Posts Tagged ‘central park races’

Achilles 5 Miler – June 28th Wrap Up

7, Jul 2009

Here’s a wrap up of the Hope & Possibility 5 Miler from June 28th as described by our team organizer’s wife…
http://thischarminglife.blogspot.com/2009/07/officially-unpacked.html  

Thanks again to the Murphy’s for setting up and documenting this excellent day.
J

Chase Corporate Challenge Results

18, Jun 2009

Interestingly enough, it turns out this was a relatively slow year for the NYC Chase Corporate Challenge. I mean, with my 21:25 I’m in no position to call anyone out, but take a look at the Top 10 from 2009 vs. 2008…

2009 MEN
1 Jeffrey Rios 17:29 DAVIS LANGDON
2 Matthew Forys 17:37 BLACKROCK
3 Sean Swift 17:45 JP MORGAN CHASE & CO.
4 Aidan Walsh 17:46 THE RUNNING COMPANY
5 David Sorensen 17:48 D. E. SHAW & CO.
6 Frank Corrigan 17:51 THOMSON REUTERS
7 Chris Delaubenfels 17:56 UFT RUNNERS-DOE
8 Jacob Gomez 18:00 MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING
9 Chris English 18:03 LEVY & HALPERIN, LLP
10 Larry Contrella 18:10 BANK OF AMERICA

Now compare that to the 2008 results, where all the Top 10 men broke 18 minutes. Also interesting that the top competitors from 2008 barely appear in the 2009 results…

2008 MEN
1 Matthew Forys 17:25 BLACKROCK
2 Karl Dusen 17:28 AIG INVESTMENTS
3 Francis Corrigan 17:30 THOMSON REUTERS
4 Ryan Hays 17:36 LEVY & HALPERIN
5 Ben Reynolds 17:42 MERRILL LYNCH & CO.
6 Chris Ellis-Ferrara 17:51 ALLIANCEBERNSTEIN LP
7 Mark Olivier 17:54 TEAM PFIZER (PGRD)
8 Chris English 17:57 LEVY & HALPERIN
9 John Traugott 17:58 CREDIT SUISSE
10 Dean Charette 17:59 UBS

Same thing with the women, the top 2009 woman was 13 seconds slower than ’08s winner, and this year’s number 10 woman was 19 seconds slower than her counterpart in 2008…

2009 Healthy Kidney 10K Video

9, Jun 2009

This year’s Healthy Kidney 10K video is finally up on YouTube, check it out…

You can also find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs7MZVfINCQ

Yours truly makes a dramatic appearance, somewhere between 41.5 and 41.7 seconds into the video (mostly because i started off a little too close to the lead pack)…

healthy-kidney-10k-video

Looking forward to racing in Central Park twice in the next 3 weeks, with Wednesday’s Corporate Challenge and the June 28th Hope & Possibility 5-miler.

Thanks for reading, make sure to bookmark my site and come back often. Feel free to email me at Jason@nycin310.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NYCin310.

J

NYC Races – June, July, Aug, Sept

4, Jun 2009

Here’s a calendar for upcoming races in June, July, August and September throughout the 5 boroughs, Westchester and Long Island…

