Race Date: 7.5.2011
Official Finishing Time: 38:49.66 chip time, 38:54.47 gun time
Official Overall Position: 56/1108 (finishers), which puts me in the fastest 5.05%
Race number: 942

Newport 10k

Well, this one didn’t go quite according to plan. I blame it on my recent work stress and lack of speed work. I wasn’t very confident on the day either. The weather was nice and sunny, maybe even too hot. It was easy to get to New Jersey via the PATH train from NYC, and the race was just next to the Newport stop. The course is mostly flat and certainly faster than the Central Park loop where I recorded my 10k PB in the Scotland Run. There were some twists and turns as well as rough bits though.

I was hoping to improve my PB of 37:41, or even sneak under 37min if I felt good, but I never really got into the race. My target pace was 3:40min/km, but I hardly even hit it on the first half of the race and I was really out of it after 5k (which I did in a respectable time, given my current 5k PB of 18:46). I wasn’t the only one to suffer after the half way mark though, because I kept overtaking people even though I was slowing down considerably.

Here are the splits:
1k 3:44
2k 3:40
3k 3:47
4k 3:41
5k 3:46 (5k in 18:38)
6k 3:52
7k 3:54
8k 3:54
9k 3:52
10k 4:12
Total: 10.17k in 38:50

Don’t ask me what happened on the last lap, I could’ve sworn that I ran faster than that! I did manage a sprint finish of sorts on the last 0.17k, but it looks like I was really struggling towards the end. Probably it had something to do with the fact that I knew it wouldn’t be a PB, or even anywhere close to sub 38min, so I gave up. Shouldn’t do that though, a race is still a race! Well, I’m not too disappointed, since sub 38min was my season’s target for 10k and I’ve already accomplished that.

Average heart rate was 174 bpm, average cadence 88 spm.

Not sure when my next race will be, as I haven’t booked anything before the Helsinki City Marathon in August, but there will probably be some smaller races in June/July. I’d like to do a half marathon before HCM anyway.

Official results here.
Garmin data here.

Race Date: 10.4.2011
Official Finishing Time: 37:41 chip time (PB)
Official Overall Position: 171/8491 (finishers), which puts me in the fastest 2.01%
Race number: 802

Due to a busy week and a badly slept night behind, I wasn’t expecting too much from this race. It was just a week after the 13.1 New York half marathon as well, and the up & down course in Central Park is not the fastest, but I was hoping to get a sub 39min. After all, I ran a 39:01 10k in training not long ago. Needless to say, it went rather better than expected! The weather was fine: overcast, maybe about 8 degrees Celsius. I decided to run just in my Ronhill shorts and a singlet. I was a little bit chilly when waiting to start, but got warm pretty quickly!

Scotland Run Start (not my shot)

At the 5k mark I was surprised to discover that I was on my way to a sub 38min, and I also recorded a new 5k PB on the way (previously 18:46), although I don’t consider it official. In fact I did this on both halves of the race, at least if my Garmin is to be trusted (it reported the course as 10.17km). It got tough after that and I didn’t have much in me for a finishing sprint, but I battled through and made sure of the sub 38min, which was also my season’s target for the 10k. This takes all the pressure off my next planned race, the Newport 10k on May 7th. Hopefully I can shave off at least a few seconds off this time in May and maybe get a sub 37:30 — the course should be nice and flat anyway.

The organisation of the Scotland Run was good, it’s a NYRR race and they have massive experience in putting together huge races. I had no organisational problems whatsoever. My estimated pace put me in the first starting pen (numbers 0-999). I started towards the back of that starting pen, but with hindsight I could’ve pushed a little further since I did finish in the top 200. The first 500m were especially crowded, but I managed to get almost within my target pace, 3:50min/km. The first two laps were the slowest, but I didn’t hold back after that. The fastest lap had a long downhill bit in it and in general it was difficult to judge the pace given the ups and downs. Basically I just ran as fast as I felt possible, and I was quite surprised to be able to keep up the pace on the second half (which is a little less hilly and hence faster). My average heart rate was 173 bpm, which is some 4 bpm lower than in my previous 10k races.

This is what a hardcore finishing sprint looks like!

