Fairmount Park is the largest urban park system in the country, contrary to what many people think about Central Park in NY. Several parts of the park have a pretty elaborate trail system, the Wissahickon creek area in particular. What I could never figure out is why people don't sponsor more trail races in this area. Pretzle City Sports seems to have a monopoly on trail races up in Reading, but there are only a handful of races in the Wissahickon, and many of them are friendly, informal races sponsored by the local running group, the Wissahickon Wanderers.
Today was the 5th annual Wissahickon Trail Classic. This was my first time running this race, but I was pretty familiar with the course. It sticks mostly to the Northwestern end of the park, weaving in and out of Forbidden Drive and the trails on both sides of the creek. I was surprised to find that there were well over 500 participants this year. I knew parking would be a pain, so I decided on a light warmup run and parked about 1.5 miles away. After registration and a message from the race organizers, we were ready to go.
Starting near the front of the group was key for this race, considering that most of the course meanders through single track, and passing anyone is near impossible. Still, I knew my pace would be middle-of-the-pack at best, so that's exactly where I lined up. I ran into Mike Santoro in the middle of everyone and we caught up shortly before the gun went off. The first half mile of the race was straight down Forbidden Drive, and it lulls you into a false comfort zone, since it has a pretty good net decline. This didn't last for long, because one of the biggest hills in the park starts at Forbidden Drive and Bells Mill Rd. This hill might not necessarily be the longest, but it defintely has some of the steaper portions in the park. I took this hill slowly, but still tried to keep pace with most of the people around me. My strategy in most races is to pick one or several people after the first 10 minutes of the race have gone by that look to be of comparable fitness levels and make them my goal. 10 minutes into a 10K is usually the point in which many of the overachievers have lost their wind and died off. It's also the point where I'm still feeling good enough to pick a competitive target, not someone I figure I can likely beat so I don't have to work as hard. I figured this first hill would do a good job at weeding out the crowd. I focused in on two guys, "green shirt" and "orange shirt" and made sure to keep an eye on their progress.
After the first big hill, the course took us through the newly renovated Wissahickon area. This area of the park has been cleared of many trees in an effort to rejuvinate some of the local animal species that have been faltering. It's a nice change of scenery, although at first it just looked like another urban development project. From there we bobbed and weaved all the way down to Rex Avenue, where we crossed over to the eastern side of the park. I passed green early on this side, but traded places with "orange" several times for several miles. I realized I had picked orange for more than one reason: he looked more cyborg than human. His visor and custom Oakley tinted sunglasses made a nice compliment to his Garmin Forerunner and his Ipod shuffle that clung delicately to his Zoot Tri top. It almost made me chuckle at first, but I was getting more and more aggravated each time he passed me. I finally screwed my head on straight and pulled away from him on a long uphill about 2 miles from the finish.
I joined a pack of about 7 runners that clung together like oil in water for the next mile down to Forbidden Drive. Several times a runner would pull away or fall off the pack, but would quickly rejoing the group. They carried me mentally down to the covered bridge where the group started to disintegrate on the half mile stretch back towards Bells Mill Rd. I was having a mental block and couldn't remember if the course continued down Forbidden Drive or looped up into the trails for the last half mile. I knew it had to go up, but I didn't want to admit it. I hit the trail hard but soon died. I got passed by my friend Mike S. on this last portion, who never stopped running even though I stopped to walk several times. The only thing that got my legs moving was "orange" was making a charge from somewhere at the bottom of the trail. He got pretty close a few times, but I managed to pull away once more. I could tell he was gunning for me. I made it up and over the top and down the long stretch to the finish line. There was a a few hundred yards on Forbidden Drive to the finish, where everyone can get one last chance to leg it out before the finish. I was all by myself on the downhill, but I could tell from the tone of people cheering that they weren't excited to see a guy like me pushing to the finish. Someone behind me was making a push. I sped up as much as I could before I heard the breathing and footsteps behind me, and it's a good thing I did because "orange" was only 10 yards or so behind me down the chute.
A great race overall. I liked the course and was glad for the warm weather, but not the humidity. I caught up with Mike S. a bit more after the race and we planned a few more excursions. I grabbed the rest of my gear and ran the last 1.5 miles back to my car. I was supposed to paint the living room today. That didn't happen.
