Memphis in May Triathlon Weekend - Race Reports

May 13 - May 19
S:  8,538 yds - 2hr 3min
B:  84.27 mi - 3hr 4min
R:  18.47 mi - 2hr 11min
Total:  8hr 33min

May 20 - May 26
S:  11,044 yds - 2hr 43min
B:  79.89 mi - 4hr 23min
R:  36.95 mi - 4hr 40min
Total:  11hr 46min

May 27 - June 2
S:  14,280 yds - 3hr 18min
B:  165.58 mi - 9hr 39min
R:  30.50 mi - 3hr 57min
Total:  16hr 54min

After a couple busy weeks, I'm finally getting around to the Memphis in May race report!  7 days fresh off of a half ironman race down at the beach, Lori and I headed to Tunica, MS for the Memphis in May Triathlon weekend.  The schedule was a sprint triathlon on Saturday and an olympic triathlon on Sunday.  Just like the past 2 years, I was planning on doing both races as part of the Amateur Challenge.  With a $5,000 prize purse paying out to 15 spots, it's a no-brainer.   Basically, you do both races and you get ranked by your total combined time.  There's no reason not to do it, right??  Here's how the races went down: 

Part I: Sprint Triathlon
Swim - 7:38 (17th)
T1 - 0:46 (5th)
Bike - 30:12 (3rd)
T2 - 0:52 (31st)
Run - 17:41 (5th)
Total - 57:08.9 (5th overall)

pre-race free advertising for Accelerate 3

Our age group started at the back of a 800 person field, and it was complete and utter chaos.  I felt like my swim was ok but spent pretty much the whole time swimming over and around people.  It was not ideal at all.  As soon as I got on the bike I saw Kendrick about 10-15 seconds up the road.  Kendrick and I are very similar in abilities, and I knew that we would be pretty dead even in the Amateur Challenge.  Careful not to overdo it, I smashed it pretty hard for the first 10-15 minutes because I wanted to go ahead and pass him and we were also riding into a pretty stiff headwind.  Bike watts were very good and I was surprised with how good it felt. 

too fast for the camera

Coming off the bike I was hurting but felt strong enough to really dig deep.  Mile splits were 6:06, 5:54, and 5:43; a negative split and to my knowledge the fastest I've run off the bike for this distance.  Small victories like this tell you that you're on the right track. 

sprinting to the line

I knew I had Kendrick beat but I had to wait a little while to find out that I got 5th overall.  I was hoping for a little better but can't complain because I knew I went full gas the entire way.

getting my award...more free advertising for Accelerate 3

Part II: Olympic Triathlon
Swim - 22:48 (23rd)
T1 - 0:54 (9th)
Bike - 58:23 (4th)
T2 - 0:52 (21st)
Run - 39:30 (7th)
Total - 2:02:26.9 (6th overall)

discussing race strategy

Firstly, smashing last years time of 2:04:18 by almost 2 minutes is another sign that things are on the right track!  As was the case with the sprint race, our age group started at the back of a close to 1,000 person field.  Somehow (same as the sprint) Kendrick was starting within 2 numbers of me so we would practically be going head to head on the course.  This is good because we both knew that we would be racing for some cash, likely a $75 swing either way. 

deep in thought, probably thinking about watts

 

K starting 2 numbers behind me

and I'm off!

The wetsuit swim was rather uneventful.  It was rather hard to see the small orange buoys because everyone was wearing pink swim caps, but I think I did a good job at sighting.

exited the swim with Sara!  too bad she started behind me :/

Onto the bike and I felt ready to crush it.  As was the case with the day before, my legs felt great.  We had a stiff headwind on the way out so I hit it a little harder than normal knowing that I could cruise in with the tailwind.  I passed Kendrick at mile 18 and really tried to motor from there in order to drop him out of sight.

finishing the bike

Coming out of T2 I could see him wheeling his bike in so I knew I had my work cut out for me.  He made the catch a little after mile 1.  I was running 6:20's and he was running 6:00's but I said "what the heck" and shoved my chips in.  I thought that I *might* be able to hang with him but figured even if I had to drop back it would still help me out some.  Mile 1 was a 6:28 solo and then miles 2-4 were 6:04, 5:59, and 6:15 on his heels.  I finally dropped (almost dropped too late and blew myself up) and ran a 6:41 mile 5 before recovering some for a 6:31 final mile and final sprint into the finish line.  As it turned out Kendrick beat me by less than a minute, so I was able to edge him by about 15 seconds total for 5th overall in the amateur challenge for a nice pay day of $250!

cash for Chad, K, and S!

thanks to Lori for playing race sherpa :)

great friends, great racing!

gas station stop on the way home...do you approve Brian?

