Let's get the party started !
Jingle Bell 5.13M 1/17/2021
I have raced this particular course (one full loop in the hilly Tyler park) in 2015 (33:08), 2018 (33:04), 33:25 (2019, opposite direction), 32:33 (2019), 33:12 (2020, opposite direction), so aside from a stellar performance in Dec-19 I was in that narrow range of 33:04-33:25.
About 6 weeks ago we ran this course with Bob at a controlled effort (on my part anyway) and posted 34:47 (Bob’s PB at the time!), and I knew I could do better than that… Then I ran 31:38 for the 8K on track (6:22 pace) and started to hope for another good performance at the Jingle Bell race.
However, as you know, I had a big setback three weeks ago, and my fitness declined noticeably after that hard fall. Last week I ran the 2.7M uphill portion of the course in 18:49 (trying to simulate race effort (comfortably hard), but the pace ended up being much closer to HM effort), so I knew today would be a struggle.
I entered 33:20 as my seed time and as it turned out, was not that far off. Still, I wanted to get a 32:59 and memorized the splits needed to get that result.
It was 36F with 12 mph winds this morning, not perfect, but not bad either. The restrooms near the start were closed, so we had to use our warmup to get to another restroom (1.3M total with 2 strides). Then we dropped extra layers (I was racing in shorts, long-sleeve T-shirt, and light gloves) and headed to the start. Our wave #1 started at 8:59 am… I spent some time trying to put my mask into the back pocket of the shorts (but it was not there after the race, oh well LOL) and then I was able to focus on the race itself.
As I mentioned, first 2.7M of the race is mostly uphill (300 ft of elevation gain), I was 5th for quite some time and then got passed by 4 runners, including Paul and Bob (!)
At 1.94M I was 2 seconds behind the target (13:02 vs 13:00), and then we faced another nasty hill on which I was able to pass Bob, Paul, and another runner Mike.
2.7M mark (top of the hill) – 18:17 (target 18:10), 7 seconds behind the target now (though much better than during my solo trial last week). It is interesting that mentally I was fine, I remembered all the things I wanted to work on during the race, such as: using arms more when going uphill, staying strong 10 seconds after cresting the hill, etc.; but physically I was maxed out, I was not able to run any faster…
The average pace at this point was 6:48, but now it was mostly downhill! Soon enough Paul, Mike and even Bob caught up to me moving me back to 9th position (in our wave). Then, there were two other guys who passed me, oh well. After a 1/2M downhill section we turned left and there was a short, but steep hill and I finally passed Bob (for good this time). Another landmark at 3.77M – 24:56 (24:47 target), nothing I can do about that… Next mile has a huge downhill followed by a gradual uphill, I did all I could there, but managed “only” 6:13 for the mile (in 2019 I ran that mile in 5:53 just to show the difference!)
On a positive side, I was able to pass a 30-some y.o. guy on the final uphill, so I was 9th again. With 0.4M to go I was 18 seconds behind the target, and I was totally spent. Finish line could not come fast enough… 6:29 pace was all I had in me for that final section, normally I am able to run it closer to 6:00 pace, certainly was not the case today. Finally, it was over! 33:35 on my watch, 33:34 is the official chip time, 9th in my wave, but there were 2 guys in other waves who got a better time so in the official standings I am 11/163.
Paul finished with 33:22 and Bob eked out a sub-34 with 33:59.7, another PB for him!
Not the greatest race for me (it was a PW, duh!), but then again maybe it was not totally unexpected. My back was not impacting me much during the race, but now it is quite sore, so the recovery has to continue. Next week it is a grueling 10K race that probably has even more elevation change than this one, hopefully I’ll do better there!
Frequent Racer Group
PRs: 400m- 1:04.94 (2015) / 1M - 5:13 (2022 & 2023) / 5K -18:23 (2017) / 5M - 31:14 (2022) / 10K - 39:29 (2018) / 10M -1:05:11 (2023) / HM - 1:27:34 (2023) / FM -3:15:08 (2023)Coming up: Broad Street 10M (5/5/24), YMCA 5k (5/11/24), Doylestown 5k (5/25/24), Yardley Memorial Mile (5/27/24)
Waltons ThreadLord
Nice report. Who's the "we" you keep referring to? Has the back injury sapped your speed or your stamina more?
