Of Mice and Marathons

Ripple Effect 4 Miler

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Location:

Lake Orion,MI,

Member Since:

Dec 28, 2011

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

PRs

16:52 Phillies Charities 5k (2016)

35:52 Beach to Beacon 10k (2015)

58:10 Broad Street 10 Mile (2016)

1:16:02 Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half Marathon (2015)

2:46:54 Philadelphia Marathon (2015)

Personal:

I live in Michigan with my wife, Megan, and our boys, Charlie and Sawyer. I started running in September 2010.

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Miles:	This week:	32.70	Month:	57.70	Year:	1986.65
Miles With Megan Lifetime Miles:						613.75
Miles With The Boys Lifetime Miles:						99.90
Nike Zoom Streak LT4 Mr. Pinks Lifetime Miles:						21.60
Saucony ISO Freedom 3 #2 Lifetime Miles:						253.80
Altra Rivera Lifetime Miles:						357.35
Altra Rivera (Dark Blue) Lifetime Miles:						145.10
Saucony Kinvara 13 Lifetime Miles:						465.10
Saucony Endorphin Pro Lifetime Miles:						287.00
Active 88 Boulder Lifetime Miles:						5.00
Saucony Freedom 5 Lifetime Miles:						304.80
Saucony Kinvara 13 #2 Lifetime Miles:						310.95
Saucony Endorphin Pro White Lifetime Miles:						23.40
Kinvara 14 Blue/Grey Lifetime Miles:						64.50
Saucony Ride Teal Lifetime Miles:						23.40
Saucony KInvara 14 Yellow Lifetime Miles:						12.40
Nike XC Flats Lifetime Miles:						4.10
Active 88 Boulder Lifetime Miles:						13.10

Mon, Sep 02, 2013

Race: Ripple Effect 4 Miler (3.97 Miles) 00:23:06, Place overall: 7, Place in age division: 3

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
14.11	0.00	0.00	3.97	18.08

Report to follow. Not a smart race, but I definitely raced. 3 second PR for the opening mile :) 5:36.

AM: THE RIPPLE EFFECT 4 MILER. Finally got my car fixed the other day, which makes racing a lot less expensive without having to rent a car. It started this morning, so that was a decent sign. Warmed up 3.1 with a half mile at marathon pace. Legs felt snappy. Did a few strides just fast enough to flash race pace on my Garmin. I saw my first live race walker today. She was also doing strides. A racewalker does strides right? (she notched a 42:xx). Probably too much of a warmup with the humidity, but I wanted a warmup of 4 but I didn't have time. The air was saturated. Temps were fine and it was overcast, but my singlet was soaked.

Lined up on the inside for the first turn. The start was announced by a guy with an ill-working megaphone, but he got us going. I went out very hard because I didn't want to get jammed in. I was in 4th just behind some speedy fellas I knew I would never catch. I knew I was running fast, but I felt pretty good. Once things straightened out I look and was running 5:17 on the lap (as fast as 4:44 peak). Much too fast, so I started to back off, still running 5:35.5 for mile 1 (the decimal is import as it is about a 4 second mile PR). The split was even faster fif measured by the marker because it was .2-.3 short. I started to back off more, figuring I could run 5:45s, managing a hard but doable effort. The gentle uphills (barely hills but they slowed me down) and a screamer (relatively speaking) opening mile assured me of that was not to happen.

Got passed after the first mile, dropping to 7th. Fine. Held off the guy behind me for the rest of the race and beat him by 14 seconds. Miles 2-4 were: 5:56, 5:53, 5:52 (5:41 for .97).

I knew the first mile was too WAY fast even as I was doing it. I didn't care. I wanted to run hard, even recklessly. I think this will be the last of my super fast starts for a while though. This effort should hopefully help make running 6:00-6:08 easier in two weeks. I think. I hope.

Cooled down 5 miles on the Monon Trail, which made me very envious. Nice trail even if that end has several stop signs.

PM: North side - 6 miles, averaged 7:45. 82 and very dry. Very very pleasant. Some cool mornings on tap for the week.

Newton Trainer 5 Miles: 6.01	Newton MV2 (3) Miles: 7.07	Saucony Kinvara 2 Miles: 5.00

Weight: 170.20

Comments

From SlowJoe on Mon, Sep 02, 2013 at 17:11:22 from 66.69.93.8

Sub-6's the whole way, nice job! This is the first race I think I've ever seen you run that didn't have completely perfect execution/even splits - what the heck is wrong with you?!

Looks like 2 weeks to the half - should be a good one!

From JimF on Mon, Sep 02, 2013 at 17:24:25 from 98.222.218.178

Great race and way to hold it together the rest of the way even after the fast start!

From Rob Murphy on Tue, Sep 03, 2013 at 01:09:08 from 24.10.249.165

Great race! You're becoming one of the fast guys on the blog.

From Jason D on Tue, Sep 03, 2013 at 09:41:56 from 128.210.82.162

Thanks, guys.

It was a foolish start Joe, but I was trying to race. It turns out racing is hard :) I don't feel demolished today, so that is good.

From RileyCook on Tue, Sep 03, 2013 at 11:01:46 from 132.3.57.79

Nice job. While I advocate even splits (or at least even effort as terrain varies), sometimes it's good to go out fast and test yourself. When you do, sometimes you slow down a lot, but sometimes you run better than where you thought your fitness was. So, it's ok I think every once and awhile, especially at a distance you haven't raced recently and aren't quite certain how fast you can go. Just don't make it a habit ;)

From Bret on Tue, Sep 03, 2013 at 13:05:55 from 96.45.118.12

Nice fast sub-6 splits Jason. Great job!

From Matt Schreiber on Tue, Sep 03, 2013 at 13:54:31 from 66.17.107.219

Great race Jason. Definitely a good workout - especially after hammering out that 1st mile.

Nice miles on the day, too.

From Jason D on Tue, Sep 03, 2013 at 17:33:55 from 24.1.80.94

That's what I was telling myself, Riley. I think. Or perhaps justifying it retroactively. That kind of pace difference would be a disaster in half not to mention a full. For me, 10-15 seconds slower than goal pace for the first 2 miles of a full can save 5-6 minutes (or more) in the final 10k. My approach to the half is usually first mile sensible (3-4 seconds slow is fine), evaluate, then push the second half to cut the pace down and as fast as possible in the final 5k (~10 seconds faster than the opening mile). My last few races have been WAY too fast to start. As Joe points out, not my usual style.

Thanks, Bret. I think you'll see me running a lot sub-6s by November (and certainly before). Not many 5:30s though :)

Matt: It made 5:50 pace feel slow even though it's all I could sustain.

From Jake K on Wed, Sep 04, 2013 at 13:42:36 from 67.177.11.154

Way to go Jason. You're catching fire at the right time.

From Andrea on Sun, Sep 08, 2013 at 13:34:19 from 67.177.11.154

Nothing like getting a mile PR in a 4 mile race! Nice work. Maybe a slightly more conservative start at Philly? :)

From Jason D on Sun, Sep 08, 2013 at 14:50:01 from 24.1.80.94

Nothing faster than 6:05, Andrea, even if it feels like I am walking. I'll probably wear my Garmin so I can pace myself. Or maybe not. This 4 miler was with a Garmin, I just ignored the first several hundred meters at 4:45-5:15 pace :) The opening mile by itself wasn't bad, it was that I had to SLOW DOWN to run 5:36. Darn good thing too.

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