Training log - Week ending 4/28/2019

This week was 40 miles of running, 14 "miles" of pool-running and 2000 yards of swimming -- training log is here. 

Between my performance in the BAA 5K a few weeks back and my recent workouts, I was fairly sure I was in shape to run a good 5K, so I took a shot this weekend.  As it turned out, I ran a decent 5K, but not the time I am capable of running.  

After that race, my coach told me that I shouldn't be afraid to trust my fitness and attack the 5K a bit more, so that's my plan next go-round.  But...before then I have the Broad Street 10 Miler first.  That's up this weekend.

Good news is, there are plenty of 5Ks to run, and plenty of chances to experiment with pacing them differently, so I'll have some more shots at the distance after Broad Street.

Dailies 

Monday: Yoga and 8 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling at night

Tuesday: 12 miles, including 6x800 in 2:55, 2:55, 2:53, 2:53, 2:51, 2:49.  Also leg strengthwork and 1000 yards recovery swimming.

Wednesday:  7 miles very easy (8:56) plus drills and 4 hill sprints.  Then DIY yoga.  Massage in afternoon.

Thursday: Upper body weights/core, DIY yoga, and 6 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 7 miles, including a short workout of 4x400m at 10K effort with 100m float, 300m float, then 2x200m at 5K effort with 200m float.  Splits were 1:28, 1:33, 1:33, 1:33, 43, and 45.  Floats at around 8:00 pace.  Followed with DIY yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  4 miles very easy (8:40) plus DIY yoga and foam rolling.

Sunday: 3.5 warm-up, GW Parkway Classic 5K in 18:53 (6:13/6:09/5:55/0:37), 3.5 cool-down.  Also 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Race Report: GW Parkway Classic 5K

I ran the GW Parkway Classic 5K this morning in 18:53, which was good enough for the female win.  And...a duplicate to my BAA 5K time.  And....2 seconds off of my PR of 18:51.


When I ran 18:53 at the BAA 5K a few weeks ago, I took it as a sign that I was ready to run much faster on the right day.  The BAA 5K is a very fast course, but the weather wasn't great that day, and race congestion, pre-race logistics, and a 10 mile race 6 days before also slowed my time.

So....I needed to find that right day.  When I noted that temps would be reasonable this weekend, I decided to hop into another 5K to take a shot at nudging that PR down.

There were many many 5Ks in the DC area this weekend, along with two bigger races - the Pikes Peek 10K and the GW Parkway Classic 10 miler.  It's nice to live in an area with so many options, but it also made it more challenging to find a race that would be the right set-up for me to run fast.  For longer races, I can run by myself very well.  But for miles and 5Ks, I need people to chase to perform my best.

It boiled down to two options: the Bright Beginnings 5K on Saturday or the GW Parkway Classic 5K on Sunday (which accompanied the 10 Miler).  Bright Beginnings had a lightning fast course (a lollypop out-and-back on a pancake flat road), while the GW 5K was point-to-point with some rollers and a very slight net uphill.  But...Saturday was forecast to be very windy and Bright Beginnings' past results showed NOBODY running 18:xx; while Sunday would be much better weather, and historically GW was a deeper race.

I went with GW since it was my best shot at a fast 5K.

***

The GW races are point-to-point, finishing in Old Town Alexandria.  Most people park in Alexandria and take buses to the 10 mile or 5K starts.  Since I need at least 3 miles warm-up before a 5K, it made much more sense for me to park in Alexandria and just run down to the start.  However, I knew the parking situation might be really tight, so I left my house early anyway, around 6:15 am for the 8:00 am race.  About 25 minutes later, I had found a decent parking space, so I just hung out there until 7:00 am, when I left my car to jog to the start.

I did 3 miles, including two hard quarters at about 5K effort.   Then drills, strides, drills, strides, until it was time to line up.

As I noted before, the GW Parkway 5K course is point to point with a slight net uphill - it's the last 3 miles of the 10 Miler. The course starts heading south, and then makes a U-turn after a quarter mile to join the 10 mile course and head north.  The first mile is flat but winding (run the tangents!). The second mile has a shallow but steady climb for about a third of a mile (basically going over the Beltway), and then a shorter descent.  Then you turn right.

