Boston Prep 16 Miler Race Report - 2008 Edition

This race will always have a special place in my heart as it was led to my 1st official post of this blog. Its shocking to think about how much running I've done since. But.... back to this week. Here's the week in a nutshell (1/21-27):
Mon: did nothing.
Tue: 8 miles @ 7:25; crappy treadmill run, avg. HR was 154, almost my marathon HR
Wed: 30 min. pool run; skipped the usual core work thanks to my sore legs
Thu: 9.1 miles @ 8:05 including 5 Summit Ave. Hill repeats; legs still sore
Fri: off - YES!
Sat: 4.6 miles @ 7:23; finally recovering after two good nights of sleep, first easy run in a week
Sun: 18 miles; Boston Prep 16 miler
Total: 39.7 miles

After putting my legs through the ringer last weekend with a hilly 10 mile run sandwiched between two days of skiing, I was absolutely bushed on Monday. I'm still puzzled as to why this took so much out of me because I wasn't skiing that hard and the run wasn't that long. I'm going to chalk it up to synergistic fatigue: not skiing for a year + ridiculously hilly run + a few runs on the slalom race course = what I felt like the day after my first marathon. The rest of the week was a struggle: Tuesday's easy treadmill run sent my HR skyrocketing and the pull of a group workout with Flash convinced me to do a hill workout I probably shouldn't have done. My legs didn't really start turning the corner until Saturday... it was the first time in a week that a run had felt effortless.

Race Report
So... keeping the lousy week I had in mind, I was feeling a little trepidation going into this race. My weekly mileage totals have been pretty pedestrian over the last two months. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say its in the low 30s. Don't get me wrong, this was mostly by design. However, it made me wonder if my aerobic engine could handle a long race. On the positive side, I have been doing a lot of hill work lately; no hill could be as daunting as the hill I ran up in Jackson, NH. I had a couple goals going into Boston Prep this year. I ran this this race at a respectable 7:00 pace last year, so at the minimum, I wanted to get a PR. This marks the beginning of the ramp up towards Boston, so it would give me a pretty good indication what kind of condition I'm in.


Sunday morning arrived and I picked up my buddy Chris and headed up to Derry. There was a sprinkling of snow on the ground from last night, but the weather was clear until we hit the NH border. By the time we arrived in Derry, there was a good inch of fresh powder on the roads. They moved the overflow lot this year to a school lot about a mile from the start line, so we were left with the choice of A) shiver in line for the shuttle bus and hope we can catch the next bus or B)jog it to the start line. We were stupidly optimistic that they would allow standing passengers, but when the bus filled up, we took off at a slow trot to the school. The temps were a good deal warmer than the ripping cold of last year, but I could tell traction was going to be an issue.

When we arrived at the gymnasium, the place was buzzing with pre-race excitement. I tested the temperature outside and decided to go with a short sleeve under a long sleeve zip-top. No race jersey for me today; just didn't feel like being a moving target! I gave Chris a brief overview of the course and told him to save his energy for the long hill starting at mile 10.5. He muttered something about not having run 16 miles in awhile and getting kicked of the course for running too slow. Just like last year, the race director announced a 15 minute delay and taking a cue from last year's mistake, I made one more pit stop before heading to the start line.

At the start line, there was a lot of chatter about the snow and I wondered how much it was going to affect me. This winter has given me ample opportunity to run in the snow, but running 7:30s in the snow seems very different from 6:40s. I spotted Bill "Mucci" at the front, and when the gun went off, I caught up with him to see what he was planning on running, to which he replied, "as fast as I can." The initial sprint caused my HR to rocket up, but I soon settled back into a more comfortable rhythm and tried to hold my HR around 165. Indeed, the traction was pretty lousy and the race turned into something reminiscent of a cross-country ski race. Runners were in single file, either following another runner or a fresh tire tread. Passing was done sparingly and judiciously. I overheard another runner saying that these roads were probably going to be the best we see all day. Great... the downhills are going to be interesting!

The race unfolded much like last year's race. I missed the 1st mile marker, hit the two mile mark right around 14:00, and then blazed through the 3rd mile. I began to notice that although the traction was pretty iffy, my effort level felt about right. By mile 5 I had settled in behind a solid looking runner dressed in all black and for the first time during the race, felt comfortable. I cruised along for the next 3 miles... well cruising as best as I could. Sometimes I would follow a tire tread and it would abruptly end, forcing me into a mad scramble for the next bit of clear road. I felt like I was running in place at some points. Between the rolling hills and slush, there was no semblance of rhythm to be found. On the positive side, all the aid stations were carrying water in its liquid form, so there was no crunchiness standing in the way of getting well hydrated.

At mile 8, I took a gel and looked ahead for the water station preceding the 1st steep hill of the course. I was running solo now, having left my trusty pacer. As I made the sharp left turn and onto the steeper gradient, I saw a couple runners behind me that were starting to gain ground. I focused on maintaining a good cadence up the hill and then cruised on the downhill, concentrating on taking short smooth strides so I could stay in balance. I could hear two guys behind me chatting the whole way up the hill and wondered why the heck they weren't gassed going up the hill. This time around, I was actually surprised by the hill at mile 10.5 as it was steeper than I remembered. I could see two guys ahead of me struggling up the final hill and thought I was gaining on them. However, I was also passed by the chatty fellow at the crest of the final hill. He was tall and his green jacket was completely soaked with a mix of snow and sweat. His stride was more of a lope; I thought I had a long stride but this guy had me by about a foot. This is when the race started to get interesting.

Last year I decided to shut it down at mile 12 and just cruise in, but after catching my breath, I took physical inventory and realized I was feeling pretty decent. I slugged another gel, grabbed some water at the next aid station and seeing the first flat section of the race, decided to push it. I was in rhythm and reeling in the chatty green giant. I gapped him, but he caught me again about mile later. We passed the half marathon timing mat in just under 1:30. I could sense him trying to pass, but knowing the conditions weren't ideal for passing, I kept picking up the pace just enough to force him to stay behind. This obviously forced me to run hard, but I was feeling ok and it helped that we were pulling in the two runners in front of us. At around 14.5 miles, shortly after the hard left on Cemetery Rd., chatty green giant surged hard and I just didn't respond. I'm not sure what I was thinking at this point, but I was probably saving it for the last mile or so. Over the next steep downhill I tried to stay within striking distance and passed another struggling runner. With about a mile to go, I picked it up and saw that chatty green giant was slowing, which gave me enough of a boost to pass him with 800m to go. I made one last surge on the last uphill to catch GCDavid, but I ran out of real estate. Wow... a 1:48!

So, I managed to sneak into the top 30 with a 29th place finish. Here are results. I can't believe I ran 4 minutes faster than last year in such crappy race conditions.