Race Report - Moon In June 10k, 2004

Woo hoo! Great race, David. Good job catching folks late --
I seem to be having trouble with intensity late in races
these days. Thanks for the inspiration!

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing
and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston
Churchill

SwStudio <[email protected]> wrote: ...
> The Moon In June is a night race, starting shortly
> after 9:00pm.

Cool. Sounds like fun.

...
> The guy I was originally with went with me, and stayed
> within a few seconds. I held him off (and the others) to
> finish in 6th place overall with a time of 35:19 - a 9-
> second PR and a negative split by over 15 seconds. I felt
> really strong at the end.

Congrats David. A PR is always good. So is a negative split.
BTW, do you use daytime PR and nighttime PR for
differentiation? Or are they all the same?

> I have a couple 5k's coming up, and hope to continue
> running well. Thanks for reading!

Good luck. Maybe you'll break your 5K PR this time. jobs

Big Congrats David! Great job on the PR and the negative
split! Sounds like you're in really good form right now. Get
some rest, then see what PRs you get in the upcoming 5ks!

Teresa in AZ

SwStudio wrote:

> I have been very busy, so this report is a little late!
>
> The Moon In June is a night race, starting shortly after
> 9:00pm. I love night races, and looked forward to this one
> although I had raced twice in the same week, Sunday and
> Tuesday.
>
> Tuesday night's race was horrible; a really hilly 10k
> run in the heat of our first full smog/humidity index
> day. It was really hot and I was still lead-legged from
> Sunday's 5k.
>
> After the race I hung up the shoes until Saturday night. I
> figured I was a little bit overtrained from all the racing
> and a few days off would certainly put the spring back in
> my step, which it did.
>
> Race weather conditions were perfect. I felt great and
> went out with a quick start. I stayed behind this guy I
> knew was very close to my ability and ran the first 7km
> with him, pullinng away when I realized there were three
> people in front of us that were worth catching. It took me
> about 2km to do it, but I passed them all one by one. The
> last runner was tough!
>
> The guy I was originally with went with me, and stayed
> within a few seconds. I held him off (and the others) to
> finish in 6th place overall with a time of 35:19 - a 9-
> second PR and a negative split by over 15 seconds. I felt
> really strong at the end. Knowing I was close to a PR
> motivated me.
>
> I have a couple 5k's coming up, and hope to continue
> running well. Thanks for reading!
>
>
> cheers,

"Brian Baresch" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
> Woo hoo! Great race, David. Good job catching folks late
> -- I seem to be having trouble with intensity late in
> races these days. Thanks for the inspiration!

Thanks, Brian! I had the same problem for years, but have
recently improved. I believe a modest amount of weight
training (there was none, or sporadic training before) and
regular bike workouts have contributed to having a feeling
of more reserves to tap into in those crucial closing
stages. Certainly I have strengthened my quads and perhaps
calves too in the past 10 weeks.

I have also been experimenting with a lot of new imagery
I've both been reading about and creating on my own. It
seemed flaky to me at first, but I realized the mind is
usually the biggest enemy in the end as it's the one
screaming at you to stop! Finding new ways to deal with this
is proving to be beneficial in my case. For me, it's all
about remaining detached through various methods yet
observing my own pain as if it were happening to someone
else. There's no panic, only study.

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

<[email protected]> wrote in message
> SwStudio <[email protected]> wrote: ...
> > The Moon In June is a night race, starting shortly after
> > 9:00pm.
>
> Cool. Sounds like fun.

The only annoyance with night races is the awkward food
issue. I ended up eating two large slices of pizza about 90
minutes before. Not usually a good plan.

> > The guy I was originally with went with me, and stayed
> > within a few seconds. I held him off (and the others) to
> > finish in 6th place overall with a time of 35:19 - a 9-
> > second PR and a negative split by over 15 seconds. I
> > felt really strong at the end.
>
> Congrats David. A PR is always good. So is a negative
> split. BTW, do you use daytime PR and nighttime PR for
> differentiation? Or are they all the same?

