I haven't raced much in the last several months, since I've been building my mileage back up. The Woodsmen's 10.?K a few weeks back was the ice breaker, and really just a tempo on hills. Over Labor Day weekend, I ran the Park Forest Scenic 5 Miler.
I went into Park Forest thinking it would a glorified tempo, but unlikely anything all-in. I wound up running a very steady and controlled race.
It was a stacked race w/ some prize money. Something like 9 Kenyans showed up for a 300 person race! Also had a number of guys vying for top seats in the CARA standings. Weather was decent, however, winds were generally tails for miles 1 and 3, and heads on 2, 4, and 5.
Mile 1... Slightly down hill with a tail wind. Pretty much guaranteed to be the fastest mile. Several runners pushed ahead of me. Since I had no idea what I was actually going to wind up running, I just let it unfold. Everything felt good. A group of college / high school kids rolled by me. For a moment, I was impressed with how easy they were jamming. 5:27.
Mile 2... Blew by the kids. I thought they were going to suck on me as we turned into some head winds for about 1/2 mile. They weren't ever a threat. Dumb kids. I was no longer impressed. However, Felipe Lopez passed me (he'd be the last). Up in the distance were Steve Breeze and Mike Egle. All race hogs. Felipe and Steve are in my age group for the CARA Circuit, and they're generally slower than I am. I haven't seen them in a year, so this created a good measure for myself... They shouldn't blow me away. If they did, then I'd really need to start questioning my training. Felipe quickly put 20+ meters on me, and he still had another 20+ before Steve and Egle. 5:38.
Mile 3... Settled into auto pilot now. I still felt good, but didn't know how long that might last. I was slowly getting dropped by Felipe as he pushed to catch Steve and Egle. Maybe 50 meters between us now. Then all of a sudden, it was as if someone pulled in the train. We approached a few turns on the course, and I gained significant ground on their pack. I passed a few other guys that started to fade. 5:37.
Mile 4... I sat on Steve, Mike, and Felipe for a minute now. We turned a corner into the wind, and I immediately dropped them. No body challenged me. Somewhat surprising that Egle didn't step up. He's typically more aggressive than that. Either he had his own agenda, or he's starting to show his age. From here on, I was pretty much alone - one runner in the distance... easily another 100m up. I still felt strong, so I put a little more distance on the pack as I headed into a slight wind. 5:34.
Mile 5... Now straight into head winds, which were very steady and relentless. I still had plenty of gas, but the wind definitely made the final mile a challenge. At some points I was crawling. Other times, I was hammering. I mainly didn't want to get caught by my former road kills, so I just kept pressing. The runner in front of me was initially an after thought, but he started to show pain as the mile progressed. I could see him looking back and gauging me. We hit a quarter-mile long incline, and I started to reel him in. By the final 200m, he became my bitch. I buried him. An unimpressive 5:35 for the 5th mile, but given the evil headwinds, I'll take it. 27:53 overall.
First age for Circuit purposes... 14th over all... loaded w/ 9 Kenyans.
Split recap: 5:27, 5:38, 5:37, 5:34, 5:35... 27:53.
For comparative purposes: Back in the spring, my Shamrock 8k was 28:05 (also treated as a fast tempo versus all-in race). 8k is fractionally shorter than 5 miles. On an 8k basis, I could possibly shave another 8-10 seconds off the Park Forest time. Considering I didn't feel extremely taxed, I would say this was a nice test race.
I went into Park Forest thinking it would a glorified tempo, but unlikely anything all-in. I wound up running a very steady and controlled race.
It was a stacked race w/ some prize money. Something like 9 Kenyans showed up for a 300 person race! Also had a number of guys vying for top seats in the CARA standings. Weather was decent, however, winds were generally tails for miles 1 and 3, and heads on 2, 4, and 5.
Mile 1... Slightly down hill with a tail wind. Pretty much guaranteed to be the fastest mile. Several runners pushed ahead of me. Since I had no idea what I was actually going to wind up running, I just let it unfold. Everything felt good. A group of college / high school kids rolled by me. For a moment, I was impressed with how easy they were jamming. 5:27.
Mile 2... Blew by the kids. I thought they were going to suck on me as we turned into some head winds for about 1/2 mile. They weren't ever a threat. Dumb kids. I was no longer impressed. However, Felipe Lopez passed me (he'd be the last). Up in the distance were Steve Breeze and Mike Egle. All race hogs. Felipe and Steve are in my age group for the CARA Circuit, and they're generally slower than I am. I haven't seen them in a year, so this created a good measure for myself... They shouldn't blow me away. If they did, then I'd really need to start questioning my training. Felipe quickly put 20+ meters on me, and he still had another 20+ before Steve and Egle. 5:38.
Mile 3... Settled into auto pilot now. I still felt good, but didn't know how long that might last. I was slowly getting dropped by Felipe as he pushed to catch Steve and Egle. Maybe 50 meters between us now. Then all of a sudden, it was as if someone pulled in the train. We approached a few turns on the course, and I gained significant ground on their pack. I passed a few other guys that started to fade. 5:37.
Mile 4... I sat on Steve, Mike, and Felipe for a minute now. We turned a corner into the wind, and I immediately dropped them. No body challenged me. Somewhat surprising that Egle didn't step up. He's typically more aggressive than that. Either he had his own agenda, or he's starting to show his age. From here on, I was pretty much alone - one runner in the distance... easily another 100m up. I still felt strong, so I put a little more distance on the pack as I headed into a slight wind. 5:34.
Mile 5... Now straight into head winds, which were very steady and relentless. I still had plenty of gas, but the wind definitely made the final mile a challenge. At some points I was crawling. Other times, I was hammering. I mainly didn't want to get caught by my former road kills, so I just kept pressing. The runner in front of me was initially an after thought, but he started to show pain as the mile progressed. I could see him looking back and gauging me. We hit a quarter-mile long incline, and I started to reel him in. By the final 200m, he became my bitch. I buried him. An unimpressive 5:35 for the 5th mile, but given the evil headwinds, I'll take it. 27:53 overall.
First age for Circuit purposes... 14th over all... loaded w/ 9 Kenyans.
Split recap: 5:27, 5:38, 5:37, 5:34, 5:35... 27:53.
For comparative purposes: Back in the spring, my Shamrock 8k was 28:05 (also treated as a fast tempo versus all-in race). 8k is fractionally shorter than 5 miles. On an 8k basis, I could possibly shave another 8-10 seconds off the Park Forest time. Considering I didn't feel extremely taxed, I would say this was a nice test race.
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