Notes
Great Stew Chase 15K
1st time doing this race. Feeling pretty good about this race considering my recovery from the calf strain 2 weeks ago. Thursday tempo run seemed to indicate my threshold pace was somewhere between a 6:00-6:18. Not great, but good considering I was off for a week. Decided to shoot for 6:10s and try to hold my HR in the low 170s.
Started off pretty comfortably. First 800m was crowded, but the pack soon thinned out and I was running smoothly behind a taller runner and older guy with a bright yellow jacket (looked like errol yudelman). 1st mile was pretty smooth and in control. Next mile or so was spent exchanging the lead with the guy in a yellow jacket. Mike and Josh were in eyesight (maybe 20m) and looked to be doing a tempo/progression run. After mile 3, the pace started to get a little tougher to hold. After the left turn onto 1st Ave., there was a good solid hill leading into a strip mall, and I finally dropped the guy in the yellow jacket. A nice downhill led to the 95 overpass, and another downhill led to the base of the long climb to the turnaround. I tried to settle into a nice rhythm on the hill and make up some ground on the guy in front of me. Mike and Josh were not longer in sight, although I did see them briefly coming back after the turnaround. I started to tighten up a bit after the turnaround, so I tried to loosen up on the long downhill and not hammer it. The taller guy in red was still in sight, and I heard footsteps behind me as we neared the 6 miler marker. I thought it was the guy in the yellow jacket, but it turned out to be the 1st female. She stayed with me for a bit after the water stop, and then went by me. I generally don't like being passed in the latter stages of races, so I picked it up and focused in so I could stay with her. Then, I used the next uphill to regain the lead and then pressed the pace to try to make up ground on the runner in front. The course was quite windy (serpentine), but with traffic in both directions, it was very difficult to run the tangents. I was beginning to slow by about 10 seconds per mile, and really lost my focus on a steep uphill leading to a right turn around mile 8.5 and the leading female passed me again. I wasn't pleased with my effort for mile 9, and it was reflected in the lower HR. However, we were also back on Lynnfield St and the finish was only about 1/4 mile down the road, so I picked up the cadence again to repass and also try to reel in the runner in front. This is where the week off showed, and I had little bounce in my leg left. Still, a good and promising effort considering the time off. Need some more tempo and aerobic work so i can hold the pace longer in the 2nd half of these races.
112 cpm
www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2530739