Grosse ILE 8K - 31:39

Grosse ILE 8K
Originally uploaded by Auberon.

May 28, 2007 @ 9:00AM

Warmed up with the 1 Mile fun run, and added two laps on the track.

Mile 1: 5:58
Went out what felt to be a comfortable pace. Looked up ahead and could still see the Hansons Guys, so I knew I was probably going a little too fast, and backed down just before hitting the mile mark. I know I'm in much better shape than I have been in three years, but I'm not sub 6 yet....I'm getting there.

Mile 2: 6:25 Much more comfortable at this pace. Where the first mile had a decent hill on it, mile 2 was much flatter and pretty much a straight shot, felt I could have run this pace for 10K.

Mile 3: 6:23 Some slight up and down, with twists and turns, trying to stay settled into a nice routine, nothing hard about this mile, just running nice and relaxed and remembering to keep my stride open.

Mile 4: 6:37 Somewhere in here there's 3 or 4 bigger hills on a single track inside the woods, with a really steep downhill that could hammer your quads if you let it, followed up with a gradual uphill the rest of the way to the marker.

to the Finish: 6:13 Nothing special here, it equates to roughly 6:24/mile pace. There's about 1/2 of one mile that is a gradual incline, but nothing to cry about. Myself and two other guys finished together, separated by 1.6 seconds in total. I thought I'd have a sprint for the finish, but with the heat and the refusal of all drink stations (I think there were 7 stations) I pretty much had a strong stride out, and not much more.

This was the first time I raced twice in one weekend.
5K in 19:26 (missed PR by 34 seconds) and 8K in 31:39 (PR by 40 seconds)...overall very happy with the results.

This coming weekend will be the Dodge Park 5K. I plan on going out 6:10 in the first mile, 6:10 in the second mile, and then see if I can run as hard as possible through the finish. This race will mark the end of my spring/summer racing season. June 3rd marks the beginning of my marathon training.

Rochester Heritage 5K

Rochester Heritage 5K
Originally uploaded by Auberon.

The first mile is predominantly uphill. It shouldn't be taken lightly. Within the first quarter mile you reach a monster of hill, and then come upon a false sense of security. As you turn the corner it has a slight downhill, only to be followed by another 1/2 mile of uphill running. My first mile I purposely attacked knowing that I would need to recover during the second mile.

The second mile has almost no hill running in it, and is the reason for my slow time in the 5K today. I went through the first mile in 6:10, and walked the second mile in a time of 6:40. Was the 6:40 necessary? Absolutely not, but the past is the past, and I have only next year to look forward to.

Mile 3 was all about picking the pace up and making sure that I didn't fall. Running with racing flats on a course that just experienced heavy ran doesn't exactly give you the greatest of footing. This year the course didn't have the same traffic problems that I experienced last year. Perhaps it was the result of running faster. It is odd to see people dressed up like Civil War Veterans walking toward you as you're trying your best to keep good form and keep pushing the pace.

As I'm winding around the library parking lot, I realize that the guy in front of me is easily catchable if I decide to turn the jets on...but he slips just a little and I decide I'm not going to chance taking a fall like he almost did. He finished in 19:21, and I finished in 19:26. I estimate that my time would have been 19:15 had I decided to give the sprint a try. It wasn't worth it today, and I don't really care.

I took 4th in my age group, losing the coveted third place ribbon to the same guy that I didn't sprint in against. I think I was 8th overall, with the winning time being 16:20ish.

Perhaps not sprinting in was just a way for me to reserve the real sprint for a race that I've been contemplating, the Grosse Ile 8K, which takes place on Monday. I could sneek under the illusive 32:00 I've been hoping to reach prior to the start of my marathon training program.

That starts June 3rd....Chicago '07 goal: between 2:59:58 and 3:10:59 (6:51 and 7:15 per mile pace)

Rochester Heritage 5K

Last year's time was 21:02

It would be nice to take at least one minute off of that time, if not two. This coming Saturday should be a good test of where I'm at physically. I intend on pushing myself HARD the first mile and as hard as possible the last mile. If I can hold on to a decent pace I'll be happy. If I can go 6:00, 6:05, 5:30, I'll be a happy camper. Those splits would give me a real chance at sprinting in to a sub 18 time. I've already hit my goal of sub 19 for 2007. I've only got two more legitimate races before I effectively cut myself off from 5K training. Then it's backing off to 6:20 pace for my speed work, and 7:20 pace or slower for my everyday runs. Tempo runs will be at 6:50. The goal is to be ready for 6:52 pace for Chicago, but build in 7:15 recovery pace, to ensure that I make my BQ.

That all starts the week of June 3rd.

Cranbrook "5K"

The Cranbrook 5K, where last year I posted a 21:28 in much worse shape, was supposed to be a breakthrough race this time around. I figured if I could only run just under a 7min pace last year, with all the work I've put in, I'd be able to at least hit 6:30 pace or better.

The first bad sign: I forgot my racing flats. I made up my mind that racing flats weren't actually necessary, just a creature comfort that I could do without. I had myself convinced that the soles on my Axiom IIs were far superior to those of the Racer STs. It is, afterall, a real cross country race.

