Sailfest

There's always some goal to be achieved in a race, and in a fast road 5K it's usually about time. Time was what I was basing my goal on at my most recent race, the Sailfest 5K. I've come a long way in the distance, and when I started to get serious about my training, I started to set goals. The best goals were those that were under a certain whole minute (ex: sub-25, sub-24, sub-23, sub-22, etc.). The most satisfying goal that was a specific minute was sub-9 in the 3K, but now it's back to 5K season. I don't remember a time where I specifically wanted to run sub-18, 19 or 20. I do remember that sub-17 was a big deal. I had weird scenario where I thought I smashed the goal (16:26), only to find out a few months later after my times weren't improving that the course was short. I managed to run a 16:29 on a certified course at the state meet, but as I only ran three 5Ks between then and the end of track I was unable to beat that time. I finally beat it at Rocky Point 5K with a 16:27 effort, and Sailfest was the next opportunity to PR.

Surprisingly, it might be the last one before cross country. I don't really want to have to run Schonning hard, just for the win. If you look at my log from last week, you can see I did a workout at target pace. I thought I did pretty well at it, and based both off my training and my 16:10 GPS split at Rocky Point, this was the race I wanted to run sub-16. I knew the hills at the beginning of Mile 2 would slow me down, so I was hoping to go out hard (but not too hard) similar to my split at Rocky Point (5:05), don't fade on mile 2, and try to kick hard the last half mile, with a boost from the downhill. Based off previous years, I figured there would be at least one person ahead of me, likely in the mid-15 range, but I didn't know if there would be more than that. The most likely contender would be Nick Migani, simply because (looking back at the results), he runs it every year. I checked out his Strava a few days before the race, and he was running much less than usual, so I wasn't sure.

The week of training went by, and race weekend came. I probably would have preferred to race Saturday, but Sailfest was a great race and it was worth it. Saturday was pretty uneventful, not nervous for the race, but not much happened. I did an easy shakeout of 4 miles, not sure if I should've done more. After all, I was only running 5K, which is pretty short compared to marathon+. I usually don't have trouble getting 7-10 hours of sleep the night before. The wakeup wasn't super early, so I should be fine. I had one of the worst night's sleep ever, unable to get comfortable. I only got about 4 hours of sleep that night. It didn't matter that much, but I would preferred to get more.

I did my typical race morning routine. Big breakfast about 3 hours before, more eating about 2 hours to go, drinking water frequently (but not as frequently as I should). We arrived in New London around 8:05-8:10, race start at 9. Dad wasn't feeling it right away, so I did a short jog over to the check-in area solo. Half-mile easy. I went to use the bathroom, as there were 5 or 6 port-a-potties in a line. I usually don't mind the port-a-potty set-up as long as there's plenty of them. There were, but there was another problem. I went in one, noticed the seat was wet and more importantly, there was no toilet paper. I went in and out of others, not one had toilet paper and many also had wet seats. Out of the few complaints I have towards this excellent race, this was by far the biggest and most unacceptable one. After that, Dad and I did a short warm-up and found a shaded area to stay in pre-race. The warm-up felt okay; not bad, but not great either. I changed in to my racing flats and had a little more water. Nick Bottone announced the race start is at 9:15, not 9 like I had though. We sat around with Jeff Vuono for a few minutes before heading over to the start.

The Race

Long pre-race description? Yes, but this was a big race. And that fact that this was a big race really started to set in the 15 minutes before. This was the first time I got nervous. I had spotted a fast looking runner I had seen at the Stonington Fun Runs several times, and now he was in a Williams Jersey doing strides. He also had a fast looking teammate (same jersey). I did 3 strides, all felt pretty good. I was ready to run, but I felt like they kept us on the starting line for a while. I kept scoping out the competition, and I felt like I would come in third behind those two, but there were a couple others with potential. No sight of Migani, which was a little disappointing, as it was fun to race behind him last year, and I was interested to see what he would run this year. He's one of the few people that I could care less if I lost to. And finally, after some words from race officials/directors, we were off.

Impatiently waiting around, staring at the top guys.

The mad dash for position at the beginning.

Mile 1
I wanted to go out hard, and that's exactly what I did. It was faster than expected. The fast runner from the fun run, unsurprisingly, went out fast. A younger kid sprinted out ahead early, only to fall back a short time into the race. Someone around my age was slightly ahead of me. Early in, I pulled right behind the fast runner. A quarter mile, my watch showed a blazing (for my 5K) 4:32 average pace. I naturally slowed down, and the first runner opened up a small gap. After half a mile, we had turned on bank street and I made the move into second. The first place guy already about 5-seconds on us and his lead was only increasing. We made another major turn onto Howard Street, one of my favorite roads (flat) on the whole course. The first guy got further and further ahead, and the runner my age lingered right behind me. I kept monitoring my pace, and even though it was still in the 4:50s, I didn't like how much it was dropping and I picked it up a little bit. The runner behind me stayed right with me, and despite it being fairly early into the race, I wasn't comfortable anymore. We went by the mile marker, which was about 15 seconds early. They called out a low 4:40s split, my real split a tiny bit later, was 4:59. 4:59! I wanted to run out hard, but this was faster than I expected and the fastest mile split I've ever run in a 5K. It was clear I wasn't going to be consistent today, but if I stayed strong on the hills, I could run still a big time PR.

