We had a nice crowd tonight! Ten runners left Parkview track, ten returned, though not all did the tempo. S'Ok, it's your run too! The results of those participating weren't bad. Let's look.
The short synopsis: Aaron and Josh were in another zip code, so we didn't have a lot of contact or discussion. Clearly they both ran well, though I'm guessing Aaron wasn't pleased with his pace since he went three. He generally pushes for the 6:00-6:05 range, and the third mile was outside that range. Don't be too hard on him though... he recently learned he is going to be a papa. Congrats!
Josh had a very solid run. The middle split was a bit fast, but it didn't cost him on the the third. Very nicely done, especially with the uphill final mile.
Kathy put a ring in Sandy's nose and drug her through the run. It was hilarious to see Kathy up there, 5 yards ahead of Sandy jabbering away. No way Sandy could hear her. It didn't matter, it was enough to keep Sandy going, and she did a great job.
Dan got ahead of his pace a bit early and paid later, but it wasn't nearly as severe as he first made it sound. Downhill first mile, good second mile, slipped a bit on the last uphill. Really not that bad. Overall time was pretty good, considering.
Chris tried for the 7-minute time again, and slipped a bit in the middle. However... that Garmin won't read accurately for the second mile, giving a long mile (and therefore a short third mile). SO... realistically we're talking about a pretty even run. I'm guessing the second mile was slightly slow and the third mile came back to pace. Chris has enough experience now I think he can control the pace for that long.
Now we come to Jimmy, Galloway, Scott, and me... Jimmy was in charge of the run. He wanted 6:52 pace, and for the first mile it was nearly perfect at 6:51. We headed into the second mile pretty smoothly. I warned Scott that this course requires a bit of pressure right at the start of the second mile (because of the incline), then smooth back out at the top, finally gliding downhill to the end of the mile. He did the first two steps alright, but as we headed downhill on Washington Avenue, Scott picked it up. That would have been fine, in fact I kind of thought it might happen since we were running a slower pace than last week. The trouble was Jimmy kept pace. He finally said something as we rounded the circle, Scott slowed, but the damage was done.
Our second mile was 6:43, a lot better than it would have been if we hadn't slowed, but faster than the plan. We (Galloway, Jimmy, and I) continued to encourage Scott to extend away if he felt able. Over the next half mile we took turns talking about where to make a move, how to do it, the purpose, etc. The plan I tried to sell was for Scott to start the move as soon as he felt recovered on the flat before the final drop. Runners are weakest as they top a hill, so if your conditioning is good and you can recover fast, that's when you want to move.
As we started the downhill I made one more plea for Scott to start his move. Then Galloway offered his advice: wait for the last 50 yards and out kick us. That was good advice of course, because Galloway correctly understands that Scott has a much better kick than any of us. Since a lot of my strategy was designed to defeat a kicker, I decided to make my point - right then.
I eased away. Jimmy and Galloway undoubtedly knew what I was up to, and I can't be sure if they sent Scott after me or he did it on his own, but he did follow. Good. I used the downhill to press harder and harder, not all at once, I just let the pressure build. I didn't want to be flat-out before the start of the hill. I simply wanted the pain to build and doubt to creep in.
As the course turned up for the final time, Scott was immediately to my right and slightly behind. I was watching his shadow cast by the setting sun; it reliably gave me his position at all times. If he moved to draw up to me, I ran a little harder, watched for the shadow to fall back a bit, and carried on. He kept making micro-pushes at me, and every time I did just enough to discourage the move. It wasn't like I had a lot of gas - I was getting close to my limit too. However, the plan was to project as much strength as possible. Above all, I didn't want him to draw even. If he did, mentally he would have conquered me and would have easily sprinted past. By keeping him slightly behind, even though he ran the exact same mile pace I ran for the whole mile, I discouraged a kick I couldn't hope to cover.
Now I hope this doesn't read like a great big pat on the back for me - it's not my point. Racing isn't just about the physical training, it's also a chess match. It's situational, and you have to be able to think and adapt as conditions change. If your race focus isn't there you stand the risk of losing to inferior athletes. Tonight I was the inferior athlete who simply has more racing experience I was able to exploit.
I think one of the truisms of sport is one of the best ways to beat an opponent is to get them to play the game the way you want to play. If you can do that, you can play to your own strengths and nullify theirs. In tonight's example, when Galloway made his observation, I had a snap decision to make. With half a mile to go, I had precious little time left to break Scott's will to sprint. It was truly a "now-or-never" moment, which I took. This time it worked out. Scott, if he reads this, will know better next time, and will realize that no matter what I do, he can still out kick me in the end. It may hurt, but if he decides to go, there isn't a darn thing I can do about it. His only task is to be there when the time comes to kick.
I'm really up about this group we have this year. The four newcomers (Scott, Chris, Dan, and Sandy) have all grown immeasurably during this cycle, and will all make great racers. I see a time in the not-too-distant future when Chris and Scott won't be able to train with us any more -we'll be too slow for them. I think big time drops are on the way for all of them, way more than they can imagine. It'll be fun to watch.
