On Sunday, April 24th 2016, I competed it
in the 33rd Annual James Joyce 10K in Dedham, MA. This race does not
start until 11AM so Hannah and I were able to sleep in before heading out. We
ended up leaving Boston at around 9AM and taking the Orange Line to Forest
Hills and then taking an Uber the rest of the way. Once we arrived at the
Endicott Estate, where the start of the race is located, I went over and
registered. I grabbed some water and then listened to some music before going
on about a two mile warmup. I was able to run a good portion of the first mile
of the race, which featured a slight downhill. I knew we would be coming back
up that way toward the finish so I kept that in the back of my mind. I took off
my sweatshirt and put on a new pair of compression socks that I bought last
week at the Boston Marathon Expo, I had run in them one other time this week,
but really wanted to test them out in a race situation. Soon enough I was
waiting around at the start line, but I was not able to do many strides because
the USATF Masters National Road Race Championship started a few minutes before
us and were blocking the way. This was somewhat of a nuisance during the actual
race because you had to weave around people at certain point, but overall it
was not too big of a deal and didn’t ever cost me any time.
The official
starter of the race ended up being Uta Pippig the first
woman to win the Boston Marathon three consecutive times. Soon the gong
sounded and we were off and running! I quickly watched a very large pack of
elite men escape off into the distance. My plan was to start off conservatively
and run even 5:40 splits to finish right at or under 35 minutes. I quickly
settled into the group of elite women running for the B.A.A, the Saucony Racing
Team, the Boston Track Club, or the Cambridge Running Club. There were around
six or seven of us and I felt like running in a group would help push me along
so I stuck with them. The slight downhill of the first mile pushed me to a
faster time in the first mile than I was expecting in 5:28. I continued to hang
onto this group of women and soon we entered the windier section of the race
after leaving East St. On the first hill of the course the pack split up and
there were now only five of us. I had taken the hill conservatively and pushed
the downhill to connect back with the front of that group. We ended up hitting
the two mile marker in 11:11, which was a little fast but nothing to worry
about. A few minutes after passing mile two I just felt my legs start to burn a
little bit as I attempted to hold onto the surge of the group I was with. At
this point I dropped off of the front two women and settled into my own rhythm.
I was running with the 3rd and 4th place females and
attempting to limit the distance that the other gained on me. Pretty soon we
came and passed mile three in right at 17:00. The race did not have official 5K
splits so I estimated that I probably crossed in about 17:34-17:35.
Soon after
I entered the toughest mile of the entire course. This mile weaved through the
Noble and Greenough school and featured steady rolling hills. I could feel
quite a bit of pain in my legs so I focused on rhythm and recovering on the
flats and downhills. I was pretty much running on my own at this point, but I
was not necessarily making up ground, or being passed. I did have a few runners
only a couple seconds ahead so I focused on maintaining and closing the gap
during this hill mile. Right as we exiting the school I saw the fourth mile
marker. I could tell I was a little bit off my goal, but not terrible. Four
mile time was 22:53. At this point I had entered a long flat stretch of road
that I was really able to pick up my pace. The rest of the race after this
point ended up being almost pancake flat. I focused on reeling in a member of
the Cambridge Running Club and trying to reconnect with the female elites
during this mile. I did not get an accurate split of the last two miles as one
was too short, and the other was too long. Right after passing mile five there
was a gradual downhill before we turned back up the street the way that we had
started. I knew at this point that I had less than four or so minutes to go so
I was doing everything I could to keep my pace up and try and reel in anyone
ahead of me. Mostly this mile I maintained my position. As I approached mile
six I could see the clock ticking past thirty four minutes, but I was still a
little bit off. I knew that sub 35 was now out of reach, but I could still come
pretty close. I dug in and sprinted hard the last two tenth of a mile. I was
able to make up around seven or eight seconds on the fourth place women alone
in just the last 100 meters. I finally crossed the finish in 35:26, a new PR!
I
ended up splitting this race pretty evenly with 5K times of around 17:35 and
17:51 respectively. My last 2.2 miles after the four mile split were run at
right about 5:42 pace. Later on after the race I learned that the women I had
finished only one second behind, Melissa Nash, was actually a Bentley
University graduate a couple years back! After the race I cooled down and hung
around the post-race party. I ended up placing 29th Overall and
winning my division. Initially, I did not expect this race to be quite as
competitive as it was this year. It actually turned out to be great for my race
as I was able to pivot perfectly off of other runners, which I have not been
able to do recently as this was the first really competitive race I have
competed in quite some time. I feel like I could have run a little bit faster
with fresher legs, if I had decided to take a recovery week instead of a normal
volume week this week. Legs are still adjusting back to the high mileage I have
been running the last month or so and this left me a little less fresh than I
would have liked. Afterwards, I received a very unique award for finishing
first in my age group. The award ended up being two books, one of which was a
collection of works by James Joyce, the Irish writer by whom this race is
inspired! It always great when a race can give out an award that has special
meaning to the race itself, and it also gives the runner something to remember
the race by. I know I will certainly remember this race!
