CFC 10K race report

A little backstory. In my last race, the Houghton's Pond 10K on October 2nd, I had been training seriously for about 4 weeks following my semi-traditional summer slump. I started strong up the first long hill that climbs away from the Pond, and soon found myself in the lead pack. #3 faded a bit, and then it was just me, chasing the leader about 50 yards ahead of me. This continued for about 3 miles, the leader pulling slightly further away, but never quite breaking contact. Then, around mid-point--it was like the bottom dropped out. I searched for power and there was none. Massive slump. More or less the whole front-pack soon streamed by me, and I faded to 9th.

In retrospect, it was pretty obvious the aerobic base just wasn't there, nor was the necessary muscular strength to negotiate such hills.

For the last month I've been working to fix those things. Mileage crept up to the mid 50s; "track Tuesdays"; on Wednesday the "15 minutes of power": hill sprints, core exercises, push-ups, pull-ups, lateral leg lifts, etc. How did this play out on the hilly CFC course?

First, pre-race went as well as I could ask. My process is always evolving here. I had a light dinner last night, and then 1/2 a tortilla for breakfast. Following the new performance advice ("drink to thirst"), I had very little water--only a few sips, really. I timed my 2 mile warmup well, and arrived at the starting line just starting to sweat (as my HS XC coach advised, back in the day).

I felt really strong from the gun, legs moving effortlessly in my lightweight racing shoes (Nike Free 3.0s with the insoles taken out). I went out with another 10K runner from HFC, knowing they usually bring a good team (although no John Sullivan or Bob Ruel this time, unfortunately). However, an unaffiliated runner soon shot to the lead.

I felt like I could stay on his shoulder, but I was a little unsure about his pace. (Remembering the words of wisdom: "In the 1st half of the race, don't be a dumbass; in the 2nd 1/2, don't be a wimp"). I decided to keep running my pace.

The leader had put a good 150 yards on me by mile 2, which is mostly downhill or flat. At this point my brain was saying: good, you're totally in the mix for a top-3 here, just hang on.

Something funny happened over the 3rd mile, though. The leader came back. A lot. He was only 5 seconds up on me at the mile-3 mark (16:55 to 17:00). On the next significant uphill I pulled in right to his shoulder.

At this point, my brain is still thinking: awesome, you can definitely hold on for a top-3 here! I know, right? neck-and-neck with the leader, who is clearly fading, and I'm thinking, maybe I can get 3rd place. For once my brain is not keeping up with my body.

Fortunately my body has more sense. It overrides the equivocating signals from my brain and passes decisively. Now I've got the target on my back. Time to run hard.

Mile 5, still no sound of pursuit. I start my watch. Time to run this flat hard--just like it's the last 2k interval in the track session. Now I'm thinking, obviously: win. Hold the pace and win.

At last, turn the corner onto Washington St. I accelerate and start reeling in the tail end of the 5k race. Kick, kick, kick! Cross the line in 36:06. Victory and an enormous PR all at once. Couldn't have gone better.

So happy that everything I did payed off. I changed a number of things, and they all contributed to help me raise the bar. The main ones were:

• Superior pre-race. Did not overeat. Did not overdrink.
• Consistent track sessions. Practiced running 5:50 pace in 4x2k workout and--surprise!--that's pretty much what I ran in the race.
• Consistent strength work. Usually my core feels weak during a race. Today it was fine, even on the hills.
• Most of all, switching to light shoes for the race! I like training in fairly light shoes, but my trainers must still be a couple oz heavier than my racers. So obvious, but still not something I've done since high school.

I'm under no illusions that I would have won this race if it had run on its usual day--heck, the field was 1/2 the size of normal. But I'm OK with that--you race the field you get, and sometimes you have a breakout day when none of the other uber-fast guys show up.

...and hey, I'm the defending champion now; might be I can still drop another minute or so, and be competitive for next year!