Busy weekend, so only able to post this race report now for the fitness Mind, Body, Spirit Games 4 mile race this past Saturday. I was defintely a little nervous about the weather, since Tropical Storm Hannah was poised to attack Friday night into Saturday.
I was up at 6am and checked the weather. No threat of rain, at least for the morning. Temperature was 75 – good. However, the dewpoint was 74, very very very bad. I hate running in the heat and I hate the humidity. I’m no meteorologist, but I do know that the closer the dewpoint is to the air temperature, the higher the humidity. In my experience, if the dewpoint is over 60, the run may be a little uncomfortable, if over 65, then the run will be bad. A dewpoint of 74 is off the chart as far as I’m concerned. This was going to be a rough day.
The air was heavy and oppresive. I was drenched in sweat by the time I got to the subway. By the time I reached the race, my clothes were sweated through and it looked like I had already put in the 4 mile run. I was feeling good though and thinking positively about my chances of finishing around 8 min pace: distance was only 4 miles; in race conditions it is easy to be picked up by the crowds; last mile virtually all downhill!
In the past 6 months, NYRR instituted a policy of wave starts at races. The faster you are, the closer you will line up to the start, measured by your fastest per mile race pace in races over 1 mile, over the last year. In my limited experience with it, I think it is a great was to keep the start and the first mile orderly. I personally like to get as close to the start as possible, so my goal is to cut down my fastest pace per mile. My official pace is 8:14, which I managed to do at a 5k race in 2007. For this race, it was good enough for the 4th wave. All the other people I noticed in my wave were slower than 8:14 pace (you can see their pace on their race bib), so I think I was very close to the cusp of getting into the 3rd wave. That’s why I’m desperate to get my time down a little, which was the goal of this race.
Simply stated, not going happen on this day. The humidity was just too oppressive. I’ll need to give it another go another time – maybe the Race to Deliver in November.
Mile 1 – 8:03 – did great on Cat Hill. Nice hard pace.
Mile 2 – 8:20 – held back a little to try to save energy for mile 3, which has several uphills.
Mile 3 – 9:10 – the hills and humidity were too much. Couldn’t keep the pace up.
Mile 4 – 8:54 – By this mile, I was done! Ended up walking twice. The 2nd walk was a mistake because I misjudged where the finish was – I was closer to the finish than I thought and really didn’t need to walk.
Total – 34:27
Considering the humidity, 34:27 is not bad for me for a 4 mile race. It ranks as my 3rd fastest in 12 races at this distance. I’ll take it. Time to focus now on distance, not speed. I may skip the Queens Half Marathon on Sunday and instead run 15 or 16 miles on my own with some big hills. Need to get at least 3 good long runs in before the Marathon.
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