At the start of the third mile, there is a short but steep hill (about 100m, and about a 5% incline) with a matching drop.  Then a left turn onto Union Street for a long flat straight-away, just slightly less than a mile long, all the way to the finish.

***

They started us (I almost wrote "the gun went off" but there was no gun), and everyone surged off the line.  I was passed by:

a) about twelve men - disappointing, because I wanted more in front of me - especially ones around my pace;
b) two women;
c) about 10 children.

The kids all came back within about 50 meters, as kids do.  The two women were clearly working too hard, and I eased past them right after the U turn.  As for the men?  One grupetto was clearly 15-16 minute guys (of no help to me), but there were about 4-5 men ahead that looked like candidates to chase down.  I wanted more, but you can only race those that show up.

And then another woman pulled up next to me, and started pulling ahead.  I pulled even with her, and my mindset shifted from time trial to head-to-head competition.

Together we ran.  I was working hard but I could tell from her breathing that she was working a bit harder.    I considered pushing a bit harder to pull ahead, but...I really wanted to win this race too if I could ($125 for first place).  Working at this pace, we were still reeling men in, so we weren't dawdling.  And I didn't want to do all the work rabbiting her, just to have her out-kick me at the end.  Which there was a good chance she could do, given that she seemed much younger than me.

So, we ran together.  I'd pull ahead just slightly, with the goal of making her just a bit more uncomfortable.  Then she'd pull ahead and I'd just sit on her.  I also quickly introduced myself to her - not so much to be polite as much as to make sure she knew that I was relaxed and in control.

(feel free to judge, because that wasn't very nice of me.  On the other hand it was a race, and there's no rule against playing head games in races with people you want to beat.)

We hit the first long climb at 1.25 miles, and she pulled ahead.  I wondered if I had misjudged her fitness and this was the decisive move.  I debated going with her, but it was early and I'm bad on long gentle climbs, so I just held to my steady effort.  And sure enough, she came back on the downhill.  And we were together again as we made the right turn onto Franklin Street.

By this time, we had passed all men within sight, and it was just her and me.  We ran past mile marker 2, still together, with the short but steep hill just ahead.  This hill was actually in two parts - a very steep climb for one block, then a very shallow climb for a second block.  Before dropping back down and  making a hard left turn on to Union Street.

She pulled ahead on the hill again, and I let her - after the previous hill, I was fairly sure I could reel her in once more.  At the conclusion of the steep part of the hill, I threw in my own surge up the shallow second part.  I passed her, and then accelerated down the back side.  Since I'm a very good downhill runner, I can recover AND increase pace downhill simultaneously - that helped today.

Then, with the lead in hand, I turned left onto Union Street and the long drag to the finish.  It was nice to have the lead, but these situations are also my personal mental kryptonite.  I tend to get too anxious, go too soon, and blow myself up.

Because I know myself, I usually map out these long sections in advance, noting which cross-streets are which distance from the finish.  Here, I knew that the Gibbons Street crossing was 1200m from the finish, Duke Street was 800m, and Cameron Street was 400m.  So...at this point, I turned this race into a 1200m workout.  If she passed me, then I'd go with her.  But as long as I had the lead, I would stick with my plan, upping my effort every 400m.

Running down Union Street was fun, but also very tense.  People on either side were cheering me on as the first woman.  I had no way of knowing how far she was behind me, and no way to tell.  I didn't want to look back (you never look back), and while the fact that nobody was saying "you can catch her" or "she's right behind you" or "go ladies" was promising, it wasn't conclusive.  So I ran hard, but with a little in reserve, upshifting into a new gear with each "400."

Then I passed the 3 mile marker.  I had no idea how close she was, or how hard she could kick.  For all I knew, she was an 800m specialist.  So I kicked with everything I had just to make sure I sealed the win.  I pulled up my arms at the very last second to break the tape, and then counted "1 Mississippi" before slowing down, lowering my arms, and stopping my watch to make sure I didn't ruin the finish photo, as I've done before.

My watch said 18:55 when I checked it.  It hadn't taken me 5 seconds to stop my watch, so clearly I had missed my PR, and REALLY missed my goal time of 18:3x.  Oh well.  A win was still a win, and I was too happy to be done to be upset about the time.

