Race Pace Running

Coogan's 5K 2009

Folks trying to stay on pace up the hill

I was reading the "Pace Yourself" article in Runner's World magazine a few weeks ago when I came across some "secrets to pacing" that made me raise an eyebrow and say "reaaaally?" Now don't get me wrong, I believe in race pace training as something that creates muscle memory and physiological changes, but Dathan Ritzenhein wants to bullshit me and say that running race pace workouts "helped him get used to that pace so that it wouldn't feel so hard in the race." Cue eyebrow raise here. On what planet does any workout keep things from feeling hard in a race? Even Deena Kastor, a hero of mine, says that race pace runs make her "feel more comfortable on race day." Comfortable? At a 5:15 pace, is that the word we'd use, Deena?

I'm more willing to believe what Matt Tegencamp has to say on the matter which is this: "It's never one workout that tells me I'm ready to run at a certain pace. It is a consistent amount of work that takes months to teach the body." See what he said there? Teach THE BODY. That includes physiological changes that occur, but he says nothing about making it FEEL any different.

I'd been mulling these thoughts around in my head for a few weeks, occasionally making mental notes for a possible blog post on the subject. I don't want to seem like I'm doubting what these amazing, elite runners are doing to prepare for their races, but I can't come to terms with the way they describe the effects of a race pace run. I've come across plenty of articles in my years of reading Repeats World, I mean Runners World about race pace and "getting a feel for your pace" etc, etc. but I just don't buy the idea that it makes race day "feel" any different.

Here's what I mean: even if you train for a 10K in Central Park by running only the loop of the park for each of your training runs, on race day various factors will be different and ultimately you will FEEL different. I'm not talking about the crowds or the wind, I'm talking about your body and your perceptions of how you feel while you're moving. Never have I thought to myself during a run, "ooh this feels just like last week when I did those mile repeats here." My muscle fibers may be thinking that, but my brain isn't able to convey messages like that to my conscious self. I've certainly never thought to myself during a race "ooh I feel so comfortable at this pace after that training run I did last week." If words like "comfortable" come to mind while you're racing then you are going too slow. *smirk*

After thinking about this idea way too much for a few weeks, I experienced an example this week of just how different paces can feel on different days. Monday morning I went out for a little unscheduled run before the Boston coverage started because I knew watching the race would fire me up, and I ran 3 well-tread miles around my neighborhood that felt like absolute shit. I was pushing myself north on the greenway with so much effort that it felt like a 7:oo mile, but oh no, it was a 9:00 mile and that pace continued for the rest of the run, despite my efforts to improve it. If I hadn't worn my Garmin that day I'd have sworn I was moving much, much faster. I was practically shuffling. Luckily I had a much better swim that afternoon.

Tuesday evening rolled around and I laced up to meet the Inwood Hill Runners for some speedwork in the park and I found myself leaving extra time to get there because I was afraid of a repeat of Sludgelegs. As I hit the pavement and pushed north, I hit what felt like a similar effort level and resisted the urge to check my watch. I maintained that pace uphill for a bit and then started down the back hill of Fort Tryon Park when I heard the 1 mile beep. I glanced down, bracing for another disappointing split and saw 7:53! Ahh my legs were back*, but it confirmed what I'd been thinking all along on this subject- you cannot predict what a certain pace will feel like, you can only hope to put in enough miles at that target pace that your Actin and Myosin fibers will remember it and get you there on time.

*for the record, we hit some sweet intervals that night in the 7:20/7:30 range. It felt so great to move so quickly.

Grete Waitz, NY's Leading Lady

Grete chats with the NYRR Young Runners before the Run with Champions 2008

Nine times she won the NYC Marathon, setting the world record for women 4 times, Grete Waitz really is New York's leading lady. The running world lost a marathon great yesterday and news about her death spread through the running community quickly, everyone expressing real sadness at the loss of such an inspiring woman. As a child born in the 80's, I was too young to remember the way Grete changed the sport for women, showing us that we could really do ANYTHING, but I know that I have her to thank for the running world we live in today.

