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Beyond Fitness Great Apple Fun Run - RunOther


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Paradise, CA
United States
Beyond Fitness Health Club
60F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 48m 32s
Overall Rank = 4/8
Age Group = 40-99
Age Group Rank = 1/1
Pre-race routine:

Toast with Peanut Butter and Jelly, some water, and two cups of coffee
Event warmup:

Did some light stretching, a couple of pace runs, lots of walking around.
Run
  • 48m 32s
  • 6 miles
  • 08m 05s  min/mile
Comments:

Run went really well, considering my level of training. I spent most of the summer working on my swimming and biking for the Tahoe Triathlon, which I just completed about 3 weeks ago. My running mileage really slipped during training, and then with a week or so of "taking it easy" after the race, my mileage really was light.

I started out at the front (both the 3 and 6 milers started together). Lots of kids (6-12 years old) and it was fun watching them sprint the first 300 yards and then fade once the course headed uphill. After about 5 minutes into the run, it was me and three other runners stacked together - then one guy (wearing a CDF shirt) took off and really picked up the pace. I commented to the others that "there's no way he can hold that pace, he will blow up about mile 3".

By mile 2, I could still see the CDF guy - but just barely. I was now in 5th place, after being passed to two other people. I was pushing pretty hard, but afraid that if I pushed any harder, I would spike my heart rate and then the wheels would come off. The course was only about a 3.4 to 4.5 percent grade, but being a retired railroad grade, it is constant - which doesn't give any chance for heartrate recovery.

Finally, the turn-around point at mile three. My plan all along was to take it a little easy on the uphill, then crank up on the downill portion. The nearest runner I could pass was a thirty something woman about a 1/4 mile ahead of me - I figured what the hell, lets see if I can catch her in 3 miles.

I cranked it up a notch or two, but I think she had the same plan. No matter how hard I pushed, I couldn't seem to really gain any ground. Finally about mile 4.5 I noticed I was getting a little closer. She has to stop a wait for a car to cross one of the side streets, and she took a little too long to get going again - and her pace has slowed considerably. Finally, about five hundred yards from the finish I pulled in behind her (about 50 feet back).

Suddenly, she heard my footsteps (or was that my labored breathing??) looked back, and panicked when she realized that I was going to make a run at passing her. She yelled something about "what the hell, where did you come from" and turned around and started to crank up the speed.

I had decided two things in the moments coming up behind her.
1) I still had "something left" and I wanted to use it completely up by the finish line.
2) I really wanted to pass her.

So I picked up the pace to almost a sprint, and pulled in right behind her. We were passing a bunch of walkers from the 5k, and I didn't have room to pass so I held back right on her tail. Finally, about 100 feet from the finish the trail opened up, and went uphill for the rest of the way to the finish. I knew that I probably had more brute force to power up the last hill, which I did. I kicked into a full-on sprint, and passed her by a pretty good margin by the time I went thru the chute.

By my watch, my time was 48 minutes and 32 seconds. My "official race time" was 47 minutes and 30 seconds. While I would love to have run that fast, I do not believe there is any way I did a 6 mile run in the hills under 8 minutes per mile - I will stick with my timex time.

What would you do differently?:

Space out my late summer events a little better, and do more high intensity hill runs.
Post race
Warm down:

The first 30 seconds or so were tough - as I really sprinted out the last couple of hundred yards. I was pretty much gasping for air, and trying to keep from falling over. Once I caught my breath it was all good again, I walked around, had some water and another cup of coffee.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Same thing as always - 20 year old mind hooked up to 46 year old heart and lungs and legs. I just realized, I am trimming 1 second per mile off my time each year. At this rate, I'll be doing 6 minute miles by the time I'm 185 years old!!!

Event comments:

This is just a fun little race - only 8 people in the 6 mile, probably 20 or so in the 3 mile.






Last updated: 2006-10-07 12:00 AM
Running
00:48:32 | 06 miles | 08m 05s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/1
Overall: 4/8
Performance: Good
Course: From parking lot of Beyond fitness, up the Memorial Trailway (class 1 bikepath at a 4% grade) for 3 miles, turn around and come back down.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3

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2006-10-07 10:51 PM

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Expert
704
500100100
Durham, CA
Subject: Beyond Fitness Great Apple Fun Run


2006-10-07 11:44 PM
in reply to: #563660

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Elite
3488
20001000100100100100252525
Lakewood, CO
Subject: RE: Beyond Fitness Great Apple Fun Run
Hey, not only did you out kick her in the end you won your age group..  cool  Probably better that it was uphill on the way out and downhill on the way backSurprised
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