Official Results:
Avg Pace Per Mile: 7:39
Division (M 30-34) Place: 76th out of 430
Gender Place: 377 out of 3121
Overall Place: 445th out of 6914
As I indicated in my race preview post, I wasn't feeling very confident about this race. Jessica and I made it down there in plenty of time (thanks to my awesome driving and navigational skills). So I was able to warm-up and was ready for the race to start.
The first few miles were tight, but I've come to expect this. It's usually about 3-4 miles into any run that I finally feel loose and good. I planned on doing the first 3 miles leading up to the park somewhere between 7:15 and 7:20 pace. I did the first two in 7:13 and 7:17, so I was right on track...but I could tell that I was having to push it a little too much to maintain this pace. With the hills coming up, I decided to slow it down for mile 3, which I did in 7:30
I haven't run more than 9 miles since Ironman Louisville (7 months ago). I have done very little hill work in my training so far this season. Both of these things became painfully obvious once I hit the first hill in the park. My breathing was off and my level of exertion was way too high. I instantly knew that I was in for a rough race. I pushed it as much as I could up the hills, but felt like I didn't even have the energy to speed it up coming back down each one. I was just letting gravity do the work. By the time I got to the top off the last hill, I was exhausted. I wanted to keep my pace between 7:30 and 7:45 through the park. Miles 4, 5 & 6 were 7:40, 7:44 & 7:47.
The big difference was that once I was out of the hills, I had nothing left for the last 4 miles. Even though they are flat, I felt as if I was running up hill. It's very disheartening to see people constantly passing you...but I had only enough energy left to maintain. I slowly lost my pace over the last few miles and didn't even have anything left in the tank to sprint to the finish. Miles 7-10 were 7:33, 7:50, 7:46 & 7:42.
Check out the chart below, comparing last year's race to this years. Big difference in the heart rate...shows you how much difference training for endurance versus speed makes in these longer runs! I was running faster last year with a HR around 10 beats per minute lower...
I'm going to try and get in a 11-12 mile run next weekend. I have another sprint triathlon two weeks before the mini Marathon and I'd like to get in a long run. Even though I'm not training for long distances this year, I'd like to have a decent showing on the 28th.
Congrats to all the Kids Center Team ABILITY members that ran Saturday. We had a great showing! Big props to my wife Jessica, who ran 10 miles for the first time in her life and even had enough energy left to go out and watch the UofL basketball game with me and then rock it out at a Daughtry concert that night...crazy long day! I was totally exhausted by the time we got to the concert, but she was still going strong - she's and inspiration!
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