The Joys of Small Races: Rockapulco Runs

Sorry for the radio silence folks! I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend out of the city but came back to a ton of work. Since I'm still playing catch-up, the blog posts will be pretty light for the next few days.

I've blogged about small races before, but this weekend I had the opportunity to experience a great one, the Rockapulco Running Series Memorial Day 5-Miler. As the name implies, this is part of the Rockapulco Series, a nice set of runs out at Rockaway Beach. These races are small affairs run on the boardwalk with minimal perks, though most are chip timed. I didn't actually run on Saturday (still trying to take it easy) but I would still recommend these races to anyone.

So what makes them so great? I have never seen stronger community support than at this race. Every runner knew every other runner by name! I was there to cheer on a friend (who ended up coming in first for the women, by the way) and while I was milling around I was really impressed by how friendly folks were. The swag wasn't bad either. For her $20, my friend got a really nice t-shirt (I wish I had taken a picture) and even won a cheesecake and a sweatshirt for her first place finish!

This summer they also have a FREE Thursday run series with three distances, a 400m, a mile, and a 5k. I'd love to do these but I forgot to mention the one downside to these Rockaway races: they're a long way from Manhattan. Saturday my fried drove so it only took about 30 minutes to get to the race, but if you're taking the subway, allow yourself lots of time to get there.

Lastly, I have to post something from their website. See if it sounds like they're referring to any mega-running group you might know:

We think you should enjoy running and walking and not have to wait hours to run OR pay a lot OR go on lotteries to enter OR be forced to volunteer to enter the event :)

Did I mention the Rockapulco folks also put on a marathon?

Confession: I Cheated, Sort of

I cheated? What?!? I mean I ran fast last night even though I'm taking it easy. I pretty much decided to take the whole week off, something I don't think I've done since I sprained my ankle back in my junior year of college. I haven't been lazing around, though: I've done some strength and core work, things that get semi-neglected when I'm really training hard. 

A real life benchmark

Anyway, I said I cheated and I did. Four times a year my team has a benchmark workout where we do several "tests" to see where each person is at in terms of explosive strength, heartrate recovery, and VO2 Max. The last one was in March and it was my first benchmark workout and since the next one won't be for three more months I didn't want to miss last night's workout.

Unfortunately, as any of you on the Eastern seaboard likely know, mother nature wasn't so cooperative last night. I poured for quite a bit so the track was pretty wet. That meant we had to modify our tests so the only one I can compare to the last workout is the VO2 max test. The good news? I improved slightly since the last benchmark. The bad news? My legs still felt like crap last night. That's okay, though. I'm going to use it as an excuse to relax on the beach this weekend, catch up on crappy television, and probably visit a couple bars I've been meaning to check out. 

I promise this blog will return to real running soon but right now I'm kind of enjoying my break. 

Brooklyn Half-Marathon Race Report

I don't think any race on the NYRR calendar this year has been as hyped up as the Brooklyn Half-Marathon. Well, at 4am on Saturday it was finally time to check out the hype. After a long ride on a 5am local train packed to the gills with runners I arrived at the Brooklyn Museum. I honestly could not believe the number of porta-potties (not all the runners were there yet--soon I couldn't believe their numbers). It felt more like a big city marathon than an outer-borough half. Before I get to the meat of my race report let me say a big hats off to NYRR for putting together a really well-run event.

The start corrals on Eastern Parkway

Somehow I found my teammates though I missed warming up with them because I had to wait in line for one last bathroom visit. After a brief warm-up on my own I made my way to the corrals. There may have been 15000 runners but since I was in the first corral with a bunch of my teammates it was easy enough to find folks. I even saw one of my running buddies, Bobby, who was there to cheer. Unfortunately I missed him on course later.

After a string of local politicians told us to "run smart," it was time for the start. Several of us had decided to go out at between a 1:24 and 1:25 pace. This was pretty conservative given that most of us have PRs several minutes lower. The first mile of the course is a mix of gentle downhill and uphill. I felt okay but not great--it wasn't effortless like the way I felt the last time I PR'd in the half. I passed mile 1 in 6:30 and we headed towards Grand Army Plaza. As I looped back around the circle for mile 2 in 6:23 I was beginning to "feel Boston" in my legs. Still, I was trying to hang with my teammates for as long as possible. That's why I did mile 3 in 6:10.

As we ran around the outside of Prospect Park, I started to convince myself that there was no point in trying so hard since it was clear my legs weren't going to let me PR or even break 1:23. I was running with one of my teammates who had also done Boston and I figured I would stick with him and then reassess. We entered the park and I did mile 4 in 6:28. I knew the only real hill of the race wasn't too far ahead and I think I started slowing accordingly. Miles 5 and 6 were 6:47 and 6:45 respectively.

As the course headed south again I realized I had lost my teammates, though several passed me at this point. I did mile 7, the last full mile in the park, in 6:25. As we exited onto Park Circle I saw several teammates out cheering which was awesome. I smiled and made the turn onto Ocean Parkway. All I could think about was the long stretch of monotonous miles ahead of me. I never felt bad but I never felt the rush that I expect in a race--it never felt like I had truly hit my stride.

My miles on Ocean Parkway went by in 6:33 (mile 8), 6:42 (mile 9), 6:40 (mile 10), 6:33 (mile 11), and 6:38 (mile 12). At one point I saw Matt, one of the team captains. I had run with him earlier and he had gone ahead but a pit stop had lost him some time. I said hi but didn't try to keep up. Instead of worrying about my time I made my goal to thank as many volunteers as possible. At mile 12 there was a large group of Whippets members cheering which was tons of fun.

Before I knew it I was turning onto Surf Avenue for the final stretch. I saw the "800m to go" sign and then it was time to turn onto the Coney Island Boardwalk. I charged up the ramp--probably the only time I passed anyone in the final 5 miles--and could see the finish. The time was getting close to 1:26 and I decided I had to have a finish time with a 1:25 in it so I picked it up and crossed with a net time of 1:25:50. It was my second slowest half-marathon (only my debut race back in 2008 had been slower). I had a really fun time thanks to my teammates--we hung out at the beach afterwards and enjoy comically large beers at Nathans--but had I been running alone I would have rated the day a failure.

As I posted yesterday, it was a true learning experience. I've done some of the toughest workouts in my running career over the past 6 months and run intervals at faster speeds than I thought possible but I've simply done too much. There's a reason I haven't PR'd at any distance other than the marathon since 2010, I haven't been training smart. So now it's time for some serous R&R because I'm ready to run fast and feel good again.