The two articles in today's New York Times about Grete are really beautiful and capture her spirit well. Not only did Grete win the race 9 times on her own, but she always claimed that her run with Fred Lebow in 1992, when he was dying of brain cancer, was her 10th victory. I can't say it nearly as well as Lix Robbins, Bruce Weber and George Vecsey can, so please check out the articles here: Scandinavian Cool That Warmed New York and In Marathon and Beyond, a Graceful Champion I recommend having tissues nearby.

I had the great pleasure to meet Grete twice in my time here in NYC, and I can still remember the way my palms got sweaty and I became speechless at the thought of meeting a hero of mine. I consider myself lucky just to have been in her presence, not to mention seeing her interact with the kids I coached at an elementary school in the city. The first time I saw Grete in person was at the NYRR Run with Champions which happens every year a few days before the marathon. It is a big day in Central Park where all of the Young Runners teams gather and have a few races, eat lunch and then get to hear some marathon greats give their running advice. In 2008, the first year I ran NYCM, Grete was part of the panel of speakers along with some other amazing current marathoners. In her cool Norwegian accent, she told the kids to follow their dreams and work hard for what they wanted in life. I'm sure she told them other things too, but I was too starstruck to remember. The photos in this post are from that event. I remember explaining to some of the young girls on the team exactly who Grete Waitz was, and hopefully some of the awe in my voice conveyed just how important she was to opening up the world of running to them. I know they were impressed when they heard how many times she'd won the marathon, but then again who isn't?

I cannot for the life of me remember the details of where my second encounter with Grete took place, but I distinctly remember her wearing a rose colored fleece jacket and me standing behind her going "oh my god, it's Grete Waitz!!" I am almost certain that someone took a photo of the two of us, but I can't find it anywhere. It may have been at the marathon expo in 2008, it may have been at an end of year event for the coaches and staff of the NYRR Youth Programs, I simply cannot remember anything but her serene presence and the grace with which she greeted all of her many fans, myself included. I know I babbled something about running the marathon and running and her being an inspiration. It was truly an honor just to be in the same room with her.

What a woman. As Fred Lebow used to call her, she was "The Queen of the Road" and she will truly be missed. Thank you Grete for all you did for us girls.

For other great blog posts abour Grete, check out Races Like a Girl's post.

Making the runs count

Fort Tryon Park, late April 2010

As I mentioned in my 15K race recap, I have made the transition to running only twice a week and swimming 4x a week in order to train for the Great Bay 4.4mi Swim in June. I needed to find a way to get in a long swim on Sunday which meant my day off would now be Tuesday. I have been doing speedwork with the Inwood Hill Runners on Tuesday nights through the winter, so it's been a hard habit to break. This Tuesday I couldn't quite take a day off because I'd been sick the previous week and missed 3 days of training, so I did some P90X workouts and called it a night. I was sore from those plyometrics until Friday morning.

I did manage to make my two runs this past week really count as good training runs which makes me happy and confident that I can maintain my running while swim training. Thursday night our group run takes us on a hilly loop through Inwood, Washington Heights and Fort Tryon park and this week was no exception. We had a special guest this week though, Steve from NYCRUNS.COM joined us at the top of Manhattan for a run. The group was in good spirits as we caught up with a friend we hadn't seen in weeks and we introduced ourselves to a new member. It turns out the new girl has the exact same name as one of our current members, first and last! Bizarro. We ran a solid 4 mile loop on top of the 1.5 miles it takes for LW and I to get to the meeting spot. In honor of our guest, we had some post run food and drinks at an Inwood favorite cafe. That was a lot of fun.

