Bob Coleman Winter Run (10K)
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Bob Coleman Winter Run (10K) - Run10k
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Comments: This is my best run to date. Some of my thinking is below: I'd built up to this doing some negative split runs of 4.0 miles or less on the Y dreadmill. I was very concerned at the start that the cold would make my bronchitis act up and impair my breathing, and I was sorted in the pack during the first mile or so, I felt short of breath, and this worried me... But there was a very good reason. I hit the Mile 1 marker, checked my watch, and I'd gone out at an 8:35 pace. Brain says "YEAH! This is great but tooooooo fast bucko." Legs felt great, and I realized the reason I was short of breath was because I was kicking ass pacewise (for me). So mentally, I settled down and my breathing sorted itself out. With NO wheezing! Throttled it back a little, but I had a watch split of 17:45 at Mile 2. Awesome. Sub 9:00 miles... and I started to think, if I continue to feel this good, I'm going to blow away last month's time on this course... maybe even go sub 55:00. My 2nd fastest 10K was 20+ years ago as a 20something, almost 56:00, and I'm starting to have delusions at this point that I'll beat that. Experimented a bit with leaning forward more and increasing my run cadence and I do run faster like that but my knees don't like that running style, so I only used this when I wanted to pass someone. I didn't get dropped much in the race after the pack sorted itself out. Got close to the turnaround and noticed something VERY nice... for a change, I wasn't seeing the leader 'early', but with the turnaround in visual range. Hit the turnaround at 27:00 something, and as I'm running around the dude playing Human Pylon, I look back and see Ashley, the 30 year old running acquaintance of mine that's kicked my ass in 3 races BEHIND me. She's a good runner, so having her 50 yards back, I knew that I was kicking butt and taking names today. Kept my head down and focused on not losing speed/ground in the 2nd half. I really quit paying attention to splits and kept focused on staying strong. I felt strong and in control the whole time and I would experiment with pushing pace/cadence in tiny bits to see what I could maintain. I dropped another 2 people but got dropped by 3 others 2/10ths of a mile from the finish. I saw the numbers in the 54:00s, but I'd really laid it out and I didn't have the gas for a sprint at the end, but flashed in at 55:15 for the 2nd fastest 10K of my life. Not bad for a 45 year old old fart. I was smiling, tired, but not looking like I was going to puke at the finish... like I usually do. What would you do differently?: I could've pushed the 2nd half pace a smidgen more, but this was my best footrace that I've done so far since 1/2006, no question. ![]() Post race
Warm down: Grabbed a few cups of water and hung out. Warmed down QUICKLY as the temp was still barely above freezing with the sun, walked to the car. changed into a dry shirt and drove home. My left knee was a little sore, I'll have to watch that. I didn't take any water during the race... I really didn't want water splashed on my clothes in sub-freezing temps.. so my left calf did cramp a little at Mile 5 but I just ignored it and pushed through. What limited your ability to perform faster: I could lose 10 pounds, but now that I'm starting to run train smarter, I just need to do MORE of it. And lose 10 pounds. I should've chased those two 30something ponytails that passed me in the last mile HARDER. LOL Event comments: Of all of the races I've done since 1/2006, this is my best race so far. It wasn't a PB, but... 2nd best PB isn't bad :) This is the first time I've felt like I was really racing and competitive within my limits rather than just merely surviving to the end. Its a great feeling! I'll edit the report with the placings when its posted online tomorrow. WOOT! UPDATE: Overall 73/118 and 9/10 AG. Its so much fun to be in the most competitive AG. I still have a lot of work to do though running wise, but at least I'm starting to sniff the back of the MOP :) Last updated: 2007-01-13 12:00 AM
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United States
MS Track CLub
25F / -4C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 73/118
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 9/10
Woke up at 4:30 am. While that's rather early for a race that's 25 minutes drive time from my house, for a change I'd gotten PLENTY of sleep last night and Thursday night. In other words, I wasn't fighting tiredness as I puttered around getting awake and ready.
Now, as I'd posted on my blog, the original plan was to spin the trainer gently before the run to 'warm up' - eat, get a shower, then drive to the race site... but I opted for a little more sleep before grabbing a bowl of fake Cheerios with skim milk, hitting the shower, and driving out to the race site. Slipped on a tshirt, long-sleeve wicking shirt, lightweight tights on under my running shorts, and made sure my iPOD was ready to go.
It was COLD, unlike last year, we actually had winter like weather for the run, cold for Mississippi, 25F but clear and dry. Frost was covering everything as the sun came up and I drove over to the Natchez Trace, where the race was.
Got there, slipped on my black leather jacket and jogged the 1/8th of a mile (totally Wild Ass Guess as far as distance goes) to get my packet. I was STYLING, dudes and dudettes! Thought briefly about keeping it on for the race LOL - but I can assure you I was the only person doing a jogging warmup with a black leather jacket on LOL. Pinned on my # (my race belt broke last month at the Mississippi Marathon 10K, and I figured screw it in terms of buying one until tri-season), and listened to Michael Angelo Batio shred while I did some light jogging and a couple of all-out sprints to loosen up my legs.