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Run Entry

Info
Date:4/19/2008 1:00 PM
Type:Race
Course:River to River Relay - Section 19
Distance:2.6 miles
Duration:15:31
Pace:5:59 / mile
Shoe:Nike Air Zoom Katana
Weather:50° F, Overcast
Notes:Ok...so...after I handed off on my 2nd leg, Tim ran down the master's team, and put us back in contention for a top 5 finish. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place had pulled away too far, but with our 3 studs running 6, 7, and 8, I knew we'd have a chance at 4th or 5th. Well, after our 8th guy's 2nd leg, we'd pulled into 4th by about 10 seconds. Tom then took the baton, and we knew he was our weakest link, so we just needed him to stay within sight of 4th and 5th. He did his job, and handed off to Marcus with 4th only about 2 minutes in front, and 5th about 90 seconds. Marcus closed the gap by about 20 seconds, if I recall.

So...I get the baton a little over a minute behind 5th place, a 90 seconds or 20 behind 4th. Well...this leg was short, which was good, as I could tell at the end of my 2nd leg, I was getting tired (I think that's where that whole "training" idea comes in to play). But, the last .6 miles is straight uphill...which I knew would be tough. So, I decided to go nice and easy and just try and make up a little time with a strong finish. Mile 1 - 5:42...so far so good. Then, there was a small little downhill section, and it got my legs going pretty good, and well...oops...mile 2 was a 5:29...and then the hill.

I watched my "Average Lap Pace" on my Garmin creep up from 5:57, to 6:09, to 6:19, then, I didn't wanna look anymore, but not long later took one last peak, saw "6:41" and was like...dammit! So...I gave it all I had for the last few hundred meters, and was never more glad to be done running than when I handed Tim the baton. I was toast. My IT band had started to tighten up pretty good, and on one last steep downhill before the final baton, it was actually hurting a bit, but went away.

Oh...and I had pulled us to within about 20-30 seconds of 5th place. Nice.

Well, the rest of the story goes like this:
Tim ran awesome on his final leg, and ran down 5th place, and handed off about 30 seconds in front of 5th, and with 4th place in our sights. Vince then gave up the 30 second lead, and handed off in 6th, about 30 seconds down from 5th, 2 minutes back from 4th. Well...then Krazy Karl went nutso on the hardest leg on the course, a 3.8 mile monster, with a 1.6 mile section that is non-stop uphill. Most ridiculous hill I've ever seen (except in mountains). He averaged 5:20s...wow. He said his 1 mile split that was all uphill was 5:48. Ridiculous.

Anyway, he handed off about 20 seconds behind 4th place, and well ahead of 5th. Mark then ran a great final leg of his own, handing off to Ryan (our final guy) in 4th place with a very comfortable margin, that Ryan would only extend to the finish. We finished the 76.4 mile relay (the 80 mile course was shortened by 3.6 miles due to storm damage on the 1st section of the relay) in 4th place, in a time of 7:25:03, which is an average pace of 5:50s. Not too shabby.

Amazingly, no real pain on the IT Band today...a little tightness at times, but, the pain was minor. I had zero problems with the achilles, which might be the more shocking note. Anyway, a good day, indeed.
Statistics:VO2 Max: 53.7

Intervals (Splits)
TypeDistanceTimeTotal TimePaceAvg HRMax HRNotes
Interval1 Mi5:435:435:43  Feeling a bit tight and tired now, and I know I have a huge uphill finish, so...I'm running pretty conservatively here.
Interval1 Mi5:2911:125:29  Ummm...apparently I abandoned the conservative strategy. I think there was a good downhill here, which is what I will blame this fast mile on.
Interval0.6 Mi4:1915:317:12  All uphill...this sucked. Might not have been so bad had I stuck to the conservative plan. Oh well...sucked it up and finished it up.
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