Ice Pop Series Forest Park 5M

This was actually the third race in this series, though I missed the first (it was on a Saturday) and only ran the second one last week. I registered for the whole series anyway, as it was bizarrely less expensive than just registering for two races, and I did want a longer run in that half marathon. But the main attraction was this race, because I am so overdue for a 5M PR it is not even funny. My 10K and 10M PRs are both at faster paces; my HM PR matched it. Besting that should really not have been a huge deal.

So I decided to try and chop off a minute and aim for sub-33.

Mother Nature, as she tends to do, had other ideas. I knew it wasn’t PR weather, but given that my PR is technically so soft, I thought I might give it a shot anyway.

I arrived super early because I was worried about parking, which, of course, meant that I found a spot right on Woodhaven Boulevard. Great: I have time for a warmup and multiple trips to the bathroom! (There was a porta potty right at the start. It was clean when I went in. It was clean when I went out. I don’t understand why it can’t remain that way. Anyway, I did take advantage of having it right there; I think I paid it four or five visits before and after my warmup.)

I had a vague recollection from the Spring Forward 10 Miler of this course being a bit hilly — though that was on the part of Forest Park Drive that’s on the other side of Woodhaven Boulevard. But to refresh my memory, I ran one loop of the double-loop course as a warmup. It isn’t super hilly: as a general rule, I like gentle rolling hills. More so in a longer race, though, when I’m not trying to run as fast.

But the course was pretty irrelevant in relation to the weather. Because holy humidity! You know it’s bad when I turn into a bit of a sweat puddle. A PR seemed really, really unlikely.

Maybe I should have worn super shoes. (Insert super sarcastic eyeroll here.)

I could tell my GPS was being a little weird… it seems to do this every race, so I probably ought to look into doing something about that. But after the first lap, it had only registered 2.46, so I knew it was likely going to measure short again. Certified course, so it didn’t matter, but then I had to start doing a bunch of mental math to figure out what I “could” run if I wanted to come away with a PR. I ran the first lap in just over 16:50, so if I just ran even splits, it would be enough. Not enough for my A goal, but enough to eke out a PR.

And this is me realizing that I’d fall a few seconds short. Again. I suppose running out of people to chase after the first mile and a half erased any motivation for the negative split? I have no idea. Maybe I just am really, really good at coming thisclose and missing anyway.

Garmin recorded 4.94 miles in 34:00, 6:53/mi.

I guess at least I managed to officially come in under 34:00, for what that’s worth, which isn’t really much besides the frustration of coming within four seconds of a PR… though it would have been a little hilarious to run 35:01, given what happened at the other race in this series.

Officially, 5 miles in 33:59, 6:48/mi. 1/63 OA, 1/28 F, 1/13 F open.

So I ran a 5M race at HM PR pace, which was a nice workout, I suppose. It’s probably a bigger deal that I threw all caution to the wind and ran nearly five miles as a cooldown afterwards without taking my phone along, and didn’t really get lost. (By which I mean I wound up back where I started and didn’t do too much hopeless meandering along the way.)

Al Goldstein Summer Speed Series #3 2021

Mother Nature got confused this week and thought Tuesday was Wednesday, because the weather on the former was perfectly AGSS-esque. The latter, however, was utterly perfect.

For me, anyway. I actually felt a little chilly when I wasn’t moving! This is ideal 5K weather, given that it was low humidity, something that hardly ever happens here in the summer. Ergo, I felt compelled to take advantage of it and finally get that official sub-20 again. No pressure.

Being the weirdo that I am, I was surrounded by the super shoes to which I don’t respond… wearing a pair I purchased back in 2012 for $85. There’s not much need to worry about the cushioning breaking down when there really isn’t any cushioning of which to speak, which is actually exactly what a racing flat is supposed to be, dammit! (Sorry. I’m getting a little frustrated with all this high stack ridiculousness, and it’s getting harder and harder to find shoes that don’t require tissues for nosebleeds and/or second mortgages.)