5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)Upcoming races: Running is Back 10k, 5/12; Greta's Run 5k, 5/19
Thank you Fred. I did a warm up with Paul and Bob.
I'd say it sapped my speed more, the stamina was there (for the most part)
Some pictures from the race
Leading a pack of runners at the start (here I was in 5th place)
Trying to catch up a guy ahead of me
Coming to the finish line
I'd recognize those yellow gloves anywhere.
Tyler Challenge 10K (~6.08M actual distance) 1/24/2021
This was my 4th time participating in this event which is a part of the Winter series.
In 2016 I posted 41:11, but it was on the alternate (less hilly) route, so I don’t really count it.
In 2019 my time was 41:44 (27F, snow on the ground) and in 2020 it was 41:47 (63F, 15-20 mph wind).
Running on snow or running in warm and windy conditions takes some toll on the outcome; this year conditions were better: 26F with 9 mph wind, but I was not sure whether I fully recovered from my back injury (I’d say I’m 98% back to normal; the back was not bothering me during the race, but it’s a bit sore now.) However, my weight has increased by 2.5LB during the last week (eating too much mutton I suppose), plus I was wearing heavier garments, so that was not working in my favor. In any case, I put 41:40 as my seed time and told Jay I am going to get a PB on this course today! Bob and I did a 12-minute warm up (no strides this time), dropped extra layers and headed to the start, which was delayed by some 4-5 minutes (darn, it was quite cold out there!) As usual, I memorized the splits needed to get to the target time…
The race starts with a gradual 0.4M hill (40 ft of gain) and then turns towards a massive Terrible Tyler hill. Today we had to cover “only” its first (and hardest) section of 0.47M (190 ft of elevation gain!)
I was in 9th place at hill bottom, but slowly worked my way to 5th spot by the time we finally made a turn away from it. Split: 6:19 vs. 6:21 target, right on the money! I was already feeling it, and three runners (including first female) passed me there moving me down to 8th position. After a down/flat section we enjoyed ~0.6M of massive downhill where my pace was 6:03! Another landmark – 13:19 (target 13:30), nice, but my legs were not that fresh, and the breathing was quite heavy. A gradual climb, and then a gradual downhill that brought us back to the starting line: 18:31 vs 18:42 target, still 11 seconds ahead. I knew the next section might make or break today’s race. The section is 0.75M long and has two steep hills with a total climb of 150 ft. It’s not pretty to say the least, especially 3 miles into the race…
I caught to the first lady and a teenager, but eventually they dropped me as I started to enter survival mode. I felt like my pace was slowing down significantly and was nervously waiting for the next landmark.
3.5M mark: 24:01 vs 24:15 target, 14 seconds better now! Another gradual hill, a flat section, a gradual downhill… Why is it so tough?? Some guy in his 30s passes me and joins the first woman and the teenager, I’m maxed out… 4.44M mark: 30:20 vs. 30:48, what? Apparently, I’m doing better than in years prior (last year the strong headwind and warm weather had me suffer at this point big time). If I keep my s…t together, do I have a chance to go sub-41? Another big hill is coming, but I know it is the last one for today. Swing the arms, looks straight ahead, just a bit more… Finally, the big hill is over and now it is “just” a gradual uphill LOL. Another landmark is coming: 5.4M – 36:38 vs. 37:20, 42 seconds ahead, so a sub-41 is indeed possible! Now we make a turn to the Terrible Tyler hill, this time it’s 0.3M of steep downhill! I can’t make ground on runners ahead of me, but that’s all right. I cover this section in 1:43, which is 5:43 pace! Only 0.4M to go… I up the pace and try to sustain it all the way through the finish… 40:35 on my watch, and 40:33 is the official chip time, so a PB by more than a minute. I’m 9th in my wave and 10th overall as there’s someone in wave 2 who beats my chip time. My time is 8 seconds slower that that of the first woman, but at least the gap is shrinking: 2 years ago she beat me by 46 seconds and last year by 20 seconds. Maybe I’d be able to beat her in 2022 😊
Great race, Vibe, and great progress - vs. yourself and your competitors. I liked the reminder to swing your arms going up the hill. It's a habit I'm still working on, but getting better at.