Manual splits were:
Mile 1: 6:13
Mile 2: 6:09
Mile 3: 5:55
last bit: 37 seconds (5:36 pace, but I stopped my watch late, so this was faster)

While I really wish I had run faster, even just 3 seconds faster, I'm not too upset.  It wasn't too long ago that breaking 19 minutes for a 5K seemed like an insurmountable task, and now it's a normal thing.  If I can just get myself into the right situation on the right day, I have a much faster 5K in me.

And...the fact that this race ended up being a sit-and-kick was good in that it didn't take as much from me as a hard 5K time trial would have.  That's very good news for me, since I have the Broad Street 10 Miler next weekend.

Other notes:

•  The weather was pretty good.  60 degrees with a dew point of 50.  And bright enough that I could wear sunglasses, which is preferable for race photos.  When racing, I look intimidating with sunglasses on, and like an agitated goat without them.  My only complaint (besides the insanely high pollen in the start area that rendered me almost unable to speak) was that the forecast tailwind did not manifest.
• The woman I was racing finished not too far behind me - I know this because I had just stopped my watch and was bent over when she congratulated me.  We chatted briefly (she was visiting from Austin, Texas) and then she stepped away, saying that she'd see me at the awards ceremony.  However, the posted race results show that the second place woman was a full minute behind me (running 19:5x), and Austin girl did not show at the awards.  Very weird.
• The posted results have me as 9th overall, with a man finishing 10 seconds ahead of me.  Which is weird, because I didn't see him, and I would have loved to have chased him to a faster time.  I'm guessing that he was actually going after a much faster time, and blew up to an 18:41, which is why I didn't see him.
• Fodder for future conversation with my coach - I'm wondering if I need to go out harder in 5Ks.  I'm not saying that I should positive split them, but I am thinking that my patience in the first mile is actually leaving time on the table.  In my last two 5Ks, I've gone out at 6:13-6:15; going out about 5-10 seconds faster might get me over that PR hump.
• For the awards, they gave us these big wooden flags as trophies (18 inches by 2.5 feet) and had us climb up onto a tall, narrow, wobbling podium balanced on the side of an incline.  I didn't wipe out, and I credit my yoga practice and regular balance board practice for this.
• I actually attempted to run this race about 8-9 years ago, when I was still a relatively new runner, dreaming some day of breaking 20 minutes for 5K.  My asthma and allergies were still massively underdiagnosed at that point, and I dropped out of the race in the first mile with breathing issues.  It was nice to come back, so many years later, and have a much better experience.

Training log - Week ending 4/21/2019

This week was 60 miles of running, 16 "miles" of pool-running and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

After racing 2 weeks in a row, it was time to get back to work.  

I always train by effort, letting the paces be what they will. As it turned out, I saw a big bump in paces this week.   While I'm sure part of that is the great weather that we had over the past few days, some of it is also improved fitness.  Racing 10 miles usually gives me a big fitness boost.  I think this is because I respond really well to tempo workouts, and a 10 mile race is not just a race but the ultimate in tempo workouts.

The marathon pace section on Sunday's long run was a surprise.  Though I'm sure some of it could be explained by the moderate tailwind I had, it was still a pleasant surprise to see a sequence of 6:3x's on the watch after the run.    

The more I think about, the less shocking that pace is - I think breaking 2:55 for a marathon this fall is a realistic goal if the stars align, and 6:37 pace yields a 2:53 marathon.  So not outlandish at all.  I'm just not used to seeing that number on a long run, so it still feels a bit odd.

Based on last week's 5K and this week's workouts, I believe I'm now in shape to run 18:30 or faster for the 5K - I just need to get into the right race to do it.  The weather's looking pretty good this upcoming weekend, so I'm probably going to jump into one of the 20+ 5K races in this area.   The Pike's Peek 10K is also this weekend, and I'd love to do that.  But I've got the Broad Street 10 Miler next weekend, and racing anything longer than 5K this weekend risks compromising my performance at Broad Street.

