Race to Deliver 4M - 11/18/07

One good thing about the Race to Deliver was the start time. It was nice to look on the calendar and see a race that starts at 10:00AM. The perfect time - you don't have to wake up too early on a weekend and you are not wasting your day by the time it's over. The weather was a little chilly on the way to the transverse, but was fine once the race started. There was some raindrops coming down on my walk over to the park but luckily they held off for the entire race.

I was definitely happy with my overall time of 29:25. This is the fourth race in a row in which I was satisfied with my performance, including the Fitness 4M (7:21 pace), Queens Half (7:59 pace) and Poland Spring Kickoff 5M (7:40 pace) before this one. I know that good race performances usually come in waves and you just have to ride them as long as you can. You can never predict how long they are going to last - just enjoy it and try and figure out what is contributing to your success so you can replicate in the future. The race started on the 72nd street transverse so I was expecting to have a pretty slow first mile due to the usual congestion. I was weaving in and out for the first mile but was suprised to see that I was able to run a 7:57 split. At that point I knew that I would have a chance for a pretty good race. Usually the first mile is so slow that I have to make up too much time during the rest of the race, which is especially tough for a short race like a 4M. Once the roads opened up, I seemed to lengthen my stride a bit and feel like I was getting faster. I ended up running negative splits for the rest of the way. I felt good throughout the race and my breathing was never really strained that much. However, I am beginning to tell how the colder weather is affecting my muscles. It is taking a little longer than usual to warm up and stretching before and after the run is getting a little more strained. No matter what troubles I am having with my stretching, I need to make sure to keep it up.

Splits for the race: 7:57, 7:23, 7:10, 6:55 - overall time: 29:25 and pace: 7:21. It was pretty exciting to see the 6:55 split time. I believe this is only the second or third time that I can remember ever doing a sub 7:00 split time in a race.

Rest of the week: No abs/weights this week, spinning on Monday at 91st and 3rd, 6 miles on Weds, 6 miles on Thursday, off on Friday, about 4.5 - 5 miles on Saturday, and 4M race on Sunday.