The Wa Wa Wally Waddle 5K is organized by Josh and Lisa, and it takes place at Vassar Farms in Poughkeepsie, NY. The race course is a mostly flat out-and-back on a smooth dirt road, supplemented by a couple of ~500m laps around a somewhat bumpy grassy field. I caught up with Josh before the race; he said that there might be some stiff competition this year including three Pough-town locals who are fully capable of running in the mid-to-low 16s for a 5K. I was beset with both excitement (a more competitive race is more fun) and dread (a more competitive race hurts more), and proceeded into my race-prep routine.

I could only find a picture of the Kids Fun Mile start, so let’s pretend that the photo above was for the 5K. Just replace the little kids with strapping, svelte-looking distance runners and the giant turtle with Josh because he was the one who gave us the start-command. The 5K also had a lot more entrants than the Kids Mile (200+).

The first few hundred meters were pretty typical. Some high school kids sprinting off the line and then fading back after 200m, etc. As we rounded the grassy field, a lead-pack of four formed: myself, Mike Chow, Mike Slinskey, and Zach Kudlak. The cool thing about racing alongside two other Mikes is that it feels like everyone is cheering for you.

When we got back onto the dirt road, I accelerated and put a small gap on the others. I’m not sure if I slowed or if they accelerated, but they reeled me in as we approached the first mile mark. The pace felt fast but I wasn’t wearing a watch. Mike Chow checked his and informed us it was a 5:05. After the first mile Zach and Mike S. dropped back but Mike Chow and I kept pushing the pace. We traded off slight leads or ran shoulder-to-shoulder.

Mike seemed to be very strong; we continued to trade surges as we approached the two-mile mark, which he reported we crossed in 10:20 (5:15 second mile). Having run the course the two previous years, I had staked out the 2 mile mark as a good point to try to drop competitors. There is a small hill that crests just after that point, so it seemed like a decent spot to break away from another runner who might be hurting a bit more than usual. I surged, but not hard enough because Mike matched my move.

We continued to run shoulder-to-shoulder for the next half mile, when I finally managed to open up a small gap. I don’t fully recall (because I was very tired at this point) but I sensed that the gap had formed due to him slightly falling off the pace rather than my own acceleration. I never looked back, but I figured that I had 5-10 seconds on him with about 1/2 mile to go. The photo below confirms that 5 seconds was probably an overestimate.

Only one loop of the grassy field remained, but I was gassed. The finish line couldn’t come soon enough. Josh was standing near the last turn directing traffic, and he informed me that I was about 5 seconds ahead. With only about 250m to go, 5 seconds sounded plenty, so I made no effort to kick. Maybe I should have, but whatever. Mike never threatened my slim lead in the closing meters, and I came through 1st place in 16:13, while he was three seconds back. Kudos to Mike; he ran a really gutsy race that significantly benefited each of our finishing times.

I was really happy with how I was able to respond to tight competition. It was the second-fastest 5K I’ve ever run, only beaten by a 16:07 on an indoor track in December 2010. It was really good to see the Perks family, and I’m looking forward to catching up with RKR in Rochester at the Lilac 10K next weekend! Full results are here, the full photo album is here, and the below is me with my newest race shirt alongside the Waddle female champ, Marisa. Also below is a race video that Josh put together.

Click here to view the embedded video.

or other more enlightened among you may know it was inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Either way I made the grave mistake this past year of not heeding those wise words.  I’m kind of like Neo, not knowing he was the One and allowing what other people said to influence what he thought about himself.  Now I am certainly not here to save the world from our robot overlords (I think that’s Mike’s job) but I did forget that I am a miler not a long distance runner and paid for it this spring.

Personal Records

800 Meters 2:07

1 Mile 4:29

3000 Meters 9:15

5k 16:06

5 Miles 27:00.38

10k 35:25

1/2 Marathon 1:15:51

Marathon 2:57:56

One look at my PR’s and it is clear that I am much better at short races than long races, with my mile time being much better than any of my other times.  According to both Daniel’s and McMillan equivalent performance calculators I should be running a 15:30 5k or a 1:11:00 half marathon… yeah not so much.  Instead of playing to my strengths I spent the last 10 months trying to train like a long distance runner instead of a middle distance runner.  As a result all my race times have suffered.  I mistakenly thought I could improve my distance running by doing lots of miles (relative to my normal mileage) and tempo work with long interval sessions.  Instead of doing 200′s 400′s 800′s as the bread and butter of my training, I have been doing 2000′s and 6 mile tempos with 16 mile long runs.  I dropped my mile pace workouts in favor of higher weekly mileage, and traded in much of my 3k pace work for 10k pace work.  The result has been a string of mediocre race performances in distances from 5k up to half marathon.  I have felt fit and strong, but not the slightest bit fast.

