The 10k is in about an hour. It's 32 degrees outside and partly cloudy with light winds. Since most of my training has been inside this year, I have opted to wear tights with a short sleeve shirt, arm warmers, gloves, and a warm hat.
I wanted to put a few thoughts down on strategy pre race. Hopefully writing my thoughts down ahead of time will help me stick with my goal during the race since in the past I have had a tendency to start out too fast in 10k/5ks. The plan is to run the first two miles at 6:20 pace. The third mile has a significant downhill for about a quarter mile so I figure this mile will be faster (around 6:05). Mile 4 should be around 6:15. The 5th mile has the same hill that mile three had except we need to run up it so I figure this mile will be around 6:40. From there, hopefully I have saved some energy to put in a fast final 1.2 miles.
Off to the race.
It felt good to be racing again. The race was a little delayed at the start, but no big deal. The wind today played more of a factor than expected when I left the house, especially miles 2.5 - 5 when we were close to the river. I ended up racing most of this race by myself as I was inbetween the lead group and the people behind me.
The first two miles went almost exactlly according to plan. Mile 1 was in 6:19, mile two in 6:23. The third mile was going according to plan as we hit the large downhill toward the river, but we then hit a big headwind and I started to struggle a bit. Mile 3 was in 6:18 and the 5k was around 19:40. The headwind was still very strong for most of mile 4 before we hit the turnaround. Mile four was 6:45 pace and I was not in a good place mentally. I tried to dig deep during mile 5 getting the benefit of the tailwind, but I couldn't quite get back to goal pace. Mile 5 was 6:27 pace. Shortly after the 5 mile mark, we hit the big hill that we bombed down during mile 3. The hill killed me (not surprising since most of my training this year has been inside on a treadmill). Once the hill was complete, the course joined back up with the slower 5k runners so I spent the last .7 miles weaving in and out of slower runners. Mile 6 was 6:51 pace and the final .24 miles (course was 6.24 miles according to my watch) was in 6:23 pace. Overall my time was 40:34 for the 6.24 miles (6:30 pace).
I was a little upset that I didn't hit my goal, but I still officially PRd by over a minute for the race distance. I have run tempo runs recently on the TM at the same pace as today's run which suggested to me that I wouldn't have a problem breaking 40 minutes today, but I guess there is a big difference between running on a TM at a consistant pace and running a race with hills, colder temperatures, and wind to deal with.
The next race is a 5k on 4/6. Hopefully I can get my mileage base up a bit before the race while still getting in my harder tempo/speedworkout in. | 