It has been awhile. I moved back to NY in the beginning of February, started work, finally started to increase my mileage, started workouts and have ran a few races. The "altitude advantage" is completely gone and I am very relieved that the times I am running at the moment are strong. One of my biggest fears upon moving back was that I would slow down significantly after loosing my altitude boost. The spring race season started off with Running of the Green in mid-March. After leading the first 3 miles, I came up short in the last mile; clocking 23:11 for 4 miles (5:48 pace, age-graded 83%).
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The following weekend was the Syracuse Half Marathon, which was awful. There was almost an inch of snow on the road that morning and the temperature was mid-teen's with a horrible wind. Aside from the horrific conditions, I also wore racing flats with no traction, which resulted in a different stride and sore hip flexors.
Next I ran the Delmar Dash 5 miler in 28:58, loosing by 1 second to the woman I lost to at ROTG (6 seconds). Our pace was the same for the 5 miler as it was for the 4 miler and our age-graded % went up, so overall it was a great time. Long runs and workouts have been going well. I ran 17 miles a few weekends ago with my buddy Eamon averaging 6:30 pace. Something I would have never done at altitude. Overall, I hope I can continue this pace without breaking down. I have been a little eager to tackle a marathon this spring/summer as I feel I truly am in the best shape of my life, but I know I should wait. The temperatures are only going to continue to rise (and I am not good in heat) and my long runs and mileage are still not there for running a marathon PR. And truthfully, there is no point for me to be racing a marathon again unless I am going to really try to PR.
So what is next?
This weekend I will run the BAA 5k. I am extremely excited as I haven't raced a 5k at sea level in almost a year. My 5k split during the 5 miler the other weekend was 17:47, so hopefully I will be faster than that! :) Although I have mixed emotions going to Boston this weekend, I absolutely love the city. Last year I went to support a good friend. Things were messed up at the end and ultimately I went back to the finish area well after we had finished running. It was at that time when my cell phone died and I decided I had enough. My friend had left (or we just made a poor post-race plan), I was disappointed and walked to the train station a block away. It was there when the bombs went off and I heard all the sirens. I got on one of the last trains to depart the city that day. By the time I finally made it off the commuter rail and to my car, I plugged in my phone. I started my drive back to Albany watching the continuous influx of state troopers going in the eastbound direction as I returned numerous phone calls ensuring others I was okay.
April 19th- BAA 5k, Boston MA
April 27th- James Joyce Ramble 10k, Dedham, MA
May 17th- Brooklyn Half Marathon, Brooklyn, NY
May 31st- Freihofer's 5k for Women, Albany, NY
June will likely be a down month in preparation to start marathon training in July with the goal to run sub-2:47 at Chicago in October!
"We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort."
-Jesse Owens
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