Rhody 5k USATF New England Grand Prix

    Photo Credit: Krissy Kozlosky @ Smug Mug

This past Sunday was the 4th stop on the New England Grand Prix circuit. Lincoln, Rhode Island's Twin River Casino was once again hosting the 5k Championship. I spent the prior day enjoying a somewhat easy jaunt with Mark Bailargeon and Dav Pavoni at the Harpoon Brewery 5 miler in Downtown Boston's Seaport area.

Last year I tried doubling the 5 miler and 5k the next day. This year I was coming off my 3rd marathon in six weeks. Despite the fortune of not having to deal with much in the way of post marathon soreness, I was sure last weekend's effort still had firm grasp on my ability to deal out any 5k speed.

Although there's nothing more refreshing than putting down beers won at a summer race, wisdom dictated I take it easy at the 5 miler and live to fight another day. So with that in mind I decided to cruise thru the 5 miler and head off to Lincoln with the best set of legs I could possibly bring with me. If all went well I could help the Harriers score in the Grand Prix.

So for the 2nd day in a row: a 6am wake up call. This time for a trip down to the Rhody 5k with Norm and Brian Fuller, Ian Wright and myself. The rain and clouds dominated the early AM skies and kept our hopes high of a good day for racing...a rarity for the Rhody 5k. We get there a good hour early and have plenty of time to take care of business, stretch and do a long warm up. Not to soon after the sun broke thru and the heat and humidity came busting out. Its going to be another roasting at Rhody.

The warm up and strides went well. The legs seem ready to go. Time will tell how ready I am for a 5k. I haven't raced anything under 10 miles since January at the Smith College All Comers indoor track meets when I tweaked my IT-Band and knee. I suspect I will able to get thru the first mile okay but I will be unable to hold off lactate buildup for too long and my legs will drop into survival mode - a fate similar to last year. 

The gun goes off I feel in control, relaxed and running a smart pace so far. The slight uphill out of the parking lot doesn't even register in my mind. I lock into a position that I think will bring me thru one mile on target. I hit one mile in 5:26. I feel okay but the effort feels a little faster than a 5:26. As the downhill completes and we make a right turn at around 1.25 miles, I'm getting that 'I'm not holding on' feeling. Sure enough, I start looking in desperation for the 2 mile mark. It seems like its taking forever. It nearly does. 11:12. Just what I feared; what I pretty much expected. It won't be getting any better from here on home.

I spend the next 6+ minutes trying to run relaxed and carry as much speed as I can, relying more on running economy than a surplus of strength, confidence and, well..., ability.

All in all not a bad effort considering seven days ago I was wrapping the marathon trifecta. In fact, today's time was a couple clicks better than last years' 17:37. 

As a team we finished a decent 6th in the open division, and a respectable 3rd in the masters competition.

11th Annual Rhody 5K Road Race

New England Grand Prix Championship

June 6, 2010 5 Kilometers (USATF Certified #RI07004RN) Lincoln, RI

Timing By: Granite State Race Services steve@gsrs.com

===================================================================================

1 1/66 M2029 14:55 4:48 Patrick Tarpy 27 M 326 Yarmouth ME
2 1/105 M3039 15:14 4:55 Matthew Ely 34 M 306 Natick MA BAA
3 2/66 M2029 15:22 4:57 Patrick Moulton 28 M 313 Providence RI BAA
4 2/105 M3039 15:26 4:58 Justin Freeman 33 M 331 New Hampton NH RUN
5 3/66 M2029 15:29 4:59 Casey Moulton 28 M 333 Pelham NH RUN
6 3/105 M3039 15:30* 5:00 Jim St Pierre 39 M 335 Dracut MA RUN
7 1/95 M4049 15:35* 5:01 Joseph Koech 41 M 329 Chelmsford MA RUN
8 4/105 M3039 15:41 5:03 Daniel Princic 30 M 286 Woburn MA WHIRL
9 5/105 M3039 15:43 5:04 Dan Smith 31 M 108 Cambridge MA GBTC
10 4/66 M2029 15:44 5:04 Ben Schmeckpeper 27 M 318 Charlestown MA BAA
11 5/66 M2029 15:47 5:05 Marc Leblanc 29 M 323 Natick MA
12 6/66 M2029 15:48 5:06 Brian Fuller 21 M 295 Ludlow MA GSH
13 2/95 M4049 15:50 5:06 Kent Lemme 43 M 298 Williamstown MA GSH
14 6/105 M3039 15:52 5:07 Ryan Carrara 33 M 159 Hudson MA NBB
15 7/105 M3039 15:53 5:07 Kevin Gorman 33 M 347 Norwood MA CMS
73 21/95 M4049 17:30 5:38 Robert Landry 41 M 293 Ludlow MA GSH


