2013 Week #1 Recap

I couldn't have asked for 2013 to start much better than it has for me athletically. Having trained far more consistently over the past month than I have in a long time my two low-key races last week showed that I am in great shape for so early in the season.

NYRR Thursday Night at the Races 3000m

On January 3rd I went into New York City to run at the Armory for the first time. The Armory is one of the fastest indoor tracks in the world and now plays host to the world famous Millrose Games each year. It was my first indoor track race in almost 4 years, and first time ever running the 3000m distance. I knew my PR outdoors in high school was around an even 10 minutes as I had run 10:40.4 as my best ever time for 3200m. I thought I'd have a good shot at breaking 10 again, despite that being my outdoor PR from when I regularly broke 2:10 for 800m and 5 minutes over 1600m - two distances I certainly couldn't compete with my high school self at right now. Nonetheless, I took off in the middle of the pack and came through the first 200m in a quick 36.6 seconds. To run 10-flat I'd have to maintain 40 second laps so when I came through the 400m mark in 1:13.8 I knew I was well ahead of pace. I consciously allowed myself to drift back from the lead pack and started to settle into laps right around the 40 second mark. The next 2 laps were actually dead on 40 seconds apiece followed by a 39.2 second lap to hit the first kilometer in 3:13.1. I then proceeded to rattle off 5 more laps of 39.1, 40.0, 40.7, 40.7, and 40.7 seconds to reach 2000m in 6:34.2 which may also have been a new personal best over that distance. I struggled a little over the next 800m running laps of 41.9, 42.0, 42.5, and 40.9 seconds to reach the bell lap with the clock at 9:21.4 - I had to run under 38.6 for the final 200m to break the 10 minute barrier. 37.2 seconds later I hit the line with a new 3000m PR of 9:58.6! Although I didn't place particularly well against the high-level of competition (22nd fastest on the night which put me right in the middle of the field), I was overjoyed with my time.

Boston Buildup 10k

Three days after my 3000m race I lined up for a local 10k in Rowayton, CT. Despite being a local race, it tends to attract a competitive field as it's the first and shortest race of a Boston Buildup series that features progressively longer races for athletes leading up to the Boston Marathon in April. I ran this race 2 years ago and struggled to a 39:19, a time that certainly did not reflect my fitness at the time as I ran new half-marathon and marathon PRs the following week and 3 weeks later, respectively. As I mentioned in a recent post, however, I have become increasingly confident in my racing ability over the past year and I've enjoyed a good amount of success that I feel has stemmed directly from that extra mental edge over my competitors.

At the start I saw a pair of runners who I knew would beat me, even if they had a bad race they'd probably beat me, and then there were several others who I thought might be close. One of those I'd knew would be close to me was Nick, the runner I had outkicked over the last mile of the 5k I won just 3 weeks earlier.

The course doesn't lend itself to a negative split very well at all. In fact, it doesn't really allow for a good even split run. The first couple of miles drop straight downhill to the shore of Long Island Sound before leveling out to reach the 5k mark. The next 5k features several challenging uphills and a long stretch in the 5th mile that seems fairly flat but steadily gains elevation. To put the icing on the cake, at 5.5 miles there is a steep quarter-mile climb before the relief of a slightly downhill stretch to the finish.

The race went out fast. I am used to going out fairly fast as I tend to go to the front in races, but this time I didn't really have a chance. Through the first mile in 5:39 I was sitting way back in 8th or 9th. I gradually moved up during the second mile but was still sitting 7th despite dropping down to a 5:35 second mile and hitting the 2 mile mark in 11:15. Nick was about 15 yards ahead of me and it was beginning to seem like he wasn't going to come back but I waited, knowing that there was plenty of time left to strike. I hit the 5k point in 17:45, just 8 seconds slower than my time 3 weeks earlier. With Nick still ahead of me I knew he had just broken his PR over the distance, surely he couldn't hang on much longer!

As we hit the first few big hills I maintained my effort and caught Nick. Now I was up to 4th overall and I could feel 3rd place within my grasp which would have been "best of the rest" in my opinion, given how far ahead the 2 leaders were. On the long straight rise in the 5th mile I did my best to close down the gap to 3rd place but I slowly lost ground. Just after 8k my focus turned to maintaining 4th as a developed a painful side cramp. Doing my best to keep going and aleviate my cramp as best as I could I managed my only mile over 6 minutes up the steep final climb. I still felt like 3rd was almost with reach but even my final quarter mile at 5:14 pace couldn't close the gap enough.

