NYD 5k Run

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s)	0:23:11	7:13 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s)	0:23:11	7:13 pace
Distance (mi )	3.21
Moving Speed (mph)	8.3 avg.	11.8 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)	+62 / -64
Avg. Heart Rate	181 bpm	Zone 5.8
Temperature (°F)	21.2°F avg.	21.2°F high
Wind Speed ( mph)	WNW 15.0 avg.	WNW 17.2 max.

Start Time: 11:02:45 AM

General Comments:
Predictions for the day had the 'arctic blast' coming in which was supposed to unleash a devastating chill over the whole area. When I woke up, it was not only a bit cold (21°F) but very snowy and I knew that we would have a slick course. Until about two days ago, I was seriously considering running in shorts, just to ring in the new year. It was cold, but 21°F is not really a serious temp here and in my tights, three layers of technical shirts, a jacket for warmup, and mittens (I forgot my running hat and ended up running in a baseball cap), I was downright cozy. When the horn blew I took off and felt amazing---a little too much so, as you will note below. Very fun course and fun runners on it---I am usually up with a faster group that is there to run, so no one talks, but you can really feel the competitive spirit and you have to be a little nuts to come out and run on the 1st---and serious enough about your running to not have gotten trashed last night. This was a crazy, snow-and-ice-covered course which felt like running in sand at times.

Race Data
First, I went out way too fast---glanced at my watch at one point and saw that I was running a 5:45/mile pace---which, as you may know from previous posts---is a faster pace than I was running 400s in November. Completely nuts, but the adrenaline from the start and my desire to get out from the pack made me do stupid things. I think the mistake here was identifying two runners that I thought I could beat and trying to stick with them. I still think I could have beat them, but not after I killed myself in that first mile. I have to work on race discipline so that I am better at keeping MY pace early on. The image links to a larger version for closer consideration.



I think I could have run the whole thing at a 7:00 pace in the snow. I was not too far off, even with the decline in the second and third miles. That said, I held those two strongly together.

Lap (#)	Time (m:s)	Distance (mi )	M Spd (mph)	HR (bpm)		Energy (Cal)
				Avg	Max
1	6:48	1.00	11.3	174	182	139
2	7:19	1.00	9.0	182	185	139
3	7:17	1.00	9.9	185	189	142

That 11.3 max speed in the 1st mile was the killer---unfortunately, so was the 6:48. I want to get my 8k into that range this year, which I think is doable---but this was fine for a suboptimal run during a lighter training cycle. HR is the overall suprise---in the last stretch to the line, I pushed it up to 191, which, assuming that the monitor itself is not off, means that I pushed past my expected max by 3-4 bpm. The ENTIRE race was in the 90-100% effort---94.8% effort based on today's 191 max (or 96.5% effort, based on the old calculation of 187.5).


Very pleased with the effort overall---would like to know what I could have done if I ran smarter, but I had a great time. As of this writing, chicagoevents.com has crashed its server, so chip times are not available---and the time above includes an extra .1 (including having a volunteer take off my chip) before I realized that I had not stopped the timer. The 'official time' should be ok--mid 22 if my memory serves. Eager to see how I stacked up overall---hope I was top 10%.

Warmed up with 2.73; cooled down with an additional .75 (which should have been more, but I really wanted to get some food and get warm) which gets me 6.7 for the day---add yesterday's two and we have had a good beginning of the week.