DATE RACE DISTANCE LOCATION
Thu, Jun 04 VCTC Summer 5K Cross-Country Series 5K run New York
Fri, Jun 05 Ellen Gordon CPA’s 4 (a) Cause 5K run, 5K walk East Meadow
Sat, Jun 06 Riverdale Ramble 10K run, 1M Bronx
Sat, Jun 06 North County News 5K 5K run Westchester
Sat, Jun 06 Asha for Education 5K Run/Walk 5K run, 5K walk New York
Sat, Jun 06 NYRR Mini 10K (women only) 10K run New York
Sat, Jun 06 YAI Central Park Challenge 5K run, 3K walk New York
Sat, Jun 06 Keith Nintzel Memorial 5K Run/Walk 5K run, 5K walk Sayville
Sat, Jun 06 St. James 5K Run 5K run, 5K walk Setauket
Sun, Jun 07 Kenneth Dolan Memorial 5K & Pee Wee 5K run, kids run Brooklyn
Sun, Jun 07 New Hyde Park 8K Championship 8K run, 8K race New Hyde Park
Sun, Jun 07 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Cen 5K run, 5K walk New York
Sun, Jun 07 YMCA 5K Fun Run and 1 Mile Family W 5K fun run, 1M Tarrytown
Mon, Jun 08 State Parks Summer Run Series – Hec 5M run Heckscher
Wed, Jun 10 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5M run New York
Thu, Jun 11 David Lerner Police Appreciation Ru 5K run East Meadow
Thu, Jun 11 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5M run New York
Sat, Jun 13 RJ Aaron Memorial Triathlon triathlon Montauk
Sun, Jun 14 TEAM BrickWell 5K 5K run, 5K walk Flushing
Thu, Jun 18 VCTC Summer 5K Cross-Country Series 5K run New York
Sat, Jun 20 Hunts Point Hustle 5K Race 5K run Bronx
Sat, Jun 20 Shwachman-Diamond Dash for a Cure 5K run, 5K walk Sayville
Sat, Jun 20 Shelter Island Run 10K run, 5K walk Shelter Island
Sun, Jun 21 Gold Coast Triathlon/Duathlon & Rel triathlon, duathlon Port Washington
Sun, Jun 21 WABC Father’s Day Fight Against Pro 5M run, kids run New York
Sun, Jun 21 D.C. Ray Downey Forever Running Mem 5K run, 5K walk Deer Park
Mon, Jun 22 State Parks Summer Run Series – Sun 10K run Sunken Meadow
Sat, Jun 27 FRNY Lesbian and Gay Pride Run 5M run New York
Sat, Jun 27 High Trek Adventure New York City adventure race New York
Sat, Jun 27 FLAT as a PANCAKE Sprint Triathlon duathlon, triathlon Staten Island
Sat, Jun 27 Run Around the Lake 4M run, 1M fun run Lake Ronkonkoma
Sat, Jun 27 Rockefeller State Park 10k 10K run Sleepy Hollow
Sun, Jun 28 Coney Island Sports Foundation Cosm 5K run, 5K walk Brooklyn
Sun, Jun 28 Hope & Possibility 5 Mile Run/Walk 5M run, 5M walk New York
Sun, Jun 28 Sprint Adventure Race adventure race Wading River
Sun, Jun 28 Westchester Medical Center Biathlon 5K run, duathlon Valhalla
Mon, Jun 29 State Parks Summer Run Series – Rob 1M run Robert Moses

July, August and September after the jump!

Chase Corporate Challenge, Training Thoughts

27, May 2009

We’re only two short weeks away from the 3.5 mile Chase Corporate Challenge in central park. That means it’s time for me to start thinking strategically about how I’d like to run the race. Time-wise I’d like to break 21 minutes (sub-6 splits), which I don’t think is too aggressive considering my 5k splits from March were 5:49. I’d like to think I’m a little faster now than I was then.

There are 122 men and 9 women who broke 21 minutes in last year’s Corporate Challenge, so that means there are at least 130 people that should start the race ahead of me. Since this is largely an amateur event (not being a running snob, its just true) I’m quite sure there will be plenty of runners who don’t know their starting position. But hopefully not too much bobbing and weaving at the start of the race. The full results from the 2008 Corporate Challenge in central park can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/NYCin310-JP-2008

chase-corporate-challenge-course-map1

I traced the race’s course map on www.mapmyrun.com. Fortunately the course avoids my absolute least favorite hill in the park (north-west corner). However, the first ¾ of a mile are basically uphill, followed by a good solid mile of downhill. Then mile 2 begins a short ¼ mile ascent, but the remainder of the race is pretty much flat or downhill which rocks.

Now that I’m back on a regular training schedule, I’m thinking about the big picture and the smaller picture simultaneously…

Healthy Kidney 10k: Race Wrap-up 2009

16, May 2009

2009 Healthy Kidney 10k – Race Wrap up

healthy-kidney-10k-2009

Getting There. Got off to a great start this morning. I wouldn’t say I slept like a baby last night, but I got a decent night’s sleep. Waking up at 7am, we gave ourselves about an hour to get dressed and fed, before heading out the door a little after eight.

Saw quite a few fellow Healthy Kidney runners on the 2,3 train and upon exiting at columbus circle, noticed the entire southwest corner of the park was overtaken by us. The 2,3 train goes local on weekends, so the commute from the financial district took entirely too long, but we made it into the park by 8:40am, with enough time to hit the port-a-potties and hop into the starting corral just in time to see…

  • the introduction of the elite runners
  • a brief statement by the NYRR’s Mary Wittenberg,
  • a briefer statement by some representative of Dubai
  • the singing of the national anthem
  • and the “runner’s on your mark… [air-horn blast]“

I had excellent starting position, per usual. Maybe a few rows ahead of my talent level, as this is a competitive club points race, but not by much… and whatever this was an important race for me. Right at about the time the horn sounded, a faint drizzle broke out.

I did a pretty good job at resisting the urge to go out too fast. I went a little fast, but I don’t feel guilty about it, clocking a 6:12 first mile when I was shooting for 6:30-ish. About a half mile later, the drizzle turned into a light rain. I passed the 2nd mile marker at about 12:36, which makes my second mile split at 6:24, much closer to my “early race” goal pace and also a nice average split of 6:18. Then the rain picked up quite a bit…

Predicting Race Time & Setting Goals

6, May 2009

With the Healthy Kidney 10k coming up in 10 days, I’ve been trying to nail down a finish time that I’ll be happy with. Any runner who’s accustomed to setting goals knows that a single time won’t cut it. There needs to be a…

  • Best Case Scenario
  • Most Likely Scenario
  • Worst Case Scenario

I will explain exactly what I mean by each of these later on in the post.