The other run I'm keeping in my schedule is the Saturday morning long run with the Inwood crew. This Saturday I ran to meet the group (go to Inwoodhillrunners.org to find out where/when we meet!) and we decided on an adventure run to and over the George Washington Bridge.
It was a beautiful day yesterday with very little breeze and nice, warm sunshine. The air felt cool and crisp, but there was a haze around the city so white and thick that we could only make out the outline of the downtown skyline as we ran across the bridge. As we reached the bridge one of our members who also cycles gave everyone a little refresher course on bridge etiquitte because there were many more cyclists out than we anticipated. We lined up single file and started across the bridge, I was somewhere in the middle of the 7 person line until Charlie started moving away at the front. I felt like we were moving a little slowly for how flat the bridge is, so I looked to make sure there were no bikes coming and I charged up to catch Charlie. We kept a solid pace up and chatted briefly between flying bikes as we made our way over to NJ. After touching the rocks on the mainland and gathering all of our troops we ran back to NJ at the same quick pace, Charlie and I laughed at all of the cyclists waving their hands behind them to signal that we were oncoming, it sure looked a lot like they'd farted and were waving the smell away. Haha. I guess you had to be there. As we reached Manhattan again we headed back up towards Inwood via Fort Tryon Park and I turned around at the top of the big hill to head back home. The park is on the verge of lots of spring blossoms and there were bagpipers leading a small procession through the park for the annual Shearing of the Heather. (Fort Tryon park has one of the largest heather gardens on the East Coast.) It is a tradition I always sort of "bump into" every year, but never actually participate in. It's almost become the official start of Spring for me, so I smiled to myself as I ran past the folks with their giant garden shears. Bring on the blossoms!!! I finished up the run just shy of 10 miles and felt a bit tight in my left ITB, but satisfied with another perfect Saturday morning run. I can't believe that everyone doesn't start out their weekends this way.

Colon Cancer 15K

This is my third year doing the CC 15K in Central Park and it is a cause near and dear to my heart. In 2008 my cousin Ted died after a 5 year battle with Colon Cancer at the age of 39 with no family history and a healthy lifestyle. Raising awareness of the devastating effects of CC is a really worthy cause that can save lives, and I'm not being hyperbolic one bit. So if you're over 50 and reading this- get your ass checked. There is a lot of good info on the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation website too.

The race Sunday was unusual in a couple of ways as far as NYRR races go, there were 3 events scheduled including a 4 mile run, a 1.7 mile walk and the 15K. Also, the race didn't even start until 11:15 because a biathlon run by NY Tri happened that same morning and the racers needed time to get out of the park. I will admit that the 11:15 start was a mixed blessing, on one hand I enjoyed not waking up in the dark but on the other hand I wasn't sure how to structure my morning. In the end I think it was fun but I'd rather not have NYRR make a habit of late races. I met up with a neighbor and friend @mwaldman for the ride down to Central Park and we left ourselves plenty of time to get there, it being Sunday and all. Of course we arrived in record time and spent nearly an hour freezing our toes off in the park! At least it was sunny and I had good company.

Ahh the race:

On Saturday night I peeked at my old 15K time from 2009 to try to establish a goal for the race and I decided trying to beat my previous record of 1:10 was lofty but I was going to shoot for it anyway. I had no idea if I'd be able to hold a sub-7:35 pace for 9.3 miles, but I was willing to try. I snuck in a pre-race warm up with fellow Inwood Hill Runner Jonathan who was racing for the first time in his shiny new VCTC singlet. We lined up together in the blue corral (the first one, eee!) for my first time in that corral. I assumed this meant there were about 35 people running the race, but the announcer told us that the runners were lined up all the way to the bottom of the park! It was really a bit of a rush to be in the front corral and I took it as a good sign but also as a challenge. I was going to have to step it up and prove that I belong there.

The start was quick and painless and I just left myself go with the flow for the first few minutes, not caring that I might be swept into a faster pace than I intended. I like that initial first rush at the start of a race and I wanted to savor it, so I took off and got right into a groove. A few minutes into the race I did a systems check and all felt good, even that cranky left hamstring that had been irking me all week, so I carried on at a nice fast pace. I cruised through mile 1 in 7:26.