Dailies 

Monday: Upper body weights/core and 8 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 12 miles, including a track workout of 400, 800, 2x1200, 800, 400 in 87, 2:56, 4:23, 4:21, 2:52, 78.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy to yoga (9:17), and then yoga.  Followed with another 4 miles very easy (9:02) and drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  Upper body weights/core and 8 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 12 miles, including a 4 mile tempo on the track in 25:18 (6:29/6:20/6:20/6:09).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  10 miles very easy (8:59), plus drills, strides, DIY yoga, and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 14 miles progressive, split as first 4 miles averaging 8:49, next 4 averaging 7:38, last 4 averaging 6:37.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 4/14/2019

This week was 44 miles of running, 8 "miles" of pool-running and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.  

Another placeholder for a transition week between the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler (which ended up being short, so my PR there is null) and the B.A.A. 5K.  I worked pretty hard at recovery between the two races - minimal running, a massage, plenty of sleep and water, and a mini workout on Thursday to perk up the legs.

It worked pretty well - I wasn't totally fresh, but probably about as good as I could be for the quick turnaround.  

Next week we return to normal training.

Dailies 

Monday: 8 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Massage in afternoon.

Tuesday: 3 miles very easy (9:11), yoga, then 5 miles very easy (8:50).  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:  7 miles very easy (8:57) plus drills and 2 hill sprints.  Then light upper body weights/core and DIY yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  7 miles, including a short workout of 4x400m at 10K effort with 100m float, 300m float, then 2x200m at 5K effort with 200m float.  Splits were 1:23 (whoops), 1:33, 1:31, 1:31, 44, and 43.  Floats at around 8:00 pace.  Followed with DIY yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: Off.  Nothing but travel and some DIY yoga.

Saturday:  3.5 warm-up, 5K race in 18:53 (6:15/6:04 and then 6:35 for last 1.11- 5:55 pace), 3.5 mile cool-down.  Then walked a ton around Boston and Cambridge, before traveling home.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 12 miles very easy (8:36) plus drills, two gentle strides, and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Race report: B.A.A. 5K, April 13, 2019

I ran the B.A.A. 5K yesterday, finishing in a time of 18:53 chip time (18:58 gun time) which was good enough for second in my age group and 3rd Master female.  A really fun part of a great visit to Boston.

Quite a few people seemed surprised that I would travel up to Boston on marathon weekend just to run the 5K.  But it wasn't just for that reason.  Last year, when I raced the Boston Marathon, there were many many things that I wanted to do while up there, but abstained from, due to the need to rest before the race.  Traveling up for 24 hours gave me an opportunity to scratch those itches.

Of course, for a while on Friday morning, I was worried I might not make it.  My plane pushed back from the gate, only to sit there for an extended period of time before the captain announced that one of the engines wasn't able to start, and so we'd be returning to the gate to try to start it there.  The unspoken understanding was that if they couldn't start the engine, we'd have to deplane.

I checked my phone, and confirmed that all other flights on Southwest to Boston that day were sold out.  Not good. And ironically frustrating, since it was only 12 hours ago that I had swapped onto the 8:55 am flight from the 11:20 am.  Ooooh I was going to be pissed if the 8:55 didn't leave while the 11:20 did.

But fortunately, they were able to get the engine started.  And though we departed nearly 50 minutes behind schedule, we made up enough time in the air to land only 20 minutes late.  A non-issue in the end.

***

Once I landed in Boston, I took the T to Central Square in Cambridge, where I got lunch (3 guesses as to what) and made a pilgrimage to the former site of Manray, where I spent my Wednesday nights while in law school.  Then to Harvard Square, where I hit the Coop (essentially the joint Harvard-MIT bookstore) to buy a mug and a teddy bear with a big crimson H on it, before I hit the Garage (think a tiny shopping mall where all the stores are dedicated to sub-culture stuff - comics, hemp, tattoos, anime).  Then to my hotel.  The B.A.A. mails out bibs for the 5K in advance, so there was no need to go to the expo.

Once there, I checked the weather for my 5K.  It didn't look great.  Wind and rain were supposed to roll in and linger until 10:00 am (the race was at 8:00).  Oh well.  The forecast had looked much better even 24 hours ago, when it was going to be windy but dry.  But at least it wasn't a goal race.

