Goodlettsville Classic

I have two races that I consider as part of my "home turf."  The Independence 5k in White House takes place on the greenway there, where I log more than my fair share of mileage.  The other race is the Goodlettsville Classic, which I've done since 2010.  I did all of my marathon-specific workouts before the 2010 Rocket City Marathon around the park.  It was the perfect mix of concrete, which got my bones and muscles ready for the pounding of the marathon, and crushed cinder, which doesn't put as much pounding on my legs.

Sadly last year, they covered the cinder with large chunks of gravel.  I get an on-and-off neuroma in my foot, which the gravel would wreak havoc on.  Once that was laid down, I stopped doing anything faster than a slow jog there.  Fortunately, they recently paved over the gravel, so my ban has been lifted.  Enough rambling.

But for some reason, I have never race well here.  In 2010, I felt like I was in sub 21:00 shape but was only able to pull out a 21:16, which according to the McMillan Calculator, is only worth a 33:59. Yet a few weeks later, I was able to run 32:12 for 10k on a much tougher course, running the last 5.5 miles alone.

In 2011, I was nailing my workouts and felt like I would be able to crush 20:00.  Come race day, I only managed a 20:34.

I'm just now starting to get into the swing of things, but I I felt like I was definitely in sub 20 shape.  Since it's still pretty early in my training cycle, I really didn't want to race this all-out, but would if I had to.  Last year, Patrick Cheptoek put a thorough spanking on me over the last three miles with Jef Scott right behind me, making me run scared and pushing me until the end.  Fortunately, none of those guys showed up for the race this year, so I planned on running it as a fast progression run, starting at around 5:15 for the first mile and then working my way to under 5:00.

When the race started, no one wanted to take the lead, so I slowly worked my way to the front.  I went through the first mile in 5:20, with a small lead over Jacob Carrigan.  I turned it up a bit and I guess I got a little too excited, because I covered the next mile in 4:56. There went the gradual progression.

Because I didn't want to continue to accelerate, I decided to slow it down again.  Right after the second mile, you run up what appears to be a small hill, but for the past two years, it has taken a small part of my soul with it.  However, I was able to power up without the slightest hint of booty lock.

Right after the climb, you get a generous downhill and then you get jump back on the trail part of the park.  I went through the third mile in 5:09 and I got a bit lazy the last mile and finished up with a 5:18, which gave me a 20:43 for the four mile distance.  The time was slower than last year but I gave a much easier effort and conditions seemed to be a lot more humid this year.  I don't think I could have broken 20 minutes in this race but it wasn't too bad of a day.

I was glad that I was finally able to win this race and enjoy running it every year.  Except for the usual summer weather, it has the potential to be a fast race and the park workers always have their stuff together.  I also like how they give cotton shirts every year.  It seems like every race gives the "tech" shirt now, and all those do is take space in my closet.  If it's hot enough to wear a short-sleeved shirt, I'm going to scare the neighbors and not wear one.

Goodlettsville Classic

This was the race I was most looking forward to. While Crazy 8's is a big race with a lot of top competition, the Goodlettsville Classic takes place at Moss Wright Park, where I do most of my training and feels like it's my "home" race. There's also several guys who are somewhat my rivals who come down for it, so it's a race I really look forward to.

Lately, I've been getting in some really hard work. The six weeks prior to this race, I got in over 600 miles of running and decided to take a "down" week this week to be a little more fresh for this race. While I haven't done much work at the pace I wanted to run this race at, I was hoping my endurance would pull me through.

The course isn't really fast and makes somewhat of a figure 8 around the park. There is really only one hill, which is just after the second mile marker and is followed by a downhill. Last year, I ran this race in 21:16 and really wasn't happy with my performance. My goal for this race was to run as far under 20:00 as I could. I felt that I was a lot more fit than last year and with a 25:07 "bad race" 8k a couple of weeks ago, I felt that I wouldn't have too hard of a time breaking 20:00

With money to the top three runners, I was halfway expecting a random Kenyan to show up, and I knew Jef Scott and Nate Pennington were running. Chris Herren also planned on coming, so I felt I definitely would have some company to push me the whole way.

Chris didn't end up running but a Ugandan did and at the time, I didn't know what to expect from him. My pre-race plan was to run the first mile in around 4:50, hoping Nate would take it out hard because he took it out quickly at the Tom King Half. If I was fighting for the win, I was going to make a hard push after the downhill, which was about 2.5 miles into the race, and hope I mentally broke the other runners.

When the gun went off, Nate and I took the lead. The pace felt a little slower than I wanted but my legs felt really heavy. After about a half of a mile, I had a 1-2 second lead on Nate and kept that through the mile, which I hit in 5:01. I was frustrated with the split, so I tried to push again.