Mile 2 is that nice flat portion on the east side of the park where life is good and I clocked a 7:15, hmm. I was feeling really great, but that little voice reminded me that the east side is the EASY side and I should save a little for the west side hills. "okay, okay" I told myself. I literally felt like I had to pull in my own reins to slow myself down but I knew it was a good move. Mile 3 came in at 7:29 and I was happy. That mile FLEW by, I couldn't believe when I turned the corner and saw the mile 3 sign. As we made our way down the west side I set my sights on a woman that I'd left pass me in mile 3, she was wearing a Hell Gate singlet and I wanted to let her go ahead but I had plans to catch her later. I just got the sense that she was going out too hard and I wanted to run a smarter race than that. I let myself enjoy the downhills of mile 4 and brought it in at 7:12. Oops, that was probably too fast but it felt really good. I couldn't believe how easy and steady the sub-7:30's were feeling. I knew I had to really keep holding back until at least mile 6 or so, so I clocked mile 5 at 7:26 and mile 6 at a 7:33. I took a GU at the water stop before the mile 6 marker, right at the top of Cat Hill, and I spotted my friend in the Hell Gate singlet again. Ahhh, I'd caught her without even trying. For the next half mile or so we actually ran shoulder to shoulder (ok, shoulder to tricep because she was pretty tall) and as we made our way towards the 102nd St transverse again I looked over at her and said "deja vu, huh?" All I got in return was a confused look mixed with some strain. I knew that if I was able to chat at that pace I could totally beat her, my new nemesis. I pulled away slowly at first, not wanting to blow it too early in the race, but I could tell that she was fading quickly. I peeked back at one point as we made the turn back to the West Drive and she wasn't in sight. Excellent. Mile 7 in 7:20. I needed a little motivation to stay strong as we hit the hills again and I noticed a guy in a fleece vest next to me who I'd seen back when Hell Gate and I were side by side. We pushed each other up the west side hills as I thought more and more about Ted. At some point I felt a blister on my left foot swell up like a water balloon, ouch. It could have slowed me down as I finished mile 8 (7:31) but I kept telling myself "you may have a blister, but Ted had chemo. Many, many rounds of chemo and he NEVER slowed down." It worked, I let myself pick it up and pick off a few runners around me as I reeled in mile 9 in 7:08. Many thanks to the guys around me who decided they wanted to race that last mile. Booya, that was for you Ted.

I pushed the final 0.3 at a 6:33 pace to catch a woman ahead of me (every place counts, right?)

I had a big smile on my face as I crossed the line Sunday, not just because I killed my PR by 2+ minutes, but because I knew Ted would have been proud. He was such a passionate guy when it came to everything and while he thought my running was a little nutty, just like the rest of my family, he was always happy to support someone's passion. 2 weeks before Ted died I ran my first marathon and I sent him my medal, he deserved it more than I did for his marathon fight against Colon Cancer. Even though he couldn't outrun it, I'm just glad that I can run this race every year in his memory. He'd have been proud of these numbers too, I know I am:

9.3 miles in 1:08:30, a 7:21 pace

Overall 256/ 2768

Gender place 23/1486

Age Place 7/ 494

I've never made the top 10 list in a non-XC NYRR race before! Woohoo!

Good enough for 67.4% AG

I'm stoked with the results, especially because this race was the last race I trained for before making the switch over to swim training for the Great Bay swim in June. Way to go out with a bang! Of course in the back of my mind now is a voice saying "think how fast you could run a half marathon at that pace...." Someday legs, someday.

Running weekend

On a normal weekend I tend to run Saturday morning with the Inwood Crew and Sunday morning hubby and I sleep in, read the paper, sip some tea and relax. So far March has consisted of 2 "abnormal" weekends with runs on Sunday morning on top of running on Saturday. Coogan's dragged me out of bed 2 weeks ago and this past weekend there was the important business of an overnight visit from Nancy from Philly and Elyssa trekking uptown to join us for a Heights Run. Mental note: I must return the favor soon and make the trip downtown to Brooklyn with E.

Saturday was a windy but sunny day which made for an excellent day with the Inwood bunch. Despite the southwest wind coming off of the river, we pushed our way down the Hudson path to Riverbank State park and turned back to head North. The wind at our backs on the run towards home felt great, it pushed us along at a nice clip, rounding the run out for me at 9 miles in 1:24. Thanks to Inwood Runner JS for the company and motivation to pick up the pace.