I had brought my "second life" Vaporflys to race in - the pair with several hundred miles that have compacted down into a nice racing flat of sorts.  However, historically I've had traction issues with those shoes on wet pavement.  Hmmm....

I normally follow the rule of nothing new on race day, but this wasn't a goal race, so I felt a bit more comfortable experimenting.  I headed over to the local drug/convenience store, where I purchased a set of non-slip sole pads - the type normally affixed to women's dress shoes.  I stuck those to the bottom of my Vaporflys, on the forefoot.  Either they'd work, they'd make no difference, or they'd fall off.  But hopefully, they were low-risk.

Customized Vaporflys

***

I was staying in the financial district, about a mile away from the race start in Boston Common (the 5Kstart/finish was where the buses pick up on marathon race morning).  So it was easy to warm-up by jogging to the start area to check out stuff, then back to my hotel for one final bathroom break, and then back to the start once more.  A few 45 second bouts of harder running, some drills, some strides, and I jumped into my corral.

Since this was a pretty big race, with over 8000 runners, they assembled the corrals about 200m from the start line.  We were required to be in our corrals no later than 7:45 for an 8 am start.  It wasn't at all ideal for a 5K, where I'd prefer to be doing strides until about 5 minutes before, but it was what it was.  To be safe, I stepped into the corral at 7:39 - there really wasn't too much difference between standing for 15 minutes and for 20, and I didn't want to get shut out.

The corrals were self-seeded, which I hope they change for next year.  I lined up in the area for 5-6 minute miles - realistic, since I thought I was in shape to run around 6:00 pace or a bit faster on a good day.  There, I was surrounded by a wide range of runners - some much faster than me, and others who seemed not to know why it mattered to seed oneself appropriately.

Since I thought I might be a contender for masters prize money (based on gun time) I wanted to start fairly close to the front.  On the other hand, the start area was fairly narrow, and I also understood that there was a slight bottle neck in the course about 200m in, where the rails on each side narrowed in advance of a tight turn.  This is a very fast race, and I really didn't want to wedge myself in front of a battalion of sub-17 minute guys.  So reluctantly, I moved back - hitting what I thought was the best compromise between my focus on gun time and my desire not to screw up someone else's race.

***

The weather was not great for a 5K.  It was in the low 60s, which wasn't too bad, but it had been raining for some time and the roads were wet with puddles all around.  The wind was also blowing at a good clip from the west, with strong gusts from other directions.  We'd have a headwind going out, and a tailwind coming back on this out and back course.  This was better than the reverse, since I'd have more people to use as windblocks earlier in the race, but still not ideal.

It was still raining as I stood in the corral, though not too hard. The rain itself wasn't a bad thing - without it the humidity would have been thick enough to affect my performance, but the rain provided a nice cooling effect that countered the warmth.   I had warmed up in a longsleeve shirt and a cheap plastic poncho, and I kept both on in the starting corral to keep me warm.

***

At around 7:55 the corrals was marched up to the start line, with the elites and the wheelchair racers then slotted in ahead of us.  The race start ended up delayed a few minutes while the roads were cleared, so it wasn't until 8:05 that the gun actually started.  That was 25 minutes of standing, pre-race, and I could tell it from my first strides.  Not that it mattered anyway - the first quarter mile was ridiculously congested, especially with the early bottle neck on the course, and so it was best to stay patient and wait it out before easing into 5K effort as my body woke up.

As I noted, most of the first mile+ of the race was into a headwind, and a fairly strong one.  It seemed like most about me were hammering into it, but I went with a negative split strategy - find a group and tuck in and conserve until we turned around and had a tailwind.  Oddly enough, even when I found a group, it seemed like I wasn't that shielded.  But maybe that's just me.

After the first mile marker, we dropped down into an underpass below a highway before running back up.  I'm a really good downhill runner, so I was able to use the descent to surge and pass some people, maintaining pace on the following climb back to the surface. Then around a turn and we joined up with the marathon course on Commonwealth Avenue, heading east.  Down and up on the underpass again (with more passing), and then right on Hereford and left on Boylston just like the marathon.  With as much splashing as I remember from last year.  But the water was warmer, at least.

