Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Sunday, February 08, 2009
New year, new PRs
This weekend, I ran a 5K followed by a 10K. New PRs in both races - 18:59 and 41:20. Old PRs were 19:49 and 45:16. The old 10K PR was soft and that's why the big DOW-like drop. Pleased with the 5K time. The big difference has been the miles I've been putting in. I've been getting an even 35 miles/week for the last 5 weeks leading in to the race. Throw in a few tempo runs and it's good. I anticipate cutting it down even further once I start doing interval type speedwork. Current goal is sub-18 5K by the end of the year.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Dragging myself to a new PR
This weekend, I ran a 5K. Finished in 19:49 - a new PR. My old one was 19:55, set way back in 2004. The race was a bit blah. Got there about two minutes after the scheduled start time. Saw some runners already on their way and figured I'd probably missed it. But, found out soon enough that it was the 10K start and that the 5K had been delayed by 10 minutes. That worked for me.
The race itself was tough - for me. At a couple of points after the half-way mark, I felt like stopping. Legs were quite beat up. A cup of water at mile 2 definitely made a big difference. Mile 1 was in 5:54, the next 1.1 mile in 7:04, and the last 1 mile in 6:47. Notice the gradual slowing down.
Even though it was a PR, I never really felt strong during the race. Part of it was probably the start where I thought I was late and part of it was probably to a 15-hour day on the day before the race when we went to the re-opening of the California Academy of Sciences, which, btw, is a great place to visit. I was on my feet for over 9 hours.
After mile 1, I could hear footsteps behind me. For some reason, mistaking myself to be Haile Gebreselassie (who had set a new world record in the marathon the same day in Berlin) I put in a little surge to break away from them. Needless to say, reality caught up with me and so did those footsteps, and pretty soon I was passed by them - one of whom was a heart-attack survivor. I didn't know if my mouth was agape from amazement or just from the lack of breath. There was even a little 11 year old kid that was always ahead of me and ultimately finished in 18:12 something. Very impressive.
Comparing it to my 2004 PR was interesting. Fours years older and four pounds heavier, yet the time remains the same (19:55 vs. 19:49). Weekly mileage is/was the same in both cases. However, back in 2004, my usual runs were around 3-4 miles and I used to do speedwork once a week. Now, my runs are usually 5-8 miles but with no speedwork. Some of them are hilly, which is "speedwork in disguise." I figure with a bit of speedwork I should be able to go sub-19. However, what I think is more important is to work on my lactate threshold which is what was responsible for entertaining my feeble mind with thoughts of stopping during the race. We'll see what the next race brings.
The race itself was tough - for me. At a couple of points after the half-way mark, I felt like stopping. Legs were quite beat up. A cup of water at mile 2 definitely made a big difference. Mile 1 was in 5:54, the next 1.1 mile in 7:04, and the last 1 mile in 6:47. Notice the gradual slowing down.
Even though it was a PR, I never really felt strong during the race. Part of it was probably the start where I thought I was late and part of it was probably to a 15-hour day on the day before the race when we went to the re-opening of the California Academy of Sciences, which, btw, is a great place to visit. I was on my feet for over 9 hours.
After mile 1, I could hear footsteps behind me. For some reason, mistaking myself to be Haile Gebreselassie (who had set a new world record in the marathon the same day in Berlin) I put in a little surge to break away from them. Needless to say, reality caught up with me and so did those footsteps, and pretty soon I was passed by them - one of whom was a heart-attack survivor. I didn't know if my mouth was agape from amazement or just from the lack of breath. There was even a little 11 year old kid that was always ahead of me and ultimately finished in 18:12 something. Very impressive.
Comparing it to my 2004 PR was interesting. Fours years older and four pounds heavier, yet the time remains the same (19:55 vs. 19:49). Weekly mileage is/was the same in both cases. However, back in 2004, my usual runs were around 3-4 miles and I used to do speedwork once a week. Now, my runs are usually 5-8 miles but with no speedwork. Some of them are hilly, which is "speedwork in disguise." I figure with a bit of speedwork I should be able to go sub-19. However, what I think is more important is to work on my lactate threshold which is what was responsible for entertaining my feeble mind with thoughts of stopping during the race. We'll see what the next race brings.
Monday, March 19, 2007
A race in the park
This past weekend, I ran a 10K race. This was at the Shoreline Park in Mountain View, which houses the Shoreline Amphitheatre, a site for music concerts. This is what it looks like during the day.
More than a couple of years had passed since my last 10K which was in 2004 and which was essentially my last race. This was a condition-gauging race, with the prime objective being to see where I stand in my current state.
The race was conducted by a charity organization, Asha. One of my colleagues told me about them last year when he was training with them for a marathon. Check them out at ashanet.org. Their primary objective is education and they are very efficient in their fund-raising. Take a gander at their efficiency rating over at charitynavigator.org and you'll see that they score 39.70 out of a possible 40. Mighty impressive.
