The perfect end to the perfect summer day in NYC.
What a difference a week can make! After a sluggish peformance in the Rhode Island 10-miler last week, I ran my best 5-mile time (post-40) in the NYRR Club Team Championships in Central Park on August 6. The temperature for the 8am start was cooler than it had been at the beach - around 70 degrees versus 80+. However, it was similarly humid. At the club team championships, I was operating on fewer than six hours sleep - after having driven my son and his friends back from a Cross Country camp in Pennsylvania the day before. That should have worked to my disadvantage. However, I got out to quick start with a 7:20 mile and followed it with a 7:30. Mile three went by in 7:45 and mile four, which includes CP’s famous “cat hill” was closer to 8:30. The final mile, with the ageless Frank Deleo breathing down my neck and the PPTC women team cheering us on, returned to a 7:30.
There was nothing special about my training the week of the Club Team Championships: four workouts at CFSBK plus one session of short intervals on the Red Hook track. I skipped the PPTC 5k run the previous Wednesday - quite possibly the extra rest helped me on Saturday: I also took a rest day prior to the Blessing of the Fleet race. Another possibility is that the CFE training pattern (three running workouts plus 3-4 CrossFit WODs per week) prepares an athlete better for shorter distance races than for ten miles and up. However, there are plenty of testimonials from folks who have run not only marathons, but competed in triathlons (including Ironman events) and ultra-distance runs using the CFE methodology.
The Club Championships is a wonderful event. It is restricted to members of NYRR-affilated running clubs which makes it smaller than almost all the other Central Park races. Because the race is worth double points in the NYRR club team standings, it is well attended. Club members turn out wearing their colors, the men’s and women’s heats are run separately making for a large cheering section, and many of the teams have post-race picnics near the finish. All of this creates a festive atmosphere and makes for one of the best days on the NYRR calendar.
I have had my eye on the “Blessing of the Fleet” 10-mile race for about three years, ever since I took up running again and started visiting the South County seashore of Rhode Island. One of the great aspects of running is being able to train and run races in other locales and to participate in colorful local traditions (see link for a brief description of the Blessing of the Fleet). This year, the stars finally aligned - I was able to make it to RI for the Friday evening (July 29) competition and even to spend a couple days at the beach beforehand. It also provided an early test of my fitness exactly 100 days before the New York City Marathon on November 6.
My experiment with the CrossFit Endurance approach to training yielded a number of low mileage training weeks leading up to the race. Shorter races over the past month had proved to be a mixed bag - I ran my best 5k on the road in Prospect Park, but had withered in some intense heat at Van Cortlandt Park. The typically hot July weather meant that I had been better about getting to the gym for CrossFit WODs and at running short intervals, than at doing the sort of tempo work required for longer races.
Race day was overcast, muggy and warm with thunderstorms forecast for the late afternoon (start-time was scheduled for 6pm): weather better-suited for lying low and catching a few movies. Nevertheless, some 3000 runners turned out for the race which is run mostly on narrow residential streets in and around the seaside community of Narragansett.
The start was crowded, but I was able to hit my first mile goal of running around 8:20 mile. The plan was to ease into the race and, assuming I felt strong, to accelerate during the second half of the course. Although I was able to maintain the 8:15-8:20 pace for the first few miles, my legs felt heavy and I knew (from a car tour of the course the previous day) that the biggest hills were in the middle of the race. In contrast with some recent races where my form felt good, my legs started to cramp and strain by mile 6. The last few miles were a struggle - and it was telling that for the final downhill mile, when I should have been able to kick it in, my time was in the high nines.
I was able to finish in 1:29:28, just under 9-minute pace overall. However, the time was slower than either of the half-marathons I ran a couple months earlier. Part of the difference is attributable to the hot, humid weather, both on race day and in weeks prior. However, it seems pretty clear that I need to be hitting those tempo runs at 5k-10 miles pretty regularly. There are only 96 days to the marathon from the date of this report - so time to get started.
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Spent this morning, July 4, on the beach at Jacob Riis/Fort Tilden. It was foggy and breezy when I arrived. The sun burned through the gray and by noon the crowds were arriving. I hope this shot captures the unhurried atmosphere this Independence Day morning.
There is something special about running through trails in the woods,which connects a person with his inner spirit. As great as NYC is, and it is particularly wonderful for adult amateur road runners, those of us who live here don’t get many chances to make this particular spiritual connection.
That is the reason why the summer Cross Country 5ks sponsored by the Van Cortlandt Track Club are such a great opportunity for the urban runner. I headed up to the Bronx this Thursday after a long, busy and indulgent week (Father’s Day, daughter’s high school graduation, work) to get in a hard workout and to refresh the spirit.
The races are homey (numbers were left over from the recent Riverside Ramble) and inexpensive ($5 entry fee). Over 100 runners showed up this week which is about average for the series. The great thing about cross country is that your time is going to vary by course, and by conditions on the same course, so instead of paying attention to pace times, you are forced instead to focus on your breathing, your running form, the course and the runners around you.
Having arrived just a few minutes before the race, still somewhat full from graduation lunch, I wasn’t in the optimal state at the start. The focus was simply on running hard and steady - especially through the famous VCP back hills - and to finish well. As the kilometers passed, my attention fixed entirely on my breath, stride and whichever runner was right in front of me. My time of 26:03 was about a minute off my best for the course, but there were positive signs - I passed more runners than passed me in the last mile of the race and the folks that ran around me were visibly fit and seasoned runners.
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Opted not to run today - instead went to CFSBK for two classes. The regular group WOD (workout of the day) and Active Recovery. The WOD emphasized gymnastics moves - my weakest area. One of my favorite things about CrossFit is the coaching and training in areas where I have little skill or experience. Gymnastics and free weights are activities I would have never imagined enjoying. The Active Recovery session involved a lot of soft tissue work in the legs, back and shoulder: amazing what a person can do to themselves with a lacrosse ball!
Have reached a strange point in my training. Spring endurance goals were reached a few weeks ago with the dual half marathons. New York is still nearly five months away. I am doing both CrossFit and running/endurance training, but it feels like I am slacking a little. I don’t plan to do much racing until later in the summer and probably won’t do longer pre-marathon runs until August. I’m wondering whether experienced marathoners have advice about what kind of running to do early in the marathon training cycle?