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Sunday, October 7, 2012

TC 10 Mile Race Report


Short Version – 1:09:04 PR by 52 seconds

Long Version

Came into this race with decent run fitness, and some up and down results throughout the summer.  No great run race results, but I have had some good results from triathlons so I was thinking I had a 50/50 shot at a PR.  The weather was decent for the race with very cool temps (30 at the start) and the wind would not be a headwind for us.

Pre-Race

Nothing special here.  Wake up and have my standard two pieces of toast and some Gatorade and water.  Head to downtown and park in a nearby ramp.  Walk over to the Dome…  Of course, seeing tailgaters for the 3:20 Vikings game already setup at 6:00 am was a little bit of a surprise. 

Once in the dome I ran into Dave and wished him luck.  Then I went to look for a short bathroom line.  I found one where I walked right in and did my business.  Once that was over with I finalized my race wardrobe and headed to the exit.  Ran into a few other runners I knew and said hello, and then made it to the bag drop and on to the start line.  When I got to the corral I bumped into Kraig and we chatted a bit.  Wished each other luck and off to find the correct spot to start my race from.  I also took in my gel and some more Gatorade to finalize my pre-race fueling.

Off We Go

On your marks, go…  With that we all started running.  I was close to the front (12 seconds to the mat) and had no trouble with the crowd.  Quickly got into my groove and tried to not take the race out too fast as is typical for me.  Take advantage of the downhill, but don’t burn yourself up is all I was thinking.  As we were going through the second mile I started to peel my outer shirt I was wearing just for that purpose.  I wanted to be ready at the aid station to ditch it.  Up the steep hill to the bridge I simply concentrated on keeping the feet turning over and soon enough I was on the bridge heading to the water stop at mile 3.  Ditched the shirt and grabbed a water making good time.  Knowing what was ahead I wanted to work on staying smooth on mile 4 and then really stay strong and not slow down too much on the hills.  When I hit the halfway mark I saw 34:XX on my watch and was pleased.  I had a little in the bank, but I did not want to waste it on the hills. 

Through the three miles of uphill I worked hard on staying strong and was glad to see my slowest mile was 7:10 in this section.  Exactly what I wanted to do.  When I got to the flat area at the top I tried to put in a little push as I was feeling good probably due to the cool temperatures.  My last three mile splits were all good and led me to a negative split for the race. 

Finish

I knew I would have a PR as I was approaching the finish line so I was very happy.  When I saw how close I came to 1:08 I wished I had a little more somewhere, but overall a great race for me.

Post Race

Right at the finish I saw Dave again and he said he did a 1:04 and was very pleased with his race.  Roger was right behind me at the finish and we all congratulated each other on a strong race.  With the temps still being chilly, I went off to get my dry clothes and needed to bail out so I did not freeze.  I went and caught a bus back to the start line and back to the hotel for a shower.  Overall, a great day at the races…

Details

Here are the mile splits.  Overall, I was very pleased with my pacing for the race.  I came through the five mile mark in 34:47 official time so 17 seconds of the extra 28 belongs spread out in the first five and the other 11 gets split up over the last five mile splits.  Bottom line, I managed a well paced negative split effort.

6:41 – mile 1 adrenaline and a little bit of a downhill.
6:40 – solid downhill mile, try not too go out too fast now.
7:13 – toughest single hill on the course getting up to the Franklin Ave. Bridge.
6:52 – nice flat mile to get back to pace before the hills start.
7:04 – start of the hills.
7:10 – work on staying strong as there is another mile of these hills.
7:01 – last mile with real hills in it.
6:44 – course flattens out, time to get back to pace.
6:45 – hold the pace because I know mile 10 is downhill and quick.
6:22 – let gravity help on the downhill, and give it everything I got.
0:28 – miscellaneous GPS time/distance.

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