A Weekend to Run

I celebrated the great weather this weekend by doing a 10 mile run, a 4 mile "Fun Run" and a 4 mile race. Good times.

On Saturday, I met up with some of the AM Flyers who were planning various long runs, with differing paces and distances. I ended falling into pace with KD, who was out for a 12-14 mile run. The conversation was entertaining and the miles went by quickly. I cut off after 10 miles to head to the start of the Concern For Hunger charity Fun Run. 

There was a strong Flyer turnout for the charity run, and it was fun to catch 

up with some folks that I hadn't seen for a while.  

Not surprisingly, the run itself had a very different feeling than an NYRR race. The number of runners was smaller, of course, and there didn't appear to be any tracking of results. It was fun to run in a less crowded, and less competitive field, but it was sparse enough that there were a lot of non racers in the same lane as us. Probably, some of the folks out for a run didn't know that there was a race going on. 

I ran semi-aggressively, and was happy that after my 10 mile "warm-up" I was able to keep a sub 7 minute pace.

My favorite part of the run was the finish. The Concern for Hunger volunteers were out in force cheering for the runners. I took the opportunity to cheer back, and collected tons of high-fives while kicking to the finish.  

This morning was the Run As One 4 miler. I wasn't  sure how I was going to feel after putting in 14 miles yesterday. I had also suffered a weird stomach thing the night before. Once I  got going though, I felt strong, so I gave it the full press.

My splits reflected the hills - 1 mile up - 6:44, 1 down - 6:33, 1 up - 6:44, 1 down - 6:22. In the finish line chute, Flyer AW introduced herself. We had been swapping places toward the end, but because she wasn't wearing any Flyer gear, I hadn't realized that she was a teammate. She ended with the faster time (next time, AW!), and an age group award to go with it. 

I also ran into jb24, who finished with a huge PR. He has been on fire lately.

My official time was 26:24 (6:36 pace) - just 5 seconds behind my 4 mile PR (26:19). I'm quite happy with that. My plan is to do a couple of weeks of good training, and then get a little rest to shoot for a PR with fresh legs.

Solid

Today was the Scotland Run 10K -- always a highlight of the season. The Scots give out flags, and other items showing the flag such as rain ponchos and the usual t-shirts. Runners show up in plaid and kilts, and spirits are high. This year, it was a club points race, which added a whole other element of excitement. 

The weather was miserably cold and rainy, but the NYC runners still turned out in full force. There were 7600 finishers -- something of a mystery since the race was supposed to be capped at 5000... 

The weather was fine for running, but rough for standing around. When the race was over, I was freezing. I saw Trakmaniak wearing his kilt -- I can't imagine how much water weight that wool took on in the pouring rain. PD left his kilt at home, but has to be forgiven due to his speedy run, which was the fastest in the club. Lammy was there, enjoying his Boston taper by taking photos instead of running. 

Since the 15K three weeks ago, I've been taking it easy. I had been training and racing aggressively for a while, and it seemed like a good idea to let my body recover for a while. 

I cut back on miles and replaced speed work and tempo runs with easy paced runs. I ran a short race,  but started in one of the back corrals and ran at a comfortable pace.

I balanced out this change (somewhat) by doing a bit more swimming and core work.  It seemed to be working, so today I let myself go a bit in the Scotland Run 10K. 

I showed up so late that race officials had already removed the barriers between the first two corrals and everyone had moved up. I was able to squeeze into my corral, but effectively I was a corral back. As a result, the first mile was slow, but it didn't bother me. Because I had been so late, I was not able to warm up properly, and starting out conservatively seemed like a good idea. 

I hit my stride in the second mile and felt good. From there I continued to gain speed, and more importantly, felt strong.  The end result was 43:03 (6:56/mile). Five seconds per mile slower than PR pace, but I found it very encouraging. 

If I continue to feel strong, I'll ratchet the training back up and shoot for a 10K PR soon. The Healthy Kidney 10K is coming up in a month.... seems just about right.

Here are the splits from today.

Mile 1]        7:19

Mile 2]       6:58

Mile 3]       6:49

Mile 4]       7:02 (Great Hill - East Side)

Mile 5]       6:45 *

Mile 6]       6:45 *(Missed my split at mile 5. Based on 13:30 for miles 5 and 6)

Last 0.2]    1:24