2013 Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Race Report

The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler is one of my favorite races of all time.  Racing in DC is beautiful, especially when the weather goes right.  Although windy, the temperatures were ideal for racing this past Sunday.  I was really looking forward to this race, and was hoping for a sub 51 effort, as my PR is 51:44 from Army Ten Miler last October(which is also a tougher course in my opinion).  The best I have ever finished here is 22nd, so I was also hoping for a top 15 finish.    

THE RACE
The race started out with the lead pack of Africans as usual and they were going too fast for me to run with them, so there was a gap between me and them before veteran Bert Rodriguez pulled up next to me.  Bert is known for this race, and is consistently a sub 51 guy on this course, so I figured hanging with him was all I needed to do.  Last year, I had hung with him for about less than half the race before he pulled away and beat my by nearly a minute.  This time Bert asked me what I was shooting for and I said anything in the 50s.  He agreed it was the same for him and we went through the first mile in 5:05, right on pace.  We crossed over the bridge and I could tell the wind was strong.  This may not be so easy.  We could still see the lead pack going strong.  There were only a few other white guys in front of us.  I guessed that we were right around top 15, and actually at the time Bert and I were 13th and 14th.  I then remembered that the top 3 Americans get prize money IF they finished within the top 15.  How close was I?

After running around the circle and crossing back over the bridge again, we made the brutal left turn down towards the Kennedy Center.  At this point we began to see Wilson Komen who dropped back from the lead pack and began reeling him in.  As we did so, another runner(Christopher Mills), caught up with us and hammered up ahead.  Mills surged strongly ahead and Bert and I tried to keep him in contact, but he was quite strong.  After the dreadful U-Turn, I went through 5K in 15:50 give or take and Wilson hung with us and we hammered toward Mile 4 at the next dreadful U-Turn.  As we made the turn, I saw on the other side of the turn an army of GRC guys trying to chase us down.  Somewhere between mile 4 and mile 5 Wilson faded, but I hung with Rodriguez.  We went through Mile 5 in 25:39.

As we made our way to the 10K mark, we went through in 31:59.  After that, we made our way towards Haines Point.  Then Bert threw in a surge and I almost lost him(pictured below).  But I hung tough and reeled him back in, and he knew I was still on him.   The wind was brutal(and I think even more brutal for us since it was just two of us trying to desperately block it).  I tried to tuck behind him, but it didn't do much.  Then he tucked behind me.  We tried desperately to block the wind for each other, but it was no use.  Together we grinded through it and caught one of the Africans who fell off the lead pack.  At this point we were 12th and 13th.


As we came around the tip of Haines Point, Bert began to surge hard.  I hung with him but I began to feel my labor from running so hard into the wind.  As we turned the other direction, the wind was pretty much gone thankfully.  We approached mile 8.  I had never stuck with this guy for this long.  I thought I had a shot to beat him.  But with only 2 miles to go, Bert punched it hard.  I tried with all my strength to match him.  He had gained a few meters on me.  I clawed like hell to get him back to me.  He punched it again.  Another gap.  I was losing him.  I kept trying to surge to keep my turnover.  I think I did that well, but Bert was just surging harder and I could not respond.  With 1 mile to go, I saw the mens GRC cheering me on and as always I thank them very much for that!  I began to grit my teeth and go up the torturous hill with 800 meters to go.  I could still see Bert up ahead, but the veteran had beaten me.  I ran strong through the finish, however and claimed 13th place overall(6th American), and 3rd man out of DC, MD, VA.  Bert ended up finishing 15 seconds ahead of me.            

