Race Report: Bow Lake 15K

[Mark Mauro]

Race: 2nd Annual Bow Lake 15K Location: Bow Lake Village, NH
Course: Rolling loop course around Bow Lake with one major
climb (300 ft.) in the 6th mile.

Report: Since I still have no idea where I'm at race wise,
my hopes were to start out at an 8:00 1st mile and see where
it went from there. I ran with my running partner the 1st
mile because he has a good sense of pace and wanted the same
8:00 mile. I had a feeling that we might be going a little
fast as I could still see the lead pack (although still far
ahead). 1st mile mark came in at.... 6:56 (oops). I told my
friend see ya and put on the brakes. After calming down the
next 4 miles were rolling and went by at 7:39, 7:19, 7:36
and 7:44 respectively. Mile 6 was the hill mile and it was
as hard as I thought it would be. I passed a couple of
people and one person passed me but I still wasn't real
happy with an 8:58 mile. Mile 7 was a little rolling but I
must not have been recovered from the hill and came in at
7:54. The next two miles had some short very steep (almost
to steep) downhill's. I didn't dare go all out because of
the hamstring injury that hasn't fully healed from the 5k
two weeks ago but I was relatively pleased with splits of
7:14 and 7:16. The final .3 came in at 2:09 for a finishing
time of 1:10:47, a 7:36 pace.

Splits:
1: 6:56
2: 7:39
3: 7:19
4: 7:36
5: 7:44
6: 8:58
7: 7:54
8: 7:14
9: 7:16 .3: 2:09 Finish: 1:10:47

Thoughts: I guess I'm happy with the result. 30th overall
out of 118. Unfortunately I still remember the times when I
used to run before (10 years ago) and I either have to work
a lot harder or come to the realization that I'm never going
to be that fast again. Oh well enough whining.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Mark

[Phil M.]

markmauro@verizon.net (Mark Mauro) wrote in
news:4ba89913.0404102051.39e46ca2@posting.google.com:

> Race: 2nd Annual Bow Lake 15K Location: Bow Lake Village,
> NH Course: Rolling loop course around Bow Lake with one
> major climb (300 ft.) in the 6th mile.
>
> Report: Since I still have no idea where I'm at race
> wise, my hopes were to start out at an 8:00 1st mile and
> see where it went from there. I ran with my running
> partner the 1st mile because he has a good sense of pace
> and wanted the same 8:00 mile. I had a feeling that we
> might be going a little fast as I could still see the
> lead pack (although still far ahead). 1st mile mark came
> in at.... 6:56 (oops). I told my friend see ya and put on
> the brakes.

That first mile marker can be a little shocking sometimes.
That was a smart move to let your friend go.

> Mile 6 was the hill mile and it was as hard as I thought
> it would be. I passed a couple of people and one person
> passed me but I still wasn't real happy with an 8:58 mile.

Hills are hard to judge. I try not to pay any attention to
those around
me. Just focus on what I know is right for me. In most
cases, if the same person passes you on every uphill,
they are the ones that will be hurting the most at
the finish.

> The final .3 came in at 2:09 for a finishing time of
> 1:10:47, a 7:36 pace.

I think that's a great time for your first post-come-back
15K.

> Thoughts: I guess I'm happy with the result. 30th overall
> out of 118. Unfortunately I still remember the times when
> I used to run before (10 years ago) and I either have to
> work a lot harder or come to the realization that I'm
> never going to be that fast again. Oh well enough whining.

How old are you now? How hard were your training 10 years
ago? What was your 15K PR? Were you running fast back then
on pure talent? Even if your physiological make-up has
slightly changed, you now have the smarts to be able to put
together a training program that will allow you to achieve
the 10-year-old PRs.

Also, check a WAVA calculator at http://www.personal.rdg.ac- (http://www.personal.rdg.ac-/)
.uk/~snsgrubb/athletics/wavalookup.html to see how this
compares based on your current age.

> Any comments would be appreciated.

The first thing I would do is go to http://tinyurl.com/34haz
and figure out your proper training paces. Then use that
older and wiser noggin to run faster and smarter.

