Hot Chocolate 15k - Run15k


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Dallas, Texas
United States
Ram Racing
30F / -1C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 05m 47s
Overall Rank = 82/3209
Age Group = M 40-44
Age Group Rank = 9/159
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 5am, took a shower and got ready. Had a bag of Powerbar Gummy bear-like snacks. Left the house at 5:40am No traffic and was parked before 6:30am. Since the weather was freezing (literally) - air temp was 32F and windy - I just hung around at the bag check area. Race attire for this 30F race was a balaclava and beanie for my head (was gone after mile 4), Nike spandex shirt with long sleeves, running vest and Capo arm warmers for the upper body, and my Pearl Izumi tights and Balega wool socks for the feet. Also wore the Saucony glove/mittens. In hindsight, it was a very good idea not to wear anything thicker and wear the arm warmers as I needed to lower them near the end of the race.

As far as taper, I swam on Thursday (longest swim ever) but didn't do any running or biking the 2 days before this race. I think that was a good thing to do as I was running pretty easily at the mid 160 bpm HR range.
Event warmup:

Did a little bit of jogging around and stretching indoors before the start. I wore a trash bag as a windbreaker. Lined up in the middle of the first corral for the 15K runners.
Run
  • 1h 05m 47s
  • 9.32 miles
  • 07m 04s  min/mile
Comments:

Coming into this run, I knew I was under trained due to the injury setbacks from the last couple of months. I had finally gotten my long run to 9 miles just last weekend. However, my last 15K race was about 18 months ago and I have a lot more miles under my belt since then so I knew that I was likely to do better than my 1:13 PR (about 7:54/mile pace). My race plan was to run around 7:15-7:20/mile and then figure it out from there.

I started in the first corral, in the middle since I knew all the fast people needed to be up front (yup - those that were wearing singlets and running shorts in sub-freezing temps). I made myself slow down the first mile since I didn't really warm up and clicked off a 7:20 pace. I started ramping up the pace and seemed comfortable right at 7:10 so I just kept it around there until the end of the first 5K. They had a clock running at every mile (which was great!). 1st 5K Split: 22:19

The middle 5K of the race was where I was doing just great. I kept my HR pretty even but the speed started to build. Perhaps it was a mistake and I may have gone a bit faster than I should've (Mile 5 was a blistering 6:37 pace but it was probably mostly downhill) but my HR was still the same as Mile 3 so I thought it was just fine. Around Mile 4, I was getting hot so off came the beanie cap, then right around 10K, I took off my balaclava also as I was starting to get too warm. I think I took a quick 3-4 second break by walking the water station at Mile 6 which made the 10K split PR even more amazing.2nd 5K split: 21:27 (my 10K time for this race was actually a 10K PR by a few seconds - 43:46).

On the last 3rd of the race, my lack of long run training started showing up as everything was still going fine until about 7.5 miles through, then then I felt a very slight strain/tightness near my quad/IT-band area and I started to lack confidence that I can really push. I tried focusing on my form, and started to tell myself to be happy that I am definitely going to PR and just finish without injury. I tried to run smoother and see whether that would help but I can almost hear my right leg telling me "I'm just at the edge of getting hurt so don't get greedy!". I backed of the pace after 7.5 to around 7:15 for the next mile and a half. With just about 300m or so left, I thought that the race deserved at least a decent finish so ramped up to 6:30 at the finish straight as I started chasing down my 1:07 "awesome race" goal. Final 5K Split: 21:59

I was definitely happy with this race as my official time was 1:05:47. This is the first race where I beat my McMillan predicted time since that 5K on Dec 2010 so I get to reset all my training paces now!

15 months ago, I ran my first (and only until today) 15K race: 1:13:13. After continuing to be a triathlete (which means I spread my training between swim/bike/run), I now have a new PR of 1:05:47 - a 7 1/2 minute improvement! I ran well enough that a sub 1:35 half-marathon was there today so this was definitely one of my best races yet!



What would you do differently?:

Get more volume in. My long run prior to this race was just 9 miles. Another 3 weeks to train and get it up to 12 miles or so would've made a difference with durability and not fading after 7.5 miles.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked after the finish, grabbed a bottle of water and then jogged to the heated indoor post-race area. Picked up my bag at check-in, downed a recovery shake and then enjoyed the chocolate fondue and hot chocolate available at the end!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of long runs as I was coming back from injury.

Event comments:

I think RAM racing did a great job with this first Hot Chocolate race in Dallas. Granted it was expensive, the course was well marked, they had a lot of volunteers, a water station every 2 miles or so, and great post-race food. The crowds were pretty thin though so you didn't get as much of an adrenaline boost like the White Rock or Rock'n'Roll half-marathon that I ran early last year. I would definitely do this race again!




Last updated: 2011-12-05 12:00 AM
Running
01:05:47 | 9.32 miles | 07m 04s  min/mile
Age Group: 9/159
Overall: 82/3209
Performance: Good
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/148753352
Course: Loop
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4