a trio of weekend races as speed work

this weekend i ran a trio of races, the norwalk summer series 3 miler, the new canaan mile, and the "run the rock" 5k. my objective was to run 6 minute miles. a fourth race, the "cook your buns" 3 miler kicked off the weekend on friday night. but since i paced katie during that one, i didn't run that one for speed. instead of writing up individual race reports, i thought i'd post a summary of the weekend (including the training runs).

"cook you buns" 3 miler, friday night

i've run this one many times, and it's one of my favorite low-key fun runs. the highlight is the post-race bbq and socializing. this year, what's normally a 20-30 minute drive took an hour in rush hour traffic and i got i got a lousy parking spot (far away from the start/finish) as a consequence.

luckily, the race started late. katie's only goal was a sub-25 minute finish. given the crowded start, the 8:43 first mile didn't bode well for that target. the 8:40 second mile, 17:25 split, was also slow. but she picked up the pace, 7:30, in the final mile and managed to squeeze out a 24:55 finish!

i think the course may have been a bit short, but i was still pleased with her strong finish. before we had left for greenwich i ran 4+ miles. altogether it was a 7 mile day.

norwalk summer series 3 miler, saturday morning

weather-wise, saturday morning had the best running conditions. the race started early, at 8 a.m., and i did a one mile warm-up on the high school track before we lined up. i had a 20 minute target in mind, but thought it would be a stretch (6 minute miles would be good enough). while this was my slowest norwalk 3 miler, i was still pleased with the outcome.

here are the splits:

6:38
6:58 13:36
6:54 20:30

6:50 pace

when i got home later that morning a ran another 6+ miles. it was a 10 mile day going into the one miler that night.

new canaan mile, saturday night

this race was a last minute decision. truth be told, the deciding factor was the post-race pizza! the mile course consisted of 3 loops around the block. i had a very straightforward, albeit out of reach, objective of 2 minute loops.

here are the splits:

2:06
2:12 4:18
2:03 6:21

i was mildly disappointed to see my official time was 6:23, 2 seconds slower than my watch time. even without a warm-up, i was happy to have run this one. it would be my fastest mile of the weekend.

"run the rock" 5k, sunday morning

i ran this race once before, in 2005(?), when it was run over a different course. the hot and humid conditions made for the toughest weather conditions of the weekend. i had a sub-21 minute goal but, once again, thought it would be a stretch.

here are the splits:

6:43
6:56 13:39
7:12 20:52
0:41 21:33

6:57 pace

i ran my slowest mile of the weekend (7:12), which included 15-20 seconds of power walking up to the crest of the hill at 2.2 miles. still, my overall pace just squeaked in under a 7 minute pace! interestingly, there were 1/4 mile markers on the ground during the race! that was a first, and i ran 1:40 splits for most of them (hill, excepted)!

including the half mile warm-up jog, and the 6+ miles i ran when i got home, it was another 10 mile day.

overall, i was pleased to log 7 total miles of speed work out of 20 weekend miles.

next up: the joe kleinerman 12 hour run in queens this saturday.