Fem 10 race report
Aug. 21st, 2010 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ilanaramaThis morning I ran the Fem 10, a small women-only 10K that I ran two years ago with a time of 51:28. That's the only 10K I have run in the past 20 years, and I don't have records of my time in the ones I did in the '80s (nor remember how I did) so I was calling that my PR - or I would, if I weren't embarrassed to admit it, because I have become so much faster that I have since run three half-marathons with faster paces. So I was looking forward to a chance to retest myself at the 10K distance.
I ran a 5K 2 weeks ago, so I plugged that time into the Runworks calculator, which spat out 47:08 as the equivalent 10K time - that is, if I was equally trained for both distances, it would represent an identical effort. So that was what I was shooting for, which translated to about a 7:35 pace. The course is steeply downhill for the first two miles, slightly downhill for a mile, uphill for mile 4, slightly uphill for mile 5, then steeply uphill to the end, so my plan was to try to do 7:15 for the first two miles, and hope to hang on for the rest.
I bicycled to the Durango Sports Club, where the race started and finished, locked my bike, and ran a 1.5 mile warm-up. It was around 60 degrees but already quite sunny and I knew it would soon feel hot.
There were about 60 women, maybe 1/3 walkers who started a half hour before the runners. I lined up near the front with several familiar faces - there was Trish, who won 2 years ago, Sam, who was the only non-HS/college runner to beat me at the 5K, and Marjorie, who is the president of our running club and with whom I have a friendly rivalry. (She's 8 years older than I am but usually kicks my butt.) We took off at the "go" and soon a sort of lead pack of 6 of us formed, two by two - and I was in the back two. I very consciously tried to keep from running too fast, even though it felt so easy at this point.
Another runner suddenly came zooming by me, and I was in seventh place. Okay. I was already running a little fast for my plan, so I just tried to stay calm and easy as the first mile ticked off on my Garmin at 7:12. (There were no mile marks. This is a very small race!) Down to the corner by the river, turn left, and head for the bike path. Just before the path, at the end of the second mile (7:21), was the first aid station. I grabbed a cup of water and managed to get about two gulps into me.
The path was crowded with not only the race's slower walkers, but also with the usual collection of walkers, runners, cyclists, families, kids on tricycles, parents pushing strollers, dogs, skateboarders, and wheelchair users. This made staying on pace a bit of a challenge, but I didn't actually bump into anyone (okay, not even close) and soon my Garmin clicked off mile 3 (7:40).
We crossed a bridge, left the path, and headed up a steep hill. This area was undergoing a lot of road reconstruction, but the sidewalk had already been built, and that was where we were to run. Unfortunately, this was a bit of a choke point, as there were barriers on both sides of the sidewalk - and this was where I started passing the bulk of the early-start runners. Luckily I was huffing and puffing like a steam engine, so they heard me coming and parted like the Red Sea.
This was also where I finally caught up to and passed one of the women who had been ahead of me. Then I passed the woman who had blazed by me around mile 1 - it turned out she had just been sprinting to catch up with her daughter, who was about 6 years old and who met her at mile 3 to run the rest of the way in. So I was in 5th place.
Because of the road construction they had cones set up to direct us through a parking lot, where an aid station was set up - but the woman there was standing on the far side, watching the runners ahead. When I called out for water, she was nowhere near the table, and although she ran back and grabbed a pitcher to fill a cup (I know, WTF, didn't even have them prefilled?) I was by her before she even had the cup in her hand. Oh, well. Then there was a short, steep climb out of the parking lot and up a dirt bank to the road above, and that completely cooked me - my HR shot up and I felt faint, and when I hit the road I had to take it easy for a little while before resuming my pace. Fortunately, I could see Marjorie and another runner I didn't know ahead of me, and they had clearly been affected the same way, so it didn't cost me any relative time, even though it resulted in the worst split of the race for me, mile 4 in 8:18.
The road was mostly flat for a while, and I passed the woman I didn't know. I could see Marjorie up ahead just passing Sam. It was clear Sam was slowing down, and a little after the end of the 5th mile (7:38), just as the course turned right and we headed back up the hill we'd come down to begin with, I passed her to take third place.
On the uphill I just put my head down and worked. I was closing the distance to Marjorie, but she still had a good lead and I felt as though if I pushed too hard I'd blow up. Or throw up. Or something. I had stopped looking at my watch or HRM, and didn't even look when it beeped that mile 6 was done (in 7:41). I still had a little ways to go, and it was still uphill.
I crossed the line 4 seconds behind Marjorie at 47:22, feeling like I was going to puke - I sat down almost immediately and very seriously considered going off into the bushes so as not to mess up the nice front steps of the sports club, but the feeling passed after a moment or two.
I came in at 3rd place, but as luck would have it they only gave awards to the top TWO, both runners and walkers. But they had a race-number drawing for all sorts of wonderful prizes, including gift certificates to restaurants, free SHOES, and so on. I was the very last winner drawn, and got...a T-shirt. Size large, too big for me. Oh, well, guess I'll donate it to the thrift store.
By the numbers:
Total time 47:22.
