View Workout (Anthony Belber)

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5th Annual Spike Classic

November 22, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: beautiful, sun, 50ish

Comments:
I picked up Leah S. on my way as she was taking the lead, once again with officiating and overseeing the registration. I went out to mark the course. Leah gave me a fancy GPS watch and instructions on its use. I brought the wheel, a bag of flour, cones, and my stupid cell phone (but shorts without pockets.) After walking/jogging for 1/3rd of a mile I determined the GPS could be trusted, and ditched the wheel. It was still tough to catch leaves with my hands full, but I managed a few and even marked mile splits and a turn-around which would be foolproof to even the most novice of runners. Made it back to the Washington Boat and Canoe Club in time for opening remarks and some mingling, and the start. Clearly Leah had things under control, so I decided to go ahead and run. I had no plan, but it became immediately obvious that I could set a pace I wanted and have people nicely keeping me company, so I settled into a solid tempo pace, but it remained conversational for me the entire way. I had Jack Rudnick, the Coalizzi brothers, and Jacob Gaba running controlled beside me until I sent several of them ahead with 600 to go. I was pleased to be in control, building the pace as we went, and the course (slight uphill for the first half and then straight back down) made feeling controlled and accelerating very easy. I was aware that there wasn't much of a "next gear" I could have accessed if I'd wanted to. It does make me curious what would happen if I began to do more regular speed work. Could I regain some of my speed in time for a decent low 5:00 mile this winter? There wasn't a cooldown when I finished as I stood with Leah to help confuse her timing and results work. An hour or so later, she and I jogged down from Fletchers to retrieve the turn-around cones.) That was about 10 minutes of nice, relaxed cool-down. Splits for the 5km were: 6:17, 6:12, 5:56, 28. (Being the one who measured the course, I can admit that the .1 may have been a few seconds short.) Total time was 18:55.4 and even with the short finish, it would have been sub 19:00. I wore the old, yellow, DS trainers. They felt fine. The turnout of alumni and old GDS families was pretty good. It is always delightful to see different generations of hoppers mixing together. I wish Spike were one of them. All in all, a reassuring run. Spent the rest of the day driving around DC picking up relatives and cooking Mom's Chicken Curry for dinner.