Frostbite 5K Race Report

Goal: nothing particular, just run for the best placement I can get

So this is the second race of the Polar Bear Grand Prix. Very obviously I wasn't trained for this. All I did is base mileage and no workouts, because I really do marathon base building. But these races serve well as workouts.

The whole family was there again, which always makes this a bit more stressful. We arrived early, so I did a very good warmup of 2.2 miles, strides, and dynamic stretching. Legs felt heavy, which is no surprise with the training I've been doing.

It was 65 degrees with very high humidity (in January), so I was all sweaty after the warmup. But the heat didn't bother me, at at this short distance. It was also a full cloud cover.

The race started right at 9:00. This course had the same two hills as the 4K, but this time they added an extra out-and-back section for the extra kilometer. By the way, I'm pretty sure they messed up the cone placement and the course ended up being about 0.1 mile too long. That's about 40 seconds! But it's OK. I wasn't going to PR today anyway.

This time the race start was at a different place, and so the race starts with the harder of the two hills. We are gaining 85 ft in 0.4 mile. I pushed the uphill a bit: I tried to keep myself at my VO2 max. I knew it was not sustainable, but my plan was to ease off a bit on the downhill. This may not be the best strategy, but I figured it would be the best for me today.

I was running behind a shirtless high school kid on the uphill, but he slowed a bit toward the top. I still tried to tuck behind him, because there was strong wind with some crazy gusts, especially on the hill. But he was slowing more, and I made the jump to the next group on the top of the hill. This was two people: a young guy in a white T-shirt, who told me at the start he was going to start at a 7:15 pace (we were averaging 6:3x here even with the hill), and a young woman (her name is Bailey), who looked like a serious runner with the right gear.

The terrain flatted out, and we quickly left the guy behind. I just tucked behind Bailey.

Mile 1: 6:30

This seems very strong with my current shape and the hill. I knew I had to conserve some energy. but Bailey ran just the right pace for me. We started the next hill, and it was quite brutal, but I didn't let her go. We both got passed by the high school kid (I was surprised how he came back). He was way too fast uphill for me to follow. At 1.3 miles, we reached the top, and I knew there were no more hills today. Now I just had to rest up for the last mile, and then give everything. But I wasn't trying to pace myself. I just followed Bailey.

Mile 2: 6:34

Esther was standing at the mile marker, where the out and back section started. She cheered so enthusiastically that I just had to pass Bailey. Now I was on my own, trying not to go crazy. The out-and-back portion was quite a bit longer than I expected. By the turnaround, the high school kid ahead was quite a distance away, and Bailey was quite a distance behind me, so I decided to keep this position. That meant a bit of conservative running.

Mile 3: 6:32

When we hit this marker I was surprised to see how far the finish still is. Nevertheless, I did have some energy in reserve, and I pushed all the way to the finish. It took me 1:18 to reach the finish line: Strava tells me this was at a 6:01 pace, which seems right, though that would mean the course was 3.22 miles. I'm willing to believe that my Garmin overcounts, but not by this much, not here in the park.

Total: 20:54, (but more like 20:15 for a 5K).

14th overall, 1st in AG, though I was beaten by a 40 year old and a 55 year old by almost two minutes (they ran within two seconds of each other). They took the masters and grandmasters victory, so I could get the lowly AG award.

Flora also won her age group, and Melinda did very well, too. I ran a nice cooldown, by which it started to rain heavily. Everything looks well on track for a 3:05 marathon in the spring. It will be challenging, but doable. Just right.

If I run 16 miles tomorrow, I'll hit 60 this week. I will do three more weeks of 60 miles, maybe with a workout each. Probably lactate threshold. Or some kind of Daniels Gold training. Marathon training starts on February 3.