Cape Elizabeth 10 Mile Mid Winter Classic February 3 2008
One hour to kickoff! The New England Patriots play the New York Giants in Superbowl 42 in one hour. I hope they have a better game than I raced today. It wasn't bad, but I am not as fit as I was last October when I ran a half marathon.
Today I ran the Cape Elizabeth 10 Mile Mid Winter Classic. I ran it in 2005 where I set my 10 mile Pr of 1:15:09. My goal today was too optimistic. I thought I would try to beat 1:15:09, which would be a 7:30 or better pace. I raced a half marathon (13.1 miles) last October and ended up running a pace of 7:29.7709, so I thought maybe....
I started OK. Mile one was 7:25. It did not feel bad either. My heart rate shot up though. I have not been pushing my heart rate in training the last few weeks. At the end of long runs, I have been pushing and getting it to 165, my goal heart rate for this race. I need to run 4 to 5 miles at the pace consistently though, not just the two miles I have been running.
Mile two was 7:31. Still not bad. There were a lot of up hills in this race. I would not call it easy. It is more difficult than the October half marathon. Taking a look at the splits over the next three miles would make you think things were going fairly well: mile 3 - 7:36; mile 4 - 7:33; and mile 5 - 7:35. At five miles I had been running for 37:40. To meet my goal I would have to run the next five miles in 37:29.
Hmm.. maybe I should have tried harder. Funny how math works. I didn't realize I was that close. I remember seeing 37 minutes and something, and thinking I should be closer to 35 minutes. Oh well, I packed it in after five miles and ran the following: mile 6 - 8:18; mile 7 - 8:00; mile 8 - 8:21; mile 9 - 8:15; and mile 10 - 7:50. My Garmin actually had another 82 feet that it said I covered in 5.94 seconds. It comes out to a 6:23 pace - I would be excited to have that as a 5k pace.
I finished this race in 1:18:35 (7:51 pace). The first five miles were 37:40 (7:32 pace). The last five miles were 40:49 (8:10 pace)
My main goal this winter/spring is to run a 5K in 19:59 or better. Packing it in, and having something for another day was a good call. I feel I didn't hurt anything, and actually think the run was a nice tempo run, and a nice workout that will help me get the 19:59 or better 5K.
I wish the team that was on the shirt I was wearing was in the Superbowl. (Can you make it out?) I am going to jinx a team, by making a prediction: I hope the Patriots win!!!!
Thanks Troy, Diane, Emma, and Griffen for the first Christmas gift race of 2008. The next one, and my next race, is the Irish Road Rover 5K, March 9!