Boylston seems long when you're finishing the marathon.  Having done both races, I can tell you it feels even longer when the marathon finish line is an arch that you run through that is 1200m from the finish of the 5K.

We were now in the third mile, and we had the tailwind, so I knew it was time to go.  I gave it my all, but I only had so much juice in the legs.  Which, in retrospect, wasn't all that shocking given the 10 mile (er...9.95 mile) race only 6 days ago.   However, people were fading all around me, suffering the logical consequences of going too hard into the headwind, and I was able to pass quite a few, though I wasn't doing too well myself.

I emptied the tank I had, and then we turned the corner into Boston Common, and I turned the tank over and shook out the last drops.  As I approached the finish line, I realized the clock was still in the 18s and I was going to break 19.  Well, that was nice.  I knew I was fit enough to do that, but wasn't sure it would happen at this race given the weather and recovery from Cherry Blossom.

I kicked as hard as I could, got myself across both finish mats, and then stopped my watch (well..actually lapped and then stopped).  18:53, which I hoped meant a few seconds faster, since I had waited until the second mat to stop it.

***

Splits were:
Mile 1: 6:15
Mile 2: 6:04
Mile 3 plus the last .11 - 6:35 (5:55 pace).

So a slow first mile, and not as fast on the last as I would have liked.   But I think the slow first mile is the logical result of a headwind, early congestion, and standing for 25 minutes before the start.

My PR is 18:51, and so I was tantalizingly close.  But I'm not too upset about missing it.  Based on this result, I know I'm in shape to run a big PR at that distance and there are plenty of fast 5Ks coming up to take a shot.

***

After the race, I grabbed my t-shirt and then headed back to my hotel getting hopelessly lost on the way.  The financial district is a maze of twisting, turning streets with names that change every few blocks.  And it doesn't work to use stores as landmarks, since every other block has a Starbucks, a CVS, and a Chipotle.  Finally, with the help of three different strangers with cell phones, I found my way back, where I showered, packed, and then checked out, leaving my backpack at the front desk.

From there, I headed back downtown to Boylston street to watch the men's and women's elite B.A.A. mile races, then on to the expo, where I stood in line way too long to pick up my bib.  Then on to check out all the vendors, taste samples, talk to people, and do all the other stuff you shouldn't do when you've got a marathon the next day.  I thought I'd be a bit wistful about not running the marathon, but I wasn't - instead, it was the most relaxed and cheery I've ever been at bib pick-up.

Then on to lunch, overlooking the finish line and people-watching, followed by a return to Cambridge to tour my old grad school and law school campus (20 year reunion coming up next year, oh WOW).  Then a pilgrimage to the side of the old Lincoln's Inn (now a private residence).  After that, I went back to the hotel to grab my back pack and Tetris (if that's not a verb it should be) all of my recent purchases into the bag, and then to the airport for a 6 pm flight home.

My souvenir haul ended up being two race shirts (5K and marathon), two bibs, one medal (for the 5K), three magnets, three headbands, a new pair of sunglasses, a pair of shorts, one teddy bear, one mug, a book on how to build cat castles, and a decorative unicorn horn for a cat (I'm not making the last two up).  I somehow managed to squeeze it all into my backpack, and later, to fit the backpack under the seat in front of me on the plane.  Quite an achievement.  And a fun weekend.

The astute observer will note 

that the non-slip pads are still there.

***

Other notes:

• The non-stick pads on the bottoms of the Vaporflys stayed on for the entire race.  And...it felt like I had better traction on the wet pavement than I've noted in the past.  Possibly a placebo effect, but I don't care.  Whatever works.   I think I'm going to try this again, maybe with bathtub non-slip decals.
• My second life Vaporflys are working better and better for shorter distances, the more I run in them (and presumably, the more the supposedly magic cushion gets compacted).  With each race, they have a little less bounce, and are thus a bit more maneuverable.  I can also kick in them, in a way I couldn't when they were fresh and bouncy.  It's really too bad they don't sell "pre-crushed" Vaporflys.
• It took several hours for the B.A.A. to post the results.  It turned out that I was third masters female, which earned me a $100 in cash.  So woo.