Well, my "daytime PR" is 35:28, but it was on a course with
a net downhill, so it's nice to run a similar time on a flat
course. To run under 35:30 for 10k twice within a couple
months is a good sign for me. I think I'm in good shape
right now, but probably won't h old this mini-peak for long.

> > I have a couple 5k's coming up, and hope to continue
> > running well. Thanks for reading!
>
> Good luck. Maybe you'll break your 5K PR this time.

I don't think I've been running enough fast stuff in
training to do that.

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

"Teresa Bippert-Plymate" <[email protected]> wrote
in message
> Big Congrats David! Great job on the PR and the
> negative split! Sounds like you're in really good form
> right now. Get some rest, then see what PRs you get in
> the upcoming 5ks!

Thanks, Teresa.

I don't think I'm in shape to break 17 in 5k right now; the
shorter the race the tougher it is for me, usually!

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

SwStudio wrote:
> I have been very busy, so this report is a little late!
>
> The Moon In June is a night race, starting shortly after
> 9:00pm. I love night races, and looked forward to this one
> although I had raced twice in the same week, Sunday and
> Tuesday.

Well done David! I really like the sound of night racing.
Much more civilised than running in the morning. ;-)

Tim
--
Remove the obvious to reply by email.

David - Great race and congrats on the new PR!

Interesting comments about "separating mind and body". I
find having someone ahead to chase makes a big difference
towards the end of a race. (especially if you know that
they're in your age-group... )

Anthony.

"Tim Downie" <[email protected]> wrote
in message
> SwStudio wrote:
> > I have been very busy, so this report is a little late!
> >
> > The Moon In June is a night race, starting shortly after
> > 9:00pm. I love night races, and looked forward to this
> > one although I had raced twice in the same week, Sunday
> > and Tuesday.
>
> Well done David! I really like the sound of night racing.
> Much more civilised than running in the morning. ;-)

haha, yes - I dislike the morning races as well!

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

"Anthony" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> David - Great race and congrats on the new PR!
>
> Interesting comments about "separating mind and body". I
> find having someone ahead to chase makes a big difference
> towards the end of a race. (especially if you know that
> they're in your age-group... )

Thanks, Anthony! I like being alone at the very end (last
half km or so) of a race. I feel stronger at the end, but
the stress of the possibility of a final sprint to try to
beat someone is not fun for me since I have little kick.

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

>> Woo hoo! Great race, David. Good job catching folks late
>> -- I seem to be having trouble with intensity late in
>> races these days. Thanks for the inspiration!
>
>Thanks, Brian! I had the same problem for years, but have
>recently improved. I believe a modest amount of weight
>training (there was none, or sporadic training before) and
>regular bike workouts have contributed to having a feeling
>of more reserves to tap into in those crucial closing
>stages. Certainly I have strengthened my quads and perhaps
>calves too in the past 10 weeks.
>
>I have also been experimenting with a lot of new imagery
>I've both been reading about and creating on my own. It
>seemed flaky to me at first, but I realized the mind is
>usually the biggest enemy in the end as it's the one
>screaming at you to stop! Finding new ways to deal with
>this is proving to be beneficial in my case. For me, it's
>all about remaining detached through various methods yet
>observing my own pain as if it were happening to someone
>else. There's no panic, only study.

Quite interesting. Thanks for the insights! I'll see if I
can adapt some of your methods.

--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing
and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston
Churchill

"SwStudio" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> I have also been experimenting with a lot of new imagery
> I've both been reading about and creating on my own. It
> seemed flaky to me at first,

yep...when I first started doing it, I felt like I had
signed up to be part of the crystals/angels/tarot card set.

but I realized the mind is usually the biggest enemy
in the end
> as it's the one screaming at you to stop! Finding new
> ways to deal

yep

> with this is proving to be beneficial in my case. For me,
> it's all about remaining detached through various methods
> yet observing my own pain as if it were happening to
> someone else. There's no panic, only study.
>

I love how effective visualization can be in any sport. My
swim coach taught us visualization when we were still young
because it worked for him. He learned it from a seminar
with a sports psychologist who worked with Dan Jensen
(speed skater).

