Grateful Dad 10K

Woohoo a real race report!  

I'm loving the structure of coaching.  Melissa had a 3 mile pre-race shakeout run on my schedule for Friday.  With her permission I added four 20 second strides.  Then I finished packing and after lunch I headed over the mountain.  I stopped to see my Mom for a few minutes and then headed to my hotel.  My daughter, Katie, had offered to pick up my race packet in downtown Portland and she also picked up dinner for us.  We ate on the patio with a nice view of the river and then went for a short walk.  She headed home and I headed to bed early.

A staggered start was planned for the race.  I was originally scheduled for a 9:00 wave but they had an opening in the 8:00 wave and I grabbed it as I knew it was going to be hot.  I was awake early enough to have a light breakfast.  English muffin with pooh butter, banana, and coffee.  I also mixed a bottle of Infinit to suck on before the race.  I left the hotel a bit after 7:00.  The start was only 5 minutes away and had limited parking so they discouraged early arrivals.  I parked, got myself organized and headed out for the prescribed 1 mile warm up which included some light mobility work.  I used the restroom and sucked on my drink while I waited for my start.  They were a bit unorganized and so I didn't actually start till 8:15.  It was getting warm (60ish with a very light breeze) but not to bad.

Melissa reminded me before the race that the goal was to bust off the race rust and test my fitness.  We did have a finish time goal of under 1 hour so a pace of just under 9:30.  Melissa's instructions were to be patient the first couple miles, build if I felt good, and make the last mile hurt.  I like her attitude.

1. 9:45  The course was a bit rough for the first bit but I settled into a comfortable pace once we hit the bike path.
   
2. 9:29  Feeling really good but didn't want to go crazy yet.  Short rise to cross over the road onto the bike path that runs along the river.
   
3. 9:23  Gorgeous views of the river.  Passed one runner.  We were pretty spread out.
   
4. 9:20  Picking up the pace a bit more as we turned around and headed back.
   
5. 9:07  Was hoping I wasn't getting to greedy with the pace but I was feeling great!
   
6. 8:51  Yup...it was hurting but in a good way.
   
7. @8:21  Back to the rough part of the course and the finish.  Pushed hard.
   

Finish time 57:51
Pace 9:17
44/122 Overall
14/50 Female
1/4  AG (60-64)
353 total runners in all three distances (5K, 10K, Half)

I didn't have much gas left in the tank at the finish and I was bit wobbly in the legs.  I had a quick drink and then headed out for the prescribed 1 mile cool down.  I felt much better after the cool down.  I've never warmed up or cooled down as much as Melissa recommends.  Seems to be working.

Headed back to the hotel for a shower and then picked up a burger at my Mom's favorite place and had lunch with her before my drive home.  I was surprised that I wasn't sore after my drive...tired but not sore.  

Even though the race had a staggered start and required masks till you were out on the course it still had a nice race atmosphere.  I teased a couple young girls who ran off and left their Dad.  I finished between them.  The gentleman that I passed in the third mile came up and congratulated me on a nice race.  He said he used my red shirt as his rabbit.  He was probably late 20's or early 30's but was new to running.

I absolutely loved racing again!  And this was a huge confidence boost in my ability to run fast even though most of my training has been slow easy miles.  HR average 161, max 175.  I haven't had my heart rate that high in a long time and it felt great.  Cadence 163.  Not great but an improvement for me.

I can't wait to see what Melissa has in store for me now!

Woot! AG award winner! Way to go!

10K is a challenging distance, but it looks like your strategy and execution was spot-on.

Pre-race warmup and post-race cooldowns are really helpful at these distances and at that level of intensity. Glad your coach has you doing them!

Thanks Mark.  

It's fun working with Melissa.  She has me trying all kinds of new things.  Strides after my easy run this morning.  And all kinds of interesting intervals.  Not the simple single distance x number of times but complicated ones.  She puts together the workout and I just download it to my watch and follow along as it beeps and buzzes.  It even reminds me to speed up or slow down to match the pace goals she gives me.  Probably old hat to more experienced runners but new and exciting to me.