Here are the splits:
1k 3:51
2k 3:54
3k 3:38
4k 3:44
5k 3:28 (5k in 18:35)
6k 3:49
7k 3:44
8k 3:37
9k 3:42
10k 3:38 (10k in 37:05)
Total: 10.17k in 37:47 (I was late in stopping the Garmin)

All in all a good race, and the post-race stuff was enjoyable too, including free Irn Bru! Two guys who finished on my heels came to shake my hand after the race, thanking me for pacing them to new PBs. I did notice them during the race and I was wondering when they would overtake me, but it seems that they were just trying to keep up with me. Having a few people on my heels did give some extra motivation as well, and I managed to keep my position on the last few hundred metres.

I just love the race adrenaline, can’t wait to get racing again!

Official results here.
Garmin data here.

Race Date: 2.4.2011
Official Finishing Time: 1:25:15 chip time (PB)
Official Overall Position: 14/2484 (finishers), which puts me in the fastest 0.56%
Race number: 2488

I had been looking forward to the 13.1 New York for some time and was finally hoping to get below 90min after the crowded disappointment of the Great North Run 2010. I was confident that I could do it, since I did a 15k training run at 4:10min/km pace not too long ago. The idea was to set off at that pace and get somewhere close to 1:27. Well, I set off a bit faster and never slowed down! I thought that 1:26 would be a dream time, but it never occurred to me that I could already get so close to my season’s target, which is sub 85min. In fact, with 5k to go I realized that a sub 20min 5k should indeed get me there — and I ran a sub 20min 5k, but the extra 200m (which were not a surprise given that the course has a lot of twists and turns) on top of the half marathon meant that it wasn’t quite enough after all. In any case, this was a PB by just over 8min, fancy that!

This was only the second time that the race was organised, and there were some glitches with the gear check and signs, but I had no major difficulties and was happy enough with the race and the post-race offerings (which included a fancy medal and free beer, although not very good beer). The weather was almost perfect: around six degrees Celsius and sunny, with just a tiny bit of wind. The course is extremely flat and fast, although it does include a lot of tight turns and parts of it were a bit flooded. Couldn’t have hoped for much better conditions though.

Finishing Sprint

I ran much of the race with the second lady, I think we gave each other nice pacing as we were doing a very good steady pace. In the end I overtook her with some 4-5k to go and ended up finishing some 15 seconds in front of the first lady, whom I overtook with just 1k to go. In general I didn’t really struggle at any point of the race, although at first I was concerned that I was going too fast. I started to overtake people after 10k or so though and no one came past me, so nothing to worry! The battle only begun around the 17k mark as I really started to push, fortunately I managed to pull it off.

Here are the splits (from Garmin):
5k 20:20
10k 20:18 (40:38 total)
15k 20:01 (1:00:39 total)
20k 19:46 (1:20:25 total)
Total: 21.29k in 1:25:19

So I managed a negative split despite the faster-than-planned start; in fact the second 10k was sub 40min. I ran the last km at sub 3:40min/km pace, so clearly I had something left in the machine! My average heart rate was 166 bpm, which is also the lowest I have had in a half marathon (168 bpm at the Great North Run).

The overall winner crossed the line in 1:09:10, more than eight minutes ahead of everyone else. Must’ve been pretty lonely!

By the way, Ulrike, who was visiting me from the UK, also ran the race and got an excellent time: 1:32:34 — she was the fourth lady!

My next race will be the Scotland Run (10k) in Central Park already this Sunday. Due to it being so soon after the half I don’t expect anything amazing, but I’ll be looking for sub 39min. I did run a 39:01 10k in training recently, so it should be doable, although there is one big hill on the course… Report to follow!

Official results here.
Garmin data here.

Previous installments here and here.

My first month in New York (and one third of my visit) has flown by, but I’ve certainly gotten something out of it. Unfortunately only a small portion of that is directly work-related, but I’m trying to be good from now on and do some more writing! I’ve got a deadline on May 6th in any case: I’m due to give a talk at one the NYU ‘Brown Bag’ seminars with the title ‘The Epistemology of Essence’. I am actually finishing up a draft of a paper sketching an account of the relationship between essence and modality which I’m hoping to discuss with Kit Fine at some point. It’s not particularly serious though, as I’m entertaining some rather controversial ideas; for instance, I’ve abandoned the duality of possibility and necessity, opting for a separate analysis of propositions that are possible and propositions that are necessary. I’m not yet quite sure whether the picture has sufficient advantages to justify such a radical move, but we’ll see. I keep promising that I’ll do a proper philosophy post, so perhaps this could be a topic for one.

