Warmup+cooldown totaling a little under 3 miles, 10k in 37:07. My goal coming in was to run about 36-flat. I figured a 36 flat at altitude would be a good performance for me right now. With that in mind, I knew I would need to run 5:48s. I've struggled a lot in 10ks in the past, so I decided the only smart plan would be to run really even. I realized that the weather would be slightly more annoying on the way back, but really underestimated it. I hit the turnaround in 18:03 really easily with all my miles between 5:46 and 5:52 and thought I had it in the bag. However, as soon as I turned around, I instantly entered survival mode. I had a more generous tailwind than I had realized on the way out and as soon as I was going the other way, it became a nasty headwind. I was constantly getting tons of stinging snow in my eyes and the wind was really strong, so my pace immediately dropped to 6:05 to 6:10. Physically, I was fine and never really got out of tempo mode until the last .22, but with the wind and snow, I just couldn't quite work it at any point. Mile 4 was somewhere in that range, and despite not being super exerted, I was struggling to push hard in mile 5, dropping to a 6:15. Realizing that I was being kind of a sissy, I picked it back up to 6:03 in mile 6 and then ran 5:39 pace for the last .22. Effort wise, I averaged a HR of 174 (really consistent throughout the race other than the first and last quarters), so I really wasn't killing it (last time I did VO2/metabolic testing, a few years ago, my tempo effort was 177-179, so I was probably just in tempo mode the entire time). Seeing where I finished in the field (one spot behind a guy who ran 2:39 and 2:40 last year, one spot ahead of a woman who ran 2:49 last year, and 2 spots ahead of a guy who ran 2:44 last year), I guess I'm where I need to be. Also, it appears that mostly everyone was in the ballpark of 2 minutes of their 10k PR and running at or slightly slower than half marathon pace, so I guess I'll take it.
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