Monthly Archives: August 2010

Had to steal these pix off MarathonFoto's site. They screwed up my order for proper digital images three times.

Ran my second Falmouth Road Race last Sunday. What a great event. It’s so amazingly well organized and the people are fantastic. If you haven’t done it, but live close by you should definitely try and get in.

Good, but not great results

I PRed by 00:01:39 over last year with a finishing time of 00:47:47 @ 6:49 pace. That was the good news. The bad news is that I was hoping for something faster. Sadly, I simply couldn’t tap it down to where I wanted. My fastest mile — which also happened to be the flattest — was 6:44. This was along a stretch where there were tons of people so I think I got a little five-second boost from the crowd.

I ended up 431st overall and 69th in my age group. This pisses me off because I finished 195th overall and 17th in my age in the Brooklyn Half Marathon. I know Falmouth pulls in a better pool of talent, but I didn’t realize that it extended so deeply behind the world record holders and olympic medalists.

I guess this just shows me why the half marathon distance has always been my favorite. Still, I thought I could carry some of that expertise down into the 10k/7m distance. Next year I’m going to switch up my training.

Warning, runner geekery follows

My recent half marathon and 5k results fall in line perfectly on the pacing chart I use. Both are right on the money with a V02 max of 60ml/kg/min. So, using that value as a marker, I calculated I should have been targeting a 00:43:10 @ 6:10 pace. However, when comparing the courses, I adjusted down for a 00:45:30 @ 6:30 pace because the Falmouth race, while not having much of a vertical gain, does have a lot of rollers.

Unfortunately, my training didn’t match up with my goal. In fact, I didn’t really train specifically for the event at all. I figured that I could simply maintain my exceptional fitness from May’s Brooklyn Half Marathon by running with the marathon group I’m coaching and by doing a few tune-up runs and a short taper four weeks before Falmouth.

Things didn’t workout as planned. The two weeks prior to the race I ran sporadically and based distances more on how much time I had to run that day than how far I needed to go. I also tapered stupidly; probably over tapered by taking it too easy five days before and randomly throwing in a 1/2m swim.

Oh… one highlight I forgot

I got a fist-bump from Meb Keflezighi as I crossed the line at the end. He was scheduled to race, but posted on Twitter the night before that he was backing out. Didn’t say why, but being the guy that he is, he stuck around in Falmouth and greeted runners as they finished. Pretty cool. Hopefully some of his talent came across to me.

The aftermath

This part is a bigger unknown than any question about training or pacing.

I did not feel good on race day. I had suffered some sort of stomach issue, like a food poisoning or possible pine nut consumption (I’m allergic) two days before the race. It only lasted six to eight hours, but it was enough to throw me off. I felt tired and stressed and my stomach was a little grumbly.

This has continued into today as I write this (the day after the race). My stomach just feels off. I’m also really tired today. My right side — the side that has the more pronounced neuro issues — feels noticeably more tired than the left. Emotionally I’m pretty drained too. I know this happens after a race, but this feels different.

I’m also weirdly tense today and had a lot of difficulty settling down to work or focusing on things. I know it sounds strange to say I’m tired and tense, but that how it feels — tired body, frenetic mind.

And, on top of it all, I feel a little fluish. Kinda hot, kinda not, kinda stuffy, maybe a cough. All vague stuff, but together they add up to a sign that I should probably take it easy for a week or so. I was scheduled to do a 10-mile race in Brooklyn this coming weekend, but work is keeping me up in the Cape Cod and Boston area for the rest of the month so I have a good excuse not to run it.

I did do any easy 2.3m run tonight to see how my body felt. Basically fine. Legs heavy and tired, but in an expected post-race kind of way.

Anyway… that’s it. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.