Over the past two weeks, I have competed in two of the best road races that Rhode Island has to offer, the St. Mary’s 5.5-Miler in Cranston and the Blessing of the Fleet 10 Mile Road Race in Narragansett. Both of these races are very well organized and draw quality athletes from New England and beyond.
On Saturday, July 21st, I competed in the St. Mary’ Race. This was the first road race I had entered in two months, although I have been training daily. In the weeks leading up to this race I found my self getting a little bit slower each day. I began to get frustrated. I knew I was in great shape and my legs felt fresh, but still my training times were awful. I knew I had to figure out what was wrong before these two races. Then it happened. One day after a long training run I took some time and looked at some old pictures of when I was at my fastest and I noticed I was sitting in my racing chair in a totally different position. The next day I made some adjustments in my positioning in the chair and the improvement in my speed was incredible. Now I couldn’t wait to race.
As I arrived at the starting line in Knightsville, I felt very confident. With temperatures in the low 80’s, I had a very good warm up and was ready to go. Usually it takes me a few miles to get going but not on this day. Right from the start I was in a rhythm. I reached the three-mile-mark in just over 46 minutes. This was a great time for me considering all the hills on the course. The next two miles flew by. I ended up finishing in my second best time ever on this course, 1:27:27.
Following St. Mary’s I had an excellent week of training. Last Friday evening, I competed in the 36th Annual Narragansett Lions Blessing of the Fleet 10-mile Road Race, held in Narragansett. This has become one of my favorite races to do each year. This 10-mile foot race is one of the oldest and most popular races in Rhode Island. People come from near and far to run this oceanfront course.
This was my 11th consecutive year competing in this race. Each year I like to use this race to mark the beginning of my marathon training, so my coach decided to design a program to build my strength and endurance slowly in the beginning of July. This was a great idea and really had me prepared for the Blessing. Along with some six and eight mile runs on the West Warwick High School grounds and West Warwick’s River Point Park, I felt prepared to turn in a good time at the Blessing. This race has a slightly hilly course and really lets me test my endurance each year.
It was very warm and humid on the day of the race and thunderstorms were forecast for later that day. This year I planned to go all out for as long as possible. As I was warming up I had a good feeling about how I was going to perform.
I rolled up to the starting line about 5 minutes before the gun sounded. We went off with the walkers so the first mile was kind of crowded but faster than usual. It took us a while to get some breathing room and pick up the pace. We passed the three-mile mark in just over 45 minutes. This was a great pace for me and I wanted to keep it going. Between the fifth and sixth-mile point I just tried to keep my rhythm going as it was a slight upgrade. I passed the 6-mile mark in just over an hour and 30 minutes, this was right where I hoped to be. I had wanted to finish this 10-mile race in less than 2 hour and 30 minutes. At this pace, I had a real shot at this time.
The next two-miles were on back roads and were mostly shaded by trees, so we had a little reprieve from the 90 degree heat. This helped me get a second wind. We passed the eight-mile marker in 2 hours and 2 minutes; we were still within two minutes of my goal pace. The final two miles of this 10-mile trek were my best and we crossed the finish line in 2 hours 34 minutes, and 42 seconds. This was my personal best time for this course and I was very happy.
These two races have put me in the perfect mind-frame to start my marathon training. If I can continue to train at this level I might just have one of the best competive years of my career.
Jason Pisano
