Sunday, 6/4/2017 to Saturday, 6/10/2017 - McMullen Mile

I ran 5 times this week: 11.84 miles.

Sunday, 6/4/2017: Rest day.

Yes, a full rest day. I took Sunday off to rest from 15.68 trail miles yesterday down on west side of Letchworth State Park running to Aid Station #2 on the Many on the Genny course.

Other runners and multi-sport athletes were out in the morning sprinkles: the Brighton Believes 5K (144 finishers, results here) for the runners and the Rochester Duathalon (43 finishers in the Sprint and 12 finishers in the Intermediate, results here) for the multi-sport athletes.

I watched Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Warriors and the Cavs. The Warriors won by 19, link here, to go up 2-0.

Monday, 6/5/2017: 5.01 miles, 41:54, 8:22 pace, 57F, 94% RH, 6 mph N wind, overcast.


I so wanted to not run today. But ... a runner has gotta do what a runner has got to do. I have the McMullen Mile coming up on Friday night so I have to run the Greece Arcadia track tonight and Wednesday night. Nothing special tonight ... just 4 800s at 3:32, 3:19, 3:18 and 3;16 pace with a nice and easy 800 in between. I followed with a nice and easy mile at 9:05 pace at the end. Easy peasy. It was better running without a stiff wind blowing me back on the backstretch like last Thursday.

Tuesday, 6/6/2017: Rest day.

I saw a couple pictures of Ontario Beach Park off of Facebook. Lake Ontario is up even farther on what used to be the beach ... it's all gone.

The gazebo taken by Jennifer Neu

Lake Ontario washing over the pier taken by Tim Knapper Knab

Wednesday, 6/7/2017: 5.06 miles, 41:34, 8:13 pace, 68F, 40% RH, 7 mph E wind, sunny.

Today was Global Running Day. Fleet Feet was running their Big Run 5K with 524 finishers and Medved was running a Lemonade Run featuring milkshakes from their store on Monroe Ave. Me ... I ran at the Greece Arcadia track again since the McMullen Mile is looming ahead on Friday.


It was a bit hotter today and sunny today but nothing too bad. I did the same track workout as Monday. I warmed up with a nice and easy 800 then did 4 x 800s in 3:16, 3:13, 3:15 and 3:16 with a nice and easy 800 in between each one. I followed with a nice and easy one mile at 8:38 pace. Boom ... done.

A meme for today!

I watched Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Warriors and the Cavs, link here. The Cavs were outscored 11-0 in the last 3 minutes and lost by 5 to go down 0-3, link here

Thursday, 5/8/2017: Rest day.

Friday, 5/9/2017: 2 runs of 0.75 and 1.02 miles, 75F, 47% RH, 9 mph WNW wind, mostly cloudy.

Today's race was the McMullen Mile, a 1 mile race held in the memory of  Charlie McMullen, links here and here. It was also my fourth Rochester Runner of the Year (RROY) race of 2017. This was my fifth McMullen mile (2012 - 5:52, 2013 - 6:25, 2014 - 6:12 and 2015 - 6:21. I didn't race it last year because it wasn't a RROY race and I tried to cut down my race schedule (to only 37 races, lol). I am trying to hold down my races this year too ... this is my 15th race of 2017.

I dressed after work and directly to Nazareth College where it was held in 2015. Well ... there were 6 cars in the nearby parking lot and no one on the track. I whipped out my cell, fired up gvh.net and found out that the race venue was nearby St. John Fisher College. Oops! So I headed over there. I was in Heat #6 (Men under 8 min but over 5 min pace). Heat #5 was combined with Heat #6 so there were about 20 runners toed up at the start line. I lined up on the outside. I wore an old yellow Charlie McMullen short sleeve tech shirt to honor him.

Listening to Mike Reif's instructions before the start ... photo courtesy of Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shuttlefy.com

And ... we were off! A lot of runners passed me and I was forced to run in the second lane until 3/4 of the first lap. I remembered my training runs and ran my pace. I passed lap 1 in 1:38, lap 2 in 3:18 (1:40). I was now in unknown territory since all my training runs were just 800s. I dug deep and kept running. I did hear a couple yells of "Go Doug" when I passed toward the finish, lap 3 in 4:57 (1:39). One more lap ... I tried to pick up the pace ... round the backstretch ... 100 yards to go ... sprint ... 5:07 was my fastest Garmin pace ... I hit the finish in around 6:36. Not bad ... about what I expected. Still ... my slowest McMullen Mile.  But ... I was out there running, racing and competing so it's all good.

I did OK. I ran a 6:35.82 according to Yen Timing. I was 2nd out of 3 in my M 55-59 age group, results here, so I picked up 9 points in the RROY standings. It's still way early with only 4 races out of 12 complete, current standings here.

Here are more pictures taken by Tim Matthews of https://runnerpics.shuttlefly.com.

Leaning in for the start!

Less than 1/2 lap ... still bunched up.

Just before lap 1.5.

A bit after the start of lap 3.

Starting lap 4.

The finish in 6:35.82.

I was tired and went home since it was after 8 PM. I had some leftover pasta for supper.

Then I watched Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The Cavs had their backs against the wall and responded. They put on an offensive show for the ages. They set a bunch of offensive records: most 3s in the 1st quarter of the NBA Finals - 9, most points in the 1st quarter in the NBA Finals - 49, most points in the first half in the NBA Finals - 86, most combined points in the first half in NBA Finals and postseason - 154, most 3s in the first half in NBA Finals and postseason - 13 and most 3s in the NBA Final and postseason - 24. Ohh and they won by 19, link here.

Saturday, 6/10/2017: 17.56 miles on the bike, 1:24, 12.5 mph

I thought about heading down to Letchworth today but I just didn't have it in me and slept in until 9 AM.

I know I needed to rest because I was going to run down in Letchworth tomorrow instead of today. But I felt like a slug so I got out on the bike, RoadID eCrumb link here. It was warm so I wore just my padded shorts, shorts and a short sleeve tech. I went out on Edgemere Drive to see how high Lake Ontario was. The water of Buck Pond and Long Pond was less than one foot below the road!

My Garmin Forerunner 310XT died so I had to make due with the eCrumb link to know my route and my average speed of 12.5 mph (after a bit of calculation). I subtracted 2 minutes for the time before and after the bike to get to my cell. It was a bit windy biking into a wind that seemed to be out of the southwest. I really should find the charging clip since I do want to wear it for the upcoming Many on the Genny. I am going to need its long battery life ... a bit of discussion of battery life here.