Sunday, October 28th
22 min warmup
Mayor's Cup 8K - 24:30 -NEW PR (4:43, 5:02, 4:55, 5:05, 4:45)
19 min cooldown
Total = 11 Miles, 66 min
Today was the Mayor's Cup XC Race and the official start to my cross country season. Mayor's Cup is one of the coolest, most competitive post collegiate XC races in the country. Outside of the US Championships and Club Nationals, there aren't many post collegiate cross races that draw as much talent as this one does. Everything today went very well. The weather was perfect, the course had dried off from yesterday's rain and I was able to execute the race I had planned on. I actually haven't been feeling that great on daily runs over the past week and was nervous about how I would perform today. However, I knew that I had put in the work and was in shape to run sub 5:00 min pace for 5 miles.
So the gun went off and I went out strong to get position early in what was a quick but fairly relaxed 4:43 mile. Over the next mile, I moved up a few spots and soon found myself in between 2 packs... the leaders who were setting up to run mid 23s and the chasers that were just hoping to pick off those that went out too hard and would come back to us. So for most of the race, I was running solo or with 1-2 other guys. I also wasn't feeling very well after 2 miles so not having a pack to run with made it tough. I just tried to stay relaxed and focus on the next guy up ahead. After hitting 3 miles in 14:40, I knew I had a chance of running a PR but I was feeling pretty tired and was worried that I might blow it. I just kept telling myself that I was in good shape and if I could just get through that 4th mile, I would be able to pull it together for a fast finish. I held strong and ended up passing a couple guys in that mile. I hit 4 Miles in about 19:45 but didn't have anyone in sight to chase down so I had to just go after the time. After I crested the bear cage hill, I was able to see someone up ahead of me so I tried my best to close that gap over the last 800m and fell about 5 seconds short of passing Jarrod Shoemaker (the 2005 winner).
I finished in 24:30 which was a lifetime PR by 2 seconds and a course PR by 51 seconds, good enough for 10th place. This was a huge confidence builder and proved that even when I'm not feeling up to par, I can still execute and race well. I have grown much more confident in my abilities over the past year and I think this is a big step towards accomplishing some of my goals later in the year. The consistency is definitely there so now I just have to wait for that day when I feel great and have a break through performance. I'm feeling pretty confident about my next 2 races this season and hope to show even more progress over those 6 weeks.
I also just want to call attention to a few others that raced well today. In the mens race, former AE rival Andy Allstadt ran a solid 24:51, followed by my friend and former teammate, Kirby Davis who finished in 24:55. There were also solid performances from the NB Boston crowd with Mark Coogan (25:26), Brad Klinedinst (25:35), Ryan Carrara (25:41), Justin Maloney (25:49), Fabian Mejia (26:00), and Mario Fraioli (26:02) to round out a solid top 7. Throw in a few other guys that have been on the sidelines and I think we'll be a strong force at NEs and Club Nats.
On the womens side, leading the way for NB Boston was newbie Kristen Coon (17:30), followed closely by Erin Dromgoole (17:38). Then the trio of Karina Johnson (18:48), Sarah Crispin (18:49), and Catherine Regan (19:05) all ran very well to round out the top 5 and give the team a 4th place finish.
Now we just need the Sox to finish off the series and this great day will be complete.
Training Log (Oct 22-28)
Monday: 6 Miles, 40 min
Tuesday: 10 x HB (Avg=1:47); 13 Miles, 87 min
Wednesday: 10 Miles, 70 min
Thursday: 10 Miles, 67 min
Friday: 8 Miles, 52 min
Saturday: 5 Miles, 35 min
Sunday: Mayor's Cup 8K - 24:30; 11 Miles, 66 min
Total: 63 Miles, 7 runs
Week started out rough but ended much better. Now that I've got my legs back under me and I have 3 more weeks til New Englands, I plan on bumping my mileage back up to 80, hold that for a couple weeks, and then start tapering back over the last 4 weeks going into Club Nats.
2 comments:
Great race bud, congrats again.
You know that if I had been in the race, you would have run a tiny bit faster. Congrats bud, I was truly impressed when you said what place you finished. Keep up your work on the East, I will keep up mine on the West.
One of these years you and I will have a monumental showdown...I think the distance has to be 3k, like we have previously agreed on. However, I would also like a rematch at that shitty 5k we did by your house before that party, don't remember the name of it....I will win the oil change next time
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