Coast to Coast Battle in Beantown this week at Franklin Park.
Monday: 0
Tuesday: 10 Miles
15x400 @73-77s w/45s rest, 3 minutes after every 5th. Felt easy enough effort wise but I was breathing pretty hard today. Difficulty: 2/5. Thought we had 20 which made this feel a bit easier.
Wednesday: 10 Miles
Longmarsh with a group, trail section in the middle. Had some discomfort on the top of my foot (lacing issue) towards the end of the run that I was initially worried about but never really turned into anything.
Thursday: 6 Miles
Pre-meet on the course. Didn't feel great today.
Friday: 11 Miles
Coast to Coast Battle in Beantown. Results here. This meet got moved up from 3:30 to 12:30 at the last minute which I was excited about as it meant less waiting around and I got to skip lunch entirely (eating two meals sometimes gives me a bit of anxiety as I sometimes screw up and eat too close or too far, breakfast is much simpler).
I ran 27:01. Not sure on place but probably in the bottom 20% as this meet is very competitive. I had planned on going through 5K in 16:10 or so, and was extremely dejected to pass in 16:55. This was a disappointing performance and a slow time but not quite as bad as Providence college invite. I was 3rd on the team as we got dead last in probably one of the worst showings in recent UNH XC history (our 1st guy in 2019 was 25:11 and our 5th guy in 2019 was 26:0x, our 1st guy today was 26:36 and our 5th guy today was 28:1x). We really should have gotten 2nd to last as our average time was much better than Albany's (their 5th guy was 29:33), but there's so few people after 28 that the point difference between a 27:40 and a 33:00 is basically nothing.
Kind of weird to run so slow, given that 1)I got out in 5:00, 2) I felt pretty good for at least half the race, 3) I only moved up during the race after 3.1K, wasn't passed by anyone. Those three factors sound like a combination for a great race, but the unfortunate truth of this race is the back of the pack fades so badly in the middle of the race that staying with them/only passing a few people sinks you as well. The only people that run somewhat evenly in this race are the top 25% or so. College cross country is really frustrating to me. I get out in what seems like a decent first mile and only pass people from there, get still over 5:26 average pace. There are probably 2 ways for me to run 26 low in this kind of race- go out exactly like I did but be blowing by people from 3K-finish (needs an incredible mental discipline/toughness) or go out much, much faster. The guys who go out in 4:50 aren't going to drop 5:40s in the middle of the race and staying with them leads to a much better time.
I don't really like this meet and am glad to be done with it. Another annoying feature is how crowded this race. Just lots of elbowing and shoving for the first mile or so. A few spots where I'd have to slow dramatically in order to not crash into something because they're simply wasn't enough room. At the beginning, we were angled so far right that when we cut in, we were brushing up against a lot and bushes.
This was a disappointing September but that's just the way it is.
Saturday: 10 Miles
Easy run on soft surfaces in Ninigret.
Sunday: 13 Miles
Easy 13 on Charlestown beach flat roads.
Weekly Total: 60 Miles
YTD Total: 1,771 Miles
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