34th Annual New Haven Road Race (20K)

Michael Enright Mon Sep 05, 2011 12:53 pm

This race is the national championship for the 20k. Once again, I did not win the national championship. Dang. Seriously, this race is really well-organized and a lot of fun. I wasn’t sure what I was going to try to do, and figured it would come down to the start line and how the weather was and how I felt. I watched the weather at 6:30 a.m., and it was already in the low 70s in New Haven, with a dew point in the mid-60s range. Not good! Forecast was for it to get warmer and muggier, but the temps were to top out around 81, so not too terrible. Ate cheerios and a banana, hydrated a fair amount, and took my coffee with me. Got there plenty early, and took care of all my pre-race business. The good organization really made that quite easy. I could feel the humidity. I decided to line up in the chute in a place where I figured it would keep me at a reasonable pace for the first mile anyway, because it would be a bad idea to go out fast. I also started to think that this was NOT a day to go out at HM PR pace, which I had considered over the last couple of weeks. Especially given a really ugly 13.1 I’d run as a training run on a real muggy day a couple of weeks ago, I knew that on a day like today that probably would not be good. I figured I would try to keep it under 9:00, so slightly more aggressive than what I would currently think of as MP, and hold that if I could, and see what I had left for the last couple of miles. The start was great (man, do they have a loud gun – I hate it when you can’t tell if the gun has gone off – well, there was no mistaking this one!), and 6,500 of us were off, and it all went per plan. I started the race holding a 12 oz bottle of Gatorade, and drank that over the first couple of miles. But there were frequent hydration stops, and I liberally consumed at each of them. I must say that over the years my “pinch the cup” technique has improved considerably. I did the first couple of miles at a reasonable pace (I will see if I can post these into this), and then settled into about an 8:30 pace. My watch was set up so that I manually did the laps, and it displayed actual time elapsed per lap, so I didn’t get confused with GPS variability, and I liked that. But the laps I’ll post do show a pace that is based on the watch’s calculation, so look a little faster, as it marked the overall course at 12.55, not 12.4. Anyway, I felt real good, but glad I wasn’t running faster. I slowed a bit in the 8-10 mile range (I think my watch showed a pace at 9:00 or just over for mile 9 and mile 10). And I ate everything they threw at me – an orange slice and a GU. I felt like if they were dishing it up, I was gonna put it in me. I stayed real well hydrated that way. I also popped a couple of NaCl tabs along the way. This is a pretty flat course for New England, but there is a hill in mile 10. Once you are done with it, you get to start mile 11 with a nice little downhill kick, and then the finish is mostly flat or slightly downhill, and a straight shot down Whitney Avenue, with a nice crowd for support. I did mile 11 a bit faster with the downhill assist, and then just cranked it up for the last 1.4. That was fun. Anywhere past about the 9 mile mark, I was passing a lot of people, and people were starting to slow way down, or start walking or even stop –they’d gone out too fast on a really humid day (I believe dew points got into the low 70s – though it clouded up some, with a breeze, so the temps stayed reasonable). I passed LOTS of people in the last mile and a half. Had a real strong finish, which was encouraging. Nice to know that I had that much left. Made me think I could post a real good time on a nicer day when I felt like going for it (maybe I'll get my chance on 9/25, when I run the half). Then I was through the chute, grabbed a water, got my free bread from the local Italian bakery in New Haven (that stuff is majorly tasty!) and was off for home. Back home by 11:30! Overall, awesome. The other time I ran this race was 4 years ago, when I was coming off a quad overuse injury during my first marathon training cycle, and I ran it in 1:49:46, so this time was better. Still, way off the pace of my HM PR, but that’s ok. I guess I get a new 20K PR, once I get official results. Hey, it was a warm and muggy day – I’ll take it!

34th Annual New Haven Road Race (20K) Nhrr_s10

34th Annual New Haven Road Race (20K) Nhrr_s10

34th Annual New Haven Road Race (20K) Nhrr_e10

Dave-O Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:14 pm

Sorry you didn't win the National Championship. Damn Abdi. Cool

Nice work in muggy conditions.

Chris M Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:27 pm

Sub 7:30 for the last 1.4 miles. I'd say you had quite a lot left in the tank!

Michele "1L" Keane Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:03 pm

Nice close, Michael - are you running too competitive a race like those Kenyans? Laughing

Stephanie Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:08 pm

Great race Michael!! Awesome splits too!... strong finishes always feel so good!

