As per last post, I had a last minute race race. A local 5k in Sault Michigan. I may have mentioned eariler that I was coming to the end of my last big training block. My legs were nice and tired but I had enough juice to race. I didn't think a PB necessarily, but I knew I would have a good workout.
The course was more or less flat, though officially "downhill" for the first 1.5 miles, slightly uphill and on dirt road then flat for the last 800 meters. Pretty much one of the faster courses you could expect to find for a 5k road race. Looking around at the field prior I decided I would take it out at about 16:20 pace to potentially get into the lead, then get into a comfortable (as comfortable as a 5k race will allow) pace, then just go for it for the last mile or whatever. I took it out fairly hard as I had hoped, and found I was being chased. There were a good number of bends around this forested, nice neighbourhood course so I tried to lose him around each bend, but every straight stretch I would see him behind me again. It started to feel like that Twilight Zone episode with the hitch-hiker, I would get comfortable and feel like I'm alone and then he would be there. Never the less, I held out to the end, crossed the line in 1st. The best part? PB. 16:16. Splits are as follows.
3:08 - 3:13 - 3:20 - 3:25 - 3:23
I blame the 3rd and 4th km on the dirt road, though I'm not upset. Not upset at all.
ADDITIONALLY:
The race proceeds went to charity! How dare I forget to mention that!
http://www.girlsontherun.org/
Sounds like a good one, I'm happy to have my race fee go towards that.
Also! I won a rock. It's about the size of my fist and has a bit of a gloss to it. They put a sticker on it. I won a rock.
In other news, it's big race week 1! Yahoo! This has been my easiest week since iunno, January, but by no means has it been easy. As anyone can attest to, cutting back... and the way you feel before you really recover... not so great. But I'm finally feeling like I'm getting all rested and recovered. Yesterday I went out for another frigid swim, open water. I managed 10 minutes this time, but exited with hurting hands and feet, and a wicked ear ache. Today I had my last solid race prep workout - 30 minutes riding at goal power (~270W) into 10 minutes of goal race pace running (3:36/km). This was done indoor due to the rain in the Sault. People seem to think that indoor riding is more difficult and I hear things like it takes away around 5% of your power. I don't believe this, it makes no physical sense. I think its all mental (possibly another post), so I just ride the watts I want to ride. It was tough, but it was enough to keep sharp I think. Tomorrow I'm going to do a bit of quality swimming, Saturday I head out to Huntsville with my dad, and Sunday I race! Sweet! I have to admit though, I'm getting nervous. This is my first olympic distance race and second TT-style 40k. I'm feeling very confident with my run, I know I'll do my best in the water... But I'm nervous I'll explode on the bike or something. Anyway, I'll do my best and see what happens!
Adam "A rock!" Fortais
Showing posts with label PB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PB. Show all posts
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Run the Great Lakes 10k Road Race, or, NEW RECORD! (Race Report 5)
Am I the only person who runs in their running glasses even if it's overcast? I don't know if it's just habit, or a comfort thing from working in labs that required all-day goggle wear, or if I'm really worried an errant sun ray will pierce the clouds and blind me... but I'm over being worried about looking like a dummy. I'm wearing them.
This morning was particularly overcast and I noticed some rain earlier on while I ate breakfast. Do you wanna know what I had for breakfast? No, didn't think so. It was kind of cold too, 10C, but moved up to probably around 13C by gun-time. I went for the business-time look today, settling on purple shorts, white-and-orange singlet, black arm warmers, red shoes, and obnoxious running glasses. I had to make sure everyone knew I was there to race... or possibly entertain children with balloon animals. Sorry, I don't think there are any pictures of this. Shame shame...
So there I was, on the start line. No wait, rewind. I warmed up with buddy Scott whom I believe I will be training with in the near future. We did about 5k of easy running with some longer race-pace efforts. Nice. I felt a little light and wiggly.. whatever that means... but knew this would later be replaced with heavy and stiff. All right, so we get to the start line, ready to roll. Wait, one more thing. During the warm up I strapped myself up with the ole' HR monitor and flicked my GPS watch on and surprise! It didn't charge overnight. Also, it was completely dead. I don't have a backup or any other kind of watch for that matter. For the significance of this detail, please refer to the previous post where I in detail explain my race plan and pacing strategy. Needless to say, all that was out the window. Bro, we're running by feel today.
More specifically, we're running the other people's race. I could do nothing else but let them set the pace and try to out speed them in the final kms (unless they were running too slow at the beginning (which they weren't (just wait, I'm getting to that.)))