Shortly after the mile marker, you make your way onto the trail. At this point, the Ugandan guy (who I later found out was Patrick Cheptoek, who ran 22:58 at Crazy 8's) flew by me, so, I knew I was racing for second. I went through two miles in 10:04, and had about 6-7 seconds on Nate, Jef and Colin Johnson (college runner at UT-Martin). I really struggled on the uphill, sped up on the downhill and then picked it up again once I got back onto the trail.

My pre-race plan was to start to put the hammer down at this point but my legs just didn't feel like moving. Aerobically, I was feeling good, I just had some mushy legs. I guess I got really lazy in this mile, because I went through three miles in 15:19, which gave me a much slower, 5:15 third mile.

I was really frustrated with the split but was slowly putting increasing the gap on Jef and Colin (who were 3rd and 4th at this point), so I wasn't feeling like attacking. During the last mile, I put in a couple short pick-ups to keep my lead and finished up without killing myself. I wasn't working on my math while I was running, so I was expecting to run around 20:15 but when I crossed the line in 20:34, I was really frustrated. Patrick Cheptoek won in 19:24 and Jef Scott finished 3rd in 20:47.

That's only a little bit over 10 seconds a mile faster than last year, and at that point, I had a lot more room to improve than I do now. Granted I didn't race all-out until the finish line but even if I did, I couldn't have seem myself run much faster than 20:15 or so. The weather was also 80 degrees, which is about 9s a mile, using the calculator I use but calculators don't count for real times.

At the beginning of my speed phase, I felt like I was right at 15:00 5k track shape. At this point, I was hoping to be in 14:30 shape. I've run some mega miles the last few weeks but I'm just not firing on all cylinders right now. I have some small changes I'm going to make in my training these next couple of weeks but as of now, I'm way behind schedule.

I'll see how the next 3-4 weeks of training go and then make a decision about running Chicago for sure or taking a little down time and then going after 2:19 at Rocket City. Chicago is definitely what I prefer, so hopefully it works out.

Goodlettsville Classic 4 Mile

I was excited for this race because it's where I do a large chunk of my training. My "A" goal was 21:20 with my "B" goal being sub 21. I'm still in base training mode, with some 10 mile progressions and a tempo once every other week or so and on those, I've been averaging around 5:40 pace. Jef Scott normally comes down for this and while he will smoke me, I'd like to see how close I can get to him so I can see if I can maybe take him out next year.

The race took place at Moss Wright Park in Goodlettsville. The course was honest, if not a little bit on the fast side. You run the first mile around a circular loop, before heading down to the start of the trail, which turns into cinder. After running on the trail for about a mile, you branch off into the "road" inside the park, go up a short, steep hill and then run down back onto the cinder for a little bit over a mile.

When the gun went off, Jef and a former Belmont Kenyan took the lead. A kid from Station Camp was also up there and I hit the mile marker in 6th place at 5:16. There was some guy right ahead of me and over the next quarter mile or so, I reeled him in. After passing him, the course went on the cinder trail and when I hit that, I tried to keep a hard effort to mentally break the guy. Jef and the Kenyan were only about 10-15 seconds ahead of me, so I tried to stay close in case I could pull something out late in the race.

I hit the two mile in 10:29, which gave me a 5:13 second mile. I figured I could make a run at sub 21 if I kept a conscious awareness of the effort and then hammered the last few minutes. We came off the trail and took a right through the parking lot, towards the dog park. I've run this "hill" tons of times and it's normally pretty simple...just about 100 ft. without too steep of a incline. However, I've never run the hill under such oxidative stress and I really felt it, which temporarily killed my pace. Luckily the course went back towards the cinder trail, which took me down a decline. I saw Jef start to make a move on the Kenyan and when I hit the trail, I tried to push the pace in case the Kenyan got mentally broken and got close enough for me to make a run at him.

I hit the three mile in 15:51, which gave me a 5:22 for that mile. I knew the last mile would be flat, so I tried to do a long, extended drive for home to see how close I could get to breaking 21. After being on the trail for just a couple of minutes, I had to run against the people who were about to hit the two mile mark. This messed up my rhythm some because I had to focus on maneuvering around people instead of just focusing totally on pressing down the gas.

I wasn't gaining on the two guys ahead of me and finished a little hard but didn't have a killer kick because I knew I was over 21. I always feel pretty dorky when I run towards the finish line all-out, especially if no one is near me. I crossed the line in 21:16, which gave me a 5:25 last mile. Jef Scott finished in 20:33, with Charles Magut in 20:50. The time was pretty bittersweet because the McMillan calculator only equates it to a 16:16 5k and 33:47 10k. I was really hoping to be in 16:00, 33:00 shape by now and was hoping to make a run at sub 33 on Labor Day at the Franklin Classic, which is a pretty tough course. Luckily this race signifies the end of my base phase and I'll now transition to some hard, fast workouts, which should build up my engine and result in some faster racing.