Hey! That's too fast!

So, yesterday I joined a number of other Flyers to pace lead for the NYRCC Long Training Group runs, where:

Participants will be divided into groups by half-minute intervals from 6:30 through 11:00+ minutes per mile. All groups will cover 20 miles, but individuals may shorten their distance to suit their training needs. Runners faster than 7:00 may begin before the 7:00 group; however, no pace leader will be provided.

Since this was a cutback week for me, I only paced for 11 miles with the 8:00 group.

Crack of Dawn
Actually a little before. By the actual crack of dawn, I'd already laid in bed staring at the alarm for ten minutes wondering why it was going off at such an unholy hour, showered, had coffee and a bagel, changed, woken up and hit the subway (in that order). The trip in from Williamsburg to E. 102d Street is a hike at the best of times; I allowed 75 minutes for travel before 6 on a Saturday morning. Fortunately the trains went perfectly. Flyer Nicole, when she, JBL and I went looking for some pre-race snacks, suggested that the run start earlier to beat the heat next time. I was like, "Dear god, Nicole! I'd have to be up at 3:30 to get here earlier. Cut the Brooklyn guy some slack." And honestly, after the heat wave earlier in the week, the 72˚ start seemed downright chilly, which I believe led to . . .

A little fast there
I ran sweeper duties for my group on the first 6 mile loop. Ran at the back of the group to work at keeping up with the stragglers. We were zipping through a little quick, about 7:30 on the first mile and then 7:45's for the next 3. After the second mile, when I got to the mile marker, I'd hang out until my watch said 8:00 to let the people coming know they weren't slow, just the group was fast. The pack slowed on the last two miles to around 8:10's, so a lot of people who'd been strung out behind managed to catch up in the last 1/2 mile. Chatted with a guy who'd run a 60K recently, but said it hurt his knees. He also said that he was running in trail shoes with over 600 miles on them and, because of work, was only running 3 days on a good week. I was thinking, "lucky it only hurt the knees. Nothing about what you've said says, '60K's a good idea'." But, I did my encouragement thing and then moved over to chat with a 47 year old lady who told me all about how Dave Matthews is God's gift to music. "He's very big on the college campuses." It's so funny the stories you here in packs.

The breakaway
On the second loop (5 miles) I switched to the front. However, we absolutely flew through the first mile -- my watch said 7:00 flat, which caused some consternation amongst the pace leaders until we realized that the mile marker was short. We'd only actually done about 7:30. Still way too quick for the 8:00 group. This is where having someone with experience plays in. Our lead pacer notices a group in the front and asks how far they're going. "11" "11" "11" So, he says, "You guys should pick it up then without the group. Go strong to the end." At this point, I volunteer to pace lead the 7:40 group, so we can split off the people pulling the 8:00's too fast. And off we go. I have about 9 runners and we pick up a few more over the next mile or two, 7:40, 7:45, 7:40. The group holds together really well until we start to catch up with the first 8:00 pace group, but by then we were all in the last two miles so it didn't matter so much.

The perks
Free tank (That Erin says makes me look like a road cone) and company for a long-ish run. Also I got to be an expert for a day. People asking about plans, training advice . . . but I'm not a coach. The Flyers should really think about putting disclaimers on our shirts! And to see some other folks and bloggers (NY Flygirl has a list.)

The downside
Had to go into work afterwards. Into the office by 10:15, but because of a horrendous cab accident on Lexington (I heard the screaming from my 15th Floor window) and the 1/2 hour I spent gawking at the cab that'd jumped the curb, the ambulances and police, etc. I didn't actually get started until about 11:00. Left at 6:30. The reward for this diligence? After I meet a friend who's in town on a salsa tour, I get to go back to the office this afternoon.

Week-in-Review

Monday	Tuesday	Wed.	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
Rest	8.6 miles	5.0 miles	8.2 miles	Rest	11 miles	4.25 miles	37.05
--	8:00/m	7:46/m	7:36/m	--	8:00/m	7:17/m	--

Next week: 50 miles. I shouldn't be nervous about it, and I don't think I would be if the target were 49.5 instead of "50". Tomorrow's a day off. Focus starts on Tuesday.