I'm still very happy with my 4th place overall in a fairly competitive race that saw 13 runners break 38 minutes, and I managed to hold off the 3 close behind me who also broke 37 minutes. My time of 36:35 is also my second fastest 10k ever and on a very challenging course, that bodes well for my upcoming half-marathons!

Training Update

So far in 2013 training also couldn't be going better! I'm finally into a great routine of doing my workouts and I am determined to execute each to the best of my ability whether that means suffering on a trainer to do bike intervals or easing back for a light trail run. In the first 9 days of the year I've trained for 8, it's almost a shame that I happened to have a rest day to start off the New Year!

Week 1 was a fairly light training load with the two races and an off day for New Years, but for January 2nd-6th I hit 18.54 miles of running and rode 24.01 for an easy recovery ride on the trainer. I am going to add a tab at the top of this blog to keep a log of my weekly training miles and time. This will also hold me more accountable to getting my workouts done!

January-May Preview

With the cold winter weather upon us, the early months of the year have always been my favorite months to focus on improving my run fitness. Two winters ago I broke through into marathons with a shocking 2:51:03 in Miami improving my PR by almost 28 minutes! Last year I was running extremely well building up to the Boston Marathon and lowered my half-marathon time from 1:22:33 down to 1:17:43 in the span of a month. Unfortunately a foot injury, but primarily the heat, kept me from running fast in Boston but I rebounded and raced well for the remainder of 2012 including 3 overall victories.

In 2013 the year will start off in much the same way as 2012 with 3 big half-marathons mixed in with some serious bike training in preparation for 3 duathlons that I hope to be competitive in.

My spring schedule (aside from a couple of tempo races this week) looks like this:

• January 27th - ING Miami Half-Marathon
• February 16th - Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon
• February 23rd - 2-20-2 Duathlon (Defending Champ & CR Holder)
• March 17th - NYC Half-Marathon
• April 6th - Double Oak Duathlon (World Championship Qualifier)
• April 15th - The Boston Marathon
• May 11th - Clemson Triathlon
• May 19th - Shamrock Duathlon

Three half-marathons, three duathlons, one marathon, and one triathlon. Bring it on.

2013 Goals & Resolutions

Now that it is officially 2013, here are my athletic goals for the coming 12 months:

1. Qualify for and race well (AG podium?) at the World Duathlon Championship in Ottawa in August
2. Set a new marathon PR at the Boston Marathon in April (sub-2:51:03)
3. Break my half-marathon PR (1:17:43)

In order to accomplish these goals I have 3 resolutions to stick to everyday:

1. Train diligently and consistently
2. Eat better and stay hydrated
3. Stretching and strength work are important, do them!

If I can do those first 2 things everyday and the last when I am supposed to, good things will happen this year and I will accomplish all 3 of my goals.

Wrapping up 2012

I haven't written any race recaps recently, but that doesn't mean I haven't been racing. For a full summary of my results this year, see the "2012 Results" tab at the top of the page.

After my average performance at the SECTC Championship race at Rev3 South Carolina, I shifted my focus back to running intending to shoot for a new marathon PR at the Kiawah Island Marathon on December 8th. In preparation for that race I ran the Richmond Half-Marathon on November 10th and the Pequot 5 Mile Thanksgiving Day race (for the 6th consecutive year).

Richmond Half-Marathon

In Richmond I wanted to run fast, and felt that I was in reasonable shape but it was just not my day. After running a good pace (at way too high of a HR) for the first 6 miles or so I began to struggle. For only the second time ever I stopped to use a porta-potty in a race when my stomach rebelled against me. From there it was a struggle over the remaining miles but I eventually stopped the clock at a shade under 1:24:00 for a reasonable time. If you took off the 1:23 of my bathroom stop I would have run faster than my half PR as of 12 months ago.

Pequot Thanksgiving 5-Miler

After Richmond came the Thanksgiving 5 Mile race that I have run every year since 2007. I felt like I would have a reasonable shot at a course PR (29:07, 2010) and went out hard shooting for a sub-29 time. In the end I came up just a little shy of 29 minutes but stopped the clock at 29:03 for 29th place, which is considered an "Elite Finisher" (top 30) due to the strength of the field the race attracts. For reference, the overall winner was a varsity runner at Villanova, the runner-up is a New England HS mile champion, and various other elite finishers ran for good NCAA programs.

