Entered a race this morning to get a good threshold run in. Perfect weather- high 40's, sun, light wind. Warmed up at home (3 miles) and then drove almost an hour to get to the race- got a little lost towards the end and just made it in time. Upon stepping out of the car, I heard them announce 5 min to race time. Darted over to the registration table, threw on a bib# + chip and was literally off within a minute of getting to the start. I haven't seen official chip time, so I'll give my report based on my garmin information...
Mile 1- 6:11 (a little faster than planned, but I couldn't hold back adrenaline)
Mile 2- 6:33 (uphill and against the wind, however, I felt I was settling into a comfortable pace)
Mile 3- 6:31 (still against the wind, but rolling hills- still feeling quite comfortable)
Mile 4- 6:28 (knew that I had a shot at 40min if I decided to pick things up)
Mile 5- 6:32 (a little disappointed with this mile, thought I was running faster)
Mile 6- 6:28 (kept a nice even pace and picked it up a tad for the final 1/2 mile slightly uphill)
Last .25- 6:09 pace (garmin was .05 longer than the course...not too bad)
Felt satisfied with the overall performance. I think it's a pr, but I've not run this distance many times. Felt as though I could have held pace for an extra 5k (but definitely not an extra 10k), and pretty likely could have done 5-10 sec faster per/mile if this was the race I was preparing for (rather than Boston in 2 weeks). Pace stayed even and controlled throughout- probably 7-8 hills with pace variation from 6:40ish uphill to 6:05ish downhill. When things were flat, I mostly maintained 6:15-25. The garmin was really helpful in keeping this as an effective training run for Boston...might do a light recovery run in the late afternoon- it's a gorgeous day! Sweet!! (just checked website) My official "chip time" was 39:58- I knew I was close, but didn't think I'd quite broken it.
5.75 miles outdoors with 2 of my girls on their bikes. | 