  

Gulf Coast Triathlon Race Report

May 6 - May 12
S:  12,353 yds - 2hr 55min

B:  96.57 mi - 4hr 40min

R:  30.65 mi - 3hr 52min

Total:  11hr 27min 

Since racing at the beach is pretty much the best thing ever, I decided to put the Gulf Coast Triathlon on my schedule for 2013.  This half iron distance race is well known around the area and has been held annually for the past 31 years.  It also has the reputation for being the “Gulf Roast Triathlon”, as the second weekend in May is often scorching and athletes have not had a chance to acclimate to the hot weather yet.  Nonetheless, I decided to give it my best shot.  Fellow Accelerate 3 athlete Chris Borden would be in attendance, so I was looking forward to meeting and racing against him, as we are very similar in abilities.

our pad for the weekend

On Friday morning, Charles Brammer and I packed up his Excursion and headed down to Panama City.  The day was pretty jam packed, and left a little less time than desired/expected to relax and get ready for the race.  But at least we made it down with a bowl full of goodness!
 

freshly picked strawberries from Dothan, AL

 
We both anticipated getting to bed at a slightly more decent hour than 11 pm, but oh well.  The race started on Saturday at 6:15 am and transition closed at 6:00 am, so we wanted to be there by 5:15 am.  This meant leaving the condo at 4:45 am to allow for drive/park time.  Needless to say, my 3:45 am alarm came quite early.  After some aero pressed coffee, a half serving of Ultragen, and a bowl of Koala Crisp cereal with peanut butter, a banana, honey, and almond milk, we headed to the race site.  After setting up transition I met up with Chris Borden and we chatted for a little while.  It was good to hear about his training and the success that he’s having so far with Brian.  Soon after we headed down to the beach to get ready for the start.

perfect conditions for LC racing!

 
Swim - 30:21 (26th)
My wave (M25-29) was to go off at 6:40 am.  This is an important piece of information.  At 6:20 am I finished zipping up my wetsuit and started wandering around to waste a few more minutes before starting a warm-up.  At 6:28 am, I headed in the ocean to get a quick swim in to loosen up the arms.  The plan was to splash around for 5-7 minutes or so, which would give me 5-7 minutes to line up and get a good position within my wave.  After warming up a little bit I started to walk up the beach.  I was still on the shore line when I noticed a bunch of purple swim caps huddled around the start area.  What!!??  About that time, the announcer said “male 25-29 yr olds, go!”  What the heck??  I was very confused and it all happened very quickly, but my wave was starting (I think)!  Still only 90% sure that my wave was starting (maybe I misheard the announcer and there were other waves with purple caps) I jumped in with my wave near the back in horrible position and spent the next couple of minutes swimming over and around people.  After finding some open water I started to settle down and process what just happened.  At this point I remembered that the announcer had mentioned that athletes needed to enter the back of the starting line chute, which I obviously didn’t do.  Was there a timing mat in the chute that we had to cross?  Was my chip time even started?  It was pretty much the worst feeling ever.  I’m embarking on a 4.5 hour race and I don’t even know if my chip time has been started.  Motivation was way down, and I really let it get to me.  I admittedly didn’t swim as hard as I should have, and I later kicked myself for doing so.  It still felt like a good swim though, which made me even more mad because I realized I probably could have swim 29 low or so.  I later found out from Chris Borden and his wife that all the waves were started early.  I guess I should have been ready for that but in my opinion that is extremely poor form.  With 800 racers and their families on the beach, it was hard to see or hear what was going on so changing the schedule was a pretty terrible decision.  Oh well, it is what it is. 

