Run As One Race Recap: Racing My Way Into Shape

I finally have my race plans for 2015 in place. I’m registered for a ton of NYRR races and am excited to race all the races. 😉

Since I haven’t raced any NYRR races in a few years my corral seeding has officially been downgraded. Seeding is based on your best race time for a NYRR race. It’s such a fast field of runners. When the corral system was first implemented my pace on file was 7:17. Last year it was 7:19 and now it’s 7:22. That small change in pace means I’ve been moved one corral back to the yellow corral.

This also means I’m determined to earn my way back into the red corral. The only glitch right now is the only speed work I’m doing is during races and I’m really, really out of shape! Hopefully, I can make it happen before the end of the year.

Sunday, Rick and I ran our third NYRR 4m race of the year, Run as One. We ran 1.5 miles from home to the start and I ran an extra .5 before arriving in my corral. Two weeks ago I made the rookie mistake of getting to my corral just before they closed it and ended up at the back. Being that far back made it difficult to start at the effort level I had planned to. Getting to my corral 15 minutes before the race was perfect.

This week’s race strategy:

• Mile 1: Effort level 7 (partially uphill mile, plus super crowded)
• Mile 2: Effort level 9 (fastest part of the course)
• Mile 3: Effort level 7 (Central Park West Side Hills)
• Mile 4: Effort level 9 (mostly flat)

Two weeks ago I ran the exact same course during  Run for the Parks 4 miler and tried a different strategy. This week I also tried wearing my saucony kinvaras for the first time in months, instead of the saucony zealots because I wanted to feel fast (even if I wasn’t actually running fast).

Splits this week: 7:35, 7:04, 7:42, 7:04    Average pace: 7:25

Splits two weeks ago: 7:45, 7:25, 8:06, 7:09   Average pace: 7:41

I was somehow able to take one minute off my total time from two weeks ago! Which I was super happy about. However, to reach my goal I’ll need to take more than a full minute off my total time again. That’s going to take a lot of work!

Up next on my calendar is the Brooklyn Half but I’m taking it easy. I’m definitely not ready to race!