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MALE OPEN TEAM RESULTS
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1. RETAILERS UNION (RUN)
15:26 15:29 15:30 15:35 16:13 ( 16:21) = 1:18:13
Justin Freeman, Casey Moulton, Jim St Pierre, Joseph Koech, Ben Ndaya,
Paul Reilly


6. GREATER SPRINGFIELD HARRIERS
15:48 15:50 16:38 17:11 17:30 ( 17:45) ( 18:26) = 1:22:57
Brian Fuller, Kent Lemme, Ron Lombardi, Carlos Rivera, Robert Landry,
Peter Fratini, Brent Coon

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MALE MASTERS TEAM RESULTS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. WHIRLAWAY RACING TEAM
16:25 16:25 16:31 16:44 17:03 ( 17:18) ( 17:23) = 1:23:08
Henry Scollard, Scott Anderson, Mike Cooney, Bob Dabrieo, Paul Doe,
Reno Stirrat, Paul Hammond
2. CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS
16:27 16:47 16:58 16:59 17:08 ( 17:13) ( 18:10) = 1:24:19
Tim Vanorden, Rod Viens, Scott Clark, Dan Verrington, David Quintal,
Ernest Brake, John Pajer
3. GREATER SPRINGFIELD HARRIERS
15:50 16:38 17:30 17:45 18:26 ( 18:50) ( 19:18) = 1:26:09
Kent Lemme, Ron Lombardi, Robert Landry, Peter Fratini, Brent Coon,
John Matthews, Norm Fuller

Harpoon 5 Miler & Rhody 5k
June 6 & 7, 2009


Well, my 1st go at since the Boston-Holyoke marathon double five weeks ago. It went about as well as I expected. Nothing to complain about too much here. I have been laying a bit low since then; putting a few pounds on enjoying cookies, ice cream and all sort of other things that I denied myself before the marathons. I've been logging a modest 30-50 miles/wk. Things feel fine. I just felt some down-time would be good for the body and mind. Hopefully I can break this year into two race seasons and avoid the overuse type injuries that come along with racing at a high level all year thru. So this weekend was all about getting back into the grind. A double race weekend. It's something I rarely do but that's how the schedule worked out this year.
1st up: The Harpoon 5.?? miler. My brother-in-law Dan Pavoni did this race last year with me. Our wives come along for the fun. Dan (pictured right) is long on strength and flexibility; quick on the one-liners; but unfortunately, short on any good cartilage in the knees. He'll run a casual 8:30 pace. He's in it for the beer.

Like last year the original 5 miler course has been replaced with an 'alternate' route that starts and ends in the same spot behind the brewery and as such will not be the advertised 5.0 miles. 5.3 was the official race distance. Nobody seems to care too much. After all it's the Harpoon 5 Miler - everybody's in it for the beer !


In short, the race went about according to plan. A 5:30 1st mile. I just figured I'll jump into a somewhat conservative pace and see what I can hold onto. As I suspected, the lack of tempo training since the marathons along with extra poundage, will limit what I am presently capable of. I figure after a couple miles my stride will likely wind down into a fast jog. To my surprise I held on well; logging mostly 5:40 miles thereafter except a suspect mile 3 (6:10). In the end, I did about a minute better than last year on what might have been a bit little longer of a course. The overcast cool temps much better than last years' brutal mid 80's basting.


We stuck around around for some beers and soaked in the sun - which was so nice as to wait until post-race to make it's appearance. And also, to collect my 2nd in the 40's age group winnings: a cool Harpoon Winners' Mug and a 6-pack of Harpoon UFO-White Ale.