Training Update:
This race capped off a 65 mile week for me. Last week I finished right at 70 miles, and the week before that I was at 60. I'll be raising my mileage a little bit higher the next few weeks as I prepare for the Black Mountain Monster on May 21st. I have decided to drop down to the six hour event as a tune-up for the Dusk to Dawn 50 Miler in June rather than attempting the 12 hour race and not being ready to compete again by the 50 Miler. On may 12th i'll be running in the River Jam Race series at the White Water Center. I'm very excited to be racing on the trails again! There are so many races there that I have wanted to run this year but could not because I was at school. It's tough reading the results for races you know you could have done well in. There is also a slight possibility that i'll jump into a half-marathon sometime over the next few weekends to try and lower my 1:19:28 time that I ran in September
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| Final Sprint! |
Training Update:
This race capped off a 65 mile week for me. Last week I finished right at 70 miles, and the week before that I was at 60. I'll be raising my mileage a little bit higher the next few weeks as I prepare for the Black Mountain Monster on May 21st. I have decided to drop down to the six hour event as a tune-up for the Dusk to Dawn 50 Miler in June rather than attempting the 12 hour race and not being ready to compete again by the 50 Miler. On may 12th i'll be running in the River Jam Race series at the White Water Center. I'm very excited to be racing on the trails again! There are so many races there that I have wanted to run this year but could not because I was at school. It's tough reading the results for races you know you could have done well in. There is also a slight possibility that i'll jump into a half-marathon sometime over the next few weekends to try and lower my 1:19:28 time that I ran in September
Week
of April 4th, 2016 to April 10th, 2016
60.3
Miles
11
Runs
Average of
5.48 Miles Per Run
7.08 Hours
of Running
Runs:
Monday: 11
Miles (7 @ 6:59 Pace, 4 @ 6:58 Pace)
Tuesday: 8
Miles @ 7:10 Pace
Wednesday:
9 Miles (5.75 Tempo Run @ 6:13 Pace, 3.25 @ 7:00)
Thursday:
10 Miles (6.5 @ 7:01 Pace, 3.5 @ 7:05 Pace)
Friday: 6
Miles @ 7:10 Pace
Saturday:
7.2 Miles @ 7:43 Pace
Sunday: 9
Miles (5 @ 6:54 Pace, 4 @ 7:06 Pace)
Week
of April 11th, 2016 to April 17th, 2016
70 Miles
10 Runs
Average of
7.0 Miles Per Run
8.02 Hours
of Running
Runs:
Monday: 14
Miles (9 @ 6:51 Pace, 5 @ 7:00 Pace)
Tuesday: 9
Miles @ 6:47 Pace
Wednesday:
Steady State 10 Miles @ 6:35 Pace
Thursday:
13 Miles (9 @ 6:53 Pace, 4 @ 7:03)
Friday:
6.5 Miles @ 7:06 Pace
Saturday:
8.5 Miles @ 6:48 Pace
Sunday: 9 Miles
(4 @ 7:01 Pace, 5 @ 7:00 Pace)
Week
of April 18th, 2016 to April 24th, 2016
65.5 Miles
9 Runs
Average of
7.28 Miles Per Run
7.46 Hours
of Running
Runs:
Monday: 7
Miles @ 6:55 Pace
Tuesday:
12.5 Miles (9 @ 6:49 Pace, 3.5 @ 7:16 Pace)
Wednesday:
Tempo Run 10 Miles (5 WU @ 7:07 Pace, 5 Tempo @ 5:53 Pace)
Thursday:
11 Miles @ 7:05 Pace
Friday:
8.5 Miles @ 7:03 Pace
Saturday:
7 Miles (4 @ 6:54 Pace, 3 @ 7:13)
Sunday:
10K Race 9.5 Miles (3.25 WU/CD @ 7:23 Pace, 10K Race @ 5:41 Pace)
Conclusion:
Had some great runs and some not so great runs during
the last few week of running. Focus now will be on increasing mileage and
shifting my training toward my summer races. I will be returned home to
Charlotte for the summer on May 10th so I will also have to readjust
to the heat. Excited to have lots of time to train and race this summer though.
Some other exciting news: I have decided to enter the
Lehigh Valley Marathon on September 11th, 2016 to lower my marathon
time before the 2017 Boston Marathon Registration opens. This race is point to
point with a slight net downhill so I am very excited to train hard over the
summer and see what I can turn that training into.
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