Washington Heights Week

A few months ago, I named this weekend's Coogan's 5k as my next "target race". When I made this declaration, I had built up a solid training base of 40 mile weeks, and was poised to add speed work and other focused training for the race. Unfortunately, my training plans were interrupted by life, and my training took a dive, including one week of 0 miles (!).

Returning home from a long work trip, I saw that I had scheduled two events for this week -- indoor races at the Armory on Thursday, and Coogan's on Sunday -- both in Washington Heights. The Armory was running four races that night, 1500 meter and 800 meter individual events, and two relays. I had organized a group of Flyers to run the relays. The Armory events are full of young fast runners, including college track teams and the like. Even though we couldn't be competitive in this field, it was a chance to run on a first rate track and have some fun.

Fortunately, the Flyers are good sports, and good at having fun. I ran a 200 meter leg in a relay, and an 800 meter individual event. That was enough for me, and I hoped it would leave me something for Coogan's. Some of the other folks ran the 1500 meter race, which gave them a little more track time. Afterward, a few of us went by Coogan's Pub around the corner for refreshment and some laughs.

On Sunday, I headed back up to the Heights for Coogan's, which starts right in front of the Armory. I had a great time in this race last year, and this year did not disappoint. I don't know if it's the music (live bands all along the course), the kids races, the police and firefighter participation, or the promise of free beer at Coogan's pub, but the vibe is great at this run.

I met up with my usual cohorts, PL and the H family (dad and both son's were racing), and I saw a few Flyers at the start including PD, RB and met RP, a Flyer I knew only from the forums.

At last year's Coogan's, I ran 23:15. This year my goal was to go under 21 minutes. Last year, that would have been a top 10 age group finish.

I ran hard and had a blast. I just love the 5k distance. I wish the NYRR ran more of them. I finished with a 20:48 (6:42 pace), hitting my sub 21 minute goal, and good enough for 13th out of 185 men in my age group.

Still, it was slower than my best 4 mile pace (6:38) from just a month ago. The course was hilly, but I suspect that most of the reason was that my training fell off in the last month.

Starting tomorrow, back to putting in the steady miles!