10K in 52:08
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
2010 Broad Street Run
A few days before the race I received an email from the Broad Street Run race organizers warning that a weather advisory was in effect for race day. Immediately I thought there was a thunderstorm or some degree of flash flooding that was imminent. But I continued to read and found out that it would be extreme heat that would slow runners up on Sunday. Extreme heat. Upwards of 90 degrees in early May. Yes this wasn't hoax. Unfortunately, it had been just as hot in the days prior to the race, so the low for the previous night hadn't even dipped below 70. I could tell easily that was the case when I woke up in the middle of the night in the sauna that I call a bedroom. Had to turn on the AC for the first time of the season.
Brigid and I woke up and got our gear ready before heading down with the rest of the masses to stadium area. With all my recent complaining about the race organization in the past few days, I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the overall race day scene. My heart almost dropped after we approached a mile long traffic back-up waiting to exit 76. But Brig suggested taking the next exit onto Packer and luckily there was not a single car in line to get off the highway. However, we did get a view of the cause of the back-up and it was the same as in years past: no traffic cop to direct the huge influx of cars into the area. A single lane, a long traffic light, and no opposing traffic is something that should definitely be taken care of. Still, we got to our parking spot relatively unscathed.
We hurried into the train station at approximately 7:30 AM and there wasn't a single person down there. The train was relatively full, but I remember the last few years that the station was as packed as the ending scene in Crocodile Dundee. The train ride was a quick 15 minutes and we were at the starting line by 7:50, plenty of time to get ready. That was until we saw the lines for the bathrooms. I'm not overestimating when I say there was probably 150 people in line. I've learned from previous years that it's best to deal with this before even getting to the race start.
Now on to the race. I've been dealing with a nagging ankle problem the past few months and it would be accurate to say that I really haven't run over 5 miles in that time, let alone any decent interval or tempo runs to build up my fitness. I was hoping that the CrossFit workouts I have been accumulating would at least give me a decent level of fitness to go out and hammer down a decent time. Not a PR, but something I could hang my hat on for future reference. CrossFit is a broad workout regime that aims to train all aspects of fitness in a very general, unspecified manner. By constantly varying workouts, they claim to prepare the body for numerous types of challenges. I've been tinkering with the workouts so as to focus mostly on my legs, hoping that this would prepare me somewhat for a longer distance foot race. I had no idea what to expect when I approached the line. I ran into John at the start and saw some other familiar faces in my corral. I think we were both unsure of our upcoming performance. He has a more miles racked up in the past few months than I did, but he has been following a similar CrossFit regimen also.
The gun went off precisely at 8:30 and we were off. I decided to stick to myself during the race, not wanting to be goaded into running the first few miles faster than I should. First mile came in at approximately 6:30, which was the average pace I held for last year and I felt OK. Second mile came in at 6:48 and I was quickly feeling my body's resistance. You can never be sure how the first few miles are going to stack up, because even though the race has a pretty significant net drop in elevation, there are some portions of the first few miles that have some minor uphill stretches. I put it out of my mind and continued on.
That was the best portion of the race for me. The mile splits continued to decline, first into the low 7:00 and then gradually making their way into the low 8:00 for the 8th and 9th miles. I was hoping to at least break 7:00/mile, but I knew this wouldn't be the case and soon found myself hoping for at least 7:30/mile. It's really amazing how you make compromises with your body during races like these, first demanding that you run a certain pace, then forgiving yourself and setting the bar a little lower, and a little lower, and a little lower...
I know I definitely pulled back a bit during the last 5 miles of the race. I knew if I wasn't going to finish anywhere near my time from last year, then I might as well pull back and not risk aggravating my foot. The heat made this an easy decision to make. I remember trying to consciously lower my heart rate from 185 down to at least 175 and could not make the transition, despite my lowering splits. Just goes to show the effect weather has on the body.
