Pledging My Time

“What are you looking to run?”

Clipping off 5:50’s

During the first 4 miles of the Gate City Half Marathon at least 4 different runners asked me what pace I was hoping to run. I was honest with all of them, 5:50 pace. There wasn’t much hoping about it. I knew what shape I was in, and I knew what the course was like.

Racing well is about honestly assessing your fitness, and then being willing to take a chance if you are feeling good. I wasn’t feeling good, and it was all I could do to hold onto 5:50 pace, but mostly managed to do just that.

Racing well is also about not worrying about other people and just running your best race. I’m happy to report that I beat all the people who asked me what I was hoping run. Don’t let other people’s expectations drag you down. Results Here

Age


Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.

James Joyce

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.


Alfred Lord Tennyson

I’m trying to get faster. Not faster than I ever was, but faster than I am today. Best finish in 4 years and 4 tries at the USATF Masters National 10K Championships. Seventeenth place in 34:50. Results here.

Finishing the James Joyce Ramble

I ran everyday for a month and deleted my twitter account.

This means two things. One, I’m focused on my training in a way I haven’t in years. Two, no one is going to read this.

A few months ago I decided to try something new with my running goals. Instead of setting racing goals, I set a few training goals. In the past I would set goals such as, I want to break 16 minutes for the 5k (never happened), or I want to break 4:30 for the mile (happened in 2011). Over the last couple years my racing goals became more modest, but even those I failed to hit. This year my goals were focused on training, and I believe they are if not easy to obtain, at least something I know I can accomplish with dedication and a little bit of luck.

My first goal was to run everyday for a month. I believe the most consecutive days of running I’ve ever done is 21 or 22 days. I wasn’t going to worry about total mileage for the month, I was just going to get in a run everyday. I was planning on doing this in July or August because I thought my schedule might allow for more flexibility. Then I found myself 20 days into April without having missed a day and decided to just close out the month and check this one goal off my list. The streak started on March 29 and went through April 30th so I actually went a few days over. I ended up running 205 miles for April, marking only the 3rd time in as many years I’ve gone over 200 miles in a month. I also ran a 34:50 10K, (more on this in my next post) I hadn’t broken 35 minutes since May of 2015. You can checkout my running log by clicking here.

I’ll write about my other 2 training goals as I accomplish them. I plan to do one in July and the other in September, but who knows, they might come earlier if my training stays on track.

As for Twitter. I deleted my 10 year old account for one simple reason. On balance I generally felt worse after spending time on Twitter. It was a net negative in my life. I no longer see any reason to continually infect my brain with the thoughts of people I don’t know or care about. Having already deleted Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat (although I never really used Snapchat), the only social media service I still use is reddit. Reddit doesn’t make me feel bad, I know there is plenty of awful shit on that site, but I never interact with people or go to sketchy sub-reddits, and mostly just enjoy the pop culture news and silly animal gifs.

If you want to reach-out to me, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at yoshason@gmail.com

My Kingdom for a Flat Stretch of Road

This will be the last time I complain about hills for at least 6 months, I promise. After racing a very hilly 10 miler and a very hilly 15K in the past month, I was hoping a moderately hilly 5 miler would feel easy. It did not.

Sunday was the Red’s Shoe Barn Race for a Better Community 5 Miler (Red’s). Red’s was the second race in the New Hampshire Grand Prix. I’m running the series with the Greater Derry Track Club. It doesn’t conflict with my USATF Central Mass Striders racing, and it is nice to get in more races close to home. And If I’m being honest, it is nice not to finish so far back from the leaders.

Start of the Red’s 5 Miler… uphill for the first .75 miles

The race starts and finishes in downtown Dover, NH and rolls it’s way through some neighborhoods and farmland in between. I allowed my expectations of some of the runners in front of me to dictate my pace too much in the middle miles. 1 runner took off into the lead and opened a gap early, and a few smaller packs of 2-3 runners each formed up behind him. I ended up caught between 2 of the packs in 8th place for a bunch of the middle miles. I could see the first chase pack, and knew one of the runners in that pack had beat me by over a minute at my last 5 miler. I thought as long as I was keeping him in sight I was doing well so I didn’t push hard to move up to them. It turns out however that he had raced the day before, and was saving his energy for the last mile.

Josh running alone.
Feeling dead legged. http://mainerunningphotos.com/

The steepest hill on the course was right at the 4 mile mark, but was proceeded by a half mile gradual uphill. By the top of the hill I had moved into 4th pace and closed the gap on the 2nd and 3rd place runners to about 15 seconds. During the final downhill stretch of the race the eventual 2nd place finisher (who had beat me by a minute 2 months ago) put another 10 seconds on me to finish in 27:54. I managed to make up a little ground on the 3rd place runner, but he held me off for a 28:11. I finished in 4th, matching my time from the Boston Tune-up 5 Miler of 28:19.

3 Runners Finishing Red's 5 Miler
Finish. http://mainerunningphotos.com/

I’m disappointed with my time. I had set out with the intention of running 5:30 pace. It seemed a reasonable goal after my last 2 longer races in 5:52 then 5:46 pace, but I just had no get up and go in my legs. I’m going to chalk that up to having just run my best race in years 6 days earlier. On the upside, I scored 10 out of 10 points for the 40-49 age group and 9 out of 10 points in the age grade scoring for the New Hampshire Grand Prix. I’m going to have to finish in the top 2 of each of those categories for the rest of the races if I want to have any chance to win the series. It is good motivation for me during these races. I need both a good place, and a good time because of the age grade scoring.

The next race in the New Hampshire Grand Prix is the Gate City Half Marathon in May. Before that I have the USATF Masters 10k Championship at the end of April. My goal is break 35 minutes for the first time since the 2015 Lilac 10k.

Finish of the Red’s 5 miler… downhill for the last .75 miles