T1 - 2:00 (4th) 

Still unsure of if my chip was even started, I made a plan to grab an event staff worker as soon as I exited the swim to get it worked out.  Luckily there was one standing at the swim exit timing mat.  I quickly told him that I did not enter the back of the starting line chute and he quickly answered that it didn’t matter and that I was good to go.  Whew…disaster averted!  Stopping to talk to him cost me about 5 seconds so it was no big deal.  My mood and attitude quickly shot way up, and after a super quick transition I was ready to crush the bike.

what my T1 looks like

Bike - 2:21:16 (21st) 
The bike plan was pretty simple: hold watts, change watts slightly depending on wind, adjust downwards if necessary, and take in calories/fluids.  The first hour of the bike was fast and with a tailwind.  I believe I hit the 40k in slightly over 60 minutes.  This only means one thing…the last half of the bike would be into a headwind.  This turned out to be true although it wasn’t too bad.  In general everything went smoothly here.  Watts were slightly higher than plan but it felt good.  Since my wave was one of the first to go off, I was completely all alone out there, as opposed to the 30-40 year olds who had the  slight advantage of being able to get some legal slingshot drafts.  All in all I was pleased with the effort, and a 2:21 is huge half iron bike PB for me.

T2 - 1:20 (38th) 
Nothing going on here, just put my socks and shoes on and I was off.

Run - 1:36:16 (24th) 
Nothing like a half ironman with a 13.5 mile run!  It may not seem like much, but when you've been racing for 4.5 hours an extra 3 minutes feels like an eternity!  Coming off the bike there was no one in front of me, but I knew that there were some 30-39 year olds that started 10 minutes behind me that would be right with me in terms of cumulative time.  I had passed local Birmingham stud Deanna Newman at mile 54 so I came out of T2 a little bit ahead of her.  Part of me was hoping that she would speed up and catch me so that we could run together.  I raced a 5k with Deanna earlier this spring and she threw down a 17:39 (only 9 seconds behind me) so I knew she would be a good person to run with.  My legs felt good starting the run but I really had to pee!  After jumping in a port-o-potty at mile 1 for about 15 seconds, I came out right in front of Deanna...perfect!  We proceeded to run the rest of the race together.  Miles 2-10 were around a 6:55 to 7:00 avg pace, some slightly slower and some slightly faster.  The last 5k was pretty brutal.  My stomach was not fully cooperating so I just focused on staying with Deanna.  At mile 12 my stomach really started to bother me so I let Deanna go and cruised in solo.  The last 5k was around a 7:20 to 7:25 avg pace so I somehow managed not to tank too terribly bad.

Charles let me use his compression boots post-race

Total - 4:31:10 (13th)
All in all I was please with the race.  Besides the hiccup on the swim and having to slow down a little bit during the last 5k of the run, the race went well.  Every time I race one of these half ironman events I'm reminded of how hard they are to get right.  I'm really looking forward to knocking out a few more of them this year and really dialing in my efforts.  Big congrats to Chris who dropped a 4:27:48 for 9th overall.  I'll be seeing him again later this year, hopefully the outcome will be different!

how it feels to leave the beach :(

Insert Creative-non-race-update Title Here

Apr 29 - May 5
S:  13,710 yds - 3hr 23min

B:  179.22 mi - 9hr 56min

R:  29.02 mi - 3hr 42min

Total:  17hr 1min 

Finally, a somewhat "normal" and rather solid week in the bag, culminating with a ridiculous but very rewarding bike set!  After racing last weekend I had one more week of solid training to get in before getting back into the half ironman distance at Gulf Coast Triathon.  You just can't beat racing at the beach!  If history repeats itself the Gulf of Mexico swim will likely be super choppy, the bike will be super windy but still fast, and the run will be super hot but awesome.  Seeing as how it's been so cold around here lately, temperatures might be pretty ideal for this race, which is typically pretty toasty.   I'm also looking forward to going head-to-head with fellow Alabamian Chris Borden.  After chatting with Chris late last year, he soon signed on with Brian at Accelerate3 and has subsequently starting crushing it...should be a good race!  Also, the next few weeks will bring a change in how I spend about half of my training time...here's a hint:

clue #1

Capital of Dreams Triathlon Race Report

Apr 22 - Apr 28
S:  12,423 yds - 3hr 6min

B:  68.51 mi - 3hr 28min

R:  25.10 mi - 3hr 6min

Total:  9hr 40min 

The first race of tri season is always an interesting one.  You never know what to expect.  I mean, you kind of do but at the same time you don’t.  I knew my winter training was on target.  Running is at an all-time fastest level, bike power is where it needs to be, and swim fitness is as good as it has ever been thanks to some increased yardage so far in 2013.  BUT, how all of these plays together in the context of a race is a different story.  On paper I should be faster than last year, but it seems like there’s always some season opener rust to knock off while racing the intermediate distance (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run).  All that being said, Lori and I traveled 90 miles south of Birmingham to Montgomery, AL for the Capital of Dreams Triathlon.  This would be the inaugural race, so I was excited to see if a race this close to home would be any good.  Rumor had it that the bike course would be fast...awesome!  The goal for this race was to win.  I knew that Birmingham local and a training partner of mine Jeffrey Shelley would provide some stiff competition, but I thought I might have the slight nod.  I recognized a few others on the list but no one who I thought could run away with it.  However, you never know what kind of no-name hot shot might show up on race day.  All that being said, I was feeling confident and ready to race fast!  Here’s how it went:

