Kingman 5K & 10K

[kodi]

This is the fourth time I've run this stinking course. It is said we become wiser with age but either I haven't reached that age yet or it's not true. If I were wiser, I'd run the 5K instead off the 10K. It's 3.1 miles up and 3.1 miles down. My first mile was okay but the second mile kicked my butt. After about 1.75 miles the course kind of levels for about 1/2 mile then it's a gradual climb to the turnaround. My return time was 6 minutes faster than the up time and inspite of my efforts to catch the 5 people in front of me, I finished last....3rd in the 55+ AG and was the oldest runner. My time was 1:10:29, six minutes slower than last year. After downloading my Garmin I tried to figure out what is going on with my running. Using the standard MAX HR calculation 220-age, my max should be 149. Except for the first two miles my HR stayed at 145. The first two miles were way over, like 166 and 158. Using the other method 205-1/2 age my max would be 170. With that I was between 80-85% Max. Either way, I think it was a hard effort and a little disappointed with my time.
On the bright side for me, my 12 year old grandson, my daughter and my buddy all ran the 5K. Jimmy finished 2nd overall in 18:12 (beat by the same 46 year old that beat him in Laughlin), my daughter finished in 24:32 for 1st in her AG and Ron finished 23:23 for 3rd in his AG. The AGs are not the normal 5 or 10 year breaks. Ended up the 5K course on 3 different Garmins measursed 2.88 miles and the 10K on mine was 6.17.
I'm ready to give up on this running stuff. Maybe I should stick to biking and swimming.

 

[Guest]

You better not give up on this running stuff, unless a physical ailment makes you. You are in the best shape of your life. Maybe take a rest from racing, you've been going at it all year, 1/2s and full marys......Your time is awesome too!

 

[SumoRunner]

That's better than I've done lately and my last 10k was on flat land within a couple hundred feet of sea level.

 

[ChouDoufu]

how do you plan your runs? are you going all out at the beginning uphill?

i've had trouble recently starting out too fast. now i'm making up little
cheat-sheet note cards with estimated times to help pace myself.

 

[kodi]

I learned a long time ago to not go all out at the beginning, in fact, I more or less get lost in the crowd so I don't. For races shorter than a 1/2 marathon I do about a mile warmup to get the hr up some. I think one of the things for this one is after the warmup it was 10 minutes or more before the start.

 

[SumoRunner]

I've tried it every which way, start fast, start slow, no warm up, short fast warm up, slow warm up. The type or duration of the warm up doesn't matter so much as whether you did any at all. Starting cold seldom leads to good results.

As for pacing, the best way is to get the splits as even as possible and that's a very difficult skill to acquire. I might get it right once or twice a year and I average 10-12 races annually, Of course, if you have a hilly course, even splits are not likely because you'd either go too hard on the ups or too easy on the downs. Then you have to gauge the level of effort, most will use the HRM for this but I don't have an HRM, I go by feel.

The last 5k I ran a couple weeks ago. I did about a mile warm up more than 10 minutes before hand and with about 5 mins to go I did some fast strides to work up a sweat. I proceeded to go out too fast, 9:15 first mile, then had to back off and averaged 10:00 per mile overall. I ran a 4 miler in March with only a short, easy warm up, no fast strides and started dead last so I wouldn't go out too fast. The first mile was about 10:00 and I was able to keep nearly that same pace throughout, finishing in 40:23. I did a 5 miler about a month ago with no warm up at all and could never get into the groove. My first mile was only about 10:25 but I felt like it had been 10:00 and it just went downhill from there, finishing in 52-something. All of these were on dead flat courses.

 

[Debbie]

Hi Kodi, the most important thing I took from this post was that you got to run and have fun with your grandson and daughter!! That is wonderful, what a blessing that is !!!
If you decided to give up running will you come ride with me out here in CA??? You know I found a cardic riding group out here, you can join the rides??
Take care Debbie