Rock N Roll Recap: This race generated a lot of buzz among the local running community in Providence. It is put on by the Competitor Group, which provide Rock N Roll Series races in big cities across the United States and in international countries too. I have nothing but good things to say about the organization for this race. For a large race, everything went smoothly. The expo had everything a runner would want in it. There was an abundance of race gear from the title sponsor, Brooks Sports featuring technical shirts and jackets with the Providence race logo on them. You could also purchase Brooks running shoes among other Rock N Roll specific merchandise. There were also several booths with items for sale and free products from race sponsors: Marathon Bar, Poland Springs, Garmin, Gu, etc. It was very easy to navigate through the various vendors and see what they had to offer. The race itself went very well for me. I did not know what to expect coming in and would use this race as an indicator for my goal time at Lehigh Valley. After a two mile warm-up through Smith Street and some light stretching/striders, I went to the start line feeling pretty good. Mile one felt easy and controlled through a flat stretch in downtown Providence. I hit my first split in 6:20. I thought that might be a little quick so I tucked in behind a pack of about 3-5 that looked like they were moving pretty fast. In this group were a couple elite and sub-elite women. My next few miles were pretty consistent, still not having reached any big hills: 6:32, 6:28 (20:02 5k), 6:27. I fel pretty good through the 5k and then reached the first uphill climb on the course. There was a decent incline from North Main up to Blackston Boulevard. My 5th mile was run in 6:37. Once the race course turned onto the Boulevard things leveled out and I ran mile 6 in 6:25. I kept the pace consistent for another mile and ran mile 7 in 6:29. The course then took its second long climb up Pittman Street. Mile 8 was run in 6:40 (I took a GU here). Once I was at the top of the hill my legs were pretty shot and I tried to hang on the rest of the race and run some consistent miles to the finish. I reached 10 miles in 1:05:33. I slowed a little from my earlier pace after hitting the two hills in miles 5 and 8. My last few miles were run in 6:50, 6:44, 6:52. I still managed a decent kick up Memorial Boulevard. The race finished right in front of the state house. I crossed the line in 1:26:37 (6:37 pace). I have to believe that I could have run fast if I had started a little easier and saved my energy for the last 5k of the race. I, instead, faded from my pace but was still happy with the overall result. I placed 48th overall of over 3500 and was 6th in my age group. Not too bad! This race served as a confidence builder leading up to Lehigh Valley.Marathon Finishing Touches: I did not have time to recover following the half marathon, leaving only three weeks until raceday. I totaled a little over 95 miles for the week, which included two good workouts, a long run and lots of junk miles. I did a hill workout on the Wednesday of that week. I ran with the Rhode Runner Athletic Club for some hill repeats on the East Side of Providence. We ran 10 x Freeman Hill. The rise was about 60 feet in a quarter mile and we averaged right around 1:30 for the repeats. Solid! I then did an interval workout on Friday. I went over to the Seekonk High School Track and did 4 x 2000m repeats. I ran them around 10k pace: 8:04, 7:47, 7:41, 8:05. I then completed my long run on Saturday. The idea here with my training was to put in a couple of good workouts to wear out my body (Wednesday and Friday) and then get in the long run on some very tired legs. I ran just over 21 miles at a little under 7:30 pace. My route took me all around Providence and to Roger Williams Park. It was definately full of hills and helped to build both strength and endurance. I was able to run a 6:30 final mile. This gave me satisfaction in knowing, if I needed to, I could run fast late in the marathon. The following week I ran just over 75 miles and got in one last workout. I did a tough ladder workout with the running club, 1000m-1200m-mile-1200m-1000m. Our splits were: 3:36, 4:24, 5:49, 4:17, 3:28. This was a good workout because we picked up the pace late into a workout in which we were running long intervals on the track. I then started to cut back my mileage. My long run was only 10 miles the Sunday before the race. During this past week, I ran 5 miles on Monday, 10 miles on both Tuesday and Wednesday, 7.5 miles and Thursday and then took a rest day on Friday. My legs feel fresh and I am ready to go! I did an easy 3 miles shakeout at Muhlenberg College this morning and feel confident before raceday. I am looking forward to this race for several reasons. It has not been a perfect training cycle this summer, being up in Vermont and fighting through injury, but I am ready to go out and run my best. Sunday is the last day to garner a Boston Marathon qualifying time. I need to run under 3:05. That is my goal. That is what I am here to do.
Happy Running,
David
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