You know the pain is coming and so you can control it. I
can't explain it without sounding like a total flake but
it's the best.

There is nothing better than feeling like your race was deja
vu because you have run through it in your minds so
perfectly and you knew exactly how it was going to look,
feel, smell and even taste to you.

>
> cheers,

"SwStudio" <[email protected]> wrote

> Thanks, Anthony! I like being alone at the very end (last
> half km or so) of a race. I feel stronger at the end, but
> the stress of the possibility of a final sprint to try to
> beat someone is not fun for me since I have little kick.

Interestingly, Lydiard said that lack of kick could be
caused by *too much* speedwork, and not enough base work.
Also, the fact that you can't kick that well probably
reflects your slow twitch percentage, which bodes well for
longer distances.

Even though I have pretty good kick (only beaten once,
because of a mental lapse), I prefer to pour it on over the
last 1/2 mile, and be ahead of the competition in the last
200 meters. I psych myself up for it on the last
mile. Few have the courage to accelerate that far from the
finish, so there's less uncertainty. In longer races
(50k or 50m) I'll run the last couple of miles
pretty hard.

Nice race.

-- Dan

"Tim Downie" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

> Well done David!

I´d second that were it not for the fact that he´s probablt
eyeball-killfiled me

> I really like the sound of night racing. Much more
> civilised than running in the morning. ;-)

In that case - and since you mentioned you fancied a nice
gentle ultra run - there´ll be the 34th Suomi- juoksu
("Finland Run"): 100 km, start time 10 pm!

Since the race takes place in southern Finland and two weeks
before Midsummer - unfortunately you missed this year´s event:-
) - it´ll be dark roughly between 1 and 3 am, but the rest
of it will be light and full of birdsong.

Experienced ultrarunners report that one can become a bit
clumsy and co-ordinated between 2 and 3 am - which is also
the period when quite strange perceptions can occur.

Anders (who, BTW, would´ve preferred to read a more upbeat
marathon report a few days before his own...)

In article <[email protected]>,
"SwStudio" <[email protected]> wrote:

> I have been very busy, so this report is a little late!
>
> The Moon In June is a night race, starting shortly after
> 9:00pm. I love night races, and looked forward to this one
> although I had raced twice in the same week, Sunday and
> Tuesday.
>
> Tuesday night's race was horrible; a really hilly 10k
> run in the heat of our first full smog/humidity index
> day. It was really hot and I was still lead-legged from
> Sunday's 5k.
>
> After the race I hung up the shoes until Saturday night. I
> figured I was a little bit overtrained from all the racing
> and a few days off would certainly put the spring back in
> my step, which it did.
>
> Race weather conditions were perfect. I felt great and
> went out with a quick start. I stayed behind this guy I
> knew was very close to my ability and ran the first 7km
> with him, pullinng away when I realized there were three
> people in front of us that were worth catching. It took me
> about 2km to do it, but I passed them all one by one. The
> last runner was tough!
>
> The guy I was originally with went with me, and stayed
> within a few seconds. I held him off (and the others) to
> finish in 6th place overall with a time of 35:19 - a 9-
> second PR and a negative split by over 15 seconds. I felt
> really strong at the end. Knowing I was close to a PR
> motivated me.
>
> I have a couple 5k's coming up, and hope to continue
> running well. Thanks for reading!
>
>
> cheers,

Very good racing, David. I know what you mean about even
being close to a PR... it really inspires you to dig deeper
and keep trying and racing and training. And it lets you
know that you aren't really off your game, just a little
variance in times. Would be nice to hit a PR with every
race, but that just won't happen. BTW, I was recently given
a 4-leafed clover, so I'm hoping that'll add a little magic
to my upcoming 5k race this weekend.

Congrats on coming back after your "overtraining" period

Cam

"Anders Lustig" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Anders (who, BTW, would´ve preferred to read a more upbeat
> marathon report a few days before his own...)

Sorry about that. If you can hang on until the 27th, I might
have a more upbeat ultra report. ;-)

If not, best of luck!

Tim