Sunday, May 27, 2012
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Race Report: The Flat-Out 5k
A little after eight on Saturday morning, at the Flatiron Crossing Mall in Broomfield, half a mile into the Flat Out 5k, I found myself in an utterly unfamiliar position: first.
Rewind a bit: I had only decided to do the race on Wednesday morning. I went over to a friend's house the night before, and got back later than I had planned. On the starting line, I looked around, saw a few faces I knew, several I did not, and only a few who looked like they could challenge me over 5k.
The gun fired, and I took off at what felt like a very reasonable tempo. Unfortunately, shortly after the gun went off, my GPS lost the signal. I am starting to rely on that less and less. Either way, I quickly moved into first place, feeling good with an easy stride, and save for a brief period held the lead through the first 3/4 mile.
The rest of the race was a learning experience for me.
Looking back, I should have kept the pace I was running. I might have been passed by the eventual winner, but I would not have been passed by anybody else and could have cruised to a relatively easy first or second place. I was not ready for the hills in the second and third miles, but were I out front, running as though by myself, I could have handled those as well. I did not know the racecourse very well, but I knew the area well enough to predict how long and steep the hills would be.
Failing that, when the third and fourth-place runners passed me, I should have stuck with the (now) second place runner, and old training partner, rather than the third place runner, an old coach. The coach, Pete, admitted that he didn't feel good, and yet I simply stuck with him for a while until I realized how slow we were going and passed him around mile two. By that point, though, the second place runner, Stuart, was too far away to catch.
And so, rather than first or second place, I ended up crossing the line in third. This is still my highest-ever placing in a race, but with a little more experience, I could have done better.
That said, I find myself in decent shape, speed-wise. Much better than I would expect, since I have generally neglected speedwork lately. I have instead focused on trail running for volume and vertical. My only speed work of any sort has been the Wednesday night fun run at the BRC. It appears to work for me, though, as I have not had the muscle injuries that plagued me back when I did track workouts. I may, however, insert a few more fartleks into my regular workouts, to sharpen my speed more.
I will also have to do some mental training, since it seems possible that I may again be in the lead some time this summer.
Rewind a bit: I had only decided to do the race on Wednesday morning. I went over to a friend's house the night before, and got back later than I had planned. On the starting line, I looked around, saw a few faces I knew, several I did not, and only a few who looked like they could challenge me over 5k.
The gun fired, and I took off at what felt like a very reasonable tempo. Unfortunately, shortly after the gun went off, my GPS lost the signal. I am starting to rely on that less and less. Either way, I quickly moved into first place, feeling good with an easy stride, and save for a brief period held the lead through the first 3/4 mile.
The rest of the race was a learning experience for me.
Looking back, I should have kept the pace I was running. I might have been passed by the eventual winner, but I would not have been passed by anybody else and could have cruised to a relatively easy first or second place. I was not ready for the hills in the second and third miles, but were I out front, running as though by myself, I could have handled those as well. I did not know the racecourse very well, but I knew the area well enough to predict how long and steep the hills would be.
Failing that, when the third and fourth-place runners passed me, I should have stuck with the (now) second place runner, and old training partner, rather than the third place runner, an old coach. The coach, Pete, admitted that he didn't feel good, and yet I simply stuck with him for a while until I realized how slow we were going and passed him around mile two. By that point, though, the second place runner, Stuart, was too far away to catch.
And so, rather than first or second place, I ended up crossing the line in third. This is still my highest-ever placing in a race, but with a little more experience, I could have done better.
That said, I find myself in decent shape, speed-wise. Much better than I would expect, since I have generally neglected speedwork lately. I have instead focused on trail running for volume and vertical. My only speed work of any sort has been the Wednesday night fun run at the BRC. It appears to work for me, though, as I have not had the muscle injuries that plagued me back when I did track workouts. I may, however, insert a few more fartleks into my regular workouts, to sharpen my speed more.
I will also have to do some mental training, since it seems possible that I may again be in the lead some time this summer.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Off the Beaten Path, or better yet Off the Map
A month or so ago I read an article, either on the NPR or the NYT website, that quoted a statistic that 95% of the Contiguous United States was within one kilometer of a road.