Agalloch @ Middle East, Boston

Last week I spent a couple of days in Boston — this was the first time I’ve been outside NYC. The trips there and back were uneventful, although I was surprised at how cheap it was to take a bus (only $18 for the 4:30h bus trip back from Boston, I got a ride from half way on my way up), as well as how quickly the scenary became more rural, with woods and such. You don’t get that when you’re travelling from London. Boston itself is smaller than I expected. There are some skyscrapers downtown, but after NYC it feels very small and you can basically walk through the centre. There was no academic purpose for the trip, although it was nice to see the Boston Uni campus as well as Harvard. I skipped MIT. The main event was a gig by the folkish metal band Agalloch at a nice little club called Middle East. It was a great venue and the gig was excellent, almost worth the trip alone. But the fact that I had some locals to hang out with and show me around made it so much better. Among other things, we spent an afternoon at a bar called Sunset, which had an excellent selection of beers (150+) as well as something much rarer: 30 odd different kinds of mead! Well, mead is a bit too sickly for me, and not strictly vegan given that it is based on honey (although I think it’s controversial whether it should be considered vegan or not), but it was impressive nevertheless.

Harvard

Talking about beer, I’m considering of attending TAP New York, a beer festival upstate taking place April 30 – May 1. I’ve already sampled a number of excellent US beers (such as the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, a 10% imperial stout which I sampled at the Sunset in Boston), but this would be the ideal opportunity to try a few more! In general, India Pale Ale is very good and very popular here (such as the Peak Organic IPA and the Sierra Nevada Extra IPA), but they do other good beers as well. This post was fuelled by a can of Narragansett Porter, which is also quite tasty.

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Since I’ve been so obsessed about running, I should mention that this week I’ve been taking it very easy, as I’m tapering for the NYC 13.1 half marathon this Saturday. Sub 90min is the minimum target, 87min would be ideal. On an exercise-related note, I’m starting to develop a little bit of an addiction to weight training at the gym as well. This has never been my thing: I’ve never been able to lift anything worth mentioning, or even tried really. But since I want to do some core work in any case (abdomen & back), I thought that I might as well try to get a hint of upper body strength as well. I don’t do any leg work though — I’m not convinced that it’s benefical for running. Not that upper body training would be either: I’ve actually gained a few kilos in NYC, which is not going to make me a faster runner. Anyway, I don’t expect to develop any real strength, I just want some balance! By the way, is it strange that I’m actually considering of buying some NYU gear (like a t-shirt or something)? They sell this stuff at the gym and I’m a little bit tempted… I know I’m not actually a student here, but I like their colours and branding.

Boston Bay

Food. I’m looking to explore some more restaurants in the coming week, as I will have a visitor from England to entertain. In the meanwhile I’ve just had lunch at some cheap places and tried to eat at home (although I had some execellent Thai food in Boston). There’s one thing that concerns me slightly about the vegan food options here: it’s all about soy. When I cook myself, I tend to use a variety of beans (not just soy beans) as my protein source, but as my cooking facilities here are modest to say the least, I often just opt for something processed, such as sausages, burgers or marinated tofu. But it’s all soy-based here. In the UK and some other countries you get Quorn (which is not vegan because they add egg to it) and generally you can usually find some wheat-based processed vegan sausages etc., but not here — even the veggie restaurants seem to use soy almost exclusively. Now, I like soy, so nothing wrong with that, but it’s well known that excessive consumption of soy may not be a good idea for males. Although the data is far from conclusive, it’s probably wise not to rely solely on soy as the protein source. Not a problem for me as such: I also eat a variety of nuts and seeds on a daily basis, but the ratio of fat to protein is not ideal in nuts and seeds, so they won’t do alone either. Well, probably nothing to worry about, but maintaining a vegan diet while training hard does require a bit of thought.

My lovely Boston-guide, Jessica

Sorry, that’s a lot of text again! I’ll stop here. Like I said, I have a visitor from the UK for the next week, so I look forward to checking some of the museums and other typical touristy things that I’ve been saving until now. I’ll report back! In the meanwhile, stay tuned for a race report from the NYC 13.1…

If you missed the first installment of my NYU Diaries, it’s here.

