Above everything this was a good run and a new PR.

The Course

The course is all on city/suburban streets. The course plays out as:

750m from the start steady up hill.
Downhill to about 2.5km
Hill over the highway
Downhill or flat to about 8km. This is the lakeside section which is winding on suburban streets and so while flat was the section with packed snow on some uncleared streets.
8km mark then climbs back over the highway and then again in km 9 up to the finish.

The day

Temps at the start were -10C and pre race morning had been -16C. Wind-chill was only a factor on the lakeside sections. Dazzling sunshine made things better.
A small turnout of 85 for the 10k but bigger groups in the 3k and HM. The pack pickup was busy but well organised as is typical for the Subaru Series.

Gear

I wore my 2XU tri shorts over some running tights. Plus normal socks and shoes. A high necked base layer, a twill long sleeved thermal layer and a loose long sleeved tech shirt. In all my clothes were perfect. Never suffered in the cold and never overheated. Hit the sweet spot just right. I had an ordinary beanie on and a snood style neck tube which I swapped out for an ordinary scarf that I had tucked in my fuel belt. The tube proved too restrictive around my neck but it had been superb for keeping the cold out before I warmed up. Considering the layers and gear needed for keeping -10C out I had a good run with no discomfort. Hooray for body glide!


The Race

I was dreaming about breaking 50mins but a lack of mileage and to poor surface saw me finish in 51:19. This is still more then 2 minutes off my PR and proves there is still a lot of fat to trim off my PR for this distance.
I started well on km splits between 4:45 and 5 mins per km. I found some discomfort in my diaphragm at abut 3km which turned out just to be a burp! Otherwise some good self-talk kept me going. On 3km I took water for a station and slowed my pace slightly to drink it. It had ice in it!!! -10C plus wind chill and they hand you ice water!! I ditched it but was annoyed to waste time on it.
Somehow forgot to take splits at 5, 6 and 7 kms and was also distracted by two girls who desperately wanted to pass me and then run at a pace below my target. We could not have been more then 1 or seconds apart on pace but they did not want to follow.
Felt really good on the uphill last 2km sections and finished strong. However a grey haired guy did pass me on 9.5km and I let him go figuring he was in a different age group.


Post race

A great race where a Tim Horton’s donut is among the perks of good post race food. I found out the guy who passed me on 9.5km piped me for an age group medal by 6 seconds. Boo. But my brother-in-law did get 1st place in his age group!



Overall

2 minutes off my PR is awesome for a midwinter cold race on a poor surface. My planning and mental control was much better and if I had kept my head to get lap times on the middle kms I am sure I could have worked on sub 50. I know I can carve a huge chunk out of this getting in form for my summer 10k which is in June. A great warm up for my 15km relay segment at Around the Bay in 6 weeks.


Train :-)

Didnt warm down much at the race but did join my family for a swim and hot tub which was fantastic.


Limited winter training mileage has hurt my form.
Also the slippery snow conditions stopped you realy getting the hammer down on the flat sections.


Lucky to have this as my local series.