Marathon Tune-up

Calf healed just in time for me run the Marathon Tune-up as a last long run before Hudson-Mohawk.  I ran a mile before the race, and then joined M who was leading the 4 hour marathon pace group as an official pacer.  His assigned goal was 9:09 miles.  I ran with the group for 12, then took off and finished at an 8:59 pace.  I felt good, finished strong, and was happy with it. I've been way faster at this distance, but whatever.  The odd thing was that my Garmin and the race had almost nothing to do with each other.  The Garmin measured the course as .5 miles shorter than the markers, and my pace as therefore considerably slower. I'm not sure what to do with that information.  I am going to go out on a limb, and assume that NYRR has a fair amount of experience placing mile markers in Central Park . . .

Flash Back Friday -- Barefoot shoes

On Tuesday I got inspired to dig to the bottom of my closet for my now vintage 5-finger shoes from 2012.  I've been working on reestablishing my quick cadence short stride form, and I used to find that a few miles in the Vibrams was a good form drill.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the run.  I kept my cadence above 180, my vertical displacement came down as did my ground contact time.  I worked on a relaxed smooth flow through.  I had planned to do a few laps of Cadman Plaza for a mile or 2.   I felt so good, and it was such a nice morning that I decided to run the Brooklyn Bridge.  When I was done with a three mile jaunt I felt loose and comfortable.  Big success.

Until, and, of course, this was to be expected, the next morning, when my left calf tightened up like gangbusters.  Oh yeah, that's what happened the first day I ran barefoot on Christmas morning 2011.  Oy!  I took yesterday off, and did a short run today, and it seemed to loosen up, but there's still a "spot."  Someday I'll learn not to make the same mistake twice . .. 

Why Runners Inexorably Slow with age

Interesting article in NYT Science Times today.  Spoiler alert, shorter strides due to changing muscle use.  antidote may  be specific form of strength training.

Pickletrophy!!

Thursday was the annual Superfund Super Run, sponsored by my friends at the South Brooklyn Running Club.

The race falls into the "goofy things runners do" category.  It starts at 10:00 pm and runs a 10K from one polluted industrial canal (Newtown Creek) to another (Gowanus Canal), finishing at one of our favorite bars (Lavender Lake).   There's no real course.  The challenge is to get from point to point as fast as you can.  There's a division of opinion as to whether the fastest route is the shortest, or the flattest, or just the one where you're least likely to get lost . . . 

The race sold out, but the field was slightly depleted due to, um, rain.  Still, about 50 folks showed up to run.  My training has been long and slow, so a 10K made some sense.  What the heck.  My goal was to try to run 8s, or as close as I could muster.  Three of us (Arvi, Caroline and I) agreed on that goal.  We did not, however, agree on route.  Caroline and Arvi planned to make a key turn at Gold (slightly longer, more complicated, but flat), and I had planned to turn at Washington (hill, but won't get lost).  We set out.  Caroline took off way too fast.  I know this because I went out way too fast and she went out faster.  I assured Arvi that we'd come back together, and we did, but we still ran the first mile in 7:45.  Yikes.  Then I got inspired, and kept going, blowing past the two of them, running the second mile in 7:50.  The field split pretty badly, and I found myself running by myself along deserted Brooklyn streets.  I slowed to 8 and change, and then Arvi and Caroline came back (or so I thought).  We ran together under the BQE, and then we came to the route decision point and Caroline (or at least I thought it was Caroline) turned toward Washington and Arvi continued toward Gold.  Rather than follow Arvi, I followed the person I thought was Caroline, but she got a few steps on me and picked it up.  I hung in behind her, keeping her in sight, but about 50 yards behind.  Our pace slowed pretty badly, down to 8:30 plus, and then, disaster struck.  At Atlantic Avenue Caroline (who might or might not actually be Caroline) caught the light and I got stuck -- for about 45 seconds.  Argh!! Then I took off and finished the last mile at 8:30.  As I was coming down Third Avenue a clutch of runners came up from behind, and I kicked it out with them, finishing in a pretty tight group.  I averaged 8:20 (I stopped my Garmin at the light), which is a little bit slower than I'd hoped, but it was dark, rainy and dark.  

The coolest part was that due to some good luck and a statistical anomaly or two, I achieved what may be a first for the blog:  Age Group Honors!!  I came in third for my age group and won a jar of pickles.  The race didn't have classic age groups, as there were only 50 runners, so they divided the field in thirds.  I was in the 38 and over age group.  Actually, I was the oldest guy in the race at 53.  Luckily for me, the next oldest guy, Joe, celebrated his 52d birthday by winning the race, so he didn't count.


 Oh, and it turned out that Caroline wasn't Caroline at all.  She finished a minute or so back, and I never found out who I'd been chasing. Arvi got lost, and was a few minutes further back yet . . . 

Anyway, that was probably the most fun I've had at night in the rain . . .