She's still got it!

Phil, I daresay your opening pace in the half marathon was far too ambitious. I would've advised just trying to keep the pace narrowly sub-7:00/mi over the opening few miles before settling into a 6:45/mi-ish cruising pace, which hopefully would've conserved enough energy that you could've dropped the pace in the final 5k. But unrelenting heat and sunshine can wear anyone down, and it does indeed sound like you were already tired from excessive recent mileage.

Do you think that Demers has lost a step or two? Yes, he was the champion at the Metric Marathon yesterday, but his time was over 2 minutes slower than what he ran in 2012 (when he went on to win the LPR10 in 56:59). And in August he 59:40 at the Annapolis 10-Miler (well behind Trent Herzog). These times are puzzling considering the remarkably fast time (33:45) he posted at the Dawsons 10k last June (did he suffer an injury over the summer?).

Hard to say without talking to him.  As we all know every race for a runner has a little bit of a back story (did you train well or poorly beforehand).  He either could have lost a step or simply have trained through this race.  For example, Perry's time was slower than previous years, but Perry had run about 32 miles in the 24 hours preceding the race, something you would need to know to be able to analyze his time.

I was pretty happy with my performance yesterday.  Not sure if I raced it or tempo'ed it, but probably closer to race effort.  I never pushed myself to the point that I was miserable which almost seems like a pre-requisite for it to be a race, but calling it a tempo would be deceiving because it implies I could have gone significantly faster whereas if I had pushed myself all out I might have run 5 seconds faster per mile or 80 seconds faster over the course of the race.

More so than in other years it felt like I was runnign by myself for most of this race.  After 3 miles it got scattered but from mile 8 to about mile 15.5 I neither passed nor got passed by anyway.  Very late I passed a fading 14 year runner who probably went out way too hard.  For most of that period it felt like I was all by myself out there.

The conditions were pretty much perfect for racing.  While I didn't have as many miles as Perry I definitely went in with tired legs.  I had run 13 with Perry and Crystal on Saturday and Perry and I had ran 5 more miles before the race started on Sunday.  Right now I am in the middle of marathon training so I have tired legs.  That said, my legs were not really dead at the start.  Just tired.

Not sure what it was, but the early miles which were all slower than 7 minutes per mile felt more tiring than they should have.  Not that I was in pain or anything.  It may just have been tired legs.  Eventually I found a rhymth.  The first half of the race is a net down hill.  Actually the first 10 miles or net downhill whereas the last six miles were uphill.  Mile 15 is like one long gradual hill though they are no really hard parts of the long hill.  I think if I go all out and had a full taper, I could probably run in the 1:51's in good conditions like we had yesterday.

Congrats to all the fast finishers at yesterday's 10 miler.  Good to see DR and Perry make the podium as the first and second place finishers. I imagine DR had a little bit more in him, but wasn't pushed by the competition to the max.  Sounds like Perry worked his way up to seocnd place after starting out slow.  It would have been interesting to try to run with him that race and see if I could keep up.  I was wondering what type of shape Joe as in and a 1:12 where probably about 11 to 12 minutes off his PR shape, certaintly signifies that he is still competitive.  It was also good to see Ryan and Alden out there running.

I am debating whether to run a 10 miler myself--the Yorktown Battlefield 10 miler in three weeks.  It would serve partly as prep for the Richmond marathon, but also a PR attempt (1:04::27 in my 10 miler PR).  That said, the Yorktown course as a decent amount of hills and three and is windy so I am thinking it may not be a PR course.  So I'll continue to think about it.  If I cannot PR I am not sure it is worth, but if I had a fast course on a perfect temperatured day, I am in shape to at least have an outside chance at  a PR.

The lower mileage certainly hurt you.  Last time I talked to you, it also sounded like you might have added five or so pounds which would also hurt you.

Courtesy of letsrun, 50 years ago today the US medalled in the 5000: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1zYmckCaO8

Thanks.  I PR by 1 second but I'll take it.  Originally I was hoping for a sub 64 but my training hasn't been as good as it was the past couple weeks (and neither has the diet).  Overall, I faded a little bit at the end, but I think it was good prep work for the marathon.

How happy were with your 8K time Perry?