Former Bad Ass
Great races! You’re on fire.
Damaris
Thanks again guys!
Question - which of these runners is me (I know Fred won't have any problem here )
In pursuit of the teenager (2.5M in)
With 1/4M to go...
Almost there
Nice to see the runners wearing re-usable timing chips around their ankles to help reduce waste. I wish more race organizations did that, but I suspect I know why many do not (especially for larger races). The RD who does the local trail runs uses them, but those are small races and a good portion of the field is the same at all the races (when they haven't been cancelled due to Covid).
Honest Abe modified (~4.84M) 2/21/2021
As usual this winter we did not know whether the race would happen (you might recall last two races got canceled) and if so, how different the course layout would be from the prior years. Original course assumes a turnaround around 3.4M mark; to avoid contact between the runners they planned for us to run on grass for about 0.3M after the turnaround; however, all the extra snow we got last week put that idea to rest. Instead, the final decision was made to make the course longer by getting rid of the turnaround... Then the RD checked the course yesterday and declared it runnable. That was probably an accurate assessment, because he never said “raceable” . In fact, they issued a special statement urging runners to exercise extra caution while on the course. And there were casualties, I have seen one guy showing his bloodied elbow after the race, probably he was not the only one… It was a cold morning (24F by the race start, sunny, with some 7-8 mph wind, which I felt a couple of times during the race). Yesterday evening we were at my brother’s house: my nephew turned 1 year old and we had a little celebration. Naturally, I could not avoid drinking (I was reasonable with it though) and overeating (not reasonable at all, that second piece of the cake was not necessary, but oh so good ). Bottom line: I was not sure what to expect of this race… Paul, Bob and I did a 1.4M warmup (checking the final 0.7M section of the course in the process, and it was not bad at all; as it turned out the rest of the course was not in such a great shape). Our warmup ended too close to the race, we actually had to rush to get to the starting line in time. The race has started and for the first 90 seconds we were running uphill on hard packed snow, it was not pretty.
Here's a pic:
Then it changed to spots of snow and spots of ice, which was not much better. By the time we reached 0.5M mark I was already 16 seconds behind my 2018 schedule when I set a course PB. A long climb has followed, I believe I was 7th (in my wave) at that point. At mile 2 I was 29 seconds behind the target, all those slippery spots made me run more carefully and work harder. Soon thereafter I was passed by Mike, he’s 5 years younger and usually he’s a bit ahead of me.
Here I'm still a couple of steps ahead of him...
We exchange ‘good jobs’ and he’s starting to pull away, however once we face the last big hill of the day I’m able to reign him in. A nice downhill, another climb and we arrive at the original turnaround point. But obviously today we don’t turn around, instead we start to go down a massive hill. Unfortunately, first 1/4M of it is covered in snow and ice and we have to considerably slow down (I almost lost balance one time, barely managing to stay upright). Mike is now good 50 meters ahead of me, but at least there’s no one behind me either. After 0.6M downhill we start to climb up a gradual hill, ugh. The downhill/gradual uphill mile is covered in 6:18 which is about 10 seconds slower than I normally run there, no real surprise as I had to watch my step quite often… 0.4M to go, now I know I’ll be close to 32 minutes, can I get a sub-32?
Here I am looking at my watch with 20-30 meters to go...
The clock at the finish shows 32:01 as I cross the line, my watch has me at 32:00.9, but maybe my chip time would allow me to shed that 1 second LOL.
P.S. Yes, my official time is 31:59, so I got a sub-32 after all I'm 11th overall as there were a couple of runners from wave 2 who were 6-14 seconds faster than me today. Oh well.
Vibe - Great race and congrats on the sub-32. That first photo looks like something out of the winter olympics (lower case "o" so their trademark lawyers won't come after me), though you should all be wearring skis.
Great job on the race! Slippery terrain can make one distrustful of running fast, so I think you raced it well for the conditions.