I spent the rest of Saturday wandering around the Multisport World expo at Columbia where I met some great people and potential coaches for the upcoming TRI season. I had a great time walking around the expo and listening to the lectures, but what I enjoyed the most was walking around the neighborhood where I spent lots of time exploring and studying when I was in grad school. Morningside has a really special place in my New York heart. I enjoyed an amazing sandwich at my old fav, Panino Sportivo on Amsterdam & 120th before heading home. It was a perfect early spring afternoon full of running, swimming and biking...or at least talking about it.

Sunday morning came and thanks to Daylight Savings Time making us "Spring Forward", we lost an hour of sleep and had a somewhat lazy morning before our run. We planned for a nice 7 mile run around the uptown area including a loop around the new Yankee Stadium (and its sign boasting 18 days til opening day!)and a trip over the Macomb's Dam Bridge. We looped back around the northeastern side of the Heights (sometimes known as Fort George), around George Washington High School with its accompanying hills and Yeshiva University which were both quiet and empty on a Sunday morning. It was a fun jaunt around the area and a great way to catch up with friends, we finished up with 7.6 miles in 1:11. It's no wonder I couldn't stop eating Sunday night... 16.6 miles for the weekend.

In addition to lots of fun with the girls, I got a belated birthday gift that is going to REALLY come in handy this upcoming year... an AWESOME tri-bag to schlep all of my goodies around to my upcoming races! I can hardly wait to use it later this season. Check it out- it's even in my favorite color!

Coogan's 5K Recap

I never know what to expect the first weekend in March each year, the weather changes drastically from year to year and so does my fitness depending upon where I am in a training cycle. This year called for light rain, temps around 50 degrees and "in a lull" fitness-wise. I was okay with all of those things, though I could have done without the rain. You won't hear me complaining though, I've nearly frozen my toes off many years in a row at Coogan's so I'd take this cool drizzle ANY DAY.

I have no real reasons for why I didn't race today in my favorite race of the year, I could have told you 6 weeks ago that I wouldn't be racing, I just am not at a "race ready" point in training. That is OKAY too because I have a really big year ahead and I cannot get started this early and expect to last until October 2nd (see here my plans for that day). All that aside, here's how today went:

I love Coogan's for one reason: I can roll out of bed and trot down to the start on foot in less than 10 minutes. This morning I had company for the first time, EG spent the night at my apt (we're practically a B&B) and we trotted down together to pick up our race goodies. I knew that Coogan's was going to be a BIG race this year because it is the first race of the NYRR club points series, but I think I was in denial about how crowded it would be. In '06 when I started doing this race there were ~2700 people in the race but this year there were 5370. Wow, big change. I know if I'd wanted to race today I would have been fine by moving to the front of the red corral, but instead I just ducked in somewhere nearish to the start and hoped for the best. It was crowded but I was ready for that and had no intentions of weaving my way through the crowds so I settled into a comfortable pace and trotted along, waving to my husband and good friend SF along the way. I avoided big puddles as well as I could and stayed steady up the first round of hills. This was my turf, I know these hills like the back of my hand. The course runs by my apartment twice so it is fair to say I would have had "home field advantage" had I chosen to race.