The race was an out-and-back course and started at 9:20 a.m., a wee bit late into the day for a warm spring day. Most of my races have started by 7-8 a.m. If I were primed for an optimal performance, that might have been a concern, but in this case, it just merely a passing thought. There were about a couple of hundred entrants in the 5K and 10K inclusive. This was a low key race and there was no gun to start us off, just a human voice counting down from 10 downwards. Off we started. I found myself bunched up behind a few slower runners and started weaving my way gently to the front where I found myself in a pack of about 10-12 people. Mile 1 came even before I realized - in 6:20. Mile 2 and 3 followed in 7:28 and 7:52. This part passed by marshlands and we found ourselves fighting swarms of little bugs, the kind that you find on ripe fruit. Trying to keep them from entering the eyes and mouth. However, my legs were starting to tire by now and so, eschewing mouth-breathing wasn't really all that difficult. The turn-around came soon after and miles 4 and 5 were in 7:55 and 7:49. This was even worse since, by now, my face was covered in sweat and going back through the buggy area saw me come out with dozens of bugs stuck on my neck and face. A few made their way into my eyes. Soon after mile 5, there was a marker which said 0.2. That was a neat concept which I haven't seen before. What this means is that, at this point, you are done with 5.2 of the 6.2 miles that constitute a 10K and that you have exactly one mile to the finish. If I were in better shape, that would have been an invitation to change gears and blast it all the way through the end. However, the combination of tired legs and the bugs prevented me even trying to do so. I did manage a slightly faster mile and finished in 7:14 for a total time of 45:18. I reckon I finished about 7th or 8th overall. My pace was 7:18 min/mile. Can't say I was too disappointed but I had been hoping for a sub-44 minute time since that would've given me a sub-7:00 pace.
The guy that finished just before me (about 20 seconds ahead) ran the entire race barefoot. Part of the course was over dirt trails and I was impressed. The overall winner was a Stanford University track team runner who finished in 32:XX while looking like he'd just finished a leisurely Sunday morning jog.
My weekly mileage for the month leading into this race was a bit on the low end - 12.5, 19, 18, 16, and 10 - in addition to about 85 miles of biking and 0 miles of speedwork. Speedwork was something that I'd last done back in 2004. So, overall, I wasn't exactly expecting to do too well, however, I was satisfied with what I did. At least I know where I stand and this gives me a base to shoot from for the next target. I think I'll be aiming for sub-40 which is a 6:27 pace. It'll be tough, but it has to be done. :)
Shoreline Park is a nice place, especially on a night where a full moon is rising. However, it's probably not the best place for a race if the race has to pass through swarms of marsh bugs.
More than a couple of years had passed since my last 10K which was in 2004 and which was essentially my last race. This was a condition-gauging race, with the prime objective being to see where I stand in my current state.
The race was conducted by a charity organization, Asha. One of my colleagues told me about them last year when he was training with them for a marathon. Check them out at ashanet.org. Their primary objective is education and they are very efficient in their fund-raising. Take a gander at their efficiency rating over at charitynavigator.org and you'll see that they score 39.70 out of a possible 40. Mighty impressive.
The race was an out-and-back course and started at 9:20 a.m., a wee bit late into the day for a warm spring day. Most of my races have started by 7-8 a.m. If I were primed for an optimal performance, that might have been a concern, but in this case, it just merely a passing thought. There were about a couple of hundred entrants in the 5K and 10K inclusive. This was a low key race and there was no gun to start us off, just a human voice counting down from 10 downwards. Off we started. I found myself bunched up behind a few slower runners and started weaving my way gently to the front where I found myself in a pack of about 10-12 people. Mile 1 came even before I realized - in 6:20. Mile 2 and 3 followed in 7:28 and 7:52. This part passed by marshlands and we found ourselves fighting swarms of little bugs, the kind that you find on ripe fruit. Trying to keep them from entering the eyes and mouth. However, my legs were starting to tire by now and so, eschewing mouth-breathing wasn't really all that difficult. The turn-around came soon after and miles 4 and 5 were in 7:55 and 7:49. This was even worse since, by now, my face was covered in sweat and going back through the buggy area saw me come out with dozens of bugs stuck on my neck and face. A few made their way into my eyes. Soon after mile 5, there was a marker which said 0.2. That was a neat concept which I haven't seen before. What this means is that, at this point, you are done with 5.2 of the 6.2 miles that constitute a 10K and that you have exactly one mile to the finish. If I were in better shape, that would have been an invitation to change gears and blast it all the way through the end. However, the combination of tired legs and the bugs prevented me even trying to do so. I did manage a slightly faster mile and finished in 7:14 for a total time of 45:18. I reckon I finished about 7th or 8th overall. My pace was 7:18 min/mile. Can't say I was too disappointed but I had been hoping for a sub-44 minute time since that would've given me a sub-7:00 pace.
The guy that finished just before me (about 20 seconds ahead) ran the entire race barefoot. Part of the course was over dirt trails and I was impressed. The overall winner was a Stanford University track team runner who finished in 32:XX while looking like he'd just finished a leisurely Sunday morning jog.
My weekly mileage for the month leading into this race was a bit on the low end - 12.5, 19, 18, 16, and 10 - in addition to about 85 miles of biking and 0 miles of speedwork. Speedwork was something that I'd last done back in 2004. So, overall, I wasn't exactly expecting to do too well, however, I was satisfied with what I did. At least I know where I stand and this gives me a base to shoot from for the next target. I think I'll be aiming for sub-40 which is a 6:27 pace. It'll be tough, but it has to be done. :)
Shoreline Park is a nice place, especially on a night where a full moon is rising. However, it's probably not the best place for a race if the race has to pass through swarms of marsh bugs.
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