Since my last race in early July, my heat acclimatization has improved, and my training has gone well. I've finished week 7 of a 38-week build, guided by Coach Carl Leivers. This long training cycle will culminate in the Publix Atlanta Marathon on March 1, 2020. The workouts have mostly focused on very gradually increasing the distances of my long runs, and working in some light speed work elements, including strides on Monday runs. Most of my recent runs have been progression runs, following the mantra "First mile slowest, last mile fastest". The great thing about deliberately starting very slowly is that the majority of the run is a warm-up, culminating either in a fast (and fun) final mile, or in four quality fast (and fun) strides. This has also greatly improved my pace discipline. While I haven't run fast for any significant distance, my physical strength has improved, and the easy runs are building my capacity for oxygen utilization.
The Decatur-DeKalb 4-Miler is a good checkpoint for my fitness to this stage. It's a tough course due to some significant hills, but it's also a very familiar course. Not only have I run the race for the past five years, I've run the route dozens of times on mid-week workouts beginning on the Emory campus. In the past month I've run the route twice, refreshing my memory of every hill and dale.
In the weeks before the race, Brian Minor and I discussed racing each other. In the past, he has outrun me on the course, but recently he hasn't trained as rigorously. Nontheless he holds a course personal record of 32:00 flat, whereas my best time on the course is 33:38, in summer 2019. On that day, I started too quickly, and then needed several walk breaks to climb the long hill from miles 2.5 to 3.5. I was determined not to go out too fast this year. In short, my goal was to get to the bottom of the hill at mile 2.5 in good enough shape to run strongly uphill, and upon reaching the crest at mile 3.5, push myself the last 800 meters to the finish, equal to two laps on the track. And with that strategy, I felt that a sub-33 minute finish was realistic. This was my pace plan:
mile 1: 8:20 - 8:30
mile 2: 8:10 - 8:20
mile 3: 8:00 even
mile 4: sub 8:00 finish
Arriving more than an hour before the race, I had plenty of time to warm up, running close to 2 miles, including three quality strides. I lined up in the middle of wave B, and then Brian walked up, shook my hand and said "Mano a mano." "We're on!" I replied. Waiting to begin, Brian and I both discussed not starting too quickly. Personally I was hoping to use him as a pacer; likewise he was planning to follow me. The problem with that strategy, from my standpoint, is that Brian has a finishing kick that I just cannot beat. If he isn't too far behind me with the finish line in sight, I ezpect that his younger legs will likely propel him past me. So I hoped that he would run fast enough to stay with me, or perhaps just in front of me for much of the race.
After wave A began, wave B moved up. The airhorn sounded, and Brian and I slowly jogged up to the line. And as soon as we crossed the starting mat, Brian took off! Well, if he could run the entire race at that pace, I would never catch him, so I just stuck with my conservative strategy for mile 1.
Beginning the race in the middle of the wave was a good move for me. It was a little crowded, so I just settled in with the group to run their pace, which was just under a 9 minute mile for the first few blocks. As the route on Scott Boulevard began to descend, and the runners spread out a bit, I sped up just a tad, but I refrained from passing anyone just for the sake of passing them. I could see Brian's yellow Tucker Running Club singlet and yellow visor up ahead. While I kept an eye on him, I didn't try to close the gap, committed to staying on plan. At the end of mile 1, I checked my watch, very satisfied to see 8:27 elapsed, just as I had intended.
Completing mile 1, with less than a 5K to go to the finish, I felt powerful confidence that I would have a great race today. Crossing under the railroad bridge, the road began to go uphill. I saw Brian turn onto Artwood Road - and then he began walking! I counted the seconds: about 30 seconds later I was in the same spot on Artwood Road, heading uphill but on familiar territory. And within another 30 seconds, there was Brian, still walking. "Hey bro, how are you doing?" I asked. Brian started running again, but said "I started too quickly." After running together for a minute, he began to open up some distance on me again, but I just stayed with my pace, sticking with the plan. And making the turn onto Heaton Park Drive, I caught up with Brian again at the top of the hill in front of Fernbank Elementary, which marked the highest point of the race route.