JohnP Mon Sep 05, 2011 2:51 pm

Nice job out there, it's troubling to see two race reports with such warm weather. We can only hope it will move out quickly! Really good pacing too, faster and faster.

dot520 Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:06 pm

Very consistent running considering the mile marker placement. Congrats on dealing with the weather and still posting decent times. Free bread? Nice perk!

It's either my monitor or your cut and paste, but you nearly blinded me trying to read the number 4 font on your report. tongue

Michael Enright Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:19 pm

Dave-O wrote:Sorry you didn't win the National Championship. Damn Abdi.

Nice work in muggy conditions.

Yup, I figure Abdi was halfway home before I crossed the finish!

Michael Enright Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:20 pm

Chris M wrote:Sub 7:30 for the last 1.4 miles. I'd say you had quite a lot left in the tank!

The last couple of miles were fun - actually, it was your idea, from a little over a year ago, when I ran the Fairfield Half in muggy conditions, and you suggested I go pretty easy for the first 10 or so, and then let 'er rip.

It sure was fun!

Michael Enright Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:20 pm

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Nice close, Michael - are you running too competitive a race like those Kenyans?

Thanks Michele! Maybe next one I'll run like a Kenyan! Or even an Ethiopian...

Michael Enright Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:21 pm

Stephanie wrote:Great race Michael!! Awesome splits too!... strong finishes always feel so good!

I have to agree with that one - a pleasure to go whizzing by the walkers.

Michael Enright Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:22 pm

JohnP wrote:Nice job out there, it's troubling to see two race reports with such warm weather. We can only hope it will move out quickly! Really good pacing too, faster and faster.

I sure hope it moves out - actually seems to be cooling down even as I type this, with rain coming in (just what we needed post-Irene!).

Michael Enright Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:23 pm

dot520 wrote:Very consistent running considering the mile marker placement. Congrats on dealing with the weather and still posting decent times. Free bread? Nice perk!

It's either my monitor or your cut and paste, but you nearly blinded me trying to read the number 4 font on your report.

The bread is really, really good, too!

Sorry about the font - I typed it in Word (in 12 point font!) - not sure why it got so small, and then couldn't figure out how to edit it and make it bigger once I posted it.

Jim Lentz Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:02 pm

Great job on the race, Michael! Good job not getting carried away with the pace early in the race with that weather.

Michael Enright Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:08 pm

Jim Lentz wrote:Great job on the race, Michael! Good job not getting carried away with the pace early in the race with that weather.

Thanks Jim! Slowly, very slowly, but surely, I'm learning!
Speaking of which, I saw a guy ahead of me at about mile 10, who looked really, really old, and he was beating me, so I decided I had to finish ahead of him. He ended up a couple of minutes behind me, given my finish, but when I looked him up, I saw that he is 89 years old!!! Holy crap! That guy must have been fast when he was, well, 70!

Peg Coover Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:12 pm

Great race!!! Sorry you didn't pull off the win! Smile

John Kilpatrick Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:50 pm

Guess the national championship will have to wait until next year Very Happy

. That was a nice kick there at the end. Good job and thanks for the report.

Michael Enright Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:26 am

Peg Coover wrote:Great race!!! Sorry you didn't pull off the win!

Maybe if I'd grabbed an extra GU or orange slice I would have had the energy to pull off the upset! Thanks Peg.

Michael Enright Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:27 am

John Kilpatrick wrote:Guess the national championship will have to wait until next year . That was a nice kick there at the end. Good job and thanks for the report.

Next year? Now you have me sounding like a Cubs fan!

Thanks John!

Alex Kubacki Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:50 am

Too bad you didn't win the championship. I almost ran this last year. I'll definintely have to run this at some point.

Michael Enright Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:07 am

Alex Kubacki wrote:Too bad you didn't win the championship. I almost ran this last year. I'll definintely have to run this at some point.

Alex - definitely a great race to run, and the only problem is that its almost always a hot or humid (or both) run.

fostever Wed Sep 07, 2011 11:18 am

Nice effort in the mugggy conditions, well done!

Michael Enright Wed Sep 07, 2011 2:14 pm

fostever wrote:Nice effort in the mugggy conditions, well done!

Thanks. I felt like less of a wimp when the newspaper article about the race quoted the women's winner (a Kenyan native) as saying it was too humid for her!

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34th Annual New Haven Road Race (20K)

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