Sunday, September 03, 2006

BUCKSHOT RACE REPORT

Just a quick post on my recent running, including yesterday's 5 mile race. Friday I ran an easy 5 miles and my hamstring was still a little tender. Afterwards I iced it, took some ibuprofen and massaged it. Unbelieveably, I felt fine on Saturday morning - even during my warm-up there wasn't any pain.

Based on 'logic' and 'history' I figured I should run between 29 and 31 minutes.

Logically speaking, my last track workout consisted of 2 x 1 mile in 5:48 with roughly 2 minutes rest. That's 29-flat pace and it seems unreasonable that I'd be able to string together 3 more mile without any rest. Last weekend's first mile felt easy in 6:16 and I figure I could hold that for 5 miles which would put me at 31:20.

I'll have to resort to my log books when I have more time, but historically speaking, I've run this race probably 10 times with a best of around 28:20 and a worst around 32. Last year I ran 30:02, two years ago it was 29:42, I think in 2002 I ran 29:15 (a month before my marathon PR).

Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah... You're asking "What happened? How'd it go? Get on with it already."

Well what if I told you I opened up with a 5:35 mile? You'd probably say something like "Did you learn your lesson from last week?"

Yes, I learned my lesson. That's why I held back during that first mile. Granted, about half of that mile is a nice downhill. It's not so steep that you beat the crap out of your legs and struggle to maintain form.

The next 3 miles are a little rolling and I'm able to click off 5:58, 6:00 and 5:53.

Unfortunately, the race is 5 miles not 4. Just after the 4 mile mark there's a steep climb that probably last 60-90 seconds before leveling out a little, but continuing up for another 30+ seconds.

Maybe it was a mistake, maybe not, but at the top of the hill you make a sharp turn and I looked over my shoulder. There was one guy about 5 seconds back and - this is sad - I said to myself "He's not in my age-group." Of course he caught me with about 200 meters to go and I didn't respond.

Anyway, that last mile was a bitch in 6:24, but I was able to sneak in under 30 with a 29:50.

At first I was kind of luke warm over this performance. However, now that I've had a little more time to think about it, it's not that bad. McMillan converts it to a 2:55. Hell, I was prepared to step off the course at the first twinge in my hamstring.

More on the race once I get back to work and have more time to blog.

I don't have a running quote of the day, but lyrics from a song by the Gear Daddies (the best band you've never heard of), who we saw in concert last night at the Great Minnesota Get-Together (aka the state fair);

"My only real salvation...a few good friends and beer." - Martin Zellar

4 comments:

Thomas said...

Looks like you did indeed learn the lesson from last week, and spent the night before the race sleeping, rather than cross-training.

Could it be that you're in better shape than you give yourself credit for?

SRR said...

You are soooo speedy!

Mike said...

hey great job Zeke...especially with the "issues" lately...hope your hamstring prob corrects itself. What is up with all these injuries though...I am having PF issues in my left foot. It really SUCKS!

Chad said...

Thomas, good point - sleep is good. And you're right, I'm probably in better shape than I think. It's hard to be too optimistic when I haven't raced for 4 months.

Thanks RR, but the winner was over a minute per mile faster than me, so there's room for improvement.

Thanks Mike. You just completed an 11+ hour race, you're allowed to have "issues." Still, nip that PF in the bud.