Old Fashioned Race Report

Sunday I ran the Old Fashioned Ten Mile Road Race over in Foxboro. They also have a 5k there, which you may remember from one of my first few blogs posts two years ago. I think I did the 5k once before that too. Last year I tried the 10 mile, my first race ever for the distance, posting a 1:06 something. Back in November I ran the Bristol 10 Mile Footrace down in RI with a time of 1:03:45, and this was sort of a breakout race for me. Going back to Foxboro this year, with no snow or ice on the road, I wanted to PR and run a time I could not have imagined just two years ago.

So for me, while maybe not an "A" race, the OFTM was a solid B+. Contrast that to most of the strong field of dedicated runners assembled for the event, who primarily run this as a test of the legs/workout for Boston. Most of the ~500 runners are in the middle of their most difficult high-mileage training, so they're not out to run any PRs here. For me it's still fun to line up with such a deep field of serious athletes, even if gaging myself by comparing results would be foolish.

The day dawned cold but sunny, and by the 11 am race time the temps were pushing 40, but as usual this year we were met with stiff winds on much of the course. Foxboro isn't totally flat either, but there's nothing major, and any bike race field would ride this entire loop in the big chainring. My goal was to pace myself over the first half, run by heart rate, and try to negative split the second half of the race by as much as one percent. The 10 mile distance is pretty strange. This was only my third one, plus two similar 15k races at Raynham the past two years. I think on your very best day you might run one of these just like a 10k, right on threshold the entire way, but that's a tall order. Backing off a bit provides good insurance against self-destruction and a miserable last few miles. You sure can't pace yourself too much though, as there aren't enough miles to gain back much time conceded early on.

The first mile went perfectly for me. There was a big headwind stretch, and not as many bodies to hide behind as expected but I hit the marker at the Foxboro center gazebo in 6:15, right on schedule. My HR was right around 155, 5-9 bpm below threshold. The town center sits at a bit higher elevation than then surrounding land too, so the second mile heading out of town was all downhill. I think a lot of runners must have been caught in traffic or just planning a higher pace because there was a big surge from behind and I found myself freewheeling down the road at a significantly higher pace. Still though, my HR was low and I felt fine. Mile two came up at 12:19, so the split was 6:04. I'm ahead of schedule.

Miles 3 and 4 are run on a road along the edge of the state forest, a route I ride all the time on my bike and know well. In this direction the entire stretch is basically uphill, with a few rollers in mile 3. Figuring I had some time in the bank, I took it easy on the uphills, not letting my HR go past 160, and mostly keeping it lower. A 6:26 split for 3 was a shock, but I'm still doing OK so I kept my strategy in mile 4, where a few people passed me. I did not take the bait, as it's a long grind, but again it took too long and the 6:27 split put my cumulative time for 4 miles at 25:14, now a few seconds behind my plan. Mile 5 runs behind Gillette Stadium and is almost all downhill. I let the HR push up against 160 and got a 6:02 split, which put me halfway at 31:16, still six seconds behind my optimistic plan for breaking 62 minutes. I tried to pick it up, but instead met with the slight creeping uphill of the course's second half conspiring with the ugly headwinds to make my task quite challenging.

Mile 6 6:15. Mile 7, 6:13. Mile 8 contained a little climb at the end of Beach Street which slowed the proceedings. Here I caught back up to Mike Wade from GCS, wearing the distinctive Dog-Bone PR team kit. He was one of the guys who'd passed me back during mile 4. We turned onto Mechanic Street and were met with a killer headwind. Mike is a big guy and an experienced runner, so I stayed behind him as he set a good pace, pulling us up toward the next three or four guys, one of whom turned out to be GCDavid. The hill and pacing put mile eight at a slow 6:20, and with 50:05 on the clock, it was going to take a huge effort to break 62. I thought about passing right then and there, but every time I looked down my HR was 165, so jumping out into the wind and trying to increase the pace would have likely meant suicide. Besides, we were still gaining on grouppo GCD. Just before turning off Mechanic, I bridged the tiny gap to those guys, soldiering on ahead alone as soon as we turned out of the wind. I thought I was flying, but mile 9 still took 6:02, meaning I needed a 5:52 to make my goal. OK, let's try.

At least the road was flat. I knew I was falling apart, but had to give it a shot. Unfortunately, all hopes faded out when we turned onto the final straight stretch through the Invensys campus, as we were met with the most ferocious headwind of the day. The road is dead straight for a half mile, and the wind came slightly from the left, where there was just an open expanse of parking lot, no shelter. The three story plant on the right just served to funnel the winds right into our faces. I tried, but 6:05 would pass before I hit the line for a finish of 62:11, still a 6:13 pace, better than I'd run at Raynham, and a PR by 1:25 for this distance. The second half ended up taking 30:56, a slight negative split of about a half percent.

I'm pretty toasted now. My hip flexor has been bothering me a bit, as well as a bunch of other muscles. I need to recover for a few days and then decide in what direction I wish to turn my competitive efforts for the next two months. I'm not sure if I want to run another half marathon, focus on the 5k and 10k distances, work on duathloning, or just say fuck this running, I'm a bike racer. Maybe a combination of those. Thanks for reading.