Dan and I took couple turns whipping down a 20 meter shoot they had set up with a radar at the end. Dan, knee brace and all, took honors with 16.61mph best to my (all too humiliating) 16.5mph. Damn I suck at the short stuff.


some splits...
5:30, 11:11 (5:41), 17:26 (6:15), 22:55 (5:29), 28:34 (5:39), 30:16 (1:42)

Place Div/Tot Div Nettime Pace Name Ag S Race#
===== ======== ===== ========= ======= =====
1 1/694 M2139 27:11.7 27:11 5:08 Terrance Shea 35 M 26 Cambridge MA
2 2/694 M2139 27:20.9 27:20 5:10 Michael Decoste 26 M 794 Somerville MA
3 3/694 M2139 27:26.1 27:26 5:11 Alex Taylor 29 M 1473 Somerville MA
4 27:27.3 27:27 5:11 Alasdair McLean-Forema M 1876 Cambridge MA
5 4/694 M2139 27:55.9 27:56 5:17 Edward Breen 27 M 939 Medford MA
6 1/112 M4049 29:03.4 29:03 5:29 Gregory Picklesimer 42 M 1092 Newton MA
7 5/694 M2139 30:44.9 29:36 5:35 Bryan Duffy 31 M 32 South Boston MA
8 6/694 M2139 29:55.4 29:53 5:39 Michael Guarascio 25 M 69 Boston MA
9 7/694 M2139 30:10.8 30:10 5:42 Dan Nelson 25 M 1127 Brookline MA
10 2/112 M4049 30:16.2 30:15 5:43 Bob Landry 40 M 342 Ludlow MA
772 395/694 M2139 45:34.5 44:56 8:29 Dan Pavoni 39 M 354 Granby MA

Rhody 5k
USATFNE Grand Prix - Stop #4
Ain't got a lot to say about this one. While I wasn't expecting much on the back end of a two race weekend, I would like to think I could at least hold the pace I ran 2 months ago over the twice-the-distance hilly Holyoke St Pat's 10k.

I was way over-ambitious at last year's Rhody, tearing off the front at 5:00 pace for the 1st half mile only to die shortly thereafter; running painfully slower and slower each minute the race dragged on.

This year I thought I ran a even, conservative 5:30 1st mile. As I headed downhill at the 1 mile marker, I still felt in control. It didn't take long before, once again, I started dragging my slow-a** around this course. Oh, well. Nobody needs to read sad commentary about a mediocre race from an average 40 year old runner. I didn't have my 'A' game today, but you go to war with the army you have. (race photo courtesy http://doublejrunning.blogspot.com/ )

Splits: 5:30, 11:14 (5:45), 17:04 (5:50), 17:38 (33)

93 28/123 M4049 17:38 5:41 Robert Landry 40 M 160 Ludlow MA GREATER SPRINGFIELD HARRIERS

Greater Springfield Harriers failed to repeat as Male Master Champions without our anchor, Kent Lemme. I didn't exactly pull my weight. When I first joined the Harriers, I wasn't honestly figuring to be much help with anything on the shorter side of the half-marathon. No excuses. I'll make sure to put my best effort forth, for the team, next time. Every second counts.

-------------- MALE MASTERS TEAM RESULTS--------
1. WHIRLAWAY RACING TEAM 15:39 16:04 16:10 16:12 16:24 ( 17:13) ( 17:15) = 1:20:29
Sean Livingston, Craig Fram, Scott Anderson, Mike Cooney, Mike Platt, Mark Gibson, Reno Stirrat
2. CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS 16:02 16:26 16:29 16:57 17:37 ( 19:52) ( 20:05) = 1:23:31
Joe Shairs, Tim Van Orden, Dave Dunham, Dan Verrington, Kevin Connor, Edward Coleman, David Krom
3. GREATER LOWELL ROAD RUNNERS 15:46 16:33 17:09 17:19 17:47 ( 18:14) ( 18:49) = 1:24:34
Tom Doody, Mark Reeder, David Oliver, John Barbour, Tom Offenbacher, Andrew Biancheri, Ej Hrynowski
4. GREATER SPRINGFIELD HARRIERS 16:29 16:39 17:38 17:44 17:48 ( 19:58) ( 20:34) = 1:26:18
Joe Lemay, Ronald Lombardi, Robert Landry, Francis Burdett, Peter Fratini, Richard Clark, Ramon Alicea

On a positive note: It really wasn't all that bad of a weekend. A good track workout and two races, or in a better frame of mind - 2 decent tempo runs. The next couple weeks will be a better indication of what's possible for the rest of the summer. Next up the Longmeadow Father's Day 10k and Springfield's 4th of July 5k. 8 weeks of training remain before Beach 2 Beacon. Time to get serious.