Kiawah Island Marathon

The Kiawah Island Marathon came too soon, and I was seriously undertrained, but I gave it my best shot anyway. Unlike in Erie in September, I was never really on pace for my PR of 2:51:03 but I was certainly on sub-2:55 pace through the first 18 miles. At that point I began to lose contact with the group with which I had been running most of the race and started to slow slightly. I kept it together with mid-7 minute miles until the final mile where I picked off a few extra places to make it back to 20th overall. With a huge kick - my last quarter mile in 1:29 I broke 2:58 for the third time ever, and for the second time in the last 4 months!

Holiday Run for Toys 5k

The weekend following the Kiawah Island Marathon I arrived home from Clemson for winter break. I decided on the long drive home that I would run a local 5k the following morning. The morning looked cold and slightly rainy, but I made it to the race ready to run. After taking off hard in the first mile I settled in to a steady tempo for the second mile with all the confidence that I could out-kick the one runner with me. Hitting the 2 mile mark under 11:30 I proceeded to blitz the remaining 1.1 miles in 6:10 with an ever-increasing tempo. I hit the line in 17:37 for the win by 14 seconds, my narrowest of my 4 victories this year.

Overall 2012 was a very good year for me. I succeeded on my mission to win more races including 2 incredible victories at the 2-20-2 Duathlon back in February and the Lightfoot 11-miler in August, and I also became significantly more confident about my running. In all 4 of my victories, I never doubted I would be successful, even in my 2 close wins where it took some outstanding last miles in both races.

To be successful given my goals for 2013, I will need to use all of that confidence and be far more diligent with training, something I've done very well over the past few weeks being home. I'll write a post with my 2013 goals following this, but it could be a big year!

Rev3 South Carolina Race Recap

Last week, I stayed in Clemson for fall break so that I could race just down the road on Sunday in Anderson, SC. It was my 4^th Rev3 race and I continue to be impressed with their organization and the production of their events. Prior to the race, my coach and I discussed the possibility of coming off the bike around the same time to start the run. He was competing in the pro field over the half-iron distance while I would be taking on the SECTC Collegiate Championship event over the Olympic course. We knew it would be fairly close off the bike and we’d be running about the same pace for the run.

My race started well, for about 5 meters I was actually leading on the swim! I had started on the far left of the field and stayed on the shallow side which meant I could easily run further than everyone else. My lead was short lived, however, and I rapidly faded to the back half of the pack, settling in for my longest swim in a long time. The swim ended up being about 1.1 miles – not too good when it’s the weakest leg for me. I was out in 35:54 and, with a decent transition, hit the bike course. I could feel the lack of recent cycling (and swimming) but I did my best on the bike passing a couple of teammates (Lee and Nick P.) along the way. I couldn’t quite hang onto a small group that formed early on but I entered T2 just behind one of the two other riders. In the end, I managed a 1:07:15 split which was just 33 seconds shy of my time last year and was good enough for the 3^rd fastest split by a Clemson Tiger on the day. I felt good starting the run and passed an Auburn athlete (Robert) early on who had seemingly thrown in the towel for the day. I knew that he usually ran sub-36 minutes off the bike so I should not have been catching him, but he was jogging along with one of his teammates well placed in the women’s race.

I hit 6:16 at the first mile and felt good so I continued along, passing several more runners on my way. Mile 2 in 6:27 brought me to the start of a very hilly out-and-back section that caused me to slow slightly to 6:45 miles for the next two. With almost no one near me – ahead or behind – at the turnaround, I became slightly complacent in the final two miles relinquishing to some fatigue and slowing further to 7:12 and 7:02 for miles 5 and 6. With about half a mile to go, I realized Robert had left his running companion and taken to running his best. I made him work to catch me, running my last few hundred meters in an ever-quickening 46 seconds (5:10/mile), culminating in an all-out sprint up the finish chute. Unfortunately, Robert got me at the line officially by 0.167 seconds, however having started the run a few seconds back, I can say I had a faster run split. My run of 41:09 was the 2^nd best put up on the day by my team, and is a significant improvement upon my disastrous 44 minute run at Rocketman back in August.

Overall, my race was average. I could have swum better, I could have biked faster, and I definitely could have run faster – but with almost no consistent training lately it was acceptable. Heading into the triathlon off-season my biggest goal is to be more consistent in training. I race okay with little training, but I know I can perform at a much higher level if I get out and put in the miles regularly. I made a good step in the right direction this week, logging my first 40+ mile running week since February.

I have some big goals for the next 12 months so stay tuned for a preview!