| Athlete | Mile 1 | Mile 2 | Mile 3 | Total | Avg |
| Aaron | 5:59:00 | 6:04:00 | 6:08:00 | 18:11:00 | 6:03:40 |
| Josh A. | 6:19:00 | 6:10:00 | 6:18:00 | 18:47:00 | 6:15:40 |
| Scott | 6:49:00 | 6:48:00 | 6:29:00 | 20:06:00 | 6:42:00 |
| Bill | 6:51:00 | 6:43:00 | 6:30:00 | 20:04:00 | 6:41:20 |
| Jimmy | 6:51:00 | 6:43:00 | 6:39:00 | 20:13:00 | 6:44:20 |
| Tim G. | 6:50:00 | 6:43:00 | 6:50:00 | 20:23:00 | 6:47:40 |
| Chris S. | 7:08:00 | 7:22:00 | 7:03:00 | 21:33:00 | 7:11:00 |
| Dan G. | 7:29:00 | 7:53:00 | 8:02:00 | 23:24:00 | 7:48:00 |
| Kathy | 7:42:00 | 7:28:00 | 7:26:00 | 22:36:00 | 7:32:00 |
| Sandy | 8:15:00 | 8:45:00 | 8:43:00 | 25:43:00 | 8:34:20 |
The short synopsis: Aaron and Josh were in another zip code, so we didn't have a lot of contact or discussion. Clearly they both ran well, though I'm guessing Aaron wasn't pleased with his pace since he went three. He generally pushes for the 6:00-6:05 range, and the third mile was outside that range. Don't be too hard on him though... he recently learned he is going to be a papa. Congrats!
Josh had a very solid run. The middle split was a bit fast, but it didn't cost him on the the third. Very nicely done, especially with the uphill final mile.
Kathy put a ring in Sandy's nose and drug her through the run. It was hilarious to see Kathy up there, 5 yards ahead of Sandy jabbering away. No way Sandy could hear her. It didn't matter, it was enough to keep Sandy going, and she did a great job.
Dan got ahead of his pace a bit early and paid later, but it wasn't nearly as severe as he first made it sound. Downhill first mile, good second mile, slipped a bit on the last uphill. Really not that bad. Overall time was pretty good, considering.
Chris tried for the 7-minute time again, and slipped a bit in the middle. However... that Garmin won't read accurately for the second mile, giving a long mile (and therefore a short third mile). SO... realistically we're talking about a pretty even run. I'm guessing the second mile was slightly slow and the third mile came back to pace. Chris has enough experience now I think he can control the pace for that long.
Now we come to Jimmy, Galloway, Scott, and me... Jimmy was in charge of the run. He wanted 6:52 pace, and for the first mile it was nearly perfect at 6:51. We headed into the second mile pretty smoothly. I warned Scott that this course requires a bit of pressure right at the start of the second mile (because of the incline), then smooth back out at the top, finally gliding downhill to the end of the mile. He did the first two steps alright, but as we headed downhill on Washington Avenue, Scott picked it up. That would have been fine, in fact I kind of thought it might happen since we were running a slower pace than last week. The trouble was Jimmy kept pace. He finally said something as we rounded the circle, Scott slowed, but the damage was done.
Our second mile was 6:43, a lot better than it would have been if we hadn't slowed, but faster than the plan. We (Galloway, Jimmy, and I) continued to encourage Scott to extend away if he felt able. Over the next half mile we took turns talking about where to make a move, how to do it, the purpose, etc. The plan I tried to sell was for Scott to start the move as soon as he felt recovered on the flat before the final drop. Runners are weakest as they top a hill, so if your conditioning is good and you can recover fast, that's when you want to move.
As we started the downhill I made one more plea for Scott to start his move. Then Galloway offered his advice: wait for the last 50 yards and out kick us. That was good advice of course, because Galloway correctly understands that Scott has a much better kick than any of us. Since a lot of my strategy was designed to defeat a kicker, I decided to make my point - right then.
I eased away. Jimmy and Galloway undoubtedly knew what I was up to, and I can't be sure if they sent Scott after me or he did it on his own, but he did follow. Good. I used the downhill to press harder and harder, not all at once, I just let the pressure build. I didn't want to be flat-out before the start of the hill. I simply wanted the pain to build and doubt to creep in.
As the course turned up for the final time, Scott was immediately to my right and slightly behind. I was watching his shadow cast by the setting sun; it reliably gave me his position at all times. If he moved to draw up to me, I ran a little harder, watched for the shadow to fall back a bit, and carried on. He kept making micro-pushes at me, and every time I did just enough to discourage the move. It wasn't like I had a lot of gas - I was getting close to my limit too. However, the plan was to project as much strength as possible. Above all, I didn't want him to draw even. If he did, mentally he would have conquered me and would have easily sprinted past. By keeping him slightly behind, even though he ran the exact same mile pace I ran for the whole mile, I discouraged a kick I couldn't hope to cover.
Now I hope this doesn't read like a great big pat on the back for me - it's not my point. Racing isn't just about the physical training, it's also a chess match. It's situational, and you have to be able to think and adapt as conditions change. If your race focus isn't there you stand the risk of losing to inferior athletes. Tonight I was the inferior athlete who simply has more racing experience I was able to exploit.
I think one of the truisms of sport is one of the best ways to beat an opponent is to get them to play the game the way you want to play. If you can do that, you can play to your own strengths and nullify theirs. In tonight's example, when Galloway made his observation, I had a snap decision to make. With half a mile to go, I had precious little time left to break Scott's will to sprint. It was truly a "now-or-never" moment, which I took. This time it worked out. Scott, if he reads this, will know better next time, and will realize that no matter what I do, he can still out kick me in the end. It may hurt, but if he decides to go, there isn't a darn thing I can do about it. His only task is to be there when the time comes to kick.
I'm really up about this group we have this year. The four newcomers (Scott, Chris, Dan, and Sandy) have all grown immeasurably during this cycle, and will all make great racers. I see a time in the not-too-distant future when Chris and Scott won't be able to train with us any more -we'll be too slow for them. I think big time drops are on the way for all of them, way more than they can imagine. It'll be fun to watch.
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