January 1, 2017: Resolution Run (4 mile race)

2016 course result: 33:30, PR for the 4-mile distance

The Atlanta Track Club hosts a couple of 4-mile races, one in mid-summer and the other on New Year's Day.  It's just a little longer than a 5K, but trying to run at full speed for that additional 0.89 mile can be rough, especially on the hilly courses that the track club has mapped out.  Eventually I would like to run a 4-miler in sub-32 minutes, under an 8:00 minute/mile pace, but today wasn't going to be that day.  

Since finishing the marathon in November, I've gained at least 5 pounds that I haven't found the discipline to shed.  That is probably what slowed me down in the Galloway Half Marathon three weeks ago.  I've also developed some soreness in the left Achilles tendon in the past couple of weeks.  Fortunately (I think) it appears to be linked to some long-standing tightness in the left calf, as careful use of the foam roller on the left leg is helping relieve the soreness in the Achilles.  I'm trying to run through the full complement of active stretches twice a day, even on rest days.  I've cut back on the frequency, intensity and length of workouts, and it doesn't seem to be getting worse.  I've also focused on landing mid-foot and not fore-foot, which is much more comfortable.  I just hope that it will improve in time for me to work in some long runs before my next marathon, the Publix Georgia Marathon on March 19.  

Tucker Running Club before the race.  It was still drizzling,
so rain drops on the camera obscured a couple of people. 

To complicate things a bit, it rained for most of the evening, dampening our interest in going out for a New Year's Eve celebration.  It was still drizzling this morning when we left the house for the race, but fortunately the rain started to taper off after 9 am, and had stopped completely before the 10 am race start.  I wore my oldest pair of shoes (about 11 months old) in case they got soaked.  Brian Minor and I warmed up with a couple of laps around the block, and the Achilles tendon didn't feel too bad, especially as I began to warm up and blood circulating through the legs.  I will take that as a good sign that the injury isn't too serious.  

We started much too fast! 

My expectations for today's race were fairly low.  I planned to take it easy with my pace if things became too painful, so I decided to start with wave C, four minutes after the fastest runners in wave A.  I felt good once I had warmed up and so I moved up to toe the starting line.  It was rather exciting to be in front at the start of the pack, and when the airhorn sounded, I flew onto the course in an adrenaline-fueled sprint, along with one other fellow.  For a short distance I was running at about a 7 minute / mile pace, and everything felt fairly good.  Before long we had caught up to the back of the wave B runners / walkers, just as the race route was narrowing.  I had to slow down quite a bit to work my way around the others, but my heart rate monitor was already sounding as early as one-half mile into the race (>170 beats per minute).  As there were no automobiles moving on the road in this first mile, I found that running along the left side of the course, occasionally stepping to the left side of the cones, was working out alright for me.  I finished the first mile in 8:20, and the Achilles soreness had not gotten any worse.  

The race route

In the middle miles we had to be a bit more careful about slow-moving automobile traffic in the left lane.  At one point we came up onto a driver that had apparently given up on waiting to pull out of her driveway, and as her minivan slowly reversed onto the street, the cry of "Car up!" rang out.  Fortunately the driver was moving slowly enough so that everyone got around the car without incident, but then the chatter was whether the car was in the left or right side of the road behind us.  In any case the car didn't seem to pass me and I just kept on going.  

I had definitely felt some tiredness after the first mile.  For the remainder of the race, it was difficult for me to run faster than 8:30 pace, even with miles 2 and 3 net downhill, 8:39 and 8:35 respectively, 25:30 elapsed after 3 miles.  As I made the final turn onto Dresden Drive I felt like I had a shot at matching last year's time, except ... the final mile was mostly uphill.  Around that stage of the race, I caught up with Steven Freedman, who had run the Chickamauga Marathon with me (considerably faster).  I wasn't able to stay ahead of him and ended up chasing him for the remainder of the race.  

Is that pain or concentration
on the face of runner 2228?  

A few minutes before reaching the finish line, I saw speedster Corey Tanner from Tucker Running Club doing his cooldown jog in the opposite direction.  I congratulated him as we passed.  As we turned from Dresden Drive onto Apple Valley Road to the finish line, I tried to accelerate past Steven Freedman in the last sprint, but he also noticeably sped up.  I could manage no faster than 8:35 for mile 4, and finished just over 34 minutes total (34:09 official).  

Fortunately I immediately knew that the race had gone much better for me than I had expected.  Today's run was the second fastest out of my five 4-mile races.  After crossing the finish line, I walked for about 1/2 mile to let my heart rate gradually slow down, then did the "big five stretches", which really helped. Although the Achilles tendon was sore throughout, I'm confident that I didn't do any additional damage despite running as fast as I could.    

Mile 1, 8:20, 69 feet uphill, 44 feet downhill

Mile 2, 8:39, 4 feet uphill, 38 feet downhill

Mile 3, 8:35, 40 feet uphill, 70 feet downhill

Mile 4, 8:35, 80 feet uphill, 51 feet downhill

Race results