Race Report: Whitby 10 Miler

Warning

If you've ever done one of this guy's races, you know it's never quite perfect.  In this case, inexplicably, there was no Gatorade/eLoad/anything.  Just water.

Inexcusible.  It's 16km, runners absolutely expect it.  I paid $50, that should have been good for a few cups of Gatorade.

The same guy organizes a few Whitby races - most notably this one and the "WIN Marathon".  I know a few runners who avoid his races like the plague - I keep going back, figuring after all these years he'd have figured it out.  He hasn't, and likely won't.  So you've been warned.

(I really hate to rag on the local guy, too because I love having local race options... but it's overdue.)

One other thing... there were orange spray-painted kilometer markers that were bang-on, but then there were signs that were for some reason off!  In the end the measure was close for the 10 miler (but way off for the 10km I'm sure - again, why??).  Attention to detail, please!

My Race

Results:
http://www.rrresults.com/results2.php?race=520

1:15.27 (13 of 114 overall, 3/8 age group, 12/44 men)

This race was a spur of the moment decision.  After last week, I wanted to do something... but wasn't sure what.  There was also a cyclocross race just up the road from me that I've done a couple of years in a row (that is awesome)... but my bike is out of commission and I got too lazy to fix it, so the 10 miler it was!

This race is by the water, on the waterfront trail mostly - which is quite lovely, but always windy.  It's also fairly hilly, depending on which direction you go.

In this case - we started out with a 10km out-and-back to the west, which is flat, followed by a 6km out and back to the east which is hilly.

I planned to started out at 4:45/km, figuring no matter how bad things go that was my "worst case scenario" pace.  Last week at the 1/2 marathon from hell, I ended up averaging 5:12/km... so really, it could actually get worse, but I wasn't going to have any of it today!

The first kilometer, though, was net downhill by quite a lot... so I ended up coming up to 1km at 4:14/km.  This was my fastest kilometer of the day... a bit stupid, really, but I immediately backed off and found a more reasonable pace.

Here are all my splits.


1 4:14.8 - net downhill, a bit excited, too fast?
2 4:41.3 -
3 4:44.4
4 4:46.1
5 4:48.2 - slightly uphill, backed off
6 4:39.6 - slightly downhill, enjoyed
7 4:41.8
8 4:38.8        
9 4:45.4 - strong wind by lake        
10 4:53.4 - uphill, windy        
11 4:44.9 - uphill, headwind
12 4:53.1 - uphill, headwind        
13 4:46.6 - downhill, then uphill        
14 4:48.7 - worst hill of race...        
15 4:40.3 - a bit of a hill but started to think of finish...         
16 4:30.6 - kick it!!!  Heart rate topped out at 194bpm...

Average pace: 4:42/km - which on a windy/hilly course I'll take!  Especially after last week.

Average heart rate was pretty high for a 16km... 179bpm.  First 6km or so were in the 170's, rest was 180+, then the 190's over the last kilometer.  Two weeks ago I did a 10km, with an average heart rate of 183bpm, and max of 191bpm... so I think I'm still running a bit high for whatever reason.

Next up... 

... nothing!  Well at least nothing more for 2012, next race will be in 2013.  I need a bit of a break from running, going to take next week completely off before I get back into anything.