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Arbutus Spring Fling 5K - Run5k


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Arbutus, Maryland
United States
50F / 10C
Sunny
Total Time = 23m 44s
Overall Rank = 19/135
Age Group = M40-49
Age Group Rank = 4/10
Pre-race routine:

Had a really fitful night's sleep. Woke up around 6...ate an apple and had some coffee. Food didn't sit real well.

I was hoping for low 23s, based on my fitness level and course, but this week's bike accident caused a bit of drama.

Event warmup:

Ran about a mile for warm-up and stretched. Ran some strides to get speedy. Legs were dead...not sure how this was going to work out.

Race plan was to hammer the first flat mile, hang on the second mile uphill, the use the downhills to stride out the third mile and kick the last quarter.
Run
  • 23m 44s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 07m 38s  min/mile
Comments:

This is a 5K, which means it's all about how much pain you're willing to endure. The plan was to hammer the first mile, which is almost completely flat. I went out at around 6:00 pace for the first 600 or so, then settled into low 7:00s. My legs were spent already so I knew this wasn't going to be my day.

Made the turn to start the uphill second mile and I felt like I was climbing a mountain. My pace slowed into the mid-8:00s and there was nothing I could do about it. I pushed it all I could to get up to the top of the hill and then just relaxed the first 1/8 mile of downhill.

The next half mile went pretty well. I got my pace down into the low 7:00s, which still wasn't anywhere near fast enough to make up for that crappy 2nd mile. At this point I was running with one guy (this apparently would become important later...) with no one within 100 yards of us either way. I passed this guy (a police officer named Tom...as he had a bunch of cheering sections along the route) and stayed about 5 yards ahead of him up the last hill before the 1/2 mile downhill finish. I started extending my stride on the downhill, getting below 7:00 for the first time since about 2 min into the race. I really didn't feel like hammering out the end and kept a controlled, long stride and was in the mid-6:00s with about 200 yards to go. The guy behind me just HAMMERED the last 200...I kicked it out (last 0.13 was like at 5:30 pace) but he still beat me by 4 seconds.

Turns out those 4 seconds cost me an AG podium spot. Dang it!!!

Also got beat by an 11 year old and a 12 year old.
What would you do differently?:

Not get into a self-caused bike spill three days before the race.
Post race
Warm down:

Drank some water and went home (2 miles away). Stretched for 10-15 minutes and tried not to puke. Wasn't feeling good at all.

After a few more minutes I ate a bagel and felt better.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not enough sleep, bike injuries, and not enough HTFU on the second mile.




Last updated: 2011-04-20 12:00 AM
Running
00:23:44 | 03.11 miles | 07m 38s  min/mile
Age Group: 4/10
Overall: 20/135
Performance: Average
7:10 first mile 8:10 second mile 7:33 third mile
Course: Flat first mile, uphill second mile, downhill third mile. Pretty hilly course overall.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2011-05-01 7:35 AM

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Expert
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Middle River, Maryland
Silver member
Subject: Arbutus Spring Fling 5K


2011-05-01 8:39 AM
in reply to: #3475649

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Extreme Veteran
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Long Island
Subject: RE: Arbutus Spring Fling 5K
Nice race Mike, way to get out there so soon after a wreck! Ohhhhh, those 4 seconds!! Smile
2011-05-01 11:50 AM
in reply to: #3475649

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Master
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TORONTO
Subject: RE: Arbutus Spring Fling 5K
Exciting RR to read!!  Good job on the race.  Imagine how well you could have done if you hadn't been kissing the pavement earlier this week!!
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