This past Sunday, Rick and I ran the NYRR Retro 4-miler. I’m really loving racing all these shorter races, though I have to admit that running as hard as I did during the race wasn’t fun at all in the moment. It hurt.
When we woke up Sunday morning neither of us were feeling well so we got a little off schedule. I had half a cup of coffee and a picky bar before the race and we jogged 1.72 miles to the start line.
This week I was in the red corral which is one corral closer to the start than I’ve been in previous weeks. I have no idea why some weeks I’m in the second corral and others I’m in the third. I do know that being in the second corral is much more desirable when I’m trying to run fast. Generally speaking it was easier to run the effort levels I was looking to run with barely having to weave around people.
Mile 1: 7:33
My goal here, just like a month ago, was to run an effort level 7. The gun went off and the start of the race was super slow. It is so congested that there’s no other choice than to go with the crowd. I figured that since my fitness level is still not great especially in terms of keeping a fast (for me) pace, that whatever time I lost here I’d make up for later on.
Mile 2: 6:52
This is the fastest portion of the race and my fastest mile. My goal here was to run at an effort level 9. I’m pretty sure I was at that effort level, but I also felt like maybe it was a little too fast and if I didn’t recover on the west side hills I’d crash and burn. I did not want to crash and burn during a race that’s only 4 miles!
Mile 3: 7:38
This is where the hills are and where I knew I needed to slow my roll. My goal here was an effort level 7, which meant every single person passed me. I didn’t care though as I knew after running such a fast mile 2, I had to slow down if I had any hopes of running a strong final mile.
Mile 4: 6:55
I really struggled with knowing when to pick up my pace and find an effort level 9. I waited until I was safely up the third and final west side hill. I found a pace that hurt and fought the urge to back off every single step until the final turn onto the 72nd street transverse. It hurt, but I played a game of get to the next tree/light/turn, and it worked.
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been running at an effort that felt so incredibly hard and convinced myself not to slow down.
Race Stats & Comments:
I realize my race strategy doesn’t seem logical, but considering where my fitness is right now it gave me a chance to recover between hard efforts. I know I’m not even close to being able to all out race for any distance, but I know that these short races are increasing my overall fitness level.
I was 4 seconds off from running a PR race. However, it was the fastest race I’ve clocked since 2010! I haven’t ran 2 miles under 7:00 since doing mile repeats during my build up to the Rock’n’Roll San Diego Marathon, so I’m pretty happy about that. My PR is a 29:10 and I ran 29:14.
Next up is the NYRR Front Runners 5-Mile race. I’m not sure if I’ll race it or run it. At this point I feel like I just need to focus on training, but who knows what I’ll end up doing.
I love the working backward race plan. That makes so much sense! Also, a fastest race in 5 years is reason to celebrate, even if it wasn’t a PR (and hey, 4 seconds is nothing!).
Congratulations!!!! This is great Jess and I know what you mean about the shorter distances – it’s a complete love/hate relationship! I know I have a few 5Ks in my future and I dread them because of the pain!! I think you ran a really smart race here and your fitness will continue to improve. Great job!
GREAT JOB coach! We’ll see how Saturday’s 10k goes. I’m using it as a diagnostic race to see where my running fitness/pace is right now after the month of craziness.