Mile 2
We hit the first hill, and it was tough. I felt weak and slow as I climbed, and kept checking the pace, which maybe didn't help in this case. The guy right behind came around to pass, and it looked like he was going to get ahead here. He couldn't complete his move into second and went back into his position right behind me. Even though the hill wasn't that long, it tired me and brought the average pace down much further than I wanted to. It was already down to a 5:10 average pace, which would be an acceptable pace in another race, but it was dropping so frequently. That hill seemed long, probably because it broke me. I was all the way down to a 5:13 pace and not feeling good at all at the top, indicating a mid 5:30 second mile, which would be terrible and give me no chance to break 16, which was already a slim chance after I faded on the hill. We had a slight downhill for a while after the hill (on the next turn), and I was able to cruise down the hill at a decent rate, lowering the pace a little and not completing destroying my race. I still had a chance, depending on mile 3. I guess I picked up the pace a good amount. The top guy was now a whole 20 seconds ahead, but this is where third place fell back and my second place finish was nearly confirmed. The downhill stretch was nice, but it ended and turned into another flat back on the turn to Bank street. I grew tired without the boost of running downhill, and pace started to lower again. Mile 2- 5:22.

Mile 3
The bank street portion was not fun. I was weak, and struggled to keep running the slower pace I was already doing. Bank street seemed to go on and on, until we finally made the turn. I had no chance of catching the top guy, and the guy behind me was now so far behind that he (probably) wasn't going to catch me. My time depended on this mile, but I still didn't have much in me and now came the next hill. I was running up the road, dreading the view of the rest of the hill that awaited. But it wasn't there. I got halfway up, and that was pretty much it. This hill was that steep, and the incline wasn't bad at all. Unfortunately, my pace was still dying off and downhill was the only thing that seemed to help me. When I saw 5:19 average pace on my watch, I knew this wasn't the race I was hoping for. Sub-16 wasn't happening or coming close. However, PR pace was 5:18, and this was a very accurate course. It was possible to still PR. I kept saying that to myself, over and over again in my mind: "PR pace is 5:18". I rounded the turn, ready for the downhill. I was too tired to sprint this steep downhill the way I did last year, but I still picked it up quite a bit. It was a big boost for sure, and pace went down to 5:18. The top guy was so far ahead I could only see him at the beginning of the turn, and I had no idea where the next guy was, but I was no longer worrying about place. This race had become PR or bust, and I still had a good chance of making that happen. It got tough again, pushing it without the downhill boost on the next turn, but I tried to stay strong. I spotted the final turn up ahead, made the turn and ran hard down the final stretch. The clock was ticking- I saw it go over 16, and I was almost there. 16:10, 16:11, finish.

I was dead after. It took me a while to catch my breath. The top guy ran 15:41, his name is Lee Cattanach. I had seen him many times this year, and seen his name in many results, especially Sailfest, but had never linked the two to each other. He was just ahead of me at one of the fun runs, at since he was running 6:00 pace easy, I figured he was fast. His dominant performance here certainly convinces me of that, and he looked comfortable like he was running easy the whole time. I came in second place, in a new PR of 16:12. It was a little disappointing that I was that far off, but I forgot how tiring hills can be when you're trying to run a fast pace. I wish it had been faster, but I'll take the PR. I'm not sure if going out that hard was either a stupid move or a smart one. Go out hard to put time in the bank because I'll die on the hills or go out easier so I won't die on the hills? I only chose the first one because I'm more comfortable going hard, and it would've been tough for me to sit back the first mile, especially as others were going out fast. 3rd place finished in 16:44, which means he actually fell off quite a bit. Apparently, he's a cross country runner who is on vacation from Wisconsin, along with some family members that also did the race. Dad came in 6th, and Vuono wasn't far behind in 9th.

I wanted to get 50 for the week, so I went for a cool-down. I had no idea where to run, but eventually got the two miles I needed. Awards were okay, but I liked the bib and shirt, which is just as important to me. Looks like I won't go into the Cross Country season with a sub-16 time, but at least I left off better than last year. Sailfest really is a great race, and I'll be back in the next few years, hoping to continue the trend of PRs.