Run the Lake 5k Race Report

I've previously done the 10k that's part of this event. This was the first time I've attempted the 5k. I arrived to a steady downpour of rain and blowing wind and had some reservations about running it. Picked up my bib and a timing chip. I think this was the first time they've used chips. They had previously timed it manually. Did a bit of a warmup, not much, probably about 10 minutes or so with some all out strides. My HR was spiking which i usually find happens when i suddenly start exerting a lot of effort. I was eventually able to get it to settle down prior to the race start and then lined up, trying to jog in place to keep the HR from dropping too low. By this point, the rain was coming down lightly, but there was a heck of a wind coming from the west. Since it was an out and back course, the first half went directly into the wind.

As usual, the goal was to try to maintain 4min/km. The km markers were off so the splits aren't quite right. First km was about on pace. Garmin measured it as being 1.02km and a time of 4:02 which was 3:57 pace. Now usually, the first km one is jockying for position and you don't really feel the effort level, that comes during the 2nd km.

During the 2nd km, the effort level was a bit much due to the head wind. I tried to tuck in behind a few people, but they were all going a bit too slow, so i had to pass them. 2nd km marker was measured as being 964m, with a split time of 4:12 which was 4:21 pace. Oh well, there goes the sub 20 attempt. I was having trouble with my hat as i had to keep my head looking at the ground to keep it from blowing off. I should probably have flipped it around so the bill was at the back. I normally wear hats to keep the sweat from getting into my eyes, but on such a short race and the fact that it was fairly cool with the wind, i probably didn't need the hat.

3rd km includes the turnaround and has a generally uphill. There was a group of about 5 or 6 people that passed me at this point. I should have tucked in behind them, but it seemed like they were doing quite the pace and i wasn't sure i'd be able to keep up. Looking the finish times, they finished around the 20 min mark so in hindsight, I should have stuck with them. Once I hit the turnaround, the wind now became a tail wind and the going got a lot easier. The marker for this was way off. It measured 1.13 km with a split time of 4:53 for a pace of 4:19.

4th km was much faster. With the wind at my back and a gentle descent, I got a second wind. The 4th marker was measured as being 969m with a split of 3:57 which was 4:04 pace.

Last km was Ok. I played back and forth with one guy. He ended up passing me for good with about 200m to go and I just didn't feel like trying to pass him again. The last split measured as being 964m with a split of 4:01 for 4:10 pace.

So overall time was 21:06 which was 4:13 pace or 6:47 min/mile. The highest the HR got was 188 which was during km 4 where I averaged 186. My average was less than 185 for all the other ones. I know that my max is probably around 192 and I'm not sure how much extra speed I could have obtained by maxing the effort level. I came in 3rd in my age category and won a medal! There were only three people in my age category, but hey that's not my problem. I'll take what i can get. You can see the race here.

I was able to average 6:46 pace for a 10km about a year ago, so this is somewhat frustrating. Of course at this point last year, I had just come off of BQ'ing and a good marathon training cycle and had a lot of endurance. Now, not so much with the junk milies that I've been putting in while readying for my Boston and Ottawa marathon fun-runs.

I was thinking of trying again next week, and though I probably could have run it a little faster, the truth of the matter is that I'm pretty sure I could not have raced it a minute faster to get below 20 minutes. As a result, the sub-2o attempt will have to wait a little while until I can get my LT threshold back to a level similar to where it was last year. Not sure how long it'll take, but I'm hoping that a month of marathon training will be sufficient.