Swim - 20:57 (6th) 
The swim was a point-to-point 1500 meter course in the Alabama River.  One hour prior to race time, all the racers loaded up onto a tugboat for the ride up to the swim start (pretty cool, actually).  After stopping at the 400 meter mark to let all the sprint racers start, we made our way to the 1500 meter point.  On the way to the start line I chatted with a guy (Ben Reynolds) who had just moved to Birmingham from Montgomery.  He had a swimming background and looked pretty fit so I figured this guy would be in the mix for sure.  The start was of the time trial format (so dumb) and I was the 5th person to start, with Ben 3 slots in front of me.  The water was pretty chilly (~68 deg) but felt really good after a minute or two.  With no chance for a warm up I tried to avoid sprinting straight from the start.  After a minute or so I seemed to find a good rhythm and the rest of the swim was pretty boring.  I remember being passed by a guy and hopped on his feet for awhile but then he started swimming zig-zags all over the place so I gave up.  He was swimming faster than me but never really gained any distance because of his bad line.

T1 - 2:08 (2nd) 

T1 was an long run from the river to a cool little train station covering with multiple staircases and turns to navigate along the way.  I got my wetsuit down to my waist as I exited the dock and as soon as I did that I stopped, took off the wetsuit, and then starting running the rest of the way to transition.  Lori yelled at me that the leader (Ben) had about 3 minutes on me.  Crap!  After quickly grabbing my helmet, I was off to try and reel him in.

de-wetsuiting

Bike - 59:25 (2nd) 

Considering I was 3 minutes down, I decided that this was going to be an aggressive bike.  If you want to win you’ve got to give yourself a shot.  With 3 minutes to make up I knew I had to go hard.  After navigating out to the main road I put down my head and started to hammer.  Local Birmingham guy David Meadows had a superb swim and was out in front of me, as was one other guy about 20 seconds up the road.  After passing David I gradually started reeling in the other guy and passed him a few miles later.  At the first turnaround of this 2 loop 20k course, I could see that Ben was a strong biker and that catching him was going to be a tough task.  But I was feeling good and my watts were high, so I knew I wasn’t out of it.  The rest of the bike was uneventful.  I made up 2 minutes or so on Ben, but also knew that I had Jeffrey Shelley and one other guy right on my heels.  Coming to the end of the bike I was hurting but feeling like I could lay down a good run.  My nutrition was the normal 2 watered down gu roctanes, 3/4 of a bottle of water, and 3/4 of a bottle of EFS with a few extra salt tablets dumped in.

finishing the bike

T2 - 0:40 (2nd) 

T2 was smooth and fast.  No mistakes here and I was quickly on the run course. 

Run - 34:50 (3rd) 

I did my homework before the race.  The 10k run course was a 2 loop 5k.  Each 5k started out flat for a half mile, climbed for a mile, and then was flat/downhill for the rest.  I knew I could push it on the climb and then would still be able to maintain speed on the downhill while recovering a little bit.  For the first lap I was completely alone but settled right in and clicked off miles 1 and 2 in 6:29 and 6:21.  After finishing the first loop I noticed I was only at 2.85 miles…I knew the loop was supposed to be 5k because I had studied the course…did it change?  Did I cut the course?  It was pretty much the worst feeling ever, not knowing if I had cut the course or not.  I said screw it and kept running (nothing else to do).  Mile 3 was 6:07 and about that time I noticed a guy making up ground behind me.  Mile 4 was 6:28, and then I got caught as we were still on the climbing portion of the course.  The dude passed me hard and I went all in to stay on his feet.  Maybe I was slacking off earlier in the race or maybe I just needed some motivation, I don’t know.  On the dude’s heels we ran the next mile in 5:49 and then he really started to turn it up.  At this point I noticed that he had started about 30 seconds behind me, so I would need to gap him by 30 seconds in order to win.  Considering I was at my limit sitting on his heels, it was not going to happen.  Then he really started to open it up and we covered the last 7/10 of a mile in 5:18 pace.  As we neared the crowds and the finish I sprinted around him and crossed the line ahead, even though it was of no use since he would have had to lose 30 seconds on me.  As it turned out the run was 5.67 miles...about a half mile short of 10k.