It’s coming to three weeks since I arrived, and I’ve barely had a breather. It’s not because I go out on a couple of nights each week, try to write several papers at the same time, attend seminars, or run record weekly mileage. But when you put all these things together, there’s not an awful lot of time to rest.

NYC Half Marathon -- lead group at mile 2

So, where to begin… Well, I’m probably running too much given other time constraints. This week I managed 70+ miles, or 113km, which is a new record for me. That included some speed work and double sessions, and also a little bit of cycling and core work at the gym. I got a good deal with the NYU gym, paying just over $100 for three month access. The facilities are much better than the ones in Helsinki and there’s even a pool at the gym (although I haven’t been swimming here — I really need to learn a proper technique first). As you’ll have noticed if you follow the blog, I also ran a 5k race recently. Today was dedicated to running-related matters as well; first I photographed the NYC half marathon, which was an awesome race with a great sprint finish from Mo Farah to win it. Then I explored the Hudson Riverside on a long 22 mile run, catching my first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty on the way.

Regarding work, I had a good chat with Kit Fine this week and I’ve been slowly developing some crazy ideas that I have about the reduction of modality into essence. I’ve also been re-reading papers by Fabrice Correia and David Oderberg on these matters. I hesitate to go into the details as I’ve still got a lot to do, but I may do a dedicated post on this stuff at some point.

CCNY

NYU has Spring break this week, so there isn’t anything going on there, but I did attend a talk on the Mathematics of Abstraction by Roy Cook at the City College. He was basically defending neo-Logicism. It was interesting, if a bit too technical for me. I did buy Kit Fine’s Limits of Abstraction recently though, and I hope that by reading it I might get some more insight into abstraction principles.

I’ve continued to attend Kripke’s seminar on the contingent a priori. It’s a bit hit and miss and requires a lot of patience, but I think it’s worthwhile. If nothing else, I’ve started to collect some Kripke anecdotes. Perhaps I’ll share one: Kripke walks into the Kripke Center at CUNY where a few of us are checking the list of speakers for this Lewis conference (an impressive list, but I don’t think I can make it). We note that Kripke’s title is ‘TBA’ (although so is Hawthrone’s). Kripke’s comment: ‘Oh damn’. He had seemingly forgotten about the whole troublesome affair of being the keynote speaker.

One more work-related update: I’ve accepted an invitation to contribute to a special issue of the journal Humana.Mente. I’ve been asked to produce a commentary of Kathrin Koslicki’s 2008 OUP book, The Structure of Objects. The issue is called ‘Composition, Counterfactuals and Causation’ and edited by Roberto Ciuni, Massimiliano Carrara and Giorgio Lando. There is a call for papers for that issue, so if you have anything related to these topics, consider submitting! The deadline is July 30th 2011, and other invited contributors include Ned Hall, Ralf Busse, Henry Laycock, Andrea Bottani, Andrea Borghini and Giuliano Torrengo. The issue is mainly devoted to David Lewis’ work (a lot of Lewis stuff happening now), but the editors (very wisely) wanted to include something on Koslicki’s alternative, Aristotelian view on composition, which is where my commentary comes in. I look forward to working out the details of Koslicki’s view!

Columbus Circle

What else, huh? I’ve dived into NYC’s psy-trance scene and attended a party in Brooklyn last weekend. The music was good, the venue less so, but the people were very friendly, so I look forward to another party on the coming weekend. I also had the chance to sample NYC’s famous jazz scene the other day with a bunch of philosophers, at a club called Smalls. We arrived quite late, but just in time for the rather impressive improvisation session by random musicians who happened to be at the club. I’d love to catch another set some time, perhaps some fusion if I can find some, but these events are very expensive here.

I haven’t been eating out so much in order to save money, but I have discovered where the delicious vegan cakes available in a few places in NYC come from: Vegan Treats. I’ve heard that their vegan donuts are excellent as well, so I guess I need to keep running!

Ok, that’s too much text already, so I’ll sign off for now, but expect further updates soon! Next week a trip to Boston, and in just a few weeks the 13.1 NYC half marathon where I can finally test my fitness!