Three or four of you might recognize where that title comes from. For the rest of you, at least it's more creative than "weekend update." And that's all it is, as I'm truly down to one post a week. Not much to write about on the training front last week; it wasn't one of my better efforts. After a Napper Tandy's PBR marathon with the work crew Wednesday night, my normal Thursday tempo ride turned into an easy spin to get some air. No openers on Friday either. So Saturday morning I got to Lowell a tad late as well, electing to pre-ride the course at a walking pace rather than do a real warmup. And I entered the 35+ too, as both the 35's and the 45's were going to be on the course at the same time anyway, so why not start with the first group? Well, my legs had a reason. The race started with a lap and a half around the cinder track and right away I was textbook all blocked up. My legs were stone.
Anyhow, after avoiding a cartwheeling (see video here, at 0:59) Ringer I went around a few more first lap mechanical casualties. The 35+ guys, at least the ones mid-pack and at the rear, are much faster than similarly placed 45+ riders. I had to race for positions. And then these punks had the gall to race back. There was never any rest really. After a few laps my legs felt better, and I usually managed to find a wheel around the track and other drafting sections. The laps were rather short though, and since the race was supposed to be 45 minutes plus, I was expecting one more than I got. The lead 45+ guys (who started two minutes back) had begun coming through, and of course I yielded the fast line, but some of my 35+ competitors took advantage and jumped by too. I really did not care, so long as I could latch on to them for the fast drafting sections. But on the last lap that they somehow knew about (I never got a bell) they sprinted and the race was over. I never got a chance to empty the tank. I was done in 42 minutes, and so the leaders of the 35+ had to be under 40. So much for 45 minutes. Didn't matter, the race was a piss poor effort, but I still averaged 160 bpm so it was not a total loss. And I lived, which was not a given on this course.
The good news (there is always good news here at solobreak) was that not going balls out on the last lap probaby left me in better shape for Sunday's Norwood Turkey Trot 4 miler. This is a pretty big race, as the greater Norwood/Dedham area is home to several running clubs who attend the trot in team quests for bragging rights and prize monies. You can always expect a strong field here. The course is a certified distance, and not flat, so that's cool too. I missed this last year but ran something like 24:04 in 2007, making it my 4 mile PR as there are so few races at this distance to begin with.
Saturday night I did not sleep well and that along with a few other factors conspired to have me running late for this race too. I'd hoped to do some good loosening up and running prior, but that could not happen. On the way over I called T-Vo to make sure it would be OK to park in his condo lot, as it's right adjacent to the race start. That saved me a few minutes. I managed a quick warmup run and some leg swings before heading to the start. T-Vo was planning on pacing off one of the Striders (he just joined), rolling the dice and going out at 5:45 pace. I was like, no f'n way. Managing 6:11's for 10k at Canton just a few weeks back did little for my confidence. I was thinking hang back and run the first mile in 6:15. And it's kind of downhill.
At this race I don't even line up front row. There were around 600 total, and three or four women club runners all were watching each other and lined up on the front. I took second row behind the HFC guys. Gun goes off and the real runners all bolt, and about a dozen wannabees foolishly go with them. I was running pretty fast but still must have had 35 people in front of me after a quarter mile. T-Vo slowly pulled ahead, sticking to his plan. I was just making sure that I was behind him. Then I spied Don from GNRC. He is over 50 and usually runs around the same speed as me, at least until we come to a big uphill. So I slotted in behind him. First mile came up in six flat. My HR was only 150 at that point and I felt ok, so I made an executive decision to try and hold this pace for the second mile, which is mostly uphill.
A lot of the early rabbits faded on the gentle grade. Don and about four others persisted just ahead of me. T-Vo was still going strong, at least 15 seconds ahead, right on his plan. Mile two came up at 12:02, so damn near a perfect split considering that we were nearing the high point on the course. I passed GNRC Don and four other guys all at once on small rise. Now there was nobody between me and T-Vo. The lead three women were 10-20 seconds ahead of him, still all right together. The end of the third mile is downhill. I was feeling good and gaining on T-Vo, but also hearing footsteps behind me. A guy came by and I got on his heels, and he ran by the fading Tom, who encouraged me. The 3 marker came up at 17:55 for a 5:53 downhill split. I stayed glued on the guy through a little neighborhood loop that had some wind and took us to the low point on the course. As soon as it turned gently back up toward the finish road, I heard the guy gasp a bit and I picked it up.
One of the women had been dropped by the other two and that gave me someone to chase. After catching and passing her, the others were not far ahead. The finish seems like it takes forever to come up at this race, but I was holding it together pretty well and knew I was speeding up, not slowing down. I hit the line at 23:45 for a 5:50 split, but per usual I got boned in the chute and my official time was three seconds slower at 23:48. I will take it for sure, as this was my first race on the sunny side of a 6:00 pace in over a year, any distance. This was good for 17th overall, 4th in my age group but since the AG winner got the prize for first overall master, I still took home the third place prize of a plastic pint glass, adorned with the Norwood Mustangs logo and filled with Halloween candy! This pleased me, being perfectly honest.
The running race was a mental boost. Lately I've been feeling like a bag of donuts and not racing all that well. Considering that you normally lose two seconds per mile per pound, and that I'm at least five pounds higher than my ideal running race weight, I wasn't expecting any PRs. And oh yeah, my new cross bike came in today. I'll edit this for typos later. Thanks for reading.
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