Hotties Take Central Park

Lara K

Summertime…endless park loops…yep it was getting to be that time again…time for another installment of paceleader goodness in NYRR’s Long Training Runs.  My mission, should I choose to accept it…lead the 9 minute pace group for 16 miles.  9 minute group?  What, what?  Yes, I know I previously have been the self-proclaimed “queen of the 9:30 pace group”…but I finally felt I was ready to move up a group.  Of course, it also helped that Coach Todd told me in response to “well I usually lead the 9:30 group”… “No you’re not!” :-)

However, what I didn’t expect for this initial run in the 9 minute group was for it to fall during Heatpocalypse 2011.  But then again, I have had experience paceleading during unseasonably hot weather.  Remember the 2009 More/Fitness Half-marathon Fun Run?  Where actually I didn’t finish too far off the 2-hour target?  Plus -- and this was truly a blessing -- NYRR made it clear that pace restrictions were going to be relaxed, up to as much as 30-60 seconds per mile.  Very glad they did that…no need risking training on a run early in the going, right? (in my case, 15 weeks out.)

Important to Hydrate Before the LTR

And how did I prep for this long run?  By hydrating at Studio Square with other Flyers at TGIFF…hey sangria is one of the less evil drinks, right?  Red wine is good for you!!  As is the (alcohol-soaked) fruit in there!  But no worries…for each cup of sangria consumed, there was also a big-ass cup of water consumed too.

So I was ready to rock on Saturday morning, even though it already felt like a furnace outside at 6:30 AM!  Put on my pretty new orange paceleader singlet (yay for no see-through-ness, as has happened in the past with the white ones!), listened to all the pre-run announcements, and me and the other “niners” (Heather M, Anne H, Janine S, Percy G, and also Nina T -- who was along for the run and not pacing) went to line up.  I think there was initially a little confusion going on between what group we’re leading, and what we’d actually be running.  Were we running 9′s or 9:30s?  What was the official 9 minute group?  Why are we even doing this?  Are we all insane? :-)  But not enough time to dwell on that, much sooner than I anticipated, we were given the cue to go.

Percy G, Heather M, Lara K, Janine S, and Nina T

And as always, as the first half-mile is down Harlem Hill, it started off a little quick, but we made up for it on the uphill.  That first mile was right in the 9-9:30 range as I was thinking “ok perfect.”  The remainder of this loop, the other leaders pulled ahead…and I just let them go (though Bo K. kept me company for this loop-thanks!)  If NYRR was giving us the blessing to take it a little easier, you can bet I was taking advantage of it.  I had 16 miles to get through, and I was gonna get through them feeling strong at the end -- for myself and for the others I was pacing.

9:30 Pace Group: Declan O, Dana M, Louie R, Stephanie P

One loop down, hit the transverse to gel, hydrate…and grab a sponge at a sponge station that NYRR provided for this run.  GENIUS.  I kept mine with me to re-soak at the water stations and that -- plus the eventual cloud cover -- did a helluva job helping keep me cool for the remaining loops.   Heather M. and Bob C. stuck with me for the 2^nd loop…before I knew it, another 5 miles down, and since we were at 102nd long before 9:30, we were given the go-ahead to do the 5-mile loop.  The cutoff time was 10 AM, so any group that didn’t get there before 9:30 either had to do the 4 mile loop, or were stopped from proceeding further.  And going out conservatively on that first loop helped, as I was able to finish the last 5 miles pretty strong and I didn’t feel like I was gonna die once…what a difference from the previous weekend!!  As we approached the transverse to finish off the 16, “Empire State of Mind” was playing over the loudspeaker…kinda appropriate?

Brief Breather Between Loops for Lara K 
and the"Niners" Pace Group

So even with relaxing things at the beginning, I wasn’t too far off with the pace (averaged 9:04 for the 16), especially at the end…encouraging!  And given that I was dancing around to the music that the DJ was playing in the staging area, I know quite a few of you thought I didn’t run hard enough  :-)

I’ll be back next month for LTR #2 (you’re all signing up to pace-right?), and let’s hope there isn’t a repeat of Heatpocalypse 2011 for that one! Though, seriously, given the conditions, I think things went very well…for myself, for my other co-leaders and for everyone involved!!  The organizers -- both in the NYRR and the NYF camp -- out-did themselves as usual.

Flyers LTR Organizers JoAnn M and Jordan G

Special thanks to:

Jo Ann M and Ed A -- as always, did a fabulous job organizing.  Such a large-scale event and it always goes so smoothly.  Especially this time with the curve ball that Heatpocolypse 2011 was trying to throw.  Was it gonna mess with the dynamic duo?  No way!

Jordan G -- my favorite MC, again great job with the regrouping efforts on 102^nd!

NYRR -- I think the contingency plan for the heat went extremely well.

All the Flyer pacers -- as always, we done good!!

-Lara K.