Eenie Meanie HM (modified) 2/28/2021
This race concludes the Winter series, and as usual this winter, it did not go exactly as planned. The causeway that connects two parts of the park was flooded this morning (you might recall it happened a couple of times in the past), so the decision was made to modify the course. As the result, all the 20 splits I memorized from the last year’s race became useless .
It was 39F and very humid this morning, but at least there was no real rain (the forecaster got it wrong, not that I'm complaining), we got a couple of minor showers and that was that. The real rain started after the race . I decided to run in shorts, short sleeve T-shirt, light gloves, and a cap (in case the rain gets stronger).
For the first time in this series, I was not in wave 1, my seed time of 1:33:19 (matching last year’s time) was only good for wave 2, which made sense as I finished 17th last year. So Paul, Bob and I watched the first wave (~10-11 people I guess) go and then we followed the suit. Bob started as if he were running a 5K and was way ahead of us from the get-go. Paul and I were in the back of our wave, but at least we were chatting so that was cool. Here you can see us on the background of the picture, around 1.25M
We covered the first mile in 7:15, probably a tad slower than what we needed, but not bad. Before the race, my plan was to average 7:05-7:10 pace. The course is not the worst in terms of the terrain, but still, we are talking about some 950 ft of total climb here. Then they made us run through a short snow/mud covered section and it was not pretty. Now we were entering the hilly part of the park and I used this opportunity to make first two “kills”. One of the guys put a surge, but that only delayed me passing him for a minute or so. Here Paul started to drop back, before the race he was not sure if he wanted to do the whole thing as he’s focusing on speed work (he will try to break 18:00 in a 5K during the spring). Now I was on my own, at least I know this part of the course very well as we often do our training runs here in addition to Winter series races. Here we had to complete two (almost) 5-mile loops, and I was able to track my progress using familiar landmarks. After a couple of big and small hills we started the big climb (280 ft over 1.5M) and I was able to pass two more runners at the start of the climb and then I passed my AG competitor Roland somewhere in the middle. 5 competitors down, how many to go LOL? Now I could see Bob some 200 meters ahead followed by a guy I did not recognize. I was definitely gaining on them during the climb, but they were still ways ahead. Finally, we reached the highest point of the park and started to go down. Nothing has changed in terms of my position in the race for the longest time as we finished the first hilly loop, started the second and came back to the beginning of the 280 ft climb. I measured the time between me and Bob - it was 28 seconds, his pursuer had 15 seconds on me.
Here's Bob followed by that guy and myself, way, way back LOL
I was working hard though!
I knew that to beat Bob I’d have to do it during the climb as it was the last big one today. One mile in I finally passed Bob’s pursuer (who said Bob is incredible (oh yes he is!) and that I have to get him! With 0.5M of the climb still left I was now only 6 seconds behind Bob, but I was quickly running out of steam. My splits were remarkably close to those from the first hilly loop, but I was maxed out now. Finally, I caught up to Bob with 100 meters before the highest point and decided to get a bit of rest staying tucked behind his back. However, once the downhill started Bob took off like a rocket! I was still matching (give or take) my splits, but he was accelerating and the gap between started to grow fast. With 0.5M to go in the second loop he was 30 seconds ahead of me! This year I did not have any runs longer than 9 miles and it clearly showed. Once we reached 10 mile mark my legs started to die. Still, I was chugging along, and even made another “kill” passing the guy from wave 1. But I could not really see Bob anymore… I started to lap runners still on their first hilly loop, at least I knew I have “only” 2 miles to go at that point. I covered the first hilly loop in 34:32 and the second in 34:38, so it was quite consistent… Now we were going back to the other side of the park, ran thru the muddy section (it was in much worse shape now), and finally reached the park entrance (1 mile to go). That mile was not easy, somehow, I managed to cover it in 6:42 and finished the race with 1:32:04 on my watch (1:32:03 is the official time, 7:02 pace on average).
You can tell I'm so happy it's over
Congratulated Bob with an amazing race (he posted 1:31:16), he is a machine! I was 11th overall today, which is in line with my placement in other three races (11th, 10th, and 11th). A hard race, the course distance was legit for a change, so there’s that.