*Thanks to Charlie Ban for the photos above!*

2013 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run
Open Men
1 DANIEL SALEL 35 22 1 46:06 KENYA $8,000.00
2 ALLAN KIPRONO 1 23 2 46:07 KENYA $4,500.00
3 LANI KIPLAGAT 13 24 3 46:44 KENYA $2,000.00
4 STEPHEN SAMBU 37 24 4 46:59 KENYA $1,500.00
5 SHADRACK KOSGEI 7 28 5 47:29 KENYA $1,000.00
6 MACDONARD ONDARA 22 28 6 47:35 KENYA $900.00
7 TESFAYE BEKELE 25 30 7 48:29 ETHIOPIA $800.00
8 TYLER MCCANDLESS 33 26 8 49:01 BOULDER, CO $700.00
9 PATRICK RIZZO 31 29 9 49:25 BOULDER, CO $600.00
10 CHRIS KWIATKOWSKI 305 24 10 49:47 CHEVY CHASE, MD $500.00
11 CHRISTOPHER MILLS 111 23 11 50:59 FALLS CHURCH, VA
12 BERT RODRIGUEZ 114 33 12 51:40 CHARLOTTE, NC
13 CHRISTOPHER SLOANE 122 29 13 51:55 NORTH POTOMAC, MD
14 ALEXANDER BENWAY 130 22 14 52:03 RESTON, VA
15 CHARLIE HURT 121 29 15 52:12 RICHMOND, VA
16 CHAS BALLEW 118 28 16 52:22 WASHINGTON, DC
17 JAKE KLIM 125 32 17 52:25 NORTH BETHESDA, MD
18 WILSON KOMEN 115 35 18 52:28 WASHINGTON, DC
19 JERRY GREENLAW 120 25 19 52:29 ALEXANDRIA, VA
20 ERIC WALLOR 129 30 20 52:37 PALATINE, IL
21 JOHN SCHROEDER 419 25 21 52:44 WASHINGTON, DC
22 EVAN JURKOVICH 132 27 23 52:47 WASHINGTON, DC
23 BLAINE OREILLY 126 24 24 52:49 WILLIAMSBURG, VA
24 DOMINIC SMITH 510 23 26 53:00 WASHINGTON, DC
25 JACOB SMITH 128 21 27 53:16 NEW RICHMOND, OH

I have mixed feelings about this race.  On the one hand, I am pretty psyched about finishing 13th.  It's great to have moved up over the years.  Below is my history of finishes in this race:

2010: 46th
2011: 32nd
2012: 22nd
2013: 13th

Despite my place, I honestly am not really happy about my time(51:55).  I was aiming for sub 51 and I was far off that.  I'm not sure how much the wind affected things however.  And I do believe I could not have run harder and competed to the best of my ability.

I have also been looking at this year as a whole, not just by season.  I must remind myself that just because I don't PR in an event this season doesn't mean I am not on the right track.  I do feel like I am headed in the right direction and am doing the right things.  I have also shifted my focus to the half marathon for this fall, which is something I have never done.  My goal is to have every race build off each other, to get stronger, and to adapt to a faster pace.  This is also a new approach for me as I have not looked at things in a bigger perspective until now.  Indeed, when I look at my first 2 races this year and how I have placed, I am moving up.  I hope to place well at Pikes Peek in 2 weeks.

Moving forward, it's time for me to target my speed and see what I can do @ 5K/10K.  I have already done some solid workouts at 5K/10K pace during this training cycle.  I need to do a high quality workout this week, and then I will get a perspective of what I might be capable of on April 21.

-Sloane

Return To Racing: 1:08:51, 10th

After the Philadelphia Marathon last November, I was tired and a bit beat up.  I had gone 2 years straight of racing, and never had more than 2 months time in between races, with Philly being the end of that streak.  I felt I needed to start over, finally, and not just keep jumping into more post season 10K races following marathons like I had done previously.  The body, after all, gets stronger through not only training, but rest.  However, my immune system was also shot.  I got the flu in December, and also got a nasty stomach virus through the first week of January.  But I gradually built up my aerobic base again, and by the end of January and throughout February I was getting in good workouts.

From the month of January through all of February, I averaged 90 miles per week.  The pool running once a week also has helped me build a strong base.   For the past 4 weeks, I dropped the mileage down to between 52-60 miles/week.  Still, with a solid base and workouts improving, I was unsure where my fitness was.  This is where the Shamrock Half Marathon filled that void.  As I looked at my yearly plan, I did not want to race earlier than March this year.  I thought about racing an indoor track 3k in January, but decided against it because I was simply not ready to race again yet.  I wanted to give myself time to just train and forget racing for a while.  I needed 4 solid months of no racing, and just training. So I decided the Shamrock Half would be the right race to start the year off.  My goal was to run strong(maybe PR), and get out there and compete well.  It was difficult to figure out what kind of shape I was in going into the race, but I figured realistically I would be close to my PR of 1:08:39, maybe even sub 1:08:00.  But I certainly didn't look at this race as my "peak" race of the season or year.  I am simply just starting to get things going...