Great race and thanks for the report.

Phil M.

--
"Pain is temporary: the success it brings can be
everlasting." -fortune cookie

[Swstudio]

"Mark Mauro" <markmauro@verizon.net> wrote in message
> Thoughts: I guess I'm happy with the result. 30th overall
> out of 118. Unfortunately I still remember the times when
> I used to run before (10 years ago) and I either have to
> work a lot harder or come to the realization that I'm
> never going to be that fast again. Oh well enough whining.
>
> Any comments would be appreciated.

I whine about my running, too. ;)

I'm not familiar with your training routine, but I'm SURE
there's ways to improve still, if that's what you are
looking for. Unless your times from 10 years ago were truly
fantastic, you can try to get back there. It just may just
take 2 - 4 years of dedicated work.

...and even if you don't get there, you will have peace
knowing you gave it your all, and then you can adjust your
goals accordingly.

cheers,
--
David (in Hamilton, ON) www.allfalldown.org "The most
insecure people are the ones you see, putting other people
down constantly."

[Mark Mauro]

I'm 39 (40 in May). I was running 40 to 50 miles a week and
racing 2 or 3 times a month everything from 5k's up,
although never a 15k. My times were in the 18:30 to 18:45
range for 5k and 40:00 range for 10k at my best if that
helps. I think I was running on pure adrenaline because I
never trained at faster than an 8:00 pace. I think a large
part of the problem is probably weight, because even with my
weight loss I'm still 15 to 20 lbs. heavier that 10 years
ago (180lbs. vs 165lbs. and 6 ft. tall).

Thanks for the links,

Mark

"Phil M." <pmarg@charter.net> wrote in message
news:Xns94C85EE485AC3seilogramp@216.77.188.18...
> markmauro@verizon.net (Mark Mauro) wrote in
> news:4ba89913.0404102051.39e46ca2@posting.google.com:
>
> > Race: 2nd Annual Bow Lake 15K Location: Bow Lake
> > Village, NH Course: Rolling loop course around Bow Lake
> > with one major climb (300 ft.) in the 6th mile.
> >
> > Report: Since I still have no idea where I'm at race
> > wise, my hopes were to start out at an 8:00 1st mile and
> > see where it went from there. I ran with my running
> > partner the 1st mile because he has a good sense of pace
> > and wanted the same 8:00 mile. I had a feeling that we
> > might be going a little fast as I could still see the
> > lead pack (although still far ahead). 1st mile mark came
> > in at.... 6:56 (oops). I told my friend see ya and put
> > on the brakes.
>
> That first mile marker can be a little shocking sometimes.
> That was a smart move to let your friend go.
>
> > Mile 6 was the hill mile and it was as hard as I
> > thought it would be. I passed a couple of people and
> > one person passed me but I still wasn't real happy with
> > an 8:58 mile.
>
> Hills are hard to judge. I try not to pay any attention to
> those around
> me. Just focus on what I know is right for me. In most
> cases, if the same person passes you on every uphill,
> they are the ones that will be hurting the most at the
> finish.
>
> > The final .3 came in at 2:09 for a finishing time of
> > 1:10:47, a 7:36 pace.
>
> I think that's a great time for your first post-come-
> back 15K.
>
> > Thoughts: I guess I'm happy with the result. 30th
> > overall out of 118. Unfortunately I still remember the
> > times when I used to run before (10 years ago) and I
> > either have to work a lot harder or come to the
> > realization that I'm never going to be that fast again.
> > Oh well enough whining.
>
> How old are you now? How hard were your training 10 years
> ago? What was your 15K PR? Were you running fast back then
> on pure talent? Even if your physiological make-up has
> slightly changed, you now have the smarts to be able to
> put together a training program that will allow you to
> achieve the 10-year-old PRs.
>
> Also, check a WAVA calculator at http://www.personal.rdg.- (http://www.personal.rdg.-/)
> ac.uk/~snsgrubb/athletics/wavalookup.html to see how this
> compares based on your current age.
>
> > Any comments would be appreciated.
>
> The first thing I would do is go to
> http://tinyurl.com/34haz and figure out your proper
> training paces. Then use that older and wiser noggin to
> run faster and smarter.
>
> Great race and thanks for the report.
>
> Phil M.
>
> --
> "Pain is temporary: the success it brings can be
> everlasting." -fortune cookie