A perfect example was my recent half marathon.  I was sure that this year I would blow away my old half marathon PR.  Last winter and early spring I was averaging 45 miles a week and doing mostly what would be considered 5k type training with a fair amount of mile pace training as well and I ran a huge PR of 1:15:51.  This year I did more traditional half marathon type training.  I averaged about 60 miles per week and did lots of running at 5:40 pace.  I did some training at 5k-10k race pace, but almost no mile pace training.  When it came race day I felt great.  For 13.1 miles I felt fantastic, I wasn’t breathing hard or folding under the weight off all those miles.  I felt even better than last year.  The only probably was I was running slower than last year.  I just couldn’t get my legs to carry me any faster.  I ended up running 1:16:27.  Not a terrible time but not at all what I expected after training specifically for the half marathon.

So now is the moment, like when Neo stops the bullets and plucks one out of the air, that I accept who I am.  I’m a middle distance runner who happens to jump in road races from time to time, not a road runner who happens to occasionally jump on the track and it is time I started acting like it.  Luckily for me there are lots of oppertunities to race on the track.  Starting with the McMullen mile in early June and running through August there are any number of local open track meets I can race in .  During the winter months there are open track meets at RIT, Cornell, and Syracuse.

I can’t wait to see you on the track.

Mile 1: For the start of the race I planned on staying between Josh and Rob. Josh told me that he would be aiming for a 5:45ish to start the race and I thought Rob may go out at anywhere between 5:20 and 5:40. After about 200m I noticed someone that I recognized. So I decided to run up a few places and see who it was. It was Kenny. We are both grad students in the same department at the University of Rochester and I have just recently found out that he is a runner. Rob and I ran with Kenny for the first mile, which turned out to be a 5:33, and then Kenny pulled away.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Full Results Here

Purple... yes purple.

The wwww5k is in its 3rd year, and continues to grown in both participation and sponsorship.  We expect to have about 200 runners this year and are on track to raise $4000 for YMCA Camp Segowea.  All proceeds from the wwww5k go toward providing scholarships to children in the Hudson Valley who would not otherwise be able to attend summer camp.  For a great write-up about our race and our camp check out today’s Poughkeepsie Journal (our mention is on page 2 of the article).

While I do not get to run in the race, Roadkill Racing still is well represented.  Mike Insler has won the first 2 years and he is going for the 3peat this year.  At the Waddle runners aren’t competing for some crappy medal, or worthless rectangular pieces of green paper… oh no they are competing for Pie!  Which as everyone knows is the next best thing to winning beer.  Age group winners receive a fresh baked pie, overall male and female winners receive a pie and a bottle of wine with hand painted wine glasses.  Nothing says victory like pie and booze.

If you are going to be in the Poughkeepsie area on May 13th come race for some pie.

Sunday May 13, 2012 at Vassar Farms in Poughkeepsie, NY

Race Day registration 7:30-9:30 am

Kids 1 mile 9:30 am

Kids Rugby Field Rush 9:45 am

5K Run/Walk 10:00 am

Please visit the Wa Wa Wally Waddle Website for more information

To register download a race flier or visit www.mhrrc.org to register online

Thank you to this years sponsors:

Babycakes Café
CAYA Restaurant & Café
Finnish Solutions Consturction
Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club
Molloy Pharmacy
Morris Associates Engineering Consultants
Roadkill Racing
Soul Dog Restaurant
Tubby’s Bathtub Resurfacing
Zimmer Brothers Jewelers

Josh had entered with a 16:30 seed time, although anyone who knows him and realizes what his training has been like lately will understand that this was a conservative time for him, as he has been beasting tempo fartleks in preparation for the Flower City Half Marathon on April 29th.  I entered with a 16:15 seed time, coming off from last week’s road 5K, where I tied my PR of 16:24 for the third time.  My workouts have been going ok, but I was only running 16:15 or so for 5x 1000m in workouts, so I figured anything under 16:20 would be great.

