Race report: Fish Day 8K

[Ryan]

Where to start? Well, I've been marathon training. To me, that meant two things. 1) My stamina is solid. 2) My speed may not be up to par with my stamina. How that would play out in an 8K? Well, there was only one way to find out. One thing I knew going into race day, Dana was going to be there. He and I are very similar in ability but, especially with me marathon training, I had a feeling he would have the edge unless I could get away from him mid-race and I wasn't sure I would be able to do that. I was going to have to reach far into my bag of tricks to come up with a plan to beat him. Being teammates in a heated team battle, though, the most important thing was that we both ran as fast as possible.

On race morning, even before I stepped foot out the door, my stomach was already doing worse than on a normal race day. This wasn't a good sign but I figured I'd still give it a go. I met up with Dana and we carpooled to the race together. We arrived in Port Washington, saw Jason Mayer who had already seen most of the rest of the team, then went to get our packets. After meeting up with the rest of the team for a bit, we headed back to the car to drop our things and warm up.

I began the warmup with the team and almost immediately split off to keep my warmup in the vicinity of the port-a-johns. This isn't a good sign. Fortunately, things seemed to settle as the warmup continued. I went back to the car to change into my racing flats and singlet and went to the starting area to do my usual final race preparations. I was feeling OK but not great.

At the start, I got out good before settling into pace and falling back to around 20th-25th place. As we rounded the first turn and the gradual climb we had been going up got steeper, I found a strange thing happening. I actually began passing people, even though I wasn't pushing the hill at all. Maybe all those hills around home are paying off. Whatever the case, I went with it. As we leveled off, I began opening it up a bit. By this point, a lead pack had broken off and I was in the middle to back of a larger chase pack. After opening it up, I found myself toward the front of the chase pack. I cruised through the always slow first mile in about 5:50. Then, I opened it up a bit more. I moved into the lead of the chase pack but Dana quickly responded and was right on my shoulder. A few others quickly joined. While I broke up the pack, Dana and a few others broke me up and left me in their dust. I was just trying to not let the gap between myself and the next guy up get too big and still keeping my eye on Dana. A little later, I went around a turn and didn't see Dana in front of me. I quickly spotted him on the sidewalk. It looked like he was testing his left calf. Not good. I had another teammate to my left at that point and said to him we're a man down. As soon as I said that, Dana was right there on my right shoulder so I quickly followed up with an "I guess not". I took the pace a bit and Dana and a couple of others went right with me, then Dana took off again and I had nothing to respond with so, for the second time, I watched Dana run away from me like there was nothing to it.

Not very long later, I saw Dana on the side again and I didn't see him again for the rest of the race. At that point, it became a battle with a few scattered guys. I mostly won that battle until the final mile, when Andy Ruffalo and another runner blew by me. I tried to maintain contact but couldn't. When Ruffalo went by me, that caught me by surprise as much as anything because I expected him to be well ahead of me.

I came down the final hill, trying to use it even though it is too steep to really use, keeping pace with the guy right ahead of me. As I hit the bottom of the hill, I heard someone call out from behind me something like "half mile to go Ryan, let it fly". All I could think was yeah, right. I knew it was a half mile to go but already, for the past 2-2.5 miles, my stomach was giving me fits. By this time, along with my stomach, my legs had nothing in them. I tried to maintain but couldn't do much. With about 200-300 yards to go, though, I caught the finish line adrenaline rush and began inching back on the guy ahead of me. I was gaining on him enough to think I might be able to catch him. Shortly after giving me hope, though, he poured it on and made it clear that I wasn't going to get close. I brought it in as hard as I could but it wasn't pretty.

At first, I was rating the race as good, nothing spectacular but I couldn't call it a bad race. That was largely on how I felt and what my time was. As I looked at last year's results, though, I'm still thinking not spectacular but maybe better than I originally gave myself credit for.

Last year: 28:02, 15th out of 488
This year: 29:28, 13th out of 541

Last year, I felt like I ran very well. That heat must have taken it out of everyone.

Next up, I'm going to give Dana another chance to exploit my marathon training by exposing myself to a 5K: the Hank Aaron 5K on August 14th.

[cesar]

Nice race. It seems that time is insignificant vs place.

[Ryan]

Thanks and indeed, Cesar. I didn't realize how much the heat affected everyone until I compared this year's results to last year. This was definitely a race where time was inconsequential.

[cesar]

do you have a goal time in mind for the marathon?

[Ryan]

I don't think a specific time goal for the marathon would be prudent. First, it's actually somewhat likely that I could experience similar conditions at the marathon as I did at Fish Day, which would throw time goals out the window. Second, depending on the competition, I may not want to run as hard as I can. Assuming I'm in a position to win, I want to run hard enough to win and that's about it so I don't throw away the fall racing season.

I have an idea of what I would be capable of in ideal conditions if I put forth 100% effort but it's likely that neither portion of that scenario will be met so, while I have some times in mind, it depends too much on what race day will bring for me to set hard and fast goals based on time.

[Double]

Way to bang braaaah!  Love the reports.

[Andrew A.]

Good race!

[Ed]

It wasn't only hot that morning it was also very humid - no dry heat that morning.

[Ryan]

Thanks guys.

Double, will I see you around this fall? Al's Run?

Ed, it was definitely humid also. The killer combination.

[Ed]

Yeah Double - we missed you last year.  Like I always said I would love to be a scoring member of the team but not if it meant that we were just not deep enough - we need you.

[r-at-work]

... keep my warmup in the vicinity of the port-a-johns. This isn't a good sign. Fortunately, things seemed to settle as the warmup continued.
 
...the gradual climb we had been going up got steeper, I found a strange thing happening. I actually began passing people, even though I wasn't pushing the hill at all. Maybe all those hills around home are paying off.
 
Last year: 28:02, 15th out of 488
This year: 29:28, 13th out of 541

first segment, been there done that...
 
second segment, VERY GOOD comment... I should write this on my wall "Maybe all those hills around home are paying off."
 
third segment, the frosting on the cake...
 
good job.
-Rita

[Ryan]

Thanks Rita. It was interesting. I've always been a fan of hills and I've always worked to incorporate them into my training. However, since moving to my new home last year, the hills have just been there. Every weekend run and every time I run from home on week days (I usually run from work, where it's relatively flat). I've been getting hills more consistently by necessity and I think they are paying off. Not just on the hills, though. I also feel stronger on the flats but that hill on race day really did show that, while it doesn't seem like I'm doing a lot differently, something definitely has changed.

[corina]

As we rounded the first turn and the gradual climb we had been going up got steeper, I found a strange thing happening. I actually began passing people, even though I wasn't pushing the hill at all. Maybe all those hills around home are paying off. Whatever the case, I went with it.

Got to agree, most of my runs theses days are my days at the lake.  My current route is from the house tothe boat launch and back.  It's on the way back now, about 3/4 of the way up the hills that I feel my defect in my right side. Those hills must really be firing my hamstrings. 
 
 
Great race Ryan! I can't wait to see  your marathon performance, I'm glad the training is going on pace.