Race Report: Fifth Avenue Mile, September 9, 2018

I ran the Fifth Avenue Mile today, finishing in a time of 5:36, good enough for 4th in my age group.

I've always wanted to do this race, but life, in the form of October marathons, has always gotten in the way.  Not this year, though.

Getting up to New York was an adventure.  I dislike staying overnight at races if I don't have to. It isn't due to finances or not sleeping well in hotels; rather, I just like my home and my boyfriend and my cats, and hate to be away from them.

So that's why I decided to do this race as a day trip.  Of course, a 9:10 am race in New York makes for an early DC train - 3:10 am to be exact.  Which in turn meant a 2:10 am alarm.  And a 6:30 pm bedtime.

(No - I couldn't actually drift off at that time.  But...my rule is: if I'm lying on a bed with my eyes closed, it counts as sleep.)

***

Sunday morning, I rolled out of bed at a time that I would have been getting home just 10 years prior.  With apologies to the cats for not feeding them and to the boyfriend for the noise of the unfed cats, I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and grabbed my bag.  About 40 minutes later, I was back asleep, curled across two Amtrak seats just like everyone else in the quiet car. 

My train got into New York about 20 minutes late, at 7 am, but I had built fudge time in my schedule.  I took the E train to 54th and Lexington (doing pre-run yoga on the station platform while waiting to save time) and then bought a day pass to the local Blink Fitness gym.

There, I finished my prerace breakfast, did some stretches, and then jogged over to the start to pick up my bib, where I ran into my teammate Phillippe (who very graciously checked the 5th Avenue Mile hat that was my race schwag in his own bag).

***

The weather, though not ideal for a mile race (drizzle and slightly chilly) was much much better than what we've had in DC recently.  An added plus was a slight tailwind.

I had packed a plastic poncho, so I wore that while warming up, tossing it right before the start.

For my warm-up, I did about 2.5 miles easy and then a half mile at 5K-ish effort, followed by drills and then two hard 200m repeats.  All with plenty of recovery in between, finishing up about 15 minutes before.  Then a mix of walking and relaxed strides until we were corralled at 9:02.

***

The gun went off at 9:10 sharp.  Like almost every mile race I've done, I was in 25th or 30th place after the first quarter.  But then, as we hit the uphill second quarter, many started coming back.  I worked my way through them, picking off one after the other, while trying also to not work too hard too early.

We crested the hill at the 800 mark, and then I rolled down the back side, trying to build speed and recharge for the final 400.  But when I hit the final 400 I couldn't find that top gear.  I had the gas in the tank, but no turbo.  I finished feeling strong, like I could have gone longer (but not faster). 

Despite the above, I was still pretty happy - I ran a stronger, more focused race than last week.  And this was a solid way to end my "marathon intermission."

***

After the race I was able to catch up with my former DC teammate Jessica (now living in NYC), my friend Steve from RWOL, and Phillippe, who also had a good race.  Then a cooldown jog, a hot shower at Blink, some Chipotle (of course), and back to Central Park to watch the elite races.

Thankfully several buildings along 5th Avenue were under construction.  Which meant scaffolding.  Which meant I could stand along the race course AND be sheltered from the rain. Win.

Then I grabbed the 3 pm train home.  A long but fun day, and worth it.

***

Splits were (garmin autolap): 83/88/83/81.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably push a bit harder up the hill in the 2nd quarter - I think I was too cautious there - saving energy to support a kick I didn't have.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this.  Slightly bummed that I was 4th in my age group (top 3 got awards), but I don't think I had another 4 seconds in me today (5:32 was third).

As for whether I'll do this as a day trip again next time?  It depends.  If I'm in really good mile shape next year at this time, I might go ahead and stay the night to maximize my shot at running a really good time.  But I don't think the early morning wake-up and train ride cost me much, if anything.

Other notes:

* Apparently for this race, if you miss your heat you can run in a later one.  Good to know if I do the train thing again and it gets delayed.

* Wore my Takumi Sens for this race - this is the distance where they shine.   I did see a few women in my heat wearing the Vaporfly.  None of them in front of me.  I can't imagine racing a mile in that shoe - even a mile with no turns.  But apparently they could.

*Wrote this race report on my phone on the train ride home (I didn't want to lug a computer with me). Worked surprisingly well.  I also grabbed an old school paper copy of the Sunday NYTimes so I'm going to enjoy that for the rest of the ride.