Bushtukah Canada Day 5km - July 1st 2011

After a solid personal best (46:26) in the 10km last month, I decided on trying to break my best 5km time (22:35) as well. Still coming off the back of the solid base I had from training and running the marathon in May, I hadn't done much preparation for this race other than a few slightly faster than easy-pace runs.

I haven't run the Bushtukah race before as I usually do the Canada Day race that is held downtown, but the appearance of a certain Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meant that the race was cancelled for this year, so instead I headed to Kanata to unfamiliar territory.

The kids wanted to do a 1km race, so we all headed for Kanata on what was already a very hot day. With the 5km due to start at 8:45am it was 27˚C and cloudless as the racers packed into the starting area. As usual, Canada Day brings out all kinds of runners, experienced, first-timers, old, young, and those who just want to walk and get Canada Day off to a great start. 

I seeded myself as far forward as I could, I wanted to get a good start but the corral was a bit of a mish-mash and when the gun went off I had to do a little weaving to get some fresh pavement under me.

Five km races are hard, often when I have told someone I am doing a 5km they respond with, "after a marathon, 5km should be a walk in the park for you". Unfortunately that is not the case, you pretty much take yourself to "the red line" and hold it there all race until you hit the line in a heap. It is rare for me to train at my 5km pace so the whole race feels really hard. 

I wanted to hit and hold a pace 4:20/km, but after the 1st km, with the heat and rolling terrain I just couldn't get to that level, so I hovered around 4:28/km and just tried to hang on for dear life. The first 2kms went smoothly, but I really started to feel it after that, I was regretting the decision to run without water and my mistake was not to opt for a small hand-held bottle to quench my throat as my lungs seemed like they were on fire.

After about 1km of internal struggle I started to feel a little bit better and was able to will my legs to just keep going and count off the remaining distance. By being totally unfamiliar with the course it made it quite tough, but when I finally saw the finish line (and my wife and kids cheering me on) I was able to pick it up as much as I could and I was able to beat out one runner who responded to my surge finishing in a new personal best of 22:21, bettering my previous time by 14 seconds.

Kilometer splits:

1km - 4:22

2km - 4:29

3km - 4:26

4km - 4:34

5km - 4:26

A very pleasing race and result, in tough conditions. I was able to keep pushing myself and keep the negative thoughts at bay. I think I definitely have a sub-22 in me, and perhaps on a cooler day on a more familiar course I will break through.

June 2011 - taking it easy

After all the training that went into the Marathon, I took June really easy. I needed a bit of a break, mentally and physically and my family came to visit us from the UK so it was a perfect time to ease back and get the body and mind back into some sort of shape to train hard for the Army Half Marathon.

I managed 5 runs for a total of 49.78kms including a 10km race on Father's Day in which I ran a personal best of 46:26 (race report here). 

Now my focus turns to the Army Half Marathon (September 18th) and after that a few Fall races, possibly including a duathalon (run/bike/run), as I just bought a new Eclipse touring bicycle.

Alterna Do it for Dad 10km – 19th June 2011

After my marathon debut I decided to move my focus to the 5km and 10km distances. I had run the Alterna Do it for Dad 10km last year and found it well organized and fun so I signed up again and decided to try for a personal best (sub 49:22) with a whisper goal of going under 47 minutes.

This year the race seemed to be much more popular, I had to park my car in a lot a bit further away from the start than last year, and there definitely seemed to be a lot more people milling around before the races.

The sun was out and it was nice and warm as I put myself through my warm up jog, I felt a bit of stiffness in my left hamstring, probably as a result of a soccer game I had played 2 days earlier, but otherwise I felt in really good shape despite having barely run since the marathon.

The race got off to a late start and I was a bit thrown off after standing in the start/finish area for 15-20 minutes, I forgot to start my Garmin and only realized 150 meters in, so the Garmin splits mentioned below may be slightly off. It wasn’t a problem for me as I just used the “lap pace” screen to keep myself at around the 4:40 mins/km that would see me home in under 47 minutes.

I got off to a bit of a slow start as a lot of walkers seeded themselves too near the front and I had to navigate around them, but once I got going I was thankful for it as my hamstring eased up and I sped up and got to the pace I wanted and felt comfortable there. The first 2.5kms were into a slight breeze and slightly uphill so I decided to stay in a comfortable zone and then speed up slightly on the slight downhill back towards the start finish, clocking 23:17 for the first 5kms.

Splits:

1km – 4:49

2km – 4:38

3km – 4:39

4km – 4:37

5km – 4:34 – 23:17 at halfway point

Having run this race last year, I knew what was to come, a longish uphill stretch that would seem to go on for ever before the turnaround point at 7.5kms at Hog’s Back. I decided to ease off the pace just it a bit and then use the downhill stretch from 7.5km to 10km to run hard to the finish. This strategy turned out to be a good one as it was pretty crowded on the course at this point as the 5km walkers (that were set off in the opposite direction) were all bunched up and although most of them kept way over to the side, a few didn’t realize runners were coming through so a little zig-zagging was necessary. I was wary of speeding up too soon so I held on until about 1km to the end, and then started to up the pace and run as hard as I could. I passed a bunch of runners in the last 500 meters, and a couple in the finishing straight. One runner responded to me as I came up level with me and we sprinted all out to the finish with him pipping me by 3 tenths, but I was glad he responded as it helped me finish a lot faster than I would have had he not forced me to sprint to the limit.

I was so focused on the sprint off that I didn’t even see the clock, I knew my Garmin was wrong so I had a bit of a wait until they posted the results. Final time, 46:26; a new personal best by just under 3 minutes. 26^th out of 107 in my age bracket.

6km – 4:48

7km – 4:47

8km – 4:41

9km – 4:34

10km – 4:20 – 23:10 for the second half and a 7 second negative split.

I am really pleased with the result as I felt I ran a smart race and stuck to the plan really well. Next up is to try and beat my 5km PB at the Bushtukah Canada Day road race to get a full sweep of PBs for the year! (…and then maybe try another 8km race, and a ten miler).

Alterna do it for Dad 10km race

Quick update:

Personal best at the Alterna do it for Dad 10km today; 46:26!!!

Race report to follow...

May 2011 - Marathon May

May turned out to be a great month. I managed several long runs and a couple of long-ish marathon paced runs before tapering before the big race. Total mileage for the month was 186.64kms from 10 runs.

My marathon debut came at the end of the month and I ran a really satisfying race, clocking 3:55:22 and thus achieving my pre-race goal of under 4 hours (click here for the in-depth report).

With the marathon out of the way, I have had to change the name of my blog and new challenges await. My focus now turns to shorter races as I want to improve my personal best times for the 10km (49:22) and 5km (22:32). I have a 10km race coming up on the 19th of June and a 5km race on Canada Day (1st July). I am also planning some trail runs in Gatineau Park, so don't forget to click back here and see what I am up to.