I ran a 5K 2 weeks ago, so I plugged that time into the Runworks calculator, which spat out 47:08 as the equivalent 10K time - that is, if I was equally trained for both distances, it would represent an identical effort. So that was what I was shooting for, which translated to about a 7:35 pace. The course is steeply downhill for the first two miles, slightly downhill for a mile, uphill for mile 4, slightly uphill for mile 5, then steeply uphill to the end, so my plan was to try to do 7:15 for the first two miles, and hope to hang on for the rest.
I bicycled to the Durango Sports Club, where the race started and finished, locked my bike, and ran a 1.5 mile warm-up. It was around 60 degrees but already quite sunny and I knew it would soon feel hot.
There were about 60 women, maybe 1/3 walkers who started a half hour before the runners. I lined up near the front with several familiar faces - there was Trish, who won 2 years ago, Sam, who was the only non-HS/college runner to beat me at the 5K, and Marjorie, who is the president of our running club and with whom I have a friendly rivalry. (She's 8 years older than I am but usually kicks my butt.) We took off at the "go" and soon a sort of lead pack of 6 of us formed, two by two - and I was in the back two. I very consciously tried to keep from running too fast, even though it felt so easy at this point.
Another runner suddenly came zooming by me, and I was in seventh place. Okay. I was already running a little fast for my plan, so I just tried to stay calm and easy as the first mile ticked off on my Garmin at 7:12. (There were no mile marks. This is a very small race!) Down to the corner by the river, turn left, and head for the bike path. Just before the path, at the end of the second mile (7:21), was the first aid station. I grabbed a cup of water and managed to get about two gulps into me.
The path was crowded with not only the race's slower walkers, but also with the usual collection of walkers, runners, cyclists, families, kids on tricycles, parents pushing strollers, dogs, skateboarders, and wheelchair users. This made staying on pace a bit of a challenge, but I didn't actually bump into anyone (okay, not even close) and soon my Garmin clicked off mile 3 (7:40).
We crossed a bridge, left the path, and headed up a steep hill. This area was undergoing a lot of road reconstruction, but the sidewalk had already been built, and that was where we were to run. Unfortunately, this was a bit of a choke point, as there were barriers on both sides of the sidewalk - and this was where I started passing the bulk of the early-start runners. Luckily I was huffing and puffing like a steam engine, so they heard me coming and parted like the Red Sea.
This was also where I finally caught up to and passed one of the women who had been ahead of me. Then I passed the woman who had blazed by me around mile 1 - it turned out she had just been sprinting to catch up with her daughter, who was about 6 years old and who met her at mile 3 to run the rest of the way in. So I was in 5th place.
Because of the road construction they had cones set up to direct us through a parking lot, where an aid station was set up - but the woman there was standing on the far side, watching the runners ahead. When I called out for water, she was nowhere near the table, and although she ran back and grabbed a pitcher to fill a cup (I know, WTF, didn't even have them prefilled?) I was by her before she even had the cup in her hand. Oh, well. Then there was a short, steep climb out of the parking lot and up a dirt bank to the road above, and that completely cooked me - my HR shot up and I felt faint, and when I hit the road I had to take it easy for a little while before resuming my pace. Fortunately, I could see Marjorie and another runner I didn't know ahead of me, and they had clearly been affected the same way, so it didn't cost me any relative time, even though it resulted in the worst split of the race for me, mile 4 in 8:18.
The road was mostly flat for a while, and I passed the woman I didn't know. I could see Marjorie up ahead just passing Sam. It was clear Sam was slowing down, and a little after the end of the 5th mile (7:38), just as the course turned right and we headed back up the hill we'd come down to begin with, I passed her to take third place.
On the uphill I just put my head down and worked. I was closing the distance to Marjorie, but she still had a good lead and I felt as though if I pushed too hard I'd blow up. Or throw up. Or something. I had stopped looking at my watch or HRM, and didn't even look when it beeped that mile 6 was done (in 7:41). I still had a little ways to go, and it was still uphill.
I crossed the line 4 seconds behind Marjorie at 47:22, feeling like I was going to puke - I sat down almost immediately and very seriously considered going off into the bushes so as not to mess up the nice front steps of the sports club, but the feeling passed after a moment or two.
I came in at 3rd place, but as luck would have it they only gave awards to the top TWO, both runners and walkers. But they had a race-number drawing for all sorts of wonderful prizes, including gift certificates to restaurants, free SHOES, and so on. I was the very last winner drawn, and got...a T-shirt. Size large, too big for me. Oh, well, guess I'll donate it to the thrift store.
By the numbers:
| Mile | pace | avg HR | avg %WHR | max HR | max %WHR |
| 1 | 7:12 | 152 | 74 | 158 | 79 |
| 2 | 7:21 | 160 | 81 | 167 | 87 |
| 3 | 7:40 | 165 | 84 | 169 | 88 |
| 4 | 8:18 | 167 | 86 | 172 | 91 |
| 5 | 7:38 | 169 | 88 | 172 | 91 |
| 6 | 7:41 | 169 | 88 | 173 | 91 |
| .2 | 8:03 | 170 | 88 | 172 | 91 |
Total time 47:22.