So we're at the start line. I find a guy who looks pretty darn fast and follow him into line. He lines up near the front. I analysed the finish times from the last year or so and expected to be near the front of the 5k race going into my second 5k, so I didn't let nobody push me off the front of the line! That, or no one wanted to go near me. Anyway, gun goes off, a 5k-er literally sprints off the line. 5 of us take a more conservative approach and start running. I realize I'm in a group of 2 other 10k runners, a 5k runner and being led by a 5 and trailed by a 10. We all run fairly well together for the first 2km. I'm sitting on heels, feigning leads here and there. This is weird, how fast do I think that first 2k was? It feels pretty good. Just shy of the first 2.5k turn around the only other guy with arm warmers makes a surge of a hill... though not a convincing one. I don't really make any effort to increase the pace to match. He falls back into line. Still lead by a 5er and trailed by a OH CRAP. The guy who was behind blasts by my group of three to catch the leader. I've never seen someone make an acceleration like that, but all of a sudden he seems like he's a contender. Coming around 4k, other-arm-warmers guy has fallen back (highlander rules, there can only be one) but otherwise no change in positions. The 5er I was with made a small surge to finish off his race, but was too far back to catch the other guy. Coming around the corner past the finish line timer I predicted a slightly faster than anticipated 17:20 or something. Nope. 16:50. What the... Still about 15 seconds down from the leader, and running strong with an old ex-teammate... who I had a sneaking suspicion had gone out too fast and was on the verge of crashing. With 5k to go I decided I would just sit at this pace because if he does crash, great, but if he doesn't, we've got to work together to catch the leader. However, at about 6k the route got twisty and he crashed. By twisty I mean actual right-angle corners along a bike trail. Wide open field/parking lot between corners though so I could see the gap between me and the leader. Actually, I could see the gap falling. And falling. And falling... Until we slogged uphill about 400m to the final turn around at 7.5km. I caught him at the turn. The goal was to hold on to his heels until about 1k to... woah, where's he going? He must have seen me at the turn and decided he did not want this to come down to a sprint because the pace was lifted. He got a gap again... but not by much. Maybe 5 seconds. I knew I had to close it, but I didn't have much in the tank and I could feel myself slowing... By 1km to go he had put a comfortable lead on me and I knew I was in that no man's land of 2nd place. I barely made it through the last km, but to my surprise as I turned the corner into the finishing shoot, the clock was reading 34:40... 41...42... I had very little left but I tried my hardest to keep it under 45. No dice, but close. I think 46. I found out (after some speculation) that the winner was one of the great local runners, Nathan, who typically hangs out around the 20-40k distances. We both went well under the previous winning time. I found him afterwards and tried to thank him through giddy and tired gasps for dragging me along for a PB. I don't know how much of that he understood, but we shook hands anyway.
So, how would things have been different were I running my own race? Iunno. I probably wouldn't have run 16:50 for the first 5k. But I also may not have pushed myself as hard. Being forced to stay with the group, regardless of their idiotic pacing (sorry guys... but I had a 55+ second positive split. everyone but Nathan was worse) probably forced me to dig a bit deeper? I don't know. I probably have a better PB in me somewhere, but I'm extremely hesitant to say I could have had the win. I am extremely happy with my performance, glad I had a chance to run by feel, grateful for the competitors who helped drag me to a PB... and uhhh.... thanks for putting on the race, race people!
I got a nifty long sleeve shirt for winning my age group.
There was a bit of a wind but it wasn't a big deal. headwind for 2.5, tail for 5, head for 2.5. I guess it was fairly unpleasant in the last 2.5k but what final 2.5k isn't unpleasant?
Adam "Maybe if I write a race report before the results are up I'll get more hits..." Fortais
This morning was particularly overcast and I noticed some rain earlier on while I ate breakfast. Do you wanna know what I had for breakfast? No, didn't think so. It was kind of cold too, 10C, but moved up to probably around 13C by gun-time. I went for the business-time look today, settling on purple shorts, white-and-orange singlet, black arm warmers, red shoes, and obnoxious running glasses. I had to make sure everyone knew I was there to race... or possibly entertain children with balloon animals. Sorry, I don't think there are any pictures of this. Shame shame...
