April 27, 2019: The Singleton 4-Miler

Over the past 6 weeks, I've recovered from the calf strain that disrupted my training for the Publix Atlanta Half-Marathon in March.  If there's a problem, I'm eating as if I'm training for an ultra-marathon.  I blame it on an extremely busy work schedule over the past month.  

In preparation for today's race, I ran strides on the track at Emory on Tuesday evening, in 80 deg F heat, and a 4-1/2 mile run through Decatur on Thursday evening in 75 deg F heat.  Although my legs felt fine in both runs, I felt a little out-of-shape on Tuesday, but stronger on Thursday.  An hour after finishing Thursday's run, a squall line and cold front blew through metro Atlanta, dropping the temperatures by a few degrees.  When we awoke this morning, the temperature was about 50 deg F, with clear skies - perfect conditions for running!  My plan was to race as a progression workout, trying for about 9 minutes for the first mile, gradually speeding up with each mile, and aiming to run the last mile faster than 8 minutes.  

After parking, I stretched and then took an easy 1/2-mile jog around downtown Norcross before picking up my race number.  Bonnie and I were issued consecutive numbers: a good omen!  My warmup continued with a 1-mile run on the course itself, covering the first 1/2-mile and the last 1/2-mile.  In a flat section on a quiet street, I tried a 30-second surge, similar to the stride workout on the track, and my legs felt really good!  A couple more strides convinced me that I would have a good race.  

Shortly before the start, I set my watch to intervals of 1:30 run, 0:30 "walk", except after the first mile, I would occasionally run 30-second surges, especially in the last mile.  I originally planned to start near the front of wave C, but in a quick chat with Carol Gsell during final stretches, she planned to start in the back of wave B, to let the other runners slow her down.  I thought that was good advice and did the same, actually a few rows behind Carol.  

Wave A started out with a cheer, then wave B moved up to the line.  The announcer repeated pre-race instructions, gave us a 30-second warning, then an 8-second alert.  With the blast of the airhorn, we were off and running, out of Thrasher Park and onto North Peachtree Street.  I maintained an easy pace, holding back from passing anyone that wasn't walking, and that worked nicely.  About 1/2-mile in, I checked my pace and heart rate, just a few seconds faster than 9 min / mile and a few beats under 150 beats / min - perfect - thank goodness for cool weather! 

We turned onto the first of three out-and-back spurs.  I passed the 1-mile mark at 8:39, not bad!  At 9:30, I executed the first 30-second surge, running downhill, and passed a dozen people.  As the signal sounded for 10:00, I let off the accelerator, settling into a nice steady pace.  That felt really good!  Making a wide turn and heading back to the main road, I had no trouble with the gentle uphill stage.  

Returning on North Peachtree Street, we turned onto the next block for the second out-and-back.  This one was uphill.  I didn't remember that from last year, but didn't worry about it, just kept going.  My legs felt strong, and I didn't slow very much going uphill.  At the turnaround point, my watch signaled 15:30, and I decided to toss in another 30 second surge: passing another group racing downhill!  Before reaching Peachtree Street, I passed the 2-mile marker, 8:13, 16:52 elapsed.  I was on a sub-34 minute pace, and had a good prospect of breaking my 33:30 personal best for a 4-mile race, dating back to New Year's Day 2016, if I could maintain the progression.  

Back on North Peachtree Street, we ran a couple of blocks on fairly level terrain.  I threw in another surge at 18:00 and naturally let off the acceleration after about 30 seconds, as I made the right turn onto the final out-and-back.  I slowed to a walk for a moment to take a couple of quick gulps of water at a station manned by Kalpana Patel, who received a high-five as I began running again.  I let gravity carry me downhill along the longest of the three arms, making sure to bend my knees to absorb the shock.  Turning around, I ran uphill for about 0.4 miles.  It was a tough hill for its length, but I had enough strength to avoid taking a walk break, and passed several people in this section.  The toughest part of this leg was the rising sun directly to the east.  Thank goodness I had worn a good pair of sunglasses.  I missed having the visor of a cap to block the sun, but in previous years I had overheated when I wore a cap, so I deliberately ran today's race with a bare head.  With the sun in my eyes, I couldn't see the top of the hill, until I drew near a police car in the middle of the lane protecting the road from auto traffic.  That gave me the boost that I needed to push over the crest at North Peachtree Street.   Even though I slowed a little going up the long hill, I finished mile 3 in 8:05, 24:57 elapsed.  

And I felt good, with the confidence that I could get to the finish line within 8 minutes.  I threw in another surge at 25:30, and again at 27:30.  I didn't check my pace on the watch but my heart rate was at 170 bpm, a rate that I can maintain for only about 1 mile.  But that was all that I needed!  Making a right turn into the neighborhood at 29 minutes, I didn't know my mileage, as I didn't waste the energy to scroll on my watch: turns out I was at 3.5 miles.  At 29:30 I threw in another surge, coinciding with a fairly steep downhill on a left turn, as I rocketed past a couple of other runners.  As I let off the speed at 30:00, someone passed me - was it one of the guys that I had just passed?  For most of the race, I had my eye on a runner ahead who, like me, was wearing the dark green shirt from last month's Publix Atlanta Half-Marathon.  And now I caught up to and quickly passed him, in the trough of the hill.  Now back uphill: it helped that I had run this earlier this morning, as I knew exactly how far I needed to push: not much further!  Left turn onto Park Drive, 31 minutes elapsed, and up-and-over the crest.  The finish line was now just two blocks away.  I had to consciously race down a relatively steep downhill block, but my legs felt good as my turnover increased, as I remembered to keep my knees bent to save my quads.  One last turn along the east side of Thrasher Park: as the finish line came into sight, I made one more hard push to pass another runner on my left.  I didn't need this last sprint to break my old personal best, but I had the mental strength to accelerate through the finish line, 7:56 for mile 4 and a 32:53 finish time!   


Having pushed so hard in the final blocks, I had better not abruptly stop.  I accepted a bottle of water from a volunteer and walked for a couple of blocks, then re-started the watch as I slowly jogged back-and-forth across a few blocks parallel to the last mile.  My equilibrium returned during the easy cool-down run, and I returned to the park to celebrate my new 4-mile race personal record!  

No wonder the race was hilly! This sign is in Thrasher Park near the last hill of the race. 
I call it a 4-mile race record, because I'm sure that I've run faster 4-mile stretches in my best 10K and 12K races.  However, today's race will show up on Athlinks as my best 4-mile time.  The plan for a progression run along with short surges in the later miles definitely worked to my strengths, and I will try that strategy in other races in the coming months. 

At second breakfast, after the race