May 10, 2014: In-Training for Peachtree, Week 9

Goal: 3 miles at consistent pace

After a warm week, a rainstorm yesterday dropped the temperature into the low 60's overnight, and the weather was cool and cloudy this morning.  The rain was holding off until the afternoon.  In other words, a perfect day for running!  The session began with a nutrition seminar, about the importance of staying hydrated, fueling with the appropriate mix of carbohydrates and proteins before working out and during recovery after a long run or hard race, and the importance of not eating more than the exercise is burning off, if weight loss is a goal.  We then spent about 5 minutes with warm up exercises.  Those felt really good, and starting the run was not difficult.  The route was the same as last week's, except this time everyone would be going to the turnaround point to complete a 3-mile walk or run.

There were four runners in Rob's group today.  He aimed for a 9:00 minute per mile pace.  Curt, our head coach, was dashing ahead of us to take photos as we left the parking area, up the hill on Hermance Drive, and then left onto Peachtree Road, heading northeast on the sidewalk facing traffic.  I mentioned to one of the other runners in our group that "I don't mind when a younger runner passes me, but it's humiliating to be passed by an older runner!"  Once we reached Peachtree, there were occasional solo runners on the sidewalk.  Shortly after passing Oglethorpe University, we crossed paths with another running group, so we were running single-file for part of the distance.  This stretch of Peachtree is rather stark, with a high concrete wall on our left, the busy roadway to our right, and the MARTA track across the street.  In fact there isn't even a continuous sidewalk on the south side of the street.  I settled in a few steps behind Rob and one other student, M.  Once again Rob was maintaining a steady pace.  We covered the first kilometer in 5:41, and the second in 5:26.  We only had to stop at one traffic light (I paused RunHelper for the moment).  I was able to manage the gentle uphill sections quite well by picking up my knees a bit more, and was pleasantly bouncing along on springy feet.  During the week 11 seminar, we were told that Meb Keflezighi is in the air 70% of the time when he runs.  I felt like I might be in the air 50% in that section, but perhaps that was just wishful thinking.  Before long, we had reached the turnaround point, at the fork at which Peachtree Road splits off and the main route continues as Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.  This was just past the alert for 2.25 km, about 13 minutes into the run.

Coach Curt dashed out in front of us to get this photo at the beginning of our run.  I'm certain that I was already running at 90% of my maximum speed. 

As the sports nutritionist had stressed the importance of taking water before we felt thirsty, I dutifully picked up a bottle of water at the turnaround.  I took a swig, then to my dismay I realized that I would have to carry that 16.9 fl. oz. bottle of water all the way back.  I took a couple more sips on the way back, but it was definitely a mistake to pick up the water given the relatively short distance, at least without wearing a water belt to comfortably put the bottle away.

Rob held back near the turnaround to check on the other runners behind us, so M. led the group for the next kilometer.  She maintained a steady pace and I followed a few meters behind, not falling behind but not pulling ahead either.  I didn't want to turn this into a race that I might not win, and a 5:30 per km pace was about right for me, to have a good workout without running out of gas before reaching the finish.  At the intersection shortly before reaching Oglethorpe College, Rob caught up with us (seemingly effortlessly), to get everyone through the crosswalk safely.  We came across the other running group, and I will confess to some smugness at passing the runners in that group on the way back.

It was nice to see landmarks as we neared the end of our run, first the Gothic building of Oglethorpe University along Peachtree Road, then the tower of Brown Mackie College at the entrance to Town Brookhaven.  Rob caught up with us again before we reached Hermance Drive, where we turned right and up a hill that was a little tough in the fifth kilometer, then a long downhill stretch toward the Costco parking lot.  After safely making the left turn into the shopping center, Rob sharply increased the pace, to encourage us to race to the finish line, as we would in a real race.  Fortunately I still had a little energy in reserve, and managed to keep up with Rob and M. into the Publix garage.  4.75 km (2.95 mi) in 25:56, with an average pace of 5:27 per km (8:47 per mi).  However, that final sprint was tough, and we were pouring sweat as we checked in.  I opened the bottle of water that I had been carrying and drank heavily, then grabbed a banana, just as the next runners were arriving.  After my pulse had slowed, I remembered to stretch.

Although I was a tiny bit disappointed that we didn't cover a full five kilometers, the speed was a nice improvement.  The difference per kilometer was relatively small, but overall this was a full minute faster for the comparable distance covered last week, and I didn't slow down at the end unlike last week.  Splits: 5:41, 5:26, 5:30, 5:26, and est'd 5:12 for the final 3/4 kilometer (per mile at 9:01, 8:48, and est'd 8:32).

After Rob was satisfied that I had recovered, we chatted a bit about race strategy, and my consistent problem with starting out much too fast, but then being passed by lots of runners in the second half of races.  This was a big problem in the Charles Harris 10K in February.  To achieve even splits, and perhaps negative splits in a race, he suggested a strategy of finding a good runner in the first mile or two to keep up with, someone who was running my desired pace (not necessarily the pace that I could run at the start), and letting others pass me in the beginning.  By the middle of the race, I would likely begin passing some of those runners who had started out too quickly, and that would give me motivation to keep up a good pace later in the race, and I would still have some energy reserves for the final push.

Goal: 3 miles at consistent pace: 2.95 miles at 8:47 ± 0:15 per mile.  That counts as goal achieved in my book.