posted Nov-26-2007 07:34 AM               

Being a Thanksgiving Day race there are a number of very casual runners entered. It is also a combined start with the 2-mile run which attracts a number of walkers. There were a number of people lined up fairly close to the front that had young children with them, or even strollers. At the start it was tough working my way past some of these people but I quickly spotted another runner doing a remarkable job of weaving in and out and I just jumped in behind him and follwed him as he worked his way through the pack. He was going faster than I wanted to but I stuck with him for the first quarter mile or so until we were relatively open. Of course I had my momentum up now and it took a bit to settle back into my own pace. This resulted in a first mile split about 12 seconds fast for my 7:30 m/m goal pace.

Oh, one observation on this first mile. We were running down a straight stretch of road heading towards a 90 degree left-hand turn. There was a woman running in the middle of the road while I was on the left side of the road just behind her left shoulder, steadily overtaking her. When she spotted the left-hand turn she made a bee-line towards the inside of the corner and cut me off just as I was starting to pass her. She passed in front of me so closelty that we actually clipped legs as I was forced to move right to go around her on her right through the corner. I don't think sher ever knew I was there until we nearly collided. Not a big thing as nobody went down and nothing bad happened, but I'm just wondering how most of you handle these situations. I try to be conscious of what's going on around me and glance over the appropriate shoulder before moving laterally on the road. It doesn't seem to me that road racing shoudl be tactical in the sense of making blocking moves and such (I'm not saying this is what I think she was doing. I think she was just unaware), and if I were in her place I would have been sure to take the corner wide enough that the person passing on my inside could have done so unimpeded. What is the general consensus on the proper etiquette in this situation?

Anyway, afer the first slightly fast mile I settled into a good pace and the split times called out at each of the mile markers was within a couple seconds of my goal pace. This was a tough pace for me but I managed to maintain without getting an overwhelming feeling that it was unsustainable. At 4 miles the split time called out was 30:02, 2 seconds past my goal split. I was starting to feel pretty tired here and I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to hold onto the 7:30 pace, let alone pick it up to 7:28 to finish in 37:30. Somehow, though, my final time came in at 37:12. Needless to say I was just elated. The runner that finished just ahead of me turned and congratulated me on a good race, and we shook hands. I was flying high and had a big, idiotic grin on my face. I'm not sure if the 4-mile split was off or if I really did pick it up that much in the final mile. I tend to think the former as I didn't really try to sprint until the very last tenth or so.

In any case, this makes 2 5-mile PR's in the month of November, and I am enjoying it like a 12-year old. Every once in a while I'll dance across the living room chanting 37:12, 37:12 and DW will laugh indeulgently at me.

Stats:

OA: 91/685
AG: 20/107
Gender: 74/372

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Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

[This message has been edited by affreeman (edited Nov-26-2007).]

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posted Nov-26-2007 08:06 AM            

Put is some good hard work over the winter and continue the streak in the spring.

Generally, the person in front has right of way. There is always some jostling at the start of a race. Deliberately changing lanes/position to block someone is illegal and would result in disqualification in track event. But blocking is impractical in roadraces and doesn't seem to have been the intent in this case.

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posted Nov-26-2007 08:14 AM            

As pt points out, you are on your own in these situations, but it is a good learning point. People will often take the straight line approach on turns and if you are behind them it's like being inside a tractor trailer on a turn. You just learn not to be in that situation. I try to take the outside, which even though it's longer, allows me to sustain pace. I hate having anyone near me in a race, but in the first mile you have no choice so you really have to look around you and figure out what people are going to do.

BTW, you used a lot of energy in that first mile. Run a five-miler in a small field and you would have run this race even faster, which is why I believe you have more potential. Good job. Spareribs

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posted Nov-26-2007 09:31 AM            

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posted Nov-26-2007 09:46 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Canfit:
Btw - I was curious if you warmed up at all before this race?
PJ

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No, I didn't. Looking over the Garmin data from my last couple of races I have noticed that my heart rate tends to be a bit erratic over the first two miles, and peaks very high somewhere around the beginning of the 2nd mile before settling down and leveling off for the rest of the race. And in the Edaville race 2 weeks ago the 2nd mile was my slowest of the race. I've been thinking that doing a bit of warm up before races would get my heart rate up and perhaps help me avoid that peak before it levels off.

But I've no idea how much and how hard a warmup I should try to do. And how do you do it and still manage to line up at a reasonable position for the start?

Lots to learn...

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Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

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posted Nov-26-2007 10:41 AM            

You want to feel loose, hot, and ready to race. You should have run at least 10 minutes with 1-2 minutes at race pace.

How long and hard your warmup should be depends on the length of the race and a lot on your personal preferences. Take note during traing runs of when you feel most energized. That point varies widely, but for most people occurs between 1.5 and 5 miles. Use that as a guide for your warmup mileage.

A lot of experienced racers actually run two warmups. The first is an early "shakeup run" several hours before the race. The purpose is to kickstart the metabolism (it also stimulates your bowels). Then they do a second, faster warmup at the race site.

Assume you are running a 5K race, and you intend to jog the course at 10m/m as your warmup. Start your jog about 40 minutes before race time. During the last half mile, gradually increase pace until your reach race pace. Then jog the rest.

You should arrive about 10-12 minutes before starting time, which is time enough to change clothes, visit the john, and jog to the starting line - hot, sweaty, and ready to roll.

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posted Nov-26-2007 10:52 AM               

A warmup does sound like it might be in order. I am pretty lax about this myself, as I'm always worried that I'll use something up before I even start, but in anything up to an HM I think that it would do me some good. It takes me about through the 2nd mile to really feel like I'm in the groove, and it sounds about the same for you.

Good luck on continuing your PR string.

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- Runnin' in Rochester

Rochrunner

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posted Nov-26-2007 11:02 AM               

Congrats on the PR!

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-Andy
Competing in 5Ks and HM's
My running/writing blog:
http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2007/10/running-gear.html
PS it's iapetus NOT Lapetus

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posted Nov-26-2007 11:59 AM               

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Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com

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posted Nov-26-2007 03:25 PM               

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Fortunate--a volleyballer with a running problem
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posted Dec-07-2007 05:11 AM               

I've seen racers running in lanes open to traffic and unaware of cars behind them. We can't regulate ignorance. Thanks for the RR.

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SteveP

My User Profile

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