The race started off 15 min late which sucked.  I don't mind when a race is delayed by a few minutes, but 15 minutes is too long.  It was cold and windy, and I had to desperately jog around a little bit more to keep my muscles warm and to prevent from cramping.  If I just stood there for too long, then going out at 5:00 pace from the gun would surely cramp me up!  I also put on some dude's sweatshirt that was lying on the ground.  It happened to be an XXL, which made me practically covered past the knees.  It kept me warm, though, as I jogged/shuffled around.  FINALLY, we got around to starting, and I threw off the gigantic sweatshirt.  The starter finally got us into position and we were off.

I hung tightly in a pack of 6-8 men and settled into a nice rhythm.  I don't remember many splits(and actually the first mile was way off anyway and I stopped paying attention and just ran).  I hate it when mile markers are off, but I honestly didn't care much about the clock.  I just wanted to compete and race, and try to earn a top 10 finish.  The highest I had ever placed in this race previously was 15th.  I went through the 5 mile mark in 25:56(according to results), which is 5:11 pace.  The pack broke down to 4 people shortly after that.  We had 5 people ahead of us, so I knew I could place anywhere between 6th and 9th.  Fort Story was a bitch.  While the temperatures were ideal for racing a half marathon or marathon, the wind was strong.  It blew against me and I stupidly led into it, doing a lot of the work for the pack of 4 men on my tail.  I actually was trying to lose them at this point(around mile 8 or 9).  My strength is pressing hard to make people hurt in the middle of races, and then hold or lengthen the gap to the very end.  But I could not break the other men.  As we neared mile 10(52:00 something split), our pack began to break up, with me trailing the other 3 men ahead.  Little did I know, that the guy in front of me, Brandon Cherry, was from DC.  He was currently in the top position out of MD/DC/VA.  I kept him in sight however and tried to key off of him.  I felt like I started to reel him in around mile 12, but couldn't gain any more after that.  I just wasn't quite sharp enough yet.  We approached the turn onto the boardwalk, and damn it was windy!  Then, Scott Mindel(from Connecticut) passed me with a pretty strong surge I was not able to match.  Goddammit I hate being outkicked!  I gave him a short fight but he outdid me by 5 seconds.  I ran strong through the finish however, and finished in 10th place in 1:08:51, a solid 5:15 pace.

I am feeling good about this race.  It was my first race back, and I feel like I got my feet wet again and competed well to earn the 10th spot.  The fine tuning wasn't there, but I was able to run a strong time in not the best of conditions.  This is only the second time I have run 1:08 for the half marathon.  I have more later this year that I am excited about.  But, the race I am really excited about now is Cherry Blossom.  I feel like the goal of this race was to get used to "the hurt" again, and my fitness is only getting better from here.  I actually recovered quite well and did a long cooldown (while cheering on other runners as well), to get in close to 20 miles for the day!  Travis ran a superb race(he ran the marathon), taking 15 minutes off his previous marathon PR, finishing in 3:00:56, and qualifying for Boston.  He's got a lot of potential and is only 26 years young.  I am excited to continue coaching him!

This week has gone well.  I kept my midweek runs short, and my mileage will only be in the 50s, but I got in a nice easy 16 mile long run on Saturday with Matt, running in DC and enjoying very pleasant weather.  

On Wednesday I had a really nice speedworkout: 
8 X 600 meters with a few min rest/jog recoveries: 1:48, 1:46, 1:45, 1:43, 1:42, 1:42, 1:42, 1:41.
This workout was an awesome 5K workout as well as turnover.  It totaled 3 miles of speedwork.  It really didn't feel that hard on my aerobic system, but more just focusing on getting POWER in my stride.  By the time I got to the 1:42s, I was running 14:10 5K pace!

I have high goals for Cherry Blossom, 4.07.13.

