NYRR 15K Report

The start of the race today was in the North East corner of the park. We haven't started there before. So the first challenge of the day was to find some parking in a new part of town. We just missed with a couple of spots, where the car in front of us got it. Finally we decide we are going to have to pay for a parking lot. On the way back to the lot we hit an area with parking everywhere. Now we know where to start next time around.

Trouble is, we are cutting it close. Out of the car, and we start jogging to the start. Drop our bags at bag check. (you need warm clothes post run). Then stand on line at the portajohns. We are still on line when they are singing the national anthem. Had to wait tho'. It's a bit of a drive into the city and 9 miles on a full tank isn't a good idea.

We run to the corrals, the horn sounds before we get there. Todd jumps into the first corral as best he can. I duck in half way back.

I'm glad I wasn't trying to set any kind of PR today. I felt penned in for about two miles and I was running slowly. (HR under 150). When it finally opened up a bit, I probably bumped my speed up so I was running 150-160 BPM. I was still trying to figure out how I was going to play this. I felt pretty good but I had a feeling that 9 miles was going to be too much. The 3 mile mark is ahead. I decide that I'm going to step up the tempo for at least 3 miles and see how it goes.
So now I'm running with my HR between 170-180. I don't know my speed, never took a single split all day and didn't use my footpod. I wanted to make sure my decisions were based on how I felt rather than some number I felt I should be capable of.

While running "fast" two things were brought to my attention. I don't have the hill power I'd like to have and my hamstrings/glutes are still too tight. The lack of flexibility in my hamstrings felt like the biggest limiting factor for me today.

When I got to mile 6, I went back to an easier run 140-150 BPM. I was very tempted to take the cut off for the first loop and cut the race short. I'd just take a DNF. My hamstrings probably would have liked that. I decided to finish it out. I just kept it real easy. The worst part was that I started to get cold. So I probably returned to the 150-160 range again.

I finished in 1:21:03, 8:42 pace.
Todd finished in 1:07:11. He said he wasn't going to go all out today. He had been skiing the day before. Still a good run in my opinion.
Looking at the results, it would have been a fun finish to watch. 2nd place was 1 second behind, both running 5:08 min/mile pace.

I'm not sure running 15K was really the best idea for my training but I did come away with a few things.
My ankle is no longer an issue. I never even thought about it at all today.
I need to focus on stretching more often than I do.
I need to get my polar watch software back up and running.
Once I have my graphs back up and running. Contact the coaches about adding a bunch of shorter races Jan-April. Then I'll make sure to get some feedback about the results.

I have a pool workout yet to do today and then some weight training. I'll be stretching my legs every chance I get. Time to break out the STICK again.