falmouth road race

Race Report – 2010 Falmouth Road Race

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 No Comments by Chronic Triathlete

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.

Tagged falmouth road race, race

Race Report – 2009 Falmouth Road Race

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 2 Comments by Chronic Triathlete

2009 Falmouth Road Race. Photo: Cape Cod Times

I ran the 2009 Falmouth Road Race last Sunday. I’ve been wanting to do it for a few years now, but I kept missing the registration deadline. Last year I put a reminder in my calendar to ping me a week before registration opened so that I could be sure to get my name in. It’s a lottery, and entry is only open for 2 weeks, but I got lucky and made it.

It’s one of the greatest races on the East Coast and this year’s 37th running makes it one of the oldest. Named “Best Non-Marathon Road Race in the US” by the NYRR and “Best USA Road Race” by Runner’s World makes it a very cool event to participate in. Even though it’s only 7.1 miles, the prestige and $90,300 prize package regularly pulls in the top names in marathon racing. Frank Shorter, Catherine Ndereba, Bill Rodgers, Grete Waitz and Alberto Salazar have all run in the past.

Who puts a hill in the final 1/2 mile of a race?!

This year pulled in some great talent too. Not that I got to see any of these elite runners for more that 100 yards after the gun went off. With my projected pace I got to line up pretty close — about 10 rows back — however, after the first turn they were long gone and I never saw them again. This year’s winner, Ethiopean Tilahun Regassa , ran splits of 4:28! American Meb Keflezighi and South African Hendrick Ramaala also showed up to run similarly blazing paces.

My fast friend Troy, who came up from NYC to run with me, did get to run with Joan Benoit, the winner of the first women’s Olympic marathon in ’84… until she dropped him at mile three. He ran a 00:42:35.

Happy results for my first time

I kicked out a 00:49:29 for an average split of 6:58 (1) 7:24 due to the crowd (2) 7:05 (3) 6:59 (4) 6:57 (5) 6:56 (6) 6:59 (7) 7:05 the last split actually being 1.1 miles. This put me in at 473rd out of 10,000 (401st male).

I expected to finish farther back over all because of the top international and local talent. I could have been a little faster, but there were four factors that set me back:

1: Achilles tendinitis

I picked this up in my left heel about four weeks ago. It just came on all of a sudden and it kept me off running for about two weeks — the two weeks where I should have been really hammering my training. I write the injury off to some experimenting I was doing with my running stride and to having tight calves/Achilles from the added biking I’ve been doing. I need to focus on stretching more.

2: The course was incredibly hilly

Nothing super steep or even long, but the first three miles are made up of continuous rollers that really zapped my strength. Then, there’s a short brutal climb within the last 1/2 mile. I was pretty much on the limit when I got there and it took everything I had to not come apart. I’m usually strong on the hills, and they were where I passed the majority of other runners, but, looking back now, I should have conserved early and picked it up on the later flat miles.

3: It was hot!

Not as hot as it’s been in the past, but hot enough to really make it a factor. I love training in the heat, but racing is another story. They had at least one water station for every mile. I think I hit them all. This is something I’d normally never do for a race of this distance. There were also a lot of people standing in their driveways with garden hoses spraying runners as they passed. Normally I avoid these because wet shoes give me blisters, but I hit several along the way.

4: Oh yeah, I have Lyme disease

The two weeks off really set me back, but I think my Lyme symptoms really compounded things. The first run after my short break was a brutal and depressing 3.5 miles that made me feel like dieing. I was so exhausted. The next one was better and they quickly improved after that, but it was rough. I also think the resurrection of some of my respiratory Babs symptoms impeded my breathing.

You gotta do this race!

I highly recommend this race to anyone in the area. It’s probably the best managed and organized race I’ve ever done. It puts every NYRR race I’ve participated in to shame. It’s also beautiful. You run through the trees of Woods Hole and then along the water to Falmouth. Gorgeous.

Finished... finally.

The SWAG at number pick up was pretty lame, but they more than made up for it at the end. There were hot dogs, popsicles, Clif Bars, PowerBars, ShotBloks, orange slices and a variety of other tasty treats.

The volunteers were great and actually into the race as opposed to the bored and sometimes homeless people the NYRRs employ as volunteers. Everyone was super polite and congratulatory. The medical support teams were also out in full force visible watching people for signs of heat stroke and just generally taking care of people. All of this really makes a great difference.

What’s next?

I dunno. I’ve started coaching a group for the NYC Marathon. I was considering running along with them, but with my Achilles issue it seems doubtful. I’ll figure something out.

Tagged falmouth road race, races, running