So.  I had a blast at my first-ever mile race in June, and shortly thereafter I signed up for the Fifth Avenue Mile.  Though I executed pretty well in that race, I thought I could have squeezed a few more seconds out of it, because I had a slow third quarter.  For the past eight weeks, I’ve been knocking back speedwork like it’s going out of style, with particular emphasis on 400s @ goal mile pace for today (6:26 or 1:35-1:36 per 400/quarter).  And the 6:26 was my “A” goal; I trained for it, but it was far from a given.  I was pretty sure it was going to take everything I had to hit it.

I had a very early morning: bus to the train station, train into New York, subway to west side of Central Park, then half mile walk across the park over to 5^th Avenue.  I met up with bluerun, who had very kindly picked up my bib and race shirt for me a few days ago (saving me some time this morning!), and we had a nice chat as we ran the course forward and back for a warmup, plus strides on a side street.  The course is just a straight shot south on 5^th Avenue, with buildings to the left, Central Park to the right.

Bluerun is faster than me so I was behind her a bit in our corral, but I did stay pretty far forward.  An official photographer was mingling among us taking pre-race photos, and he was cracking me up. “Hey girl, show me your number!” *click* “Let’s see your best race face beautiful!” *click*  You have to have the right personality to pull that off and he did; helped me relax a bit!

Finally we were off!  The first quarter of the race is a slight downhill. I specifically tried to avoid dodging and weaving and just tried to run in a straight, smooth line.  400m split: 1:33.  Oh shit, too fast.  Well, the second quarter of the race is slightly uphill, but I still felt I’d better back off a bit on my own, rather than only letting the hill take care of it.  Second 400 split: 1:41.  *facepalm*  The third quarter was slight downhill again, and I knew I had to pick it up after that too-slow second split.  Third 400: 1:31.  Oh god, are you kidding me?  How ‘bout I just spend the whole race yo-yoing around my needed pace instead of, oh, I don’t know, just hitting it?  Because that’s a good way to run a race, right?

With about 200m to go, I started accelerating and passing people.  I was definitely tired but I knew that my goal was not in the bag!  The finish chute was super-duper long; I felt like I’d never reach the end, but of course I finally did.  My watch had 6:33.  Well, crap, did I really slow down that much in the fourth?  I thought I’d been hammering it!  Then I looked at the distance: 1.68 km?!  I know watches aren’t the last word in accuracy, but 4+% higher than race distance seems like a lot?  I had 1:35 for my last 400, meaning I was at 6:20 after 1600m.  If that’s the case, I *surely* got my 6:26.  But my watch read 13 seconds for an additional 0.08 km after the fourth split.  As much as I would like to claim that I can kick that well (that’s about 4:22/mi), I’m sure I did not run that fast.  So I don’t know what was going on at the end of the race.  Though the 6:20 total at 1600m is compelling, I just can’t say for certain that I ran 6:26.  So my race time, and PR, must go down as 6:32, which was my chip time.  It’s still a 7-second improvement over June (and heck, in that race my watch had 1.59km!).  So it was a super day.

There’s room for improvement though.  I still think I didn’t run 100% “clam out” (in the words of FSocks).  Both of my mile races, I’ve felt I didn’t reach the level of exhaustion I have at the end of a 5k.  I think I can do better.  I was worried today about accelerating/kicking too soon, but I actually think I waited too long; could have started a block or two earlier.  I don’t have any more mile races on the horizon, but when I do, I think I will do a few time trials with the express aim of figuring this out.

Next up: break 22 minutes in the 5k.  Hopefully in 3 weeks!

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(end of my race report, but if you want to read about the pros):

Since I’d already made the trek to the city, and it was such a lovely day, I decided I would stay and watch the pros.  I found a spot about 100m before the finish line, second row behind the barriers (so super close to the action!).  There was no video screen, but the finish line announcers had one, so they were explaining what was happening before the runners came by us.  Finally the lead vehicle was in sight, and it pulled off to the side with about 200m to go to let the guys finish.  I’m not much of a photo/video taker, but I wish I could have taken one here for you all to see this!  Nick Willis just had this look of “aarrrrrrrrrrrr!” on his face that was both pure joy (I think he knew he had it!) and yet still the summoning of every fiber of his being to hold off the other guys.  I don’t know how to explain it better than that, but it was amazing to see!  He did his “victory lap” a few minutes later and I tried to high-five him but I was a little too far back and only got the slightest fingertip brush.  Rats.

Then the pro women went.  It was also a close finish (it was hard to see the actual finish from where I was), but I could hear it from the announcers that Jenny Simpson won!  When she did her victory lap she was so adorable!! (I say that, she’s barely younger than me).  She just had the biggest smile and so much spring in her step and kept saying “thank you, thank you!” to all the spectators.  And I got a full-on high five from her!!

I still think I didn’t run 100% “clam out” (in the words of FSocks). 

Quoted for posterity.

Were you actually checking your splits after each quarter FFS? 

Yes but ONLY when I heard the beep after the first 3!  Never once in between and never after the third one!

Great job!

So you're looking for a 1-minute PR on the 5k after only a few months?  Yikes, that seems agressive!  

That's because my right ankle started swelling for some unknown reason.  I thought I'd just take W/Th off, but it really hadn't improved so I took F/Sat as well.  No problem during the race, but it hurts again now.   I definitely am going to need a few more days to get this squared away; I want to be 100% for my 5k in 3 weeks.

Ah, well it didn't seem to hinder you. Maybe you've discovered a new taper technique for the mile.

Nice! Congrats on the PR!

Great job!

 

So you're looking for a 1-minute PR on the 5k after only a few months?  Yikes, that seems agressive!  

I think it seems like a good goal, but I'm also the crazy who wants to attempt sub-22 by year end after a summer of not running and gaining 5 lbs  MTA: I also ran my PR in less than ideal conditions (in a downpour, dewpoint of 70F), which makes an attempt in perfect weather on a good course a little less nutty, lol.

We're PR twins, we both have to do it!  Let's go!! 

YES We need to come up with a super secret PR twin high five or something.

Congrats! I'd die at that pace, lol.

Congratulations and good luck with the sub 22!