For most of the first mile I'm in second place, just about 10-15 seconds behind some short and skinny guy with long hair. I have no idea who he is, and had no idea what to expect out of him. I could have stayed with him for the first two miles, but I knew that a lot of the better runners use the first mile as a sort of warm up, and I wasn't really in the mood to be torn up by a really good runner. At the mile marker I check my watch: 5:53.... the fastest split I've read since the early to mid 90's. I'm feeling great at this point and I'm wondering when things are going to fall apart. Just as a precaution, I slow down to what I think is roughly 6:10 pace and I attempt to hold that through the remainder of the event. I was pushing myself up the hills, and trying to fly down the hills during the recovery. There were a few areas where I followed cones that I shouldn't have...but by this time, with all the twists and turns, I was alone, still in second place and virtually no one on the course to tell me where to go. Running down Lone Pine you make a sharp left followed by an immediate right onto the trail. This is supposed to be the exact spot of the 2 mile. I know I didn't go 7:00 for mile number 2, but I wasn't about to argue with myself at that point in the game, I just picked up the pace and attacked the course, remembering that it was about 3/4s of a mile either downhill or flat. I ran along Cranbrook Road and turned back towards Cranbrook house until we reached the end of the path, turning left after stopping to try and figure out why I wasn't being directed straight ahead (no thanks to the course marshals)...circling back to Cranbrook house, following the residential path to the waterfall near the Art Museum reflecting pools, cut back to the trail from which we came, turn left and go up the hill (the only part where I might have actually gone 6:45 pace), cut left to the sundial, cut right to the twisty road that exits from the science museum, fly down that road, turn right, ignore the last water station, turn left, another left...400 meters to go, 90 seconds later I'm finishing...........IN FIRST PLACE!!!

My official time: 24:15
two misdirections: 15 seconds in wasted time
total distance of the 5K: at least 3.96 according to 4 independent GPS owners
Pace: roughly 6:00
How I felt: Like I actually pushed myself the entire time.

FIRST PLACE!

Motor City Striders 1 mile and 10K

I had no idea what kind of "mile" shape I was in, so I thought it would be best to get out there and test things out.

The first "lap" was around the Berkley High track, then you exit the track and go to the parking lot, swing right and straight down...to no one...then a car came flying up, a guy jumps out of the car, and yells "Around ME!"...that was apparently the half. A quick look at my watch, it's 2:37 and I don't feel like I'm dead. Shocking isn't it? If I kept that up, I'd run 5:14. Then we turned around after nearly coming to a stop, and headed back to to the track. We came in to the track and I purposely held back without ever picking it up, fading to a 5:34 according to my watch. That's a 2:57 last half. It felt like 2:57...SLOW. I didn't push, and I certainly didn't try to get after the two guys in front of me. I'm dead certainly I would have toasted the guy a few seconds ahead of me. Had I gone when I was supposed to, first place would have been mine, and a decent 5:14 would have been wrapped up.

The 10K was run as if I were out for a stroll. The first 5K I came through at 21:46...just above 7:00/mi pace. I saw T. Rizer ahead in the distance, so I figured she'd probably enjoy the company/help at the end. I picked up the pace just a little and brought her in for the last mile in about 6:35. My last 5K split was 20:49.

Cinco De Mayo 8K(+)

So the Cinco De Mayo 8K race was supposed to be an attempt to dip under 32:00 for the first time this year. That was the plan going in anyways.

Due to some "minor course changes" related to some requests by the Detroit Police, the course was changed to what they thought would be exactly 8K. Let's just say that next year they should really think about using more than 3 course marshals and maybe using the measuring wheel to bring back down to 8K.

The race was supposed to start at 10:30AM. There WAS a strong wind at our backs for 35 minutes, and the race was point to point...the temperature was cool, you couldn't ask for better conditions. 11:15AM and the motorcycle police finally stop showing us that they can do figure 8's with their bikes. Oh yeah, the wind has now shifted to directly in our face, and it's steady at about 25mph. A great time to start the race...after the perfect conditions are gone.

Within the first mile, I knew there wouldn't be any splits given at mile markers, but hoped that at least if there were markers, they would be accurate. The only marker I saw was the 3 and 4, 19:10 and 25:35 respectively. Before the 3 we turned off Vernor and headed in the direction that a course marshal pointed. Unfortunately only a few of us turned the wrong way. It added about 400meters to the run. Imagine running two legs of equilateral triangle only to find out that everyone else behind this group went straight along the base...which was the right way to go. 2.5 laps around this block and you were finished....the first lap wasn't very promising.

Lap two was just as exciting. The parade that was to follow immediately after the race started drawing a large crowd. This large crowd wanted their spot along the parade route...aka, the race route. Imagine lots of folding chairs, kids wagons, and people that don't realize their are in the way. Not so much fun if you're the runner that doesn't like hurting innocent people. There were at least 4 occasions where I needed to come to a complete stop because of people/cars/wagons/bikes...

blah blah blah

at the end of the race this guy looks over at me and gives me the signal that he wants to go, I signal it's okay for him to take off. We've got about 150 left, and he's not going to make it in, based on the way I hear him breathing. I give him three seconds and then I take off after him. I fly past him and cruise in to a 32:36 for the "8K". Mapping it out it came out to 5.25 miles with the misdirection. Considering the wind, the crowds, the misdirection, I still consider the run a good time. It was only 16 seconds slower than Chicago's Shamrock Shuffle, and I know that course is accurate.

Bottom Line: I'm in much better shape now. Things are going well.