us both in. I ended up finishing just ahead of Courtney and Pete at 1:35:10 a PR of 2:42.

I was pretty happy with that considering the difficulty of the course. Great Bay is not an easy course and definitely not one to choose if you are looking for a PR.

That is about 7 minutes faster than when I did the race back in 2011 during my training for IMLP the first time around.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/294821318

Categories
Race

Race Report – Ras na hEireann

Ok, so this race report is a little bit late, I know I haven’t really been keeping up with the blog. This race was on March 10, 2013 down in Somerville, MA. This is the first 5k I have run in 12 years. My coach had asked me to run a 5k to set a baseline for my Ironman training. One of the reasons I don’t do these races is because you usually hurt when doing, well if you are going as fast as you can you do!

I wasn’t sure how fast I was going to be able to go because my left hamstring was bothering me at the time. In the end it didn’t end up bothering, but it was a chilly morning. I did a short warm up before hand of about 5 minutes or so just before the race started. The course was a pretty fast and flat course.

The race started out and I checked my watch at about the 1/2 mile mark. I was under 6 minute pace and that was not good. I was close to 5:45 and I knew there was no way I was going to keep that going so I started to back off. When I got to around 6:25 I felt like I would be able to hold that for a while. The race seems to fly by when the race is this short and you are running that hard. Usually I like to pick it up at the end of the race, but this time I was just hanging on and trying to keep pace. I ended up finishing the race in 20:12 a PR of 3:24. It’s nice to know that all of the training that I had done for the marathon last fall and the training since then working with Breakthrough Performance Coaching (BPC) and Dave Sek was paying off.