One thing Josh and I realized and discussed before the race is that while neither of us get really anxious before a road race, track races are a whole different affair.  I think the whole atmosphere, waiting around while everyone else races, watching the stellar performances and the seeing the agony of defeat, really prepares one to endure and suffer through his own race.  I can’t speak for Josh, but I know that I was very nervous before the race, especially since I have not raced on the track in many years, and can’t remember the last time I actually raced well on the track.

Josh and I set off on a warmup, and then returned to go through the familiar pre-race routines of switching socks and shoes (Josh was sporting some very spiffy socks with “speed holes” in the top; he scoffed at my typical “heavy” socks with all their excess weight and material), and tried to keep my body from dumping too much pre-race adrenaline.  After a few strides, we all lined up and the moment of truth was here.

The gun went off and we all jumped ahead.  There were 14 of us in just one heat, so there was some jostling around, especially in the first few laps.  I knew I could very easily get out way too fast, especially with several people seeded sub-16, so I settled into the back of a large pack that formed and tried not to get to over-zealous.  I was hoping to run around 77-78 seconds per lap (5:08-5:12 pace) with Ryan taking my splits, but even with a deliberate effort to start easy, I still split a 74-second first lap, and Josh was a second or two ahead of me.  We stayed like this, both of us in the pack, Josh slightly ahead, through the 1600m in 5:04-5:05.  Despite being faster than my high school mile PR, this felt incredibly easy, and I momentarily allowed myself the thought that sub-16 might be possible.

During the second mile, the pack thinned out a bit, and I kept up with the “leaders.”  The real race leader had gapped us in the first lap, so I was really hanging onto the runners trying for second place.  I passed Josh on a turn, and shortly thereafter, two guys broke away from the pack.  I went with them, although the pace was starting to get to me.  I had been running 77s-78s for a while now, and my legs were complaining.  I came through 3200m around 10:15, a nice PR itself, but my mind was too fuzzy at this point to determine if I was still on pace for sub-16:00 or not.  I just tried to keep the pace as best I could, but I could tell from Ryan’s yelling that I was slowing down.  With 600m to go, he screamed at me to pick it up if I wanted to break 16, but I didn’t believe him that I was that close, and my legs felt like sacks of concrete.  I tried to push, but to no avail.  I was at my limit.

Chanse was also there, taking Josh’s splits, and with 200m left, yelled at me that I had 30 seconds to break 16 minutes.  Without even thinking, I shifted into top gear and sprinted the life out of me.  I knew that I had finished workouts with sub-30 200s, so I thought that I had a chance.  I have literally never sprinted as hard as I did at the end of this race.  Even as exhausted as I was, the pure yearning desire to break 16 lifted me up onto my toes, and I ran my face off that last half lap.  As I teetered around in a state of oxygen deprivation, Ryan and Chanse ran over, and Josh finished just scant seconds behind me.  Both Ryan and Chanse estimated I had run somewhere around 16-flat, with Ryan’s unofficial time at 15:59.  However, since the results would take a while to compile, we had to wait to find out the final result.

We cooled down for a few miles, and when we returned, the results were posted.  Officially, I had run 16:00.48, a 24-second PR, but a measly half-second off my goal for the season.  Josh had finished in 16:17, a very respectable time for someone training for a race longer than this by 10 miles.  While I was outraged at my inability to run a half-second faster, I can not be disappointed with a 24-second PR, and I honestly did not expect to run that fast at all this year, especially not at my first track meet.  I still have a month of training left, and I am hoping I can break that elusive 16-minute barrier once and for all!

Results

No one wants to line up against this bunch.

During XC we race for Beer and Glory, but this spring and summer it looks like we will be able to race for Cash and Glory as well.  There will be $500 $300 $150 prize money for the top 3 men’s teams.  Scoring is different than in XC instead of scoring by place, team road races are scored by time.  The Top 5 runners time count for men, top 3 for women.

On a separate but related note, Roadkill Racing is currently recruiting new members.  With several of our members moving out of the Rochester area it is time to add some fresh blood.  Just like the Yankees we never rebuild we just reload, and we are looking for a few more bullets for our gun.  RKR is recruiting for both men and women runners (we hope to field a women’s team for the upcoming road races and for the xc season.)  If you are interested in running for Roadkill Racing drop us a line.  We will be having a team get together the afternoon of April 15th for current and future members and we’d love to see you there.