May 19, 2009

Front of the Pack

After work I ran the annual Wall Street Run. It was a 5K shortened to 3 miles due to construction so I lost my chance to go for a 5K PR. But since it's a fun race I decided to do it anyway. The field was huge, 4,648 runners total on the narrow, winding streets of the financial district. People were literally stepping on each other and I had to dodge potholes and jump up and down curbs to navigate the crowds. I had no idea how my legs would feel after the century and I felt slow as molasses, but then I hit the first mile and noted my split - 6:51, the fastest mile I've ever run!

My Garmin malfunctioned on mile two and showed a 6:04 split. I'd like to think I was running fast, but I definitely didn't do a 6:04. The next splits were back on track and all sub-7, with my finish showing 3.41 miles total. Most courses are off a bit and you zigzag and add extra mileage, but that was definitely excessive likely due to building interference. Other GPS wearers showed 3.15-3.2 miles total. But according to official results, I did just 3 miles in 22:32. This isn't as fast as my recent time trial, but it was a race record for me. I finished 23rd out of 492 in my age group, breaking into the top 5%. New York City races are so competitive it's nearly impossible to take the top AG spots so this was close enough for me. For the first time ever I was in the front of the pack and that is an incredible feeling.

I started my day with a little rest week swim. It was a "floater," one I only needed to do if I had the time. I'm starting to embrace my rest weeks since I tend to notice a big difference when I go back to a build week. However, sometimes the logistics of fitting in a workout are more complicated than the workout itself. I woke up at 6:00 for this swim, a catch and pull session consisting of 50 yards x 10. That could be a warm up on other days. I added a little extra but it still took less than 20 minutes. On one hand it hardly seemed worth getting up for, but on the other hand it was valuable. Because I was focused on a specific technique, I ended up logging some of my fastest times. A friend recently said that proper swimming technique equals free speed. She was right.

Swimming
Distance - 1,000 yards
Time - 17:55

Running
Distance - 3 miles
Time - 22:36

2 comments:

  1. Grats on that front of the pack race Kristin :)

    I still dream of the day where I will be there too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats, Kristin! Can't deny the fitness you've acquired. Sounds like things are really coming together. Keep up the good work!

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