PCTI Winter Series 5K, Race 2 - Jan. 28, 2018

How does one train for a race series?  

Though I have done a few back-to-back races, a series of four is new territory for me, so I have been trying to figure out how best to train. I asked the great Rob Albano (current and eventual winner of this series...and every other race he runs) and he said to think of the races as "tactical"; to regard them as "challenging workouts" rather than events for which to be in tip-top shape.  

But since I only do challenging workouts in order to get into tip-top shape for races, I still felt stuck.  However, I liked the word "tactical," so that got me thinking - what if I simply used the last two weeks of the Hal Higdon Advanced 5K training program and kept repeating them.  That would give me a peak week and a taper week before the first two and fourth races, and a single taper week before the third.

It was a rainy Sunday morning, but at least it was warmer than last time (low 40s), so once we got going, blasting off for that downhill, it did not take long to warm up, despite wearing shorts and a thin polyester long sleeve shirt. Naturally, Rob Albano darted out to the front, doing his insane 4:55 pace (you call that "tactical", Rob?), but this time three young guys formed a little pack in front of me.

After the first big uphill, and as we made our way to the first mile mark on Kattak Parkway, 15-year-old Anthony Bertollo (the fourth placer from last time) started to flag, so I overtook him as I hit the first mile mark (according to my Garmin) in 5:52, though the marker was up farther and clocked me in at 5:59.  Ross Mistretta, the race director had moved up the turnaround point to shorten the too-long course from last week, but he did not move it far enough.

Around the main Passaic County Technical Institute a second time, there was a slighter incline, but it still required some work and it was there that I started to make my move on 18-year-old Walter Hass (the fifth placer last time). As we rounded the corner, Ross was standing there and said to me, "Go get those young guys!"

So I did.  I closed the gap as we approached the second mile mark (6:01 on my watch) and, for the next uphill, near the police academy, I passed Walter and chugged along - never looking back, but always expecting him to be at my heels (though he was not).  However, I was also far from the heels of the second-placer (26 years old) Ryan Savercool and there was no catching him.

Finally cresting that last incline on Kattak and pushing into the downhill for the third time around the building, I focused on my leg turnover, taking big strides. I was starting to lose control of my breathing and my tummy started feeling the nausea of pushing too hard for too long, but I had picked the pace up to a 5:55 for the third mile (hitting it on my watch long before the marker) and threw everything I had into the final sprint, which ended up being two tenths of a mile, instead of one tenth.

My watch hit 3.1 at 18:28, and I hit the finish mat at 18:56, securing third place again. 

Having done more speed work and more hill training in the past two weeks - combined with the better weather - I managed to push my pace down by around seven seconds.  With the next race only one week away, instead of two, I will do the short bursts of speed work and take the extra rest days of the final-week taper, and hope I can keep up a consistent sub-6 pace for the remainder of the series.