So how do we go about predicting a race time when it’s been a while since testing ourselves at that distance? For me, that is most certainly the case. It has been well over a year since I’ve raced a 10k and my fitness has fluctuated, but is now substantially higher than my last 10k performance.

The good news is that I raced an excellent 5k back in March, which is a pretty good predictor for what a realistic 10k time will be, assuming that I’ve put in the appropriate 10k specific training (which I believe I have). I put 5 online calculation methods to the test, and I’ll share the results with you.

All of the online calculators tend to work pretty much the same and each site offers a brief explanation of their methodology. Usually, it’s some variant of VO2 max / VDOT values, or sometimes just an aggregate of real life finishing time data. You must enter your most recent race distance and the time you completed it in. Then the calculator tells you your estimated finish time, usually for a variety of different race distances. Based on a 5k finish time of 18:04 (5:49 mile splits), here are my estimated 10k finish times…

1. Runner’s World Training Calculator – 37:38

http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/trainingcalculator

running-calculator

NYC Races – May June July August

25, Apr 2009

Here’s a calendar for upcoming races in May, June, July and August throughout the 5 boroughs, Westchester and Long Island…

DATE RACE DISTANCE LOCATION
Sat, May 02 Hall of Fame 10K/5K Runs & 2M Walk 10K run, 5K run Bronx
Sat, May 02 Long Island Marathon – 5K Run 5K run, kids run Long Island
Sat, May 02 Revlon Run/Walk for Women 5K run, 5K walk Manhattan
Sun, May 03 Long Island Marathon, Half Marathon 26.2M, 13.1M, 10K Long Island
Sat, May 09 Long Island Greenbelt Trail 50K Run 50K trail run Plainview
Sat, May 09 Miles for Moms 4M run, 4M walk Manhattan
Sat, May 09 Spring Couples Relay Triathlon Manhattan
Sat, May 09 Urban Dare Manhattan Adventure Race Manhattan
Sun, May 10 Mother’s Day 4M, Health Walk, and K 4M run, 4M walk Manhattan
Sun, May 10 Carl Hart Mothers Day Duathlon Duathlon Islip
Sun, May 10 Elizabeth McNamee Memorial Run 5K run, 1M run West Islip
Sun, May 10 Mother’s Day 5K Run/2M Walk 5K run, 2M walk Yorktown
Fri, May 15 Myomed Ragnar Relay – Manhattan 175M relay Bronx
Sat, May 16 Brooke Jackman Run for Literacy 5K run, 5K walk Oyster Bay
Sat, May 16 EnduraSport Manhattan Triathlon Triathlon Manhattan
Sat, May 16 Healthy Kidney 10K 10K run Manhattan
Sat, May 16 The Melissa Fund 5K Sun Run 5K run, 5K walk Manhattan
Sun, May 17 Grace Day School 5K Run for Reading 5K run, 5K walk Wantagh
Sun, May 17 NYPD Memorial 5K Run 5K run Manhattan
Sun, May 17 Queens Biathlon Duathlon Queens
Sun, May 17 Forest Park Classic 4 Mile Run 4M run Woodhaven
Thu, May 21 VCTC Summer 5K Cross-Country Series 5K run Manhattan
Sat, May 23 Bayville 5K Run 5K run Bayville
Sat, May 23 Runday 5K 5K run Hicksville
Sat, May 23 Run for Children’s Rights 5K run, 5K walk Manhattan
Sun, May 24 City Managers Trophy Run 10M run Long Beach
Sun, May 24 Liberty to Liberty America’s Memori Triathlon Manhattan
Sat, May 30 NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Broo 13.1M run Brooklyn
Sat, May 30 Judi Shesh Memorial 5K Run/Walk 5K run, 5K walk Bay Shore

June, July and August after the jump!

5K vs 10K Race Strategy – Healthy Kidney 10K

8, Apr 2009

I registered for the Healthy Kidney 10k online last night. A 10k in central park isn’t the ideal place for me to PR, but Lauren is already signed up and the timing is right. The race is on Saturday, May 16th and you can register here: http://www.nyrr.org/races/2009/kidney/raceinfo.asp

A mid-May 10k gives me about one full month to train, plus a week to taper. It took a few weeks to get back to training after the Bay to Bay 5k, but now I’m finally in a good place to pull off my 10k goal time of under 39 minutes. My biggest concern with central park racing is hills. I currently do 2/3rds of my training on a treadmill, so I need to start introducing elevation into all of my runs immediately.

I’m also trying to understand the difference in racing strategy between 5k’s and 10k’s…


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