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Utica Boilermaker

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Location:

Buffalo,NY,

Member Since:

Aug 15, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Personal Bests
  • 1500m : 4:43 (May 2001)
  • 1 mile: 5:18 (August 2012) 
  • 5k: 17:39 (December 2003)
  • 8k: 30:02 (June 2003)
  • 10k: 37:21 (November 2003)
  • 15k : 59:48 (July 2012)
  • 10 miles: 62:39 (February 2002)
  • Half-Marathon (Covered Bridges): 1:23:29 (June 2002)
  • Marathon (Wineglass): 3:04:42 (Oct 2011)
  • Half Ironman (Tupper Lake): Swim 38:19, Bike 3:01:xx (with flat tyre change), Run 1:58:xx, Total time 5:44:44 (Jun 2004)

Short-Term Running Goals:

General Goals for 2013

  • Break 3 hours as Boston
  • Mile in 5:00
  • 5k in 17:30

Results and my 'A' Races for 2013 (Click for Race Report)

  • Y-10 10 Miler (February 9)
    • Goal: 63? (honestly, no idea)
    • DNS
  • Boston Marathon (April 15)
    • Goal: 2:57
    •  Time: 3:12:46
  • Springville Stampede (May 9)
    • Goal: 18:36
    • Time: 18:28
  • Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5 (June 6)
    • Goal: 20:30
    • Time: 20:30
  • Brian Moorman PUNT Foundation Blackbird 8K (June 19)
    • Goal: 30:00
    • Time: 30:03
  • Boilermaker 15k (July 14)
    • Goal 58:00
  • Mueller Mile (August)
    • Goal 5:00
  • Run into Buffalo 15k  (Sept 2)
    • Goal 57:30
  • Troy Turkey Trot 10k (Nov 28)
    • Goal 37:00

Long-Term Running Goals:

  1. Sub 3:00 Marathon
  2. 17:00 5k
  3. 1:20 Half-marathon

Personal:

Originally from the small town of Galway, NY (near Saratoga), I currently live in Buffalo, NY.  I'm a community pharmacist  I  graduated from the University of Buffalo School of Pharmacy with my pharmD in 2007 and my PhD in 2011. I'm married and have 2 dogs (Sadie, a lab, and Ralphie, a Eskie mix).  We enjoy anything outdoors from Backpacking and hiking to snowboarding.

my photojournal, and I will run

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Sadie's Lifetime Miles: 298.30
Ralphie's Lifetime Miles: 346.60
Race: Utica Boilermaker (9.32 Miles) 00:59:48, Place overall: 256, Place in age division: 42
Running MilesSwimming YardsBike Miles
9.300.000.00

The 35th Boilermaker 15k (Utica, NY)

Background:  The Boilermaker is this crazy large race (17k runners) in the rust-belt city of Utica.  It’s sponsored by a company that makes boilers (hence boilermaker) and the FX Matt Brewery (They make Saranac!). The whole city basically comes out and crowd support is insane.   I use to do it in High School but since living in Buffalo this is the first year I’ve gotten out there to run it.  In addition to being huge, it has quite the large purse ($60k+) so it draws big names from across the globe.  We got into Utica Saturday afternoon, got out packets ,checked out the expo, went to target to get snacks and went to our hotel (a couple blocks from the finish line).  Dinner was at this amazing restaurant called the “Tailor and the Cook.”   We were in bed at an ok time.  

My training, the course, and the weather:  My training has been going good with my track club but I still have a lingering right abdominal pain that’s quite rough at times (Doc says is a bad pull) which is, I think, making me favor that side causing some issues with my hip.  My goal for the race was to hit 59 but I definitely wanted to beak an hour which would be a 30 second PR.  The course is definitely not what I’m use to.  It was hilly (see profile below), especially the first half.  It’s all about being conservative and then making it up later, if you don’t negative split at this race then you’re in pretty rough shape and hanging on for your life.  The weather was cooler than is has been recently but still hot and humid (high 70s/low 80s with 60%+ humidity).  The sky was overcast in the morning and breaking out Sun in the afternoon.

 

 

The Start:  We got up and caught the bus to the start and made it there with about 45min until race time.  Because the race is so huge they have a pretty strict corral system and luckily my seed time got me into the corral (of about 500 runners) directly behind the sub-elite corral (sub 55min 15k) so I was quite relieved about that.   I found a fellow runner from my club and I knew he was a little faster than me so my goal was to stick with him like glue.   Something concerning me was that my stomach was very sour, not sure if it was nerves or dinner or what but I was a little worried.  The gun sounded and we were off.

1st 5k (20:16, pace 6:31):  Despite the people rushing past me I did my best to start conservatively.  The first 2 miles are relatively flat but the road really starts going up at mile 3 to the largest hill in the race.  I had a cup of water and my stomach seemed to calm down and I felt real good otherwise.  I knew with the heat and the hills that my best bet was to shoot for under 60 today and was pumped to see I was only 16sec off on the hardest part of the course.

2nd 5k (19:44, pace 6:21):  Mile 3 to 4  is the worst part of the course (mile time was 6:50!) but then it turns downhill and I followed it up with a sub-6 mile (my slowest and fastest mile back to back).  I didn’t want to blast the downhills to help save my quads.  It was getting hot and sunny at this point and at each water station I’d dump a cup on my head and drink one.  I don’t think I ever drank so much in a race before.  My club buddy was running about 15 sec in front of me so I felt good and the hard part of the race was way behind me now.  Not much passing going on from the 5k to 10k mark.  Cumulative time was 40:00, right on target. 

3rd 5k (19:48, pace 6:22):  Just need to push it to the finish and keep my 5k under 20min.  From miles 6-8 I was passing people like crazy, all the people that blew up from going out too fast.   It was quite the boost I needed and was glad I held back on the start.  This section is kinda roll-y so it’s hard to get into a good rhythm and it was rather hot and sunny out which zapped what little energy I had left.  Hit the 9 mile mark and it’s straight downhill to the finish.  Pushed it as best I could and I knew that I had an hour beat pretty good.

Thoughts and postrace:  I was pretty pumped with my time on the pretty tough course and with hot weather it was time to start the best postrace part in road racing.   There’s a live band, tons of beer and fun food.  Probably drank a little too many beer (7!!) after running so hard but that’s the fun of the race.  Watched the awards and waited for my wife to finish before heading back to the hotel to shower and head back to Buffalo.

Despite not hitting 59 minutes I was happy with how I ran, I forgot how tough the course is especially when it’s hot out.  I was only about a minute off my equivalent time but that’s based off flat/fast Buffalo races so I think it bodes well for me.  I think a 18min 5k and 30 min 8k is definitively going happen this fall.

Mizuno Musha 3 Miles: 9.33
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments
From Sarah! on Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 10:22:41 from 65.130.193.45

Hey awesome job!!! You're so fast!! You definitely can get those times!!!! :)

From Jake K on Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 10:34:45 from 155.100.226.54

Great job Nate. Boilermaker is a tough race. Very good pacing and getting under 60 minutes.

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