Now we began running downhill. I just relaxed and let gravity carry me along. I was watching both my pace and my heart rate, around 160 beats per minute, which was sustainable. Left onto Coventry Road, more downhill running, but I fought off the temptation to press. Another left turn onto East Clifton Road, I passed the mile 2 marker registering 8:17. This race was proceeding perfectly for me. I even caught up to Brian again, and passed him, trying to sneak by. However he picked up his pace and caught up with me. I joked "We're in a no-trash-talking zone - actually I was hoping to sneak past you!" He didn't say much, it was clear that he was struggling a little, but he didn't want to fall behind. As East Clifton joined the main route of Clifton Road, I shouted out "Brian, they changed the route this year - it's all down hill the rest of the way! Don't save anything for the end!" Hopefully the other runners around me knew that I was joking. I myself was amazed that I had enough lung capacity to talk at this stage of the race.
At the water station, Brian and I nearly collided - he took a cup of water from one of the first volunteers. I slipped by and accepted a cup of water from the next volunteer, and kept running. Brian accelerated to catch up and pass me as I tossed the empty cup toward the last garbage box. And now we reached the lowest point of the course, near the intersection with Oxford Road. As the route began to go uphill, I caught up to Brian. My legs felt good, my endurance was strong, and I began pushing up the hill. Time to drop Brian, I thought, and I put on another burst of speed. But I wasn't reckless - the hill training and endurance workouts gave me strength. I passed quite a few people in this section, all the way up to the intersection at North Decatur Road. Making the right turn, the road leveled out a moment, just long enough for me to catch my breath without significantly altering my speed. Mile 3 covered in 7:57! Wow, this race was going really well, having run easily downhill for the first half of mile 3, and strongly uphill for the second half of mile 3.
Now for the toughest part of the race: the road began going uphill again. I was determined not to walk this year, and in fact I didn't feel an urgent need to walk. I felt a little pain in my upper chest, but recognized it as pectoral muscle pain from pumping my arms, nothing that would cause danger or harm. Most of the runners around me were running just as strongly. A young woman with a blond ponytail passed me: I sped up to keep up with her, and she didn't open much of a gap. This part of the race route did seem to take longer than I expected. I didn't check my watch at all, just running with determination. Every once in a while, I quickly glanced behind me, looking for Brian's yellow singlet and yellow visor, but didn't see him.
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| Elevation vs. pace. |
Finally we crested the top of the hill, past Princeton Way, approaching the bridge crossing the railroad. I passed the water station, not wanting to slow down, not needing water. I took a look at my watch for the first time since the mile 3 marker: 29:30. Hmm, at the time I thought that I had 1/2 mile to the finish line - I definitely wouldn't finish in 32 minutes, and wondered if 33 minutes was actually possible. We turned through the McDonald's parking lot, I passed someone as we came around the corner. of the drive-through lane. Emerging onto Clairmont Road, speedster Jordan Eison called out "Just 400 meters to go!" I glanced at my watch: 31:30. I can run a 400 meter race on the track in 1:30, but not after running 3-3/4 miles. If Jordan's distance estimate was accurate, a sub-33 minute finish was now unlikely, but I definitely felt that I could finish in less than 2 minutes. I was tired, but deployed the mantra "Mind over matter" and kept up my speed.
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| I had followed the woman with the blond ponytail after she passed me around the mile 3 marker, but I surged past her in the final block of the race. Thanks to Kalpana Patel for the photo! |
My watch signaled 4 miles done as we approached the turn to the finish line: a sharp right turn, over the timing mat, and done! 33:09 official time, 8:29 for the final 1.05 mile (as measured on my watch). By any measure, I didn't cover the last mile in less than 8 minutes, but that was probably from the first half-mile being uphill - so I had a strong enough finish to be satisfied for today.
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| Brian finished a moment later. (Credit: Kalpana Patel) |
I waited in the finish area for a moment, and then saw Brian approaching the turn, and greeted him after he crossed the timing mat. I tried not to gloat. While I was happy to outrun him on this rare occasion, I was even happier with how well I had managed the race! Not only did I set a course personal record, but I had saved enough energy in the first part of the race and didn't suffer too badly going up the long hill in the final stage.
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| Maybe I was gloating a little, holding up a finger for #1. Brian was a great sport for second place! |
Moreover, I can see some room for improvement - but that's not a self-critical statement. I'm actually very optimistic that I'm on track for additional improvement in the coming weeks and months. And Brian and I will have our rematch on Labor Day, in the Big Peach Sizzler 10K!
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