Anyway. The weather might have been perfect, but of course my stomach was not. This is hardly news. But I figured that if I ran a crappy race, at least I’d look good doing it: that’s why I wore white socks, which I never, ever do. (I’m sure nobody has noticed this, but I always wear Brooks nightlife quarter socks for races. I have a few pairs hoarded, but they don’t make them anymore, so I suppose I’ll have to branch out eventually.) But the white socks just matched so well! Ditto the red and white shorts, which I also don’t really wear for races, since compression shorts just feel faster to me… and I don’t constantly feel like they’re about to fall off.

Photo credit: Larry Sillen

I think I may have been a wee bit too conservative up the hill; it’s better to do that than be overly aggressive, I suppose, but still. I was a little distracted by the whole “I feel like my shorts are falling off” thing. My watch was also measuring the course short, so while I knew I was technically running faster than it was telling me, it would really suck to suddenly have that “extra” distance make an appearance at mile 2.99 and then end up running 20:00 flat or something. I’m becoming somewhat of an expert at that, after all. As a result, I probably didn’t push as hard in the last mile as I could have or should have, but once I saw the clock and realized that no matter what my watch said, I could actually run sub-20, I ran my little heart out.

Finally! It only took two years. (Unfair, since there were no races last year. It just sounds more dramatic to say it that way.)

Garmin recorded 3.09 miles in 19:52, 6:25/mi.

Officially, 3.1 miles in 19:50, 6:23/mi. 40/253 OA, 7/120 F, and 3/27 F35-39.

I am over the moon to have gotten that sub-20, because there are few things more irritating than repeatedly failing at something you know you can do. But I would be lying if I said it didn’t irk me a little that I missed an official PR by five seconds. (By “official PR,” I mean the one from 2019. I ran a bunch of sub-20s on the track during COVID, and ultimately I want to beat that “PR” too, but baby steps…) I can’t decide whether it’s more or less irritating that I absolutely could have scrounged up those five seconds on this day, because if the weather were less perfect, it might not have felt as possible.

I suppose that’s all a moot point, though, and all I can do is keep trying.

Oh, no.

Ice Pop Series Rockaway Beach Half Marathon 2021

Registering to run a half marathon in June is not the wisest of endeavors from a weather perspective. Perhaps that is why there were only fifteen registrants in this one? I think the only reason I did it is because after over a year of quarantine, I’m just so damn bored of long run routes that start and end at my front door. Not that running back and forth on a boardwalk is really any better, but logic is often not my strong point.

This is actually the exact same course from the World AIDS Half Marathon in December. Unlike the Rockaway Beach 10K, it does not start and finish at a convenient part of the boardwalk… as in, it is a mile from the beach parking lot. And, more importantly, the bathrooms. I tried and failed to find street parking, so I ended up in the Stop & Shop lot, which isn’t such a big deal because it’s not that far. Except I then had to run to the bathroom, which, of course, was about to be closed for cleaning, so even though the maintenance worker let me in, I felt bad that he was waiting and so I rushed, and that clearly did not take care of matters. So I ran the other way after that, having been told that there was another bathroom there… except there wasn’t. Wonderful.

Carbon-plated shoes should give me wings! (Spoiler: they did not.)

So the race starts, and my stomach is obviously less than thrilled, but what else is new? It was warm, which I don’t mind much, but the wind was coming in from the west, so we started into a headwind, which I do mind. I went out a little faster than I probably should have because that let me tuck into a pack of high school kids.

I came to my senses after the first 5K; a PR clearly wasn’t going to be happening, so I decided to just enjoy a nice long run along the water instead. (It felt nicer under the baking sun than it did running into a cooling breeze. I hate wind.)

It did kill me a little to cross the halfway point in just over 47:00, because with the way I was positive splitting, I was expecting to finish around 1:36 or 1:37, and even though my time doesn’t matter, I still do care about it.

This is clearly before I decided that since my stomach wasn’t happy anyway, I was going to risk taking a gel — it’s still in my pocket. Either it had magical properties that took a couple of miles to kick in, or I really am faster in the heat (sans headwind), because I somehow picked up the pace to the point that it looked like I might actually manage to run under 1:35.

I tried. But, alas, I failed — which I don’t understand since I’m pretty sure I crossed the mat before the clock flipped over to 1:35, but I guess chips don’t lie?

