Day 9 - Okanagan 10k Race

I had a plan and I stuck with it! Yay!

This was my first 10km race and I had no idea what I could do but I was kind of hoping to be under an hour. My previous fastest 10km training run was around 1:04 I think. There was no way to find out except to get out there and do it.

Pre Race, Weather and Gear

I got up around 6am and had half cup coffee and a banana. Erik was still deciding if he was going to be able to race or not but his back was feeling better this morning so we were hoping for the best.

It was mostly cloudy with a hope of some sun, about 10C as we left the house and got up to a high of about 14C by the end of the race with a few rain sprinkles now and again. I decided to wear my tights and a LS tech shirt instead of my warmer jersey, and in the end, I even decided against the vest and my headband. I probably could have worn shorts and even a short sleeve shirt but I was not uncomfortable.

I taped up my right ankle and shin quite well with KT Tape and thought my legs were feeling pretty good this morning. I was optimistic I'd have a decent race.

As usual, I took my handheld water bottle with half a Nuun tablet and I had a chocolate Hammer gel to take 15 minutes before the race, mainly because I don't eat much breakfast. 

We left the house around 7:10am, parked in the Chapman Parkade, and walked 2 blocks to the race start. I hit the porto-potties twice (as usual) but the lines were not bad at all.  We checked our gear and got to the race start line.  Erik went ahead to the :50 pace group and I positioned myself just behind the 1:00 pace group.  It was narrow and crowded in the chute and it took me 30 seconds to reach the starting line but once we were on the road, it was fine.

The Plan:

Run first 2km at 6:15km
Run next 6km at 5:45/km
Run 2km whatever I can do but keep it under 6:00/km.
Goal time: 59:45

The Race

Once we hit the road, there was a huge ability spread amongst the runners and I did not really feel much pressure to run too fast. That being said, I wasn't able to stay at 6:15 as planned, but I figured I was close enough, and my HR was in zone 2 for those two warm up kms.

(FYI - 6:15/km = 10 min mile,  6:00/km = 9:39 mile. 5:45/km = 9:15 mile)

My Splits:
1km - 6:03
2km - 6:09
3km - 5:38
4km - 5:45
5km - 5:43 (5 km split time - 29:18)
6km - 5:48
7km - 5:47
8km - 5:51
9km - 5:43
10km - 5:32 (2nd 5km was 28:45 - neg split)
extra .05km - :15


My Times

Chip time: 58:20  <--yahoo!!!
Gun Time: 58:57

My Stats

288/706 overall
135/422 women
10/63 age group (50-59)  (WOW, I was really happy to be in the top ten for this age group!)

I'm so happy with my result - I felt good and strong and was able to keep on going even when it got tough for the last 3-4 km.

My heart rate was in zone 2 for first 2km, then zone 3, 4, 5 for the last 8 km. I think my pacing plan went well for this race. If I was better trained, I could probably go out harder from the beginning but for today, I was happy to be able to negative split the race and finish strong and fast.

I figure if I was able to actually train for a 10k race, I'd be able to come closer to 55 minutes. Erik wants us to go to Vancouver and do a 10k race around the seawall at the end of November so if we do, maybe I can improve my time.

I'd post about Erik's race, but maybe it would be better if we push him to blog about it himself. :)  Email him at kelownaguy@gmail.com to give him a little encouragement. :)