Frostbite 5k Race Report

Goal: Run by feel. Preserve or increase overall lead in age group and/or master category.

The preparation for this was the usual, less than perfect, winter training, in which I got sick for about a week, and the usual busy schedule derailed my training a few times. The race got postponed by week, because last Friday night it started to snow, and very cold temperatures (~15 F) were expected for Saturday morning. This time, it was not too cold: just a few degrees above freezing, but this Friday was the first time in a week that the temperature rose above freezing, so the ice and snow didn't completely melt. Even worse: some parts of the race course was in a cold depression, and the melted ice froze back on the road during the night, and didn't melt again by the morning, so we had a half a mile of very slippery road.

Esther and I arrived to the park about an hour before the start. We warmed up, by jogging to the start line from the parking place, and we jogged around a bit more. I felt good, but not great. My Achilles kept bothering me, and despite the short run on Friday, I didn't feel well recovered. The 37 degrees in the park felt warm compared to what we had to endure since Christmas, but it is still less than ideal for running. I ran in long sleeves, shorts, gloves and cap, which was fine.

The race organizers informed us that some part of race course is very icy, so they would cut the distance to about 2.3 miles (3.7 km). That's bad news for me... 4 km is already too short, and this would be even shorter. Also, the race course they posted on-line is several years old, and they hadn't used it in many years, so what we previewed was already inaccurate, even without the modifications. I used to love this organizer company (River City Races), but they have had so many screwups recently...

We started right on time. I got boxed in a bit at the start again, but I didn't sweat the lost 1-2 seconds. Especially, because the race started with a half-mile uphill, so if you don't go crazy on it, it's fine. After pushing myself hard for a quarter mile to reach my VO2 max, I maintained a good 6:40-ish pace uphill, trying teeter on my VO2 max. Then we hit the top, and we were going down for a half of a mile (though the downhill was not quite as steep as the uphill). I had to be careful in the turns not to slip, and I did slow down. A stupid mistake could cost me the overall position. I also had to fall below my VO2 max, because even 4K is too long to maintain it for the whole race.

Mile 1: 6:08

The second mile started with another hill (about 0.3 mile long), similar grade as the first. Obviously I was a bit slower here, but I tried to race pretty aggressively. It is such a short race! On the other side we reached the bottom at around mile 1.7. Here in the "valley" the road was still frozen, and I had to slow down just because of that! One guy passed me, but he looked quite young, so I didn't bother to chase him. In fact I was kind of surprised how he can run so fast on such slippery road, when I realized that he ran on the snowy side, which is less slippery than the icy side. So I also started to run on the snow, but he still pulled away a bit.

Mile 2: 6:22

I started to push the pace, but I had to slow down one more time in a turn. Then I threw down a strong kick to finish at a 5:10 pace.

Last ~0.3 mile: 1:45
Total: 14:18 (14:15 chip time). 12th place overall out of 339, 1st in AG.

A bit regretfully, there were two runners within 4 seconds in front of me; though I was actually closing on them in the finish line. I got my age group win, but not the master win this time. Fortunately the master winner didn't run the first race, so I lead the master category of the Grand Prix by over a minute. Unless I really screw up the 4-miler next month, I can win the master division of the Polar Bear Grand Prix, not just the AG.

A bit embarrassing though that the grandmaster leader, a 53 year old guy has more than two minutes on me! It makes me feel like I don't really deserve a master trophy, if somebody who has over a decade on me is so much faster!