putting it all out there
Aug. 29th, 2009 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ilanaramaThe Imogene Pass Run is two weeks away. (I did it last year. It was the most fun I have ever had while wanting to throw up.) With this kind of a race, it's hard to estimate how one is going to do, but I'll put my goals out here now:
I am going to aim for 3:45.
I will be happy with anything under 4 hours.
I will be not entirely unhappy as long as I beat last year's time of 4:11.
I've been somewhat obsessive looking at my performance last year in terms of how fast (or really, how slow) I went depending on the gradient, mile by mile, and comparing it with my paces in comparable training runs and races (although elevation is a big factor it's hard to account for). I've looked at calculators that purport to take this sort of stuff into account. I made ratios between other people's Imogene and Kennebec times. And then I made up some numbers.
So, the first 5.5 miles have a grade of about 350 ft/mile. I ran this at about 13:30 last year; I'm thinking I can manage 12:30 or maybe a little faster here, saving 5:30. The next 2 miles have a grade of about 680 ft/mile, which I ran at about 19:45 (that is, I walked). I think I can save at least a minute and a half per mile here and walk at around 17:30-18:15. Then the last 2.5 to the summit are brutal and average 785 ft/mile and not much oxygen as we approach 13,120 ft. I don't have anything that really corresponds to this difficulty with the altitude, but by futzing with comparable climbs at 7,300 and at 11,300 feet I am guessing/hoping/pulling numbers out of my ass that I will be able to greatly improve my 26+ minute pace to 20-22, saving quite a bit of time. So I'm hoping to get to the summit anywhere between 15 and 25 minutes faster than last year.
Then comes the downhill. I don't think I can improve on the first two miles, which are steep and rocky. Then the gradient eases off; the next three miles are still technical but the last two are basically a rough gravel road. I'm hoping that I can pick up from around 10:45 to maybe 10:00 in the technical part, and from 9:45 to 8:45-9:15 on the last bit. So I might be able to improve by another 3-5 minutes or so on the downhill.
Of course, the weather will be a factor - if it's pouring rain or snowing, all bets are off. I dunno. I'm hoping it's reasonably nice and I have a reasonably good race. I'm meeting a bunch of other women from the running website I hang out on, so it will be a good time no matter what.
(But it will be a better time if I have a good time. :-)
I am going to aim for 3:45.
I will be happy with anything under 4 hours.
I will be not entirely unhappy as long as I beat last year's time of 4:11.
I've been somewhat obsessive looking at my performance last year in terms of how fast (or really, how slow) I went depending on the gradient, mile by mile, and comparing it with my paces in comparable training runs and races (although elevation is a big factor it's hard to account for). I've looked at calculators that purport to take this sort of stuff into account. I made ratios between other people's Imogene and Kennebec times. And then I made up some numbers.
So, the first 5.5 miles have a grade of about 350 ft/mile. I ran this at about 13:30 last year; I'm thinking I can manage 12:30 or maybe a little faster here, saving 5:30. The next 2 miles have a grade of about 680 ft/mile, which I ran at about 19:45 (that is, I walked). I think I can save at least a minute and a half per mile here and walk at around 17:30-18:15. Then the last 2.5 to the summit are brutal and average 785 ft/mile and not much oxygen as we approach 13,120 ft. I don't have anything that really corresponds to this difficulty with the altitude, but by futzing with comparable climbs at 7,300 and at 11,300 feet I am guessing/hoping/pulling numbers out of my ass that I will be able to greatly improve my 26+ minute pace to 20-22, saving quite a bit of time. So I'm hoping to get to the summit anywhere between 15 and 25 minutes faster than last year.
Then comes the downhill. I don't think I can improve on the first two miles, which are steep and rocky. Then the gradient eases off; the next three miles are still technical but the last two are basically a rough gravel road. I'm hoping that I can pick up from around 10:45 to maybe 10:00 in the technical part, and from 9:45 to 8:45-9:15 on the last bit. So I might be able to improve by another 3-5 minutes or so on the downhill.
Of course, the weather will be a factor - if it's pouring rain or snowing, all bets are off. I dunno. I'm hoping it's reasonably nice and I have a reasonably good race. I'm meeting a bunch of other women from the running website I hang out on, so it will be a good time no matter what.
(But it will be a better time if I have a good time. :-)