So there I was, on the start line. No wait, rewind. I warmed up with buddy Scott whom I believe I will be training with in the near future. We did about 5k of easy running with some longer race-pace efforts. Nice. I felt a little light and wiggly.. whatever that means... but knew this would later be replaced with heavy and stiff. All right, so we get to the start line, ready to roll. Wait, one more thing. During the warm up I strapped myself up with the ole' HR monitor and flicked my GPS watch on and surprise! It didn't charge overnight. Also, it was completely dead. I don't have a backup or any other kind of watch for that matter. For the significance of this detail, please refer to the previous post where I in detail explain my race plan and pacing strategy. Needless to say, all that was out the window. Bro, we're running by feel today.
More specifically, we're running the other people's race. I could do nothing else but let them set the pace and try to out speed them in the final kms (unless they were running too slow at the beginning (which they weren't (just wait, I'm getting to that.)))
So we're at the start line. I find a guy who looks pretty darn fast and follow him into line. He lines up near the front. I analysed the finish times from the last year or so and expected to be near the front of the 5k race going into my second 5k, so I didn't let nobody push me off the front of the line! That, or no one wanted to go near me. Anyway, gun goes off, a 5k-er literally sprints off the line. 5 of us take a more conservative approach and start running. I realize I'm in a group of 2 other 10k runners, a 5k runner and being led by a 5 and trailed by a 10. We all run fairly well together for the first 2km. I'm sitting on heels, feigning leads here and there. This is weird, how fast do I think that first 2k was? It feels pretty good. Just shy of the first 2.5k turn around the only other guy with arm warmers makes a surge of a hill... though not a convincing one. I don't really make any effort to increase the pace to match. He falls back into line. Still lead by a 5er and trailed by a OH CRAP. The guy who was behind blasts by my group of three to catch the leader. I've never seen someone make an acceleration like that, but all of a sudden he seems like he's a contender. Coming around 4k, other-arm-warmers guy has fallen back (highlander rules, there can only be one) but otherwise no change in positions. The 5er I was with made a small surge to finish off his race, but was too far back to catch the other guy. Coming around the corner past the finish line timer I predicted a slightly faster than anticipated 17:20 or something. Nope. 16:50. What the... Still about 15 seconds down from the leader, and running strong with an old ex-teammate... who I had a sneaking suspicion had gone out too fast and was on the verge of crashing. With 5k to go I decided I would just sit at this pace because if he does crash, great, but if he doesn't, we've got to work together to catch the leader. However, at about 6k the route got twisty and he crashed. By twisty I mean actual right-angle corners along a bike trail. Wide open field/parking lot between corners though so I could see the gap between me and the leader. Actually, I could see the gap falling. And falling. And falling... Until we slogged uphill about 400m to the final turn around at 7.5km. I caught him at the turn. The goal was to hold on to his heels until about 1k to... woah, where's he going? He must have seen me at the turn and decided he did not want this to come down to a sprint because the pace was lifted. He got a gap again... but not by much. Maybe 5 seconds. I knew I had to close it, but I didn't have much in the tank and I could feel myself slowing... By 1km to go he had put a comfortable lead on me and I knew I was in that no man's land of 2nd place. I barely made it through the last km, but to my surprise as I turned the corner into the finishing shoot, the clock was reading 34:40... 41...42... I had very little left but I tried my hardest to keep it under 45. No dice, but close. I think 46. I found out (after some speculation) that the winner was one of the great local runners, Nathan, who typically hangs out around the 20-40k distances. We both went well under the previous winning time. I found him afterwards and tried to thank him through giddy and tired gasps for dragging me along for a PB. I don't know how much of that he understood, but we shook hands anyway.
So, how would things have been different were I running my own race? Iunno. I probably wouldn't have run 16:50 for the first 5k. But I also may not have pushed myself as hard. Being forced to stay with the group, regardless of their idiotic pacing (sorry guys... but I had a 55+ second positive split. everyone but Nathan was worse) probably forced me to dig a bit deeper? I don't know. I probably have a better PB in me somewhere, but I'm extremely hesitant to say I could have had the win. I am extremely happy with my performance, glad I had a chance to run by feel, grateful for the competitors who helped drag me to a PB... and uhhh.... thanks for putting on the race, race people!
I got a nifty long sleeve shirt for winning my age group.
There was a bit of a wind but it wasn't a big deal. headwind for 2.5, tail for 5, head for 2.5. I guess it was fairly unpleasant in the last 2.5k but what final 2.5k isn't unpleasant?
Adam "Maybe if I write a race report before the results are up I'll get more hits..." Fortais
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