Monday, April 18, 2011

Guelph Billy Taylor 5k - Race Report

When I run, truly run, I am certain of that. It is all there. My body does what it does best. The mind like a kaleidoscope constantly rearranges the things it has stored into new and exciting patterns. And my soul utterly loses itself in the present.
-Dr. George Sheehan
Race Weight 234 lbs
Weather: freezing and blowing snow
the bleachers
finish here / start across the track
before - with a lot on my mind

after -lookin' mighty light in the loafers

Milestone Goal Actual Effect
Pre-Race Scout out the start-finish area discovered no start-line chip reader carpet!
realize I need to line up with the awesome runners if I don't want to run an extra 40 meters
Warm-up increasing intensity drills completed felt pumped up
Can I see my wife? See my wife awesome! felt pumped up
Start Line-up off to the side but less than a meter or two from the start done - with looks from the other young heathly runners felt pumped up
Start! don't go too fast out of the gate! blew it! Ran the track and out the gates and down the road (about 300 m) in 4:30 min/k (7:12 min/m) Garmin kept waking up the neighbors - "slow down"
1K 5:53 5:45 slowed down so much to match up my pace to desired that I got suprised on the K-rollover
2K 5:53 5:57 started the split running 6:12 ... had to pick up the pace un-pacefully
3K 5:53 5:59 aggregated average pace 5:54 at this split ... feeling pumped for the pilon turnaround
3K-Pilon quick turn holy s**t did I ever slow down those 180 degree pilon switch backs are crazy ... I don't feel I can tell RDs what to do, but "RD do you know why there are no stop signs on a highway?"
Mid-3.5k keep the pace gusting wind and blowing snow in the face pace drops to 6:08 ... watch starts telling me to "speed up" now
4k 5:50 6:06 don't seem to get down on myself, even though my thighs and ankles are burning... I pick two runners in front of me and decide to pass them
4.5k 5:50 6:02 still running into this wind and snow, but I'm getting pumped because I need to start booting it!
4.7k setup for sprint high-knee, longer stride, forward lean soft track is a joy to run on ... my confidence is spilling out ... I know I can do this ... the finish-line announcer is announcing names and times of runners finishing ... holy s**t I'm pummped
Sprint Finish hair-on-fire hair-on-fire boom! passed one runner ... boom! passed two runners ... boom! passed three runners  was able to advance from the 30-minute mark with a sprint
Final 29:04 29:48 New 5K PR, beating Dec-11 PR by 1 minute!
Post Race analysis Ask about a shotgon start. Avoid these races in the future until I can develop into a faster runner. Keep yourself up during the bad conditions. Run only this split or to the next milestone, you'll have time later to run other parts of the race when you get there. Do your best now.

Someone helped me during the sprint. There is no way I had the power to run the last 45 seconds at under a 4:00 min/km (6:24 min/mi) pace. My face and glasses were covered in snow. I know I ran it, I can remember the looks of people when I passed them. But I don't remember how I felt. I want to stretch my abilities out in this area. I really want to develop a better finishing kick. This was an awesome feeling. I couldn't setup the sprint sooner because the entry roadway into the stadium was a climb of about 30 stairs from the street below ... I rushed my legs adjusting them quickly right after the path levelled on the track surface.

I missed my goal by 44 seconds. I probably missed it because I ran on ego at the start, instead of managing my energy better, and then I had this rollercoaster of run faster/slower for the next 4K.

official results


final run in:

35 comments:

Alan Dent said...

Congrats on PR!

Teamarcia said...

Congrats on the PR!!!! Your coach must be so proud! How great your wife was there.
Looked like a nice strong finish. Wow you've had some crap racing weather. Imagine how speedy you'd be in some good stuff? well done!

Adrienne Langelier, MA said...

Congrats! That's quite a lot of time to shave off!

I love your format for race reports too.

Tortuga_Runner said...

Great job! I too love this report format. You were so mindful the whole race and that is difficult to do. Again, nicely done with the PR.

A Prelude To... said...

Now, THAT was a race!!! Great finish and the joyful pumped upedness (I think I just made up that word) was fun to "hear" in your words.

Loved the spreadsheet :D

Kandi said...

Congrats! I knew you could do it! You dug deep and met your sub-30 goal! Way to go

Quinton J said...

YOU DID IT!!!!! And I knew you would. Congrats brother. Nice work.

Ewa said...

