Groundhog Day 8K Race Report
Lake Overhoulser, Oklahoma City, OK
2/2/13
Groundhog day morning was a perfect day for a race. The temps were in the mid 30's, with 10-15 mph winds from the NW. The weather reminded me of my last race at Lake Hefner last month but the wind seemed slightly more tamed today. Nearly 400 runners participating in the race.
The day started with my normal pre-race meal 2 hours before the race: eggs, yogurt, berries, and waffles. Might not be the best selection for everyone but it works great for myself. Then went about sipping on my water until leaving for the race.
Arriving at the lake about 40 mins beforehand to perform my usual short race warm-up of stretching, mile jog, and strides. However, I was worried this morning after "tweaking" my back earlier in the week performing dead-lifts. I hadn't biked or ran since the injury 4 days prior and planned to use the mile warm-up as the deciding factor on if I'd run or not. It still hurt a lot and was very stiff, but the mile warm-up felt great. It actually seemed to improve my condition and felt much better to run then to walk. I took my caffeine pill and downed a gel 15 minutes before the race and stayed loose while keeping the heart rate up by doing strides till lining up.
I warmed up in full gear (beanie, gloves, tights, long sleeves) but felt great and stripped down to a t-shirt and shorts before the start. The 1st half was mainly into the wind, heading north along the lake which made most people excited for the turnaround. I felt focused for most of the course, which was an improvement from last month. However looking back at my splits the times varied quite a bit. I'm not sure if this is from the wind or other factors but I felt consistent during the run. My splits were: 6:56, 7:11, 6:54, 7:02, 6:39. My official race time was 34:48 averaging out to a 6:57 mile, only 8 seconds slower than my 5K pace from last month.
I enjoyed the race and am really liking this race series. They really take care of us post race with soups, coffee, cocoa, cider, snacks, and beer. I was very happy with my time and run but of course looking at the results frustrated me as usually. I placed 20th in the men's, barely another top 20 finish this year, but again placed just 1 spot outside of medaling in my age group. I still haven't been running massive amounts but I believe all of my biking is really aiding in my run since I feel like I am still getting stronger with only about 15 miles logged a week. The last race of this series is a 10K february 16th. Looking forward to this run already.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Elvis 5K Run 1/12/12
Elvis 5K Race Report
Lake Hefner, Oklahoma City, OK
1/12/12
The wind was insane this morning, with the temperature around 40 degrees and wind chill in the lower 30's.
Nutrition consisted of 3 scrambled eggs and a waffle with butter and syrup 2 hours prior to race along with sipping water the entire 2 hours before.
I warmed up with an easy mile at an 8 minute/mile pace and did some short sprints to stay warm and keep the heart rate up. At the start, everyone was huddled together wishing the gun would go off sooner. The first half was straight into the wind (20-30 MPH from the north) which was knocking the handful of spectators and the photographer around quite a bit. There was a decent surge from the gun but EVERYONE slowed down when we realized we couldn't keep the pace up with the wind where it was. By the time I made it to the turn around I was pretty tired. The turnaround way a relief however with the force of the wind pushing us towards the finish line. It helped greatly with my negative split. I dressed in 3 layers on top, 2 on bottom, and gloves. I got very warm after turning due to the layers and the wind being at my back.
Run went good for the small amount I've been running the past 2 months. I've only logged about 30 miles since my 5K PR on Thanksgiving. My body felt alright but I need to build back up my mental toughness. My mid definitely held me back the last mile. My 1st pair of Newton MV2 racing flats came in the day before the race and I decided to try them out without a test run first. I loved them. They made my feet feel very lights and really force the mid-foot strike even more so than the endurance model.
Splits: 6:59, 6:51, 6:44, and a 6:15 pace the last 0.14 miles. My official time was 21:27 with a 6:55 minute/mile pace. I placed 17th overall and 4th in my division out of 124 male runners. This is the 1st of 3 in a race series that continues in February with 2 more races, and 8K and 10K.
Lake Hefner, Oklahoma City, OK
1/12/12
The wind was insane this morning, with the temperature around 40 degrees and wind chill in the lower 30's.
Nutrition consisted of 3 scrambled eggs and a waffle with butter and syrup 2 hours prior to race along with sipping water the entire 2 hours before.
I warmed up with an easy mile at an 8 minute/mile pace and did some short sprints to stay warm and keep the heart rate up. At the start, everyone was huddled together wishing the gun would go off sooner. The first half was straight into the wind (20-30 MPH from the north) which was knocking the handful of spectators and the photographer around quite a bit. There was a decent surge from the gun but EVERYONE slowed down when we realized we couldn't keep the pace up with the wind where it was. By the time I made it to the turn around I was pretty tired. The turnaround way a relief however with the force of the wind pushing us towards the finish line. It helped greatly with my negative split. I dressed in 3 layers on top, 2 on bottom, and gloves. I got very warm after turning due to the layers and the wind being at my back.
Run went good for the small amount I've been running the past 2 months. I've only logged about 30 miles since my 5K PR on Thanksgiving. My body felt alright but I need to build back up my mental toughness. My mid definitely held me back the last mile. My 1st pair of Newton MV2 racing flats came in the day before the race and I decided to try them out without a test run first. I loved them. They made my feet feel very lights and really force the mid-foot strike even more so than the endurance model.
Splits: 6:59, 6:51, 6:44, and a 6:15 pace the last 0.14 miles. My official time was 21:27 with a 6:55 minute/mile pace. I placed 17th overall and 4th in my division out of 124 male runners. This is the 1st of 3 in a race series that continues in February with 2 more races, and 8K and 10K.
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