I finally finished in 1:15:27. Even though this was my slowest time to date, I wasn't that disappointed. I came in with low expectations and minimal running miles over the last several months. When I took a step back and realized how few miles I actually ran, it was surprising that I was able to hold onto this pace for a solid 10 miles. The Crossfit regimen may not provide you with the fitness necessary to be truly competitive in your field, but it definitely gives you a solid foundation to go out and perform well, regardless of the sport. Once I am back to 100%, I will start to incorporate more CrossFit Endurance workouts into my training plan. Hopefully this will provide me with the proper stimulus to set a new PR next year.
Brigid and I woke up and got our gear ready before heading down with the rest of the masses to stadium area. With all my recent complaining about the race organization in the past few days, I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the overall race day scene. My heart almost dropped after we approached a mile long traffic back-up waiting to exit 76. But Brig suggested taking the next exit onto Packer and luckily there was not a single car in line to get off the highway. However, we did get a view of the cause of the back-up and it was the same as in years past: no traffic cop to direct the huge influx of cars into the area. A single lane, a long traffic light, and no opposing traffic is something that should definitely be taken care of. Still, we got to our parking spot relatively unscathed.
We hurried into the train station at approximately 7:30 AM and there wasn't a single person down there. The train was relatively full, but I remember the last few years that the station was as packed as the ending scene in Crocodile Dundee. The train ride was a quick 15 minutes and we were at the starting line by 7:50, plenty of time to get ready. That was until we saw the lines for the bathrooms. I'm not overestimating when I say there was probably 150 people in line. I've learned from previous years that it's best to deal with this before even getting to the race start.
Now on to the race. I've been dealing with a nagging ankle problem the past few months and it would be accurate to say that I really haven't run over 5 miles in that time, let alone any decent interval or tempo runs to build up my fitness. I was hoping that the CrossFit workouts I have been accumulating would at least give me a decent level of fitness to go out and hammer down a decent time. Not a PR, but something I could hang my hat on for future reference. CrossFit is a broad workout regime that aims to train all aspects of fitness in a very general, unspecified manner. By constantly varying workouts, they claim to prepare the body for numerous types of challenges. I've been tinkering with the workouts so as to focus mostly on my legs, hoping that this would prepare me somewhat for a longer distance foot race. I had no idea what to expect when I approached the line. I ran into John at the start and saw some other familiar faces in my corral. I think we were both unsure of our upcoming performance. He has a more miles racked up in the past few months than I did, but he has been following a similar CrossFit regimen also.
The gun went off precisely at 8:30 and we were off. I decided to stick to myself during the race, not wanting to be goaded into running the first few miles faster than I should. First mile came in at approximately 6:30, which was the average pace I held for last year and I felt OK. Second mile came in at 6:48 and I was quickly feeling my body's resistance. You can never be sure how the first few miles are going to stack up, because even though the race has a pretty significant net drop in elevation, there are some portions of the first few miles that have some minor uphill stretches. I put it out of my mind and continued on.
That was the best portion of the race for me. The mile splits continued to decline, first into the low 7:00 and then gradually making their way into the low 8:00 for the 8th and 9th miles. I was hoping to at least break 7:00/mile, but I knew this wouldn't be the case and soon found myself hoping for at least 7:30/mile. It's really amazing how you make compromises with your body during races like these, first demanding that you run a certain pace, then forgiving yourself and setting the bar a little lower, and a little lower, and a little lower...
I know I definitely pulled back a bit during the last 5 miles of the race. I knew if I wasn't going to finish anywhere near my time from last year, then I might as well pull back and not risk aggravating my foot. The heat made this an easy decision to make. I remember trying to consciously lower my heart rate from 185 down to at least 175 and could not make the transition, despite my lowering splits. Just goes to show the effect weather has on the body.
I finally finished in 1:15:27. Even though this was my slowest time to date, I wasn't that disappointed. I came in with low expectations and minimal running miles over the last several months. When I took a step back and realized how few miles I actually ran, it was surprising that I was able to hold onto this pace for a solid 10 miles. The Crossfit regimen may not provide you with the fitness necessary to be truly competitive in your field, but it definitely gives you a solid foundation to go out and perform well, regardless of the sport. Once I am back to 100%, I will start to incorporate more CrossFit Endurance workouts into my training plan. Hopefully this will provide me with the proper stimulus to set a new PR next year.
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