OK, it happened again... I didn't want to race. I'm in high training mode. I ran 10 miles yesterday. I haven't had enough sleep in the last few days. But how should I spend my 4th of July? My family is away, it would be really hot... sure, I can grill some burgers, maybe I could even work, but I didn't want to work. My first July 4th as a permanent resident of the US, and I already decided to fly the US flag on our house. No, I'm not going to work.

I do have some speed training for this week. It's 5 x 2:30 uphill. Not exactly like a 5K. But why does Pfitzinger want me to do this? I know why: at this point in the training cycle there are many disadvantages going to the track, let alone race! I guess the biggest danger is injury. Well, my body holds up pretty well, and not injury prone at all. 5 x 2:30 is 12:30 of hard running. Even if part of the 5K is about LT, even if the end is anaerobic, wouldn't everybody agree that there is at least 12:30 of VO2 max work involved? The last worry is overtraining, but it is hard to overtrain by running only 20 minutes. So it was decided. I'm running the race.

The Great Buffalo Chase 5K Race Report


Goal: maybe PR (19:11), but it's hard to know what I can do in the middle of training, after 10 miles the day before, and fairly warm temperatures. B goal: 20 minutes. If I can't do that, I would be ashamed.

I had to get up at 5 o'clock, because the race was in Frankfort, KY, on the grounds of the Buffalo Trace distillery. Buffalo Trace is one of my favorite whiskeys. You can't beat it with $25 for a bottle: IMO to find a better whiskey you will have to fork out at least $40. This was an important reason for me to do the race. Even if I can't do well, I get to see the distillery. The disadvantage was the hour long drive from Louisville.

I got there well in time, and the last-minute registration was very smooth. Surprisingly there were even enough bathrooms/port-a-potties. The race was quite large with 690+ runners, and the winners in the last years had Kenyan names....

I started to warm up, and by this time I knew I ate too much before the race. I'm always too worried that I wouldn't eat enough, so this time I had a big dinner and a big breakfast (albeit at 5:30am). Now this was definitely too much, and I experienced some GI discomfort. It was also warm, 76 degrees with high humidity, so I decided to run shirtless. I have to say it was a great decision.

I lined up at the front and off we went at exactly 8:00. I decided to go out at around 6:00 pace. This is because I didn't want to deprive myself the chance of going under 19 minutes, however unlikely it may be. We were running in the shadows of the buildings of the distillery. Interesting course with the typical black molded brick buildings and the barrel tracks across the roads. The black mold is called the Angel's Share fungus, and it feeds on the evaporated alcohol from the aging barrels. It may have been the mold or the alcohol vapor that I could very distinctively smell, but I developed some minor breathing difficulties. It went away when we left the vicinity of the warehouses, but it came back again during the award ceremony, which was again among those buildings.

The first mile had a hill in it, but it wasn't too bad, and in fact the mile was net downhill. I was going hard, but there were pros in the field and they left us quickly. I just tried to settle in the field at around the 6 minute pace. I felt fine at the mile marker.

Mile 1: 5:56

We left the buildings, and we were out on some road in a field with no shadows whatsoever. It was hot here, and I knew it would affect me. But other people slowed around me more than I. I wanted to be careful, so I just held my position, but eventually I passed a few runners. I think only one guy passed me, but he was not in my age group. I decided not to worry until some potential age groupper passes me. I skipped the aid station at Mile 1.5. I though I could pour some water on my head, but they distributed something in paper cups from Gatorade coolers, so I didn't want to risk pouring Gatorade over my head. :) We made a loop, and started to go back. I entertained myself watching the runners coming from the opposite direction.

Mile 2: 6:15

The big hurt started here, as usually; I already forgot how painful is to run 5Ks. :) It's been more than a year since my last one. My legs were also tired, and the 10 miler from yesterday made itself remembered. The last mile was basically the first mile backwards, which means a hill, and this time it was net uphill. At 2.5 mile I was slowing so badly, that it became clear that the 19-minute dream is over. In fact I was already slower on average than my PR pace, and I was very tired.

Mile 3: 6:28

For the last 0.1 I put together everything I had, and I tried to catch one more guy who looked like my age from behind. I came up just a bit short: he finished just ahead of me (turns out he was one age group younger). The kick was at around 5:30 pace according to my Garmin.

Finish time: 19:17.

I missed my PR by a few seconds... if I knew maybe I could have tried harder in the third mile... but actually I don't know if I had even just one second left in me. Maybe if I go out slower... but I'm not even sure of that. Obviously this was not a prime race, and was not meant to be a prime race, so this is a great time.

Postrace food was fine, though their bananas tasted terrible. The awards started at around 9:30, and I got second place in my age group! I won a nice silver medal. The winners all had African sounding names and the winning time was 14:12.

I decided to go on the distillery tour at 10:00. It was great fun, and included some sampling. Not enough, of course, so I bought a bottle of Buffalo Trace and a nice whiskey glass in the gift shop. I'm sipping this great Bourbon as I'm writing this report.

Happy 4th of July!