Hyannis 10k Race Report

This was the 3rd 10k of my life.  I ran this exact race once before in 2006–in 53:01, an average pace of 8:31.  I was supposed to run the half that year but had awful IT Band issues, and bumped down to the 10k.  In July of 2010 I ran the Running With the Wolves 10k, completely blew up, and ran a 51:10 (8:14 pace).

I was going into this race just begging for a PR!  Luckily (for my coach!) I got it.

The race started at 10, so we headed over to the hotel to get dressed, wait in the bathroom line, socialize, and pick up our bibs.  You know, the usual.  It was chilly, and starting to snow/rain, so I was unsure of what to run in.  I went with tights, a craft shirt, and a wind vest.

Headed out to warm-up, and only got 8 minutes in before they started calling us to the start line.  Unfortunately the start chute was PACKED, so Michele (a QT2-er) and I got stuck in the middle/back of the pack which would haunt me!  You see, once we started, despite being in the “7 minute mile pace area”, we were STUCK!  There were packs of people running together at a conversational pace, and it was so hard to get around them.  I must have said excuse me 100 times.  Once we got to mile 2 it cleared out, and I was able to settle in.

Coach PW had told me to go out at a 7:20 pace, and I held onto that with all my might.  I wanted that pace so bad that I took a Double Latte Power Gel before the race started AND another one 15 minutes into that race!  Caffeine is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Okay, so let’s get down to business:

Mile 1 – 7:20 Average HR: 189
-A lot of dodging and weaving but otherwise slightly downhill and uneventful.

Mile 2 – 7:21 Average HR: 194
-Pretty much the same as Mile 1. I actually thought to myself “Hey, this isnt that bad, maybe Im not going hard enough?”

Mile 3 – 7:25 Average HR: 196
-This is the mile where I took the second gel.

Mile 4 – 7:39 Average HR: 196
-This is where I started to lose it. The pace slowed, so I got worried and tried to pick it back up. Mostly because PW had told me there was a hill at Mile 5 and I didnt want it to kill the average pace!

Mile 5 – 7:46 Average HR: 198
-This is clearly where the long hill was! Somehow, my HR continued to climb. Evidence I was trying to push it, I guess!

Mile 6 – 7:30 Average HR: 199
-For some reason the last mile is the easiest to me. The whole race my plan was to just to leave everything out there the last mile. I kept saying to myself “You can do anything for a mile!”

Last .2 – 6:43 mi/min pace Average HR: 203
-I pretty much resigned to puke at the end of the race once I hit the end of Mile 6. I was legit sprinting, because of course I had a guy racing with me! Lucky for me (and more lucky for him) I did not in fact puke. And I cannot even remember which one of us won the sprint!

Final time: 46:15, Overall average pace 7:29 (the race clock has me a at 46:08 with an average pace of 7:28)

Overall Average HeartRate: 196   Max HeartRate (during race): 206

Nine seconds/mile off where I wanted but considering this race was at the end of my biggest week of running this season, I am really happy with it!!

And a 5 minute PR to boot, can’t ask for more!

Looking forward to the New Bedford Half Marathon on March 20th….my first half-marathon EVER!

Fitness is coming along, so I guess my biggest limiter right now is body comp. Does that means its time to step away from the Girl Scout Cookies?  BOO to that!!

PW also updated his blog with a race report here–he was 6th overall and ran a 1:16, it is worth the read!