March 18th: Woke up a few times in the early morning hours. I don't know if I was nervous or just used to waking to early, but I was wide awake at 6am. Easy jog with Treadway and Goupil at 7ish. 1.5 (12:xx) up to starting line and back. Hotel was less than a mile from the starting line as well as packet pickup. Couldn't ask for a better location. Breakfast downstairs in the lobby at 7:45am. Two instant packets of oatmeal with a splash of milk and a sprinkle of brown sugar. Glass of water to wash it all down. Back up to the room to change up and pack up to check out of the hotel. Brought the overnight bag down to the hotel at 8:15am and headed back up to the room to take a quick poop to empty myself out. Packet pickup with the team at 9am. Chilled at the van parked a few blocks down from the starting line until about 9:30ish. Met up with Fyffe dog, Hammet, Big George, and other randoms. Warmup with those guys plus some ARE members at 10:15am. 2+ miles (16:20). Back to the van to get race ready. Switch up the socks, shoes to racing flats, calf sleeves, and the sweet orange racing jersey. Somehow I matched my shoes and shorts with the orange of the new jersey. Jogged to the line with the team and did a modified limbo through the barrier to grab a spot towards the front. Race off at 11am.
Out strong and to the front of the race to tuck in with Fyffe and others. Cruised the first half mile with a pack and then took the lead through the mile in about 8th or 9th place. First 5 miles were tougher than the next 5 miles. Splits from what I remember 5:08, 10:15, 15:35, 20:55, 26:00, 31:00, 36:06, 41:1x, 46:40, 51:43, no split for 11 or 12 miles because they didn't have clocks there. Ran with Dan Hocking from about 4 miles to 12 miles. My 10k was 32:14 (split on the results and in 5th place). Negative splited the race overall. A slow 9th mile because I was kinda tired and some windage along the shore. Killed the last 1.1 miles with the uphill and downhill to put 17 seconds on 5th place in that short distance. Happy with the result. Over a 6 minute PR and broke 68 minutes. 67:56 officially. 4th overall. Another top 10 finish in the New England Grand Prix Series race (10 weeks until the full marathon in Vermont). Cooldown 3 miles (22:50). 20 for the day. 73 miles for the week.
Post race consisted off a Balance bar, Nature Valley bar, two bananas, codfish sandwich, and a grape seltzer. Headed back to Albany at 2pm. Stopped at Applebee's for a huge early dinner. Honey BBQ boneless wings, Oreo milkshake, fiesta lime chicken, and a brownie shooter. Hit the spot and went into a food coma for the rest of the van ride. Back to Josh's house by 7pm. Goupil ran a red light on the way home because he got off an exit early. I told him to just hop back on the highway straight ahead. So he looked both ways and proceeded through the red light. Didn't phase us and we made it home safely. Protein shake. Foam roll. Bed early for a Monday of extreme pain, but pain that is worthy.
Down week and a trip home this upcoming weekend. Maybe a workout and a longer run on Saturday or Sunday.
Fantastic race! Congrats!!
ReplyDeleteThanks man. See ya in 2 weeks for Fast Friends! Keep up the training. Were you happy with your race? Didn't get to talk to you about it too much after.
ReplyDeleteCongrats!... man i like your race.
ReplyDeleteBedford Vans