I’m not currently training for a marathon. My macro-cycle consists of a spring 10k program and a fall marathon program. I feel that they complement each other. So, my current training/racing is geared to optimizing my 10k racing ability, which I expect to carry over into fall marathon training.

 

This was my first race since arriving in Florida for the winter 9 days ago.

 

It’s a small, local race sponsored by the St. Jude Cathedral School in St Petersburg. It’s run completely within St. Pete’s War Memorial Park, a very pretty and scenic park located on a peninsula extending into Boca Ciega Bay. The first 2k is run on roads that wind through the park. The second 2k is cross country on sand and grass trails and the last 1k is back on roads. It’s all pancake flat.

 

The weather was almost perfect for a short race....almost a carbon copy of last year.  45 degrees at race time....a little cooler than last year. Low humidity. Light breeze. Not a cloud in the sky, but so much shade in the park that we never had to run in direct sunlight. A really nice morning for a race in a lovely setting. J

 

I felt especially good during my warmup in the cool, crisp morning weather. The field was small....maybe 200. I positioned myself midpack and was still only about 10 yards behind the starting line....only 3-4 seconds to cross the start line. Still, the early part of the race was a bit clogged by a couple of walkers, a baby jogger and several slower runners on a relatively narrow path with lots of turns. Jogging behind folks with no room to pass cost me quite a few seconds in the first quarter mile. After that, there was lots of space and I could run my own race.

 

Usually, I set three goals for my races....floor, realistic and ceiling goals. I didn’t do that for this race, since it was the first race of my spring 10k training program, which started this week after a 4-week R&R break with little running. (I plan to run a short race....5-10k, plus the Gasparilla 15k....most of the next 10 weekends for a weekly speed workout.) Basically, I simply wanted to run a hard race to get an idea of where I am at this point. Last year, I ran this race in 25:19 with splits of 8:03, 8:21, 8:09 and 0:46 for an average pace of 8:10/mile. I hoped I would be close to that this year, although I know that I’m not in the same condition as I was at this point last year. I’m a few pounds heavier this year and I haven’t run as much in the last few weeks as I did last year. Sure enough, I ran a little slower this year.....25:50 for an average pace of 8:19. My splits were 8:23, 8:27, 8:13, 0:47.

 

I did run good negative splits. I passed people throughout the race. And, I had a good finishing kick....the last 0.1065 mile was at a 7:21 pace....which I couldn’t push any harder. All of that indicates that I ran a good race. Plus, only one person passed me after the first half mile....and he passed a half mile from the finish, appeared to be very comfortable, and then steadily moved away from me. He ran a very smart race.