It’s virtual racing season at the Central Park Track Club – Tracksmith. Without the NYRR club series or the Boston Marathon, CPTCers have been using GPS to light the afterburners and compete.

The club’s Connect the Corridor event, held in conjunction with our wonderful sponsors Tracksmith, Pacers and The Feed, will run May 15 through May 31.

The 2020 virtual season kicked off in April with two weeks of fast 5ks, organized by NYRR. The event was enormous, with 12,376 finishers from all over the planet.  Nineteen teammates completed the race and many finished high in the standings.

Our top woman was marathon OTQer Jenny Donnelly, who finished sixth overall and first in the 25-29. After months of marathon training, the 5k was a sharp move down in distance for Jenny, as she said after:

This was a special moment for me because I ran 17:18, beating my seven- year-old PR of 17:24 from college (BU indoor track). I’m much more a fan of longer distances, so spending a few weeks speed training and then racing was a new type of challenge for me – while not what I find the most ‘fun’, I was very proud to tackle it.

Jenny is currently leading the NYRR Virtual Brooklyn Half with a 1:18:42. Will world-class athletes enter the in the closing days? In the 5k some seriously fast people like Stephanie Bruce and Des Linden came in at the last minute. The waiting is part of the fun in virtual races.

CPTCers did very well in the age groups. David Greenberg was second in the 50-54 with his 18:19.

I’ve been trying out a low-mileage/high-intensity training plan during the quarantine so I was curious to see how I’d do at 5k. I picked a flat out and back along the Hudson, ran on a wind-free day and was pleased with my race. All the solo workouts I’ve done helped me get through it with even splits.

Teddy Shum ran a PR, kicking in at a 15:59 for 5^th in the 35-39.

I have wanted to go sub 16 for some time so was happy to sneak in with 15:59. I chose a nice straight and pretty flat course straight down the river and did it on a cold damp early morning at about 6 am before it got too busy. The main difference was my fiancé was following behind on a Citibike shouting encouragement (and insults) at me! At one point she even shouted “imagine what Coach Tony would shout at you!”

Taylor Burmeister was 6^th in the 30-34 on a carefully chosen course in Red Hook. And therein lies a New York tale:

I felt pretty good on the way out but hit a nasty headwind on the way back. Still ran fairly even overall and managed a 16:27 – faster than I ran at Washington Heights and about what I thought was realistic. Psyched myself up for this, but it was definitely harder to really push at the end then it would have been with other people in the race. Overall a fun experience, but I left a track bag with my trainers, a shirt, my CPTC hat, and my absolute favorite pair of running tights under a park bench and it was gone when I finished; I think a parks worker threw it away thinking it was trash, so really my fault, but it put a slight damper on things.

Looking forward to the CPTC virtual race!

Part of the fun of virtual racing is to pick the right course and time. After deliberation, Greg Cass raced in Riverside Park on the very last day of competition. Greg had to dodge some barriers but was rewarded with 9^th in the 35-39 with a 16:45.

By design, this was the least challenging 5K course I’ve run on (thanks NYC 5K courses…).  But I needed every little advantage I could find!  The wind was unfortunately not as strong a tailwind as I wanted – certainly helped, but as I mentioned in my Strava post, I was looking for “cheat code level” tailwind.  I had to negotiate a few barriers in the first half mile (probably good for not ruining my race right out of the gate), and I kept splits relatively close to even, which of course actually means I positive splitted.  I did wear a mask (old NYC Marathon neck buff) for the first 1.75 miles given the River walkway was pretty busy – certainly didn’t make it any easier, but it’s doable.  I’m not sure I (currently?  ever?) have the toughness to virtually race well, but it was fun to run hard and feel the hurt again.  I was ultimately motivated seeing some fast times from teammates / training partners.  Will be much easier to convince me to join another one of these in the future.

I’m sure we’ll see Greg race in Connect the Corridor.

Paul Jones ran his first virtual race, hitting the top 10 with his 8^th in the 35-39, 16:42.

First virtual race ever – Jenny Donnelly’s love of them inspired me. I finished 15 seconds faster than NYRR Brooklyn 5k last summer. My key was to run it on the track and run six equal 800m and then just bring it home for another 200m.  I liked the track –  it allowed me to set a goal of 2:39-2:40 and I had perfect conditions and executed. It was a great joy to have such a sense of accomplishment before 6am on a workday! 

Jenny Donnelly and Alana Kopelson joined a team for the Run Free Grand Prix, a team-based competition with races at 1 mile, 5k, 10k and half marathon. Their squad, the Quarantqueens, took third of 35.

Jenny:

Being able to structure 2-week segments geared towards a specific distance was a great way to drive short-term motivation & keeping running workouts ‘different’ and exciting while solo. We all PR’d at least 1 (Alana and I each PR’d in 3 distances!), but more importantly had so much fun leaning into the team aspect together.

Now it’s your turn. Register for Connect the Corridor, map out a perfect course, wait for the right weather and join these CPTCers and other competitors from the I-95 corridor.

-David Greenberg