Mile 1 flashed on my watch at 8:46 and I gently chided myself for slacking off as much as I was (My PR is at a sub-7 pace in the 5K) and I decided it might be fun to do a little progression run today. I entered the park and got distracted looking for Joe, Julie, Robert and anyone else I knew. I spotted my friend Kevin S-S from VCTC who looked really strong, as usual and I finally spotted Joe as well, shouting out some encouragement to them both. I scanned the crowd for Julie, but couldn't see her and gave up as the crowd of returning runners got thicker. I thought I saw a friend up ahead and picked up my pace to catch him, but as I pulled up next to him I realized that it was a doppelganger. Oh well, I figured I might as well keep up the quicker pace and I started to look for other friends as we finished the loop around the Cloisters. I spotted LW and her crew as well as a few other familiar faces, but I missed most of the people I was looking for. I continued my progression run as I hit 8:01 for mile 2. Perfect, nice and easy. I waved again to SF and hubby along Fort Washington as we headed back down to the finish and hubby snapped a few quick photos of me smiling and waving. I brought it home with a 7:46 final mile and would have kept on running right to baggage if it weren't for the crowds. I ran into a few friends that I went to grad school with at Columbia as well as Inwood Runner JS who was getting ready to cheer on his daughter in the 4-yr old race. In the end, it turned out to be a rather social day. Oh and I ran a 25:15 or so and while that's nowhere near a PR for me, it felt great and I had fun!

After the race EG and I ran back to my apartment (yep, back up the hills) which helped us stay warm and we went out for a nice little brunch with the Inwood Hill crew. What a great day in the Heights. The heavy rain held off until later the day when I was home, curled up on the couch with a few cats and my Kindle.

Be sure to catch the NY Running Show tonight live at 8pm where we'll definitely be chatting about Coogan's and other NYC running tidbits.

Cats make great handwarmers after a wet,cool race. They're thrilled about it too..

Waking up from Winter

I haven't written in weeks and it isn't because I had too much going on, it's because I had nothing going on and there wasn't much worth writing about. February was a really difficult month for my family and while I usually hate to see my birthday month end, I was happy this year to put it behind me. I had some good training in the first half of February including some good swimming and running, then we took off on vacation to Mexico for a whole week. Ahh that was good stuff: sun, sand, SCUBA diving and good old fashioned relaxing. I needed that and I decided that I'll be taking a February vacation someplace relaxing and warm every year. I did a little beach and sightseeing running while we were down there, but we left really early for dives and it was too hot to run later in the day, so I just relaxed! It felt good too and by the time we got back, I was refreshed and ready to jump back in.

This first week back didn't go exactly as planned, but I got in some speedwork Tuesday night up in Inwood (brr, chilly) and that felt so good. My legs complained a little the next day, but I think they were mostly happy too. Wed I was sick but got in my morning swim anyway, hoping it would help shake whatever was wrong with my guts but I ended up resting on Thursday night and getting in a make-up run on Friday afternoon including some of the Coogan's course which I knew I'd be running on Sunday morning. I didn't feel great on that run but it felt really, really good to just get outside.

The weekend brought with it the threat of icky weather and the urge to stay in bed. I got out early on Saturday and met up with my friend LW to meet the Inwood Hill Runners for the first time in WEEKS for a Sat run. I was excited, but my legs were cranky and I was afraid I was out of shape. LW and I decided we'd cap the run at around 6 miles if possible since we had the race Sun morning and we set off heading north. The group decided on a West side- East Side loop of upper Manhattan/Harlem and we took off. I was struggling somewhere between mile 3 and mile 4 and actually pictured myself writing a blog post titled "struggling" or something else equally creative. LW and I shared this sentiment and considered the idea of hopping on the train once we crossed from W 155th over to E155th St instead of running up the East side back to Inwood, but when we got there we both felt good enough to keep going. That was a huge mental victory for me and I was happy that I kept going because I felt good and the sun was making a surprise appearance. Our plan to cap our run at 6 miles sort of flaked and we thought we'd be finishing up around 8 miles, but I may have miscalculated the route forgetting that we'd run an extra 1.6 miles from home to meet the group. Whoooops. Oh well, in the end we clocked 9.3 miles in around 1:25 with lots of hills, running along the railroad tracks and the sketchy trail south of Dyckman St. I was really, really happy with myself for finishing that run. With my avg HR in the 150's I also got a boost knowing that I haven't lost as much fitness as I let myself think.

I think the combination of sun and sweat on that long run was me shaking off my Old Man Winter coat and waking up for what I hope will become a really great spring. Heck, baseball players aren't the only ones who get Spring Training!

Coogan's recap coming very, very soon. :) (like in the next half hour).