Not a bad effort today. The race started at 7:30am so it was early enough to avoid the worst of the anticipated high July 4th temperatures. I arrived about an hour before the race was due to start, picked up my race number, champion chip and event t-shirt and went off on an easy two mile warm up. My legs felt ok during the warm up, but I’ve definitely felt better.
Race time soon came around and before I knew it we were off and running. I settled in the pack for the first half mile or so before picking up the pace and reaching the one mile mark in 5:36; a little quicker than anticipated, but the pace felt ok.
Second mile was into the wind and a little slower (5:40), but with just over a mile to go I was still feeling strong yet relaxed. I think fatigue kicked in with about half a mile to go and all of a sudden my legs felt heavy and my cadence dropped.
The course had us cruelly pass the finish line to complete a short out and back, before passing the three mile mark and kicking for home. Mile three split was a much slower 5:59, but I still managed to cross the line in a chip time of 17:59; 10th overall and 1st place in the 40-44 age group.
Not a bad effort and with a maximum heart rate of only 170 beats per minute during the race, I know there’s plenty left in the tank if I can just my legs to go a bit quicker!
At least now I have an accurate race time to calculate my marathon training paces for the McMillan 20-week plan. Actually I’ve been basing my training off an 18:00 5k time, so I guess I won’t have to adjust my times too much…
Happy July 4th everyone!
Nice… Good run man. You have a lot of races in your area, huh?
Every week if you want ’em. I’ll have to be more selective now I’m marathon training though.
Looking forward to next week’s Muddy Buddy with my wife:
http://muddybuddy.com/
“two buddies, one mountain bike, one mondo mud pit = the best time of your life”
fun, fun, fun…
–steve
I’m so jealous of the huge amount of races you guys have. We are lucky to get one a month around here.
You are seriously fast Steve! I’m in awe as always.
To be honest, one a month is probably better for me than one a week! I really enjoy racing though….
I try. The older I get, the harder I seem to try.
Thanks once again for the comment,
–Steve
Steve,
Congratulations on another fine race and first in your AG. A little jealous that I wasn’t running.
Hope you two have a great race at the Muddy Buddy…I’m sure you both with have fun. Who doesn’t have fun in the mud?
Charlie