2007 Mountain Avenue Mile

    After years of being a distance runner, I decided to try something new - a 1-mile race. The Mountain Avenue Mile is part of the America's Downtown Mile series and the entry fee was only $10 so I figured there was nothing to lose. I had been training hard for the Pikes Pear Marathon and felt that I was in the best shape of my life, so I wanted to see what I could do. There's something simple and intriguing about the one-mile distance, so I finally succumbed to it's beckoning. In high school, back when I was a young and thin whippersnapper of a lad, I had taken up running for several months on a 2000 foot-long grass air strip at my high school academy outside of Knoxville, TN. While I didn't have an exact measurement, I remembered running two and half laps (roughly a mile) in 5:35. In my more recent running career, I had never even come close to this, except when running downhill (which doesn't really count). I think my best flat mile in Colorado has been 6:11. It's always good to set a goal when you run a race - it helps you

This is a completely different animal than the marathons I'm used to. Marathoners have to start at a measured pace and stick to this lest they face the dreaded bonk, where one's legs feel like lead and the energy level is simply defeated. In a short race, you can't bonk, but pacing is still important. Short distance runners talk about the "bear" that jumps on their back if they go out too fast.

I did it!  Today I broke my lifetime 1-mile personal record (PR). I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I figured I'd try - I am certainly in the best shape I've ever been, but my old PR had been set back in the days of my youthful vigor (age 14 or 15), back when I weighed about 150 lbs or less and could eat 4000 calories per day without gaining weight. I turn 30 in just 3 days (Aug 12, 2007), so this was my last chance to try to set a PR for this decade of my life. Hopefully my best running days are still ahead of me.

Hey – I really surpassed all expectations that I had for myself. Since I had already done 6:11 in a submaximal training run earlier in the year, and had done my recent fast downhill half mile earlier in the week (2:17), I figured 5:40 should definitely be achievable on this course. I figured if I got under 5:30 I’d be ecstatic (my PR from high school was 5:35). Anyway, I started fairly fast, but comfortable for the first quarter mile – it seemed like the whole field was running away from me! I was surprised to see so many people starting. The middle half mile was just hanging on, just like people had told me. The last quarter was brutal, but good because I knew it was almost over – I was chasing Felix – one of the FortCollinsTrailRunners who I thought I should be able to beat – but man he was fast. We both put on a good kick at the end and I passed him with about 100 m to go. At this point I knew I could just run all out because it’s not really necessary to have oxygen for the eighth of a mile. My last quarter was 71 sec! Altogether, I ran a 5:11 – way beyond what I expected! I’m quite excited about actually training for the mile now and going under 5:00.

Results (unofficial - from my watch): 

First half mile: 2:39.9

Middle half mile: 2:42.7

Last half mile: 2:30.4

Average heart rate: 181 beats per minute (bpm)

Max heart rate: 194 bpm (highest heart rate observed since January 2006)

Time spent in zone 5 (>172 bpm): 0:04:46

Easy goal: <5:40

Challenge goal: <5:30

Fastest pace: ~4:20?

Warm-up distance 2.5 miles (easy 1-mile jog, ~15 min of stretching, then fast quarter miles interspersed with jogging for 40 min before race, last fast quarter mile ~12 min before start)

Miles run in last 7 days: 34

Miles run in last 21 days: 141

Weight on race day: 167.2 lbs

Body fat on race day: 11.4%

Official results

Other accounts - here's Felix Wong's race report - his description of our last quarter mile sprint to the finish was quite entertaining