Garmin recorded 13.15 miles in 1:35:02, 7:14/mi.

Officially, 13.1 miles in 1:35:01, 7:15/mi. 4/15 OA, 1/2 F. Huge competitive field here, obviously.

And after all that, my Garmin told me my recovery time is four days. So much for taking it a bit easy on myself since I’m running a 5K on Wednesday! Honestly, it’s great to run a lot of races because it gives you a reason to cop out: I need to save it for next time. (I’m only being a little bit sarcastic. And I listen to my own body more than my Garmin, since it is crazy anyway.)

LIRRC Wednesday Night Series 5K #6 2021

The more time passes, the more I hate New York. One of the myriad reasons contributing to this hatred is how very impossible it is to get anywhere with a motor vehicle. There is no logical explanation for why it should take over ninety minutes to travel 25 miles, and yet… here we are.

To be fair, I knew that it would be a nightmare getting to Eisenhower Park during rush hour. (Not that this makes it an acceptable thing, but I knew what I was getting into.) Still, I decided to do it because if I’m ever going to break 20:00 in the 5K again, I need to give myself as many shots at it as possible, don’t I?

This is my kind of weather. Warm, low humidity, not super duper windy. Too bad I couldn’t really take advantage of it…

I had a vague recollection of having run this course before, and I was not wrong. It was in August 2018, when I brilliantly ran a 5K after a day spent diving. (To the surprise of exactly nobody, it did not go super well.) I remembered that the course had measured short, which didn’t really bother me because if it’s certified, what my Garmin says is utterly irrelevant.

Based on when my watch hit mile 1 — at least ten seconds after I passed the first mile marker — I suspected it would measure short again. Which would be great, from a “finally PR” perspective, except that for some reason every mile felt like it took forever. Usually, since the pace is relatively fast, distance seems to pass by quickly in a 5K. Not this time. I’d be sure I’d run half a mile, then I’d look at my watch and see the distance had changed from .38 to .54. It was not so pleasant.

But I probably still could have finished under 20:00 — I blame the banana loop for my missing it. The turnaround was farther than I thought, so I misjudged how long it would take me to run back the other way and didn’t realize it until it was too late. I did put in a valiant effort to at least finish faster than the other 5Ks I’ve run this season, and managed it (barely), but the fact that I could sprint like that at the end of the race is probably indicative of my having not run hard enough earlier.

And the course did measure short on my watch. This would have been a lovely gift — a certified course that measures short, so you’re really running faster than you think you are! I almost feel like I need to make another trip through that nightmare traffic just to try that again, even if this isn’t a great PR course. It’s flat, sure, but there are a lot of turns.

Garmin recorded 3.03 miles in 20:10, 6:40/mi. That’s, like… HM pace. Oh dear.

Officially, though, 3.1 miles in 20:10 (no timing mat at the start, so it was probably actually 20:08 or 20:09, but that’s not how these things work), 6:30/mi. 5/116 OA, 1/54 F, 1/6 F35-39.

Photo credit: Joseph Jensen

And no overpriced super shoes. I pulled out a pair of my longtime old favorites — I think I paid around $50 for this pair. There will come a time when I no longer have any of these, and I am mourning that time in advance.

It also took me literally half as long to get home as it did to get there. Which is still a ridiculous amount of time in which to traverse that distance in a car, but slightly less so. Slightly.

Brandeis 5K 2021

Despite knowing that this race is on a short and uncertified course (I am quite glad when a certified course measures short on my Garmin), I registered for it because it’s nice to know that at least some of the money I blow on races goes to causes I would voluntarily support anyway.

I did not, however, realize that it happened to fall out on 3 Tammuz. Which meant that I’d be getting up at some unearthly hour to take a trip to the cemetery and avoid the crowds I’d encounter if I did that during the day.

So that was lovely.

That seems quite generous, actually.

Anyway! Otherwise, conditions were great. I could do with a little less humidity, but this weather is my jam.

It’s just too bad that my digestive system couldn’t get on board with things. (Actually, I can’t complain about that too much: it raged before the race, and my cooldown was awful and painful and crampy, but the race itself wasn’t so bad. From a stomach standpoint.)