on the podium

Total - 1:57:58 (3rd OA) 

I ended up 3rd overall, only 12 seconds behind Ben and 27 seconds behind the other guy.  Unfortunately, the run was a half mile short of 10k which could have easily changed the final podium (although we will never know).  Oh well, it is what it is.  I was pleased with my swim, although I still have some work to do in that area.  Bike watts were at the upper end of where I thought they would be so I can’t complain there.  Props to Jeffrey Shelley who out-split me on the bike by 12 seconds.  Transitions were smooth and flawless so no problems there.  The run went as well as expected.  I feel much stronger off the bike than last year, and I was able to really dig deep when I had to hop on feet.  Based on how the last 1.5 miles went, I might could be a little more aggressive early on.  All in all it was a great first race of the year, capped off with a stop at the Peach Park in Clanton, AL for some cobbler!


about to crush some cobbler!

Boston Wins!

Apr 8 - Apr 14
S:  18,500 yds - 4hr 19min

B:  104.63 mi - 5hr 41min

R:  28.01 mi - 3hr 40min

Total:  13hr 40min

Apr 15 - Apr 21
S:  8,850 yds - 2hr 6min

B:  142.91 mi - 9hr 7min

R:  42.21 mi - 5hr 29min

Total:  16hr 42min

"Boston wins."  An old rowing boat-mate of mine from my summer rowing with CRI back in 2006 uttered these words via social media right after the bomber was finally apprehended in Watertown, MA on Friday, and this statement pretty much sums up the city of Boston in my mind.  From the short time I spent as a rower in this fabulous city, to the 2005 and 2006 editions of The Head of the Charles Regatta, to the amazing trip last week spent watching the 2013 Boston Marathon and sightseeing thereafter, to the amazing experiences and friendly people met in every trip, to the outpouring of extreme friendliness this past week by locals, and to the all-around awesomeness-brain power-nerd-tough guy-cool accent-historic aurora that is the city of Boston, this city is undoubtedly one that you really, really don’t want to mess with.

Double Oak Duathlon Race Report

Apr 1 - Apr 7
S:  13,800 yds - 3hr 13min

B:  102.38 mi - 5hr 50min

R:  25.90 mi - 3hr 21min

Total:  12hr 24min

Last year I began the multisport season with the Double Oak Duathlon; a short, ~1 hour race right in my own backyard at Oak Mountain State Park.  It went well and I thought it was a good distance for the first race of the year, so I decided to do it again.  This year's duathlon was to be the same course as last year; a 5k run, 20k bike, and 2.5k run, with a 0.6 mile section on single track trail in each of the runs.  To sum it up in short, I was able to get the win!  Here's how it happened:

Run 1 and T1 - 20:52
As we lined up, I began to size up the competition and noticed there were maybe 1-2 guys that I did not know that looked like they could be fast.  Locally, I knew there was no one out there that could beat me so the main threat would be from an unknown competitor.  The goal for the race was to win, and I wouldn't be happy with anything else.  As the gun went off, we took off.  The race began with a 0.25 mile slight uphill and everyone was just crushing it.  I looked down at my Garmin after a minute and we were still running 5:25 pace (up a slight incline, remember) and I was sitting in 10th place (ridiculous).  I decided there was no way any of these guys could keep it up so I backed down to a more reasonable 5:50-6:10 pace (depending on the hills).  Sure enough, a couple of guys started to fade and I quickly moved into 4th place.  I had noticed that one guy shot straight off the front at the beginning of the race...he looked like a runner and I knew he would be the guy to beat.  Miles 1 and 2 clicked by in 6:02 and 5:54 before entering the single track for the last little bit of the run.  No issues there and I approached T1 in 4th place ready to lay down some watts. 