Think about it, just about anywhere you go in the Contiguous US, you are within 2/3rds of a mile of a road of some sort. This has huge implications. Of course roads cut up the land into discrete areas, isolating habitats from each other. But there's more to it than that. Chances are pretty good that, if you are within a kilometer of a road, you can hear an internal combustion engine. That sort of noise pollution negatively affects wildlife, and even plants! The same story mentioned how some plants thrive near noise, whereas others fail.
I mentioned this to a friend, and was dismissed. "How is that a bad thing?" they wondered.
I got to thinking: why do I think that's an awful thing? It is far more than just the effect on the environment, though that is bad enough. More, I find it aesthetically displeasing. I don't like the idea of always being within easy reach of a road. I plan my long runs to get as far as possible away from people and roads. I go backpacking and canoe camping precisely to get away from roads and everything that goes with them. And I want others to have that opportunity.
I started poking around on Google, and found this map.
It is a map of the average distance to a road, in kilometers, with a resolution of 1 square kilometer. My first thought when I saw this was how frightening it is just how much of our country is paved or at least graded. In fact, I read another article on the BBC the other day about parking. Apparently, if all the parking lots in the US were in one area, it would cover most of Jamaica. I find that sad and utterly unnecessary, since the vast majority of parking lots sit empty most of the time. They are, in fact, required to be built so that, if everybody who can legally be in a building at once drove their own car, they could each park in their own space.
In an interesting coincidence, I also came across this article in the Boulder Daily Camera today, about how Colorado is making its own laws regarding road extension in the state. I will write more about that later, when I have a chance to think on it more.
Before I get too preachy, let me get off my soap box. Looking at the road map a little closer, I noticed a distinct pattern: every place I have lived for any length of time (Northern Minnesota, Maine, Colorado) has significant tracts of green in the map, indicating areas 20km or more from a road.
The basic lesson I learn from this is that I do, even unconsciously, gravitate towards natural areas where I can "get away from it all." It has been a subconscious decision up until now, but I will certainly keep it in mind from here on out.
I want to try something different today. I see it regularly on irunfar.com , and it seems to work for Bryon (though he has a much larger following than me, for good reason). I am issuing a call for comments:
What do you think about the ever-present nature of roads in the US?
How do you "get away from it all?'
How do you think we can tackle this issue?
Think about it, just about anywhere you go in the Contiguous US, you are within 2/3rds of a mile of a road of some sort. This has huge implications. Of course roads cut up the land into discrete areas, isolating habitats from each other. But there's more to it than that. Chances are pretty good that, if you are within a kilometer of a road, you can hear an internal combustion engine. That sort of noise pollution negatively affects wildlife, and even plants! The same story mentioned how some plants thrive near noise, whereas others fail.
I mentioned this to a friend, and was dismissed. "How is that a bad thing?" they wondered.
I got to thinking: why do I think that's an awful thing? It is far more than just the effect on the environment, though that is bad enough. More, I find it aesthetically displeasing. I don't like the idea of always being within easy reach of a road. I plan my long runs to get as far as possible away from people and roads. I go backpacking and canoe camping precisely to get away from roads and everything that goes with them. And I want others to have that opportunity.
I started poking around on Google, and found this map.
It is a map of the average distance to a road, in kilometers, with a resolution of 1 square kilometer. My first thought when I saw this was how frightening it is just how much of our country is paved or at least graded. In fact, I read another article on the BBC the other day about parking. Apparently, if all the parking lots in the US were in one area, it would cover most of Jamaica. I find that sad and utterly unnecessary, since the vast majority of parking lots sit empty most of the time. They are, in fact, required to be built so that, if everybody who can legally be in a building at once drove their own car, they could each park in their own space.
In an interesting coincidence, I also came across this article in the Boulder Daily Camera today, about how Colorado is making its own laws regarding road extension in the state. I will write more about that later, when I have a chance to think on it more.
Before I get too preachy, let me get off my soap box. Looking at the road map a little closer, I noticed a distinct pattern: every place I have lived for any length of time (Northern Minnesota, Maine, Colorado) has significant tracts of green in the map, indicating areas 20km or more from a road.
The basic lesson I learn from this is that I do, even unconsciously, gravitate towards natural areas where I can "get away from it all." It has been a subconscious decision up until now, but I will certainly keep it in mind from here on out.
I want to try something different today. I see it regularly on irunfar.com , and it seems to work for Bryon (though he has a much larger following than me, for good reason). I am issuing a call for comments:
What do you think about the ever-present nature of roads in the US?
How do you "get away from it all?'
How do you think we can tackle this issue?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)