Since the last time I ran this race was in April 2019, I decided to run the course as a warmup to make sure I’d know where to go. Except that I apparently ran it backwards — I could see myself mostly following the route on my watch, but it never told me I was on course. So that wasn’t really very helpful.

Luckily, it turned out to be pretty well-marked. And even if it hadn’t been, there was just one guy ahead of me, and for some reason, at some point the lead cop car decided he knew where he was going and I didn’t (a reasonable assumption), so it dropped back to lead me instead.

I actually went out on pace for a goal 5K time, even though I knew it wasn’t going to be 3.1 miles. And then I decided that was stupid, and ran a hideous positive split. Which is fine; it didn’t matter anyway. What is not fine is that it should not have felt as hard as it did.

Garmin recorded 3.05 miles in 20:24, 6:41/mi.

Since it did measure short, the official results are a bit kinder to me: 3.1 miles in 20:21, 6:33/mi. 2/86 OA, 1/50 F. And apparently 1/6 F30-39 — guess we’re double dipping here, because I got two medals, one for placing first overall and one for placing first in my age group.

I was annoyed that I had run slower than my last time doing this, though my cooldown did explain things a bit. Seriously, where can I get a new digestive system?? Because I am never, ever, ever going to be able to do anything properly if mine doesn’t stop pulling this kind of nonsense.

Also, I learned that a soft shoe can be great for a very short distance or a very long one, but not a medium one like a 5K — at least not for me. I don’t think I’ll be using these for a 5K again!

Global Running Day 5K 2021

Because I am a glutton for punishment, I opted to subject myself and my digestive system to another nerve-wracking day due to an evening race. It helped a little bit that I had the distraction of acquiring a new SPG to use as backup for my new dive computer, albeit only from a mental perspective. Since I refuse to give the MTA money if I don’t absolutely have to, I rode my bike to Leisure Pro and back. Which is no big deal for someone who does that regularly, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve cycled outside in the last few years. The trauma is real.

So I showed up at Flushing Meadows Park a bit later than planned, after dealing with the disaster that is the usual traffic pattern around here, to pretty ideal temperatures for this time of year. Too bad it was windy. Again. With a headwind on the finishing stretch. Again.

It was a three-lap course, which is usually my jam. It’s much easier for me to break it down that way. It’s just too bad I couldn’t take full advantage of it.

Maybe it’s more helpful if you haven’t killed your butt, and by extension, your legs, by spending an hour and a half on a bike earlier that day. This isn’t a position in which I am accustomed to finding myself, so I couldn’t really say.

Anyhow, I started at the front, and basically stayed there the whole time. A guy pulled even with and passed me about a quarter mile in, which I loved, because running from the front is hard, and this gave me someone to pace off. (Hey, I an blame him for my perfect positive split instead of myself! How’s that?!)

There were actually three timing mats, and I wasn’t sure which one corresponded to which loop, so I couldn’t quite figure out how long the course would measure on my watch. My first lap was pretty much right on target for what I was after… and then I died a slow painful death. I could tell that it would be close regarding whether I’d best my time from last week’s Al Goldstein race, never mind manage sub-20. At least, not by the official clock, which is the only one that counts.

I tried. I really, valiantly tried, but I still fell short. Not quite as short as it seems, since evidently the first mat was the finish, and I kept going until the third since I wasn’t sure, but still. It’s obvious that I did try, since my average heart rate was 170. It’s been a long time since I’ve managed an average heart rate that high, which oddly pleases me — it’s nice to know I still have that capacity. Of course, it would be nicer if it were associated with a faster running pace, but you can’t have everything.

Garmin recorded 3.16 miles in 20:15, 6:25/mi. If I’d done a perfect job of running the tangents, that would have been something like 19:57. Too bad!

Officially, 3.1 miles in 20:11, 6:30/mi. 2/59 OA, 1/24 F… so four seconds faster than my last 5K.

If I am to shave a minute off that time by the end of the summer, at the rate of four seconds per race, I will need to run fifteen more of them. It is doubtful that I can even find that many, but if I could, my stomach would be utterly decimated before I managed to get halfway through the endeavor. Which is why it would be so nice to just get it over and done with!

AIR. NEED AIR.