Bike - 32:06
Duathlon is so hard, don't let anyone try and tell you otherwise.  IMO, it's way harder than triathlon.  Try running a 5k at full gas and then hop on your bike and do a 30 minute threshold interval...it's not easy!  The leader of the race had about 1:45 on me starting the bike, so I had my work cut out for me.  The first couple minutes of the bike were flat/downhill so I spent that time letting my heart drop 185 bpm down to 160 bpm.  As soon as we hit the main road I settled into a hard effort of 270-280 watts, knowing that I would soon start to reel in the 3 leaders.  At the 3 mile mark I saw 2nd and 3rd place up the road.  Not long after I was up on them and quickly blew by them.  As we approached the turnaround I caught a glimpse of the leader.  He must have been a slow descender because after a short descent I was right up on him as we rounded the turnaround cone.  At this point, I decided to put my vo2 work to use and used the long hill right after the turnaround to punch it hard for about a minute in order to leave him in the dust.  At the top of the hill I had a sizable gap, and from there on I was just following the lead motorcycle into T2 while trying to increase my lead. 

T2 and Run 2 - 10:02
I rolled into T2 with what I later would find out to be about a 2 minute lead.  After fumbling with my shoes I ran out to start the run and a quick glance behind me showed no sign of any competitors.  The first part of the run was on uphill single track trail, and I hammered it hard knowing that the guy in 2nd was a strong runner.  As the minutes went by, however, he was still out of sight so I knew I had it in the bag.  The last half mile was downhill so I coasted into the finish line and snapped the tape with a ~1 minute margin of victory.  This year is off to a good start so far...hopefully there will be more where this came from!

the top 3 overall podium

Rumpshaker 5k Race Report

Mar 25 - Mar 31
S:  11,450 yds - 2hr 41min

B:  116.28 mi - 6hr 40min

R:  39.83 mi - 5hr 16min

Total:  14hr 37min

With a name like Rumpshaker 5k, I couldn’t really turn down this race!  The course is mostly flat and super fast, and with a huge half mary PB back in early March I figured that I was due for raising the bar in the 5k distance.  The competition at this race always seems to be a little stiff for a local 5k, with winning times usually in the low 16’s.  I figured I may be good for a top 5 overall or so, and I also joined up with some friends in the coed team division to try and do some damage there.  Race morning was practically perfect!  Temperatures were in the mid to upper 50’s with a slight cool breeze, and the sky was partly cloudy…perfect race weather.  Lori and I did a nice 20 minute warm up with a couple of strides, and then it was off to the start line.  The race played out pretty much how all 5k’s play out: start out hard and hold on for dear life.

Straight from the gun we took off and I hopped on the heels of the leaders.  Three to four of us got an early gap in the first minute or so, right before going over a bridge with the only elevation change on the course.  As we hit the bridge I backed down to a sustainable pace while the 3 others pressed on ahead.  By the end of the bridge I had been passed and was sitting in 6th place with local baller Deanna Newman sitting on my feet.  The goal for the race quickly turned to “do not get chicked!”.  We rolled through mile 1 in 5:35 and I was hurting but still felt relatively good (not that you ever feel good in a 5k, but I felt like I could at least possibly maintain that pace).  At the halfway point I really started to hurt (physically and mentally) but just told myself that if I could only suck it up for 9 more minutes I’d have a nice new PB.  Mile 2 rolled through in 5:49 and I think I had put a small gap into Deanna, although I wouldn’t let myself look back because that shows weakness.  Mile 3 brought a new sense of determination.  We were on the out-and back portion of the course so seeing other runners was motivating.  Coming back over the bridge I just about blew myself up but fortunately I crested the top before that happened.  Mile 3 was a 5:44 and since I was still too afraid to look back I decided to just try and make myself sprint for the line.  I was really hyperventilating at this point and remember thinking to myself that I had not breathed that hard in quite some time.  I crossed the line in 17:32 for 6th overall, and ended up not getting chicked…yay!  Props to Deanna for a 17:39…not too shabby for a 42 year old female.  And even more props to Lori, who came in 2nd overall female at 17:52…a monster 40 second PB!  Also, our coed team crushed it for the win with a 5-runner average time of 19:03…boom!

Spoils from the race!

What’s even more awesome about this 5k is that I dropped my PB by 20 seconds and it’s only March.  Aside from some 3 to 4 minute hard efforts here in there inside a normal 50 minute run, most of my runs have been easy 7:30 - 8:00 pace.  I think I may have some upside!  The only thing I have been doing of note is running 33 mpw so far in 2013, and 30 mpw for all of 2012.  Sure…speed work may be necessary to run your fastest, but it seems that most underestimate or completely miss the point that consistent mileage is needed as well!