-Sloane

Quality, Not Quantity

Well, workouts are going great.  I shifted my mileage down to 60 this past week so I could shift gears and concentrate more on quality on pacing and intervals.  I did 2 track workouts, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday.  Wednesday's workout was a solid 10K race pace interval session of 8 X 1200 meters, averaging 3:35 each.  This workout gave me a lot of confidence because it was basically a total time of 28:40 for 6 miles of intervals, which means the pacing was practiced at a solid sub-30:00 10K pace.  On Saturday, I did a targeted Threshold Pace workout: 3200m, 2400m, 2000m, 1200m, 800m, all averaged out to 30:00 for another 6 miles of intervals, with my last 800 a bit faster(2:25).

I'm not sure what kind of shape I am in yet, honestly, for my first 2013 race coming up in a few weeks.  I'm trying to look at a bigger picture here because my goal is to run the best I can when I'm ready to.  All of this training, and even racing serves as a support system for peaking to the best of my ability when the time comes to strike.  So, my first race since last November this Spring will be a bit of an experiment to see where I am.  I would like to shoot for a PR, and am not ruling that out, but I don't want to disappoint myself either even if I don't.  But the other thing is I need to make sure I do is to get out there and compete.  This is one of the most important things to remember, because it helps me push myself.

Training 2/25-3/3:

Monday: PM: 9 Miles

Tuesday: AM: 8 Miles

Wednesday: PM:
8 X 1200M w/ 3 min rests: 
3:39, 3:35, 3:35, 3:35, 3:36, 3:34, 3:33, 3:34
11 Miles Total

Thursday: Rest/Strength Training

Friday: AM: Pool Running 45:00/
PM: 8 Miles

Saturday: AM:
3200m: 10:10, 
2400m: 7:32, 
2000m: 6:15, 
1200m: 3:45, 
800m: 2:25, 
all with 2-3 min rests  
9 Miles Total

Sunday: AM: 15 Miles

TOTAL: 60 Miles

The Importance of Aerobic Support Training(Hudson)

The purpose of this past week in training was to develop and strengthen my aerobic system as best as I could.  I put a large emphasis on progression runs this week.  The work I did this week as Brad Hudson calls it, is "Aerobic Support" training.  It almost looks as if I am training for a marathon, especially when you look at the way I ran my 20 mile long run this past Saturday.  But these progression runs are simply "support" for half marathon training.  "Aerobic Support" can vary based on the event one is training for.  For a high level half marathoner, doing a progressive 20 mile run close to marathon pace or slightly faster is going to give that runner a stronger system to use to its fullest.  For a 10K runner, doing some half marathon pace workouts or even LT work will be support training for them.  This is also why I like to work down in distance at times when planning racing schedules.  Although I believe one can adapt one's training accordingly for different racing schedules, I find it nice during the spring season to go from 13.1 down to 10 and then down to 10k/5k if it can work out that way, because the primary race pace workouts used for the previous race becomes redefined as the aerobic support training for the next.  So for example, my specific 10 mile-13.1 mile race pace track interval workouts serve as a support system as I translate down to the 5k/10k in April/May.

I believe, that when I go back to the marathon, I will focus A LOT on aerobic support.  Elites like Ryan Hall who "run" the distance of 26 miles in training really strengthens the system to its maximum.  There are also the Japanese who do over-distance long runs of 30 miles or more.  I think running the distance or even slightly farther is ideal for a top marathoner.  Obviously this is something that can risk injury, however.  But I think avoiding injury is all about progressing slowly and consistently, rather than getting impatient and forcing anything.  Patience is a virtue when it comes to avoiding injuries.  I have met too many runners who have not allowed the system to naturally progress.  This is why the college system gets so many athletes injured, because kids are jumping from 50 miles to 80 miles a week.  OR they are jumping too high in intensity, or a combination of both.  Usually it is a combination of intensity + mileage=injury.  It is why I used to get injured in college.

This coming week I will go more into the primary intervals again, and build off from the 6 x 2K workout I did a few weeks ago.  I believe it is important to balance both aerobic support and track intervals delicately.  I think too many runners get caught up in trying to do everything at once and not focus on accomplishing one thing before moving on to the next.  This is also how one can become over-trained/injured.  The reason is that aerobic support training allows one to step up the demand of their interval sessions.  So alternating from week to week, as I am experiencing now, is allowing me to adapt to completing more demanding interval workouts.

The progression run I did on Sunday was probably one of the best I have ever done.  I did it out on the "Duel Ferries" course and progressed in pace very steadily, and by the end I was flying.  My first 10 miles was a casual 64:00, but I very quickly dropped the pace to 56:00 for the second loop, finishing in 27 minutes for the last 5 miles.