Did you give yourself a BIG pat on the back? And how did you celebrate?
What is your next goal? It is not like you expect us to let you rest now, right? :-)

chris mcpeake said...

way to go on the PB. It was a tough weekend to race!

Jill said...

I hope you told Marcia YES! So very proud of you! And you don't need to work on your kick at the end - you need to teach ME how to do that!! Good lordy that was amazing! Congrats on your sub-30; it's been a great ride for you and I can't wait to see how you'll kick more chick's butts in upcoming races!

Georgia Snail said...

AWESOME!!! I'm so happy for you! That rush of the last 100 meter sprint is so awesome!

tahoegirl said...

Sweet. Way to go!

Kate Geisen said...

Way to knock off that minute! Especially when you had that full turn and then running right into nasty conditions. Great job, Andrew. I'm really happy for you. :)

I'm terrible on the sprint at the end. I just want to lay down and die.

Rose @ Eat, Drink, and Be Meiri said...

I can't believe you ran in the SNOW. Crazy.

Andrea said...

Awesome job! CONGRATULATIONS!

Rae said...

Woo hoo Andrew! Congrats on a new PR! That is awesome! I love your recaps! :)

Anonymous said...

Excellent job, amazing time... and in the wind and snow??? Wowsers. Way to go. PR's rock!

Penny said...

Congrats on your new PR. Great recap of race. I have to run with my glasses to it gets hard to see in rain and snow. It s**cks

Bob said...

Congrats!!

Adrienne said...

I'm just sitting here smiling :) PR and under 30 minutes.....what will you do next? No limits.

Michelle said...

Congrats on your PR!!

Chris K said...

It's hard to NOT blast it out at the start. Happens to the best of us. Um, like me, yesterday. We always pay the price though. Live and learn Grasshopper.

You did great....PR, congrats. Onward and upward.

BTW, I signed up for a 5K next month. Only $25. Cheap. You should do it.

trailturtle said...

This is a great report AND result, Andrew. I said I was looking forward to your report with 29:XX in it! So glad you did it! Love the hat...and the smile!
But the conditions??? WOW. Too cold and harsh for my wimpy taste. Wait 'til you get to do one of these when the temp is closer to the ideal of 52 degrees F!
BTW, I expect you to continue to collect your interval/temp data as the temps get warmer in the same manner as for your "do lower temps affect my running?" post to get more temps and warmer temps to expand your analysis. That will be really interesting to see an analysis with more data points and temps with improved confidence, too :)) Keep running well, Ann

Still Running said...

Great report and great race. You give me hope that I'll break the 30min mark too! Congrats.

Anonymous said...

I loved the race report. Congrats on the new personal best.

Alison said...

Ugh snow. Running into that is a feat in itself! Congrats on the PR though. And as for running on ego at the start, I think that is REALLY easy to do, especially with shotgun starts. It's a lesson that seems to take a long time to learn...

Matthew Bradford said...

YOU DOMINATE... AND IN SNOW!!! The Usain was just the icing on the cake.

Huge congrats, Andrew, and you'll also be getting a picture shout-out tomorrow (assuming that's okay). If not I can definitely remove the picture from the post.

Keep rocking!

Irene said...

Pretty cool that you have that video of your finish! Woohoo!

Congrats on your PR!

Nelly said...

Awesome job! I love all the spreadsheet style analysis during the race. Amazing that you had a race in the snow, crazy!

Tara said...

Congratulations Andrew, so happy for you! Looks like you learned a lot out there, I do the same thing with the spreadsheets (dorky accountant that I am), but you can learn a lot from sitting down and looking about what went right and wrong in a race!

Again.....congrats on that PR!

The Boring Runner said...

NICE WORK!!!!! that is awesome. I love that you were able to crank at the end and nmake sure that you made the PR goal.

Although, I did feel a bit canadian - both because of the snow, but also because of the km markers vs mile markers. Bring on the maple syrup!

Tell your inductees and catacumbs good luck for me tmrw

AnnaMac said...

Congratulations on the new PR! I like your style of race reporting. Sounds like a good day!

Nej said...

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doug said...

OMG! You ran amazingly in adverse conditions. I am so glad to see that you continue improving. A full minute off your PR is awesome! Way to go Andrew!

Katie said...

Sooo I've meant to comment on this for almost a month lol; I've been very busy. . . CONGRATSSSSS that is AMAZING!!! I am so excited and happy for you, you've worked so hard, awesomeness :D