[Donovan Rebbech]

In article <4ba89913.0404102051.39e46ca2@posting.google.com>, Mark Mauro wrote:

> Thoughts: I guess I'm happy with the result. 30th overall
> out of 118. Unfortunately I still remember the times when
> I used to run before (10 years ago) and I either have to
> work a lot harder or come to the realization that I'm
> never going to be that fast again. Oh well enough whining.

If you're "old" (35 or older) you could always age grade
your times, or aim to match your WAVA performances. If
you're under 40, the age grading doesn't make a whole lot of
difference though. Getting fast takes a fair amount of time
and patience. Good luck!

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

[Phil M.]

"Mark Mauro" <markmauro@verizon.net> wrote in
news:9lcec.9397$QQ6.2990@nwrdny02.gnilink.net:

> I'm 39 (40 in May). I was running 40 to 50 miles a week
> and racing 2 or 3 times a month everything from 5k's up,
> although never a 15k. My times were in the 18:30 to 18:45
> range for 5k and 40:00 range for 10k at my best if that
> helps. I think I was running on pure adrenaline because I
> never trained at faster than an 8:00 pace.

For the 15K, if you are older than 35, you get credit for
being an old fart ;-). A 39-year-old gets a factor of .9784.

1:10:47 * .9784 = 1:09:15

So your 15K time was equivalent to a 1:09:15 for anyone
under age 36. This means that you should expect a slow down
of 2.16% from age 29 (or any age older than 35) to age 39. A
lot of people shoot for a goal of increasing their WAVA
percentage. Your 15K time gives you a 59.83% of the age
standard (42:21). For example, a nice goal for your next
race might be to get your WAVA% up above 60 or 65%. Of
course, when you turn 40 next month, your WAVA factor is
lowered to .9715. So don't be surprised if all of a sudden
on your 40th birthday you feel 2.85% slower than you did at
2. ;-)

As you can see by this list below, the longer the distance,
the older you can be and still be in your prime (applies to
most humans). After that, your age is a factor.

Distance Age 1000M > 31 1500M to 2K > 32 3K to 2 mi > 33 5K
> 34 8K to 10 mi > 35 20K to 40K > 36 40K to 50K > 37 100K >
39 50 mi > Doug Freese ;-)

> I think a large part of the problem is probably weight,
> because even with my weight loss I'm still 15 to 20
> lbs. heavier that 10 years ago (180lbs. vs 165lbs. and
> 6 ft. tall).

I agree that the weight can be a big factor. At the risk of
sounding like a recent troll, getting your body fat to a
lower level would greatly help your running performance. If
you weighed 165 pounds 10 years ago, there should be nothing
wrong with getting down that low again. If you do it slowly
and take 2 months to lose the 15 pounds you should notice an
improvement in your running. I think any more than 2 pounds
a week and you risk losing some lean body mass. As you may
know, I've also lost a lot of weight. Rather than stop at
the weight I was for my last marathon (190 lbs), I kept
going and am now 165 lbs. Even though I'm 5 years older
(3), I am running faster times at the same effort than I was
at 190 pounds.

Phil M.

[Phil M.]

"SwStudio" <shhhh_secrets@hotmail.com> wrote in news:EPaec.21669
$n37.1819048@read2.cgocable.net:

> I whine about my running, too. ;)

Oh really? I hadn't noticed. ;-)

Phil M.

--
"Pain is temporary: the success it brings can be
everlasting." -fortune cookie

[Swstudio]

"Phil M." <pmarg@charter.net> wrote in message
> "SwStudio" <shhhh_secrets@hotmail.com> wrote in
> > I whine about my running, too. ;)
>
> Oh really? I hadn't noticed. ;-)

No one's forcing you to read my posts, Phil. ;)

cheers,
--
David (in Hamilton, ON) www.allfalldown.org "The most
insecure people are the ones you see, putting other people
down constantly."