Training Week 2/18-2/24:

Monday: 10 mile Progression Run: 61:30.  5 mile splits: 33:00, 28:30

Tuesday: 13 miles easy + strength training

Wednesday: PM: 12 mile run w/ 2x400m fartleks: 75, 73, 
then 4x1200m fartleks: 3:50, 3:42, 3:40, 3:40

Thursday: PM: 8 miles easy

Friday: AM: 9 miles easy

Saturday: 20 Mile Progression Run: 2:00:00.  5 Mile splits: 34:30, 29:30, 28:45, 27:15

Sunday: AM: 10 miles easy/
PM: 45 min pool running


TOTAL: 82 Miles

2/11-2/17: 92 Miles/Week

Training 2/11-2/17

I took a break from track workouts this week because the next 2 weeks I have very hard workouts lined up. I kept the mileage at 92(also my average for the past 7 weeks), got in a few fartlek runs, and got in another solid 20 mile long run.  I did "the loop" which started from The MD/DC Line, down the rock creek park trails into the District, through Georgetown, up the Capital Crescent Trail to the Georgetown Branch Trail back to Beach Drive.  It is quite a good mix of long and short hills and is a great endurance run.

Monday: PM: 7.5 miles

Tuesday: AM: 45 min pool run/
PM: 12 miles

Wednesday: AM: 7.5 miles w/ fartleks/
PM: 8 miles w/ fartleks

Thursday: AM: 8 miles/
PM: 9 miles

Friday: PM: 7 miles

Saturday: AM: 13 Miles

Sunday: AM: 20 Miles 2:08:00

TOTAL: 92 Miles

2/4-2/10: 88 Miles/Week

I lowered the mileage a little this week and it payed off.  I also got in a pool run.  I feel ready to go into the next few weeks of quality training.  The track-workout was solid, and it boosted my confidence of where my fitness is.  I am exactly where I need to be right now.  My workouts and long runs are getting faster each week.  My long run this weekend was probably one of the best feeling long runs I've ever had.  I started off quite slow-7:30 for the first few miles, but picked up the pace slightly each mile, gradually working down to 6:00's and by the end was running 5:20 miles.  It's a great feeling when you run a long run like that.  The body responds well to it.  The 2K repeats got into "familiar territory" of threshold work.  My interval workouts are improving the most rapidly now that I have gotten to more specific race pace workouts.  I am really happy that I did not race on the track in January.  I have not raced since November, and my body and mind needed that break-and it enables me to get in really great training!            

Monday: PM: 10 miles easy + strength training

Tuesday: AM: 10 miles easy

Wednesday: AM: Pool Running 45:00/
PM: Track Workout: 3.5 mile warm-up, 6 X 2K w/ 1 lap jog recoveries(3-4 min rests total),
2K splits: 6:23, 6:18, 6:17, 6:15, 6:16, 6:20, 1.5 mile cool-down

Thursday: AM: 12 miles easy

Friday: AM: 4 miles easy/PM: 6 miles easy

Saturday: AM: 20 miles(2:07:00) Progression Run: 1st 10 miles: 70:00, 2nd 10 miles: 57:00

Sunday: AM: 13 miles easy + strength training


TOTAL: 88 Miles

1/28-2/3: 98 Miles/Week

98 miles this week.  Skipped the pool but will get that going again next week.  Had a nice long run.  I really enjoy long runs more as they get closer to 20 miles.  The track workout went well too, and workouts will progress in distance/volume/quality as the weeks go by.  I am ready for a hard training month of February.

Monday: PM: 10 miles moderate 64:00, + strength training

Tuesday: AM: 12.5 miles easy

Wednesday: AM: Track: 3 mile warm-up, drills, strides,
5 x 1600m: 5:08, 5:01, 4:58, 5:00, 5:02, 3 mile cool-down
PM: 7.5 miles

Thursday: AM: 8 miles easy

Friday: AM: 4.5 miles easy
PM: 8 miles easy

Saturday: AM: Long Run 19 miles 2:03:00

Sunday: AM: 12.5 miles easy
PM: 4 miles easy

TOTAL: 98 Miles