BQ by 40

I raced the 10 mile Hangover Classic in (East of) Downtown Louisville this morning. The forecasts were saying start temperature would be low 30s, but reality was that my warm-up at 9:15 was at about 19°F, and start was probably low 20s still. The course is amazing flat, with an average grade of about 1.6%. With the air temperature generally very cold, the race is about as fast as you can get.

I set my Garmin to pace me for a 7′15″ pace, trying to beat my Papa John’s 10 miler PR (which is a little warmer and a little bit hillier with Iroquois Park in the middle). I struggled to hit 7′15″ pace even once, but stayed below 7′30″ pace until the wheels came off in the 8th mile. My legs had no kick left, and I had some major side stitches creeping in. I also managed to run the course inefficiently, adding about 0.05 from running wide on several turns.

Warm up:1.6 miles in 14:28 for a 9′01″ pace.
Recovery: 2.51 miles in 26:28 for a 10′31″ pace

I started the morning with a bit of a cold and my mileage has dropped off of late. Looks like I’ll be looking at the Papa John’s 10 miler this year to break the 75 minute mark.

Elevation Chart:

It’s been since spring since I raced a 5k. I had forgotten how intense the burn is compared to even a slightly longer race, like a 5 miler. My target was 21:30, but lost a little bit of the mental will to complete the challenge mid-race, especially after going out a little too hard in the 1st 1/4 mile. Still, I was able to lock onto someone ahead of me the whole race for pacing and finally pass him just past the 3 mile mark.

The race course had +/- 100 ft of elvation change, which worked out to about 1.3% average incline. The course also had 2 turnarounds, which I think I managed to pick up some speed on.

My previous 5k PR, set at the Anthem 5k this year, was 21:54. I beat that mark by 13 seconds @ 21:41. Given that I’ve battled a couple injuries this year, and ran a marathon 2 weeks ago, I’m happy. For the record, that’s 9 PRs this year, and my first race at a sub-7 pace.

I also took 3rd place in the 25-34 age group:

9 PRs this year, including 2 10 milers and 2 5ks.

1. Hangover Classic 10-miler PR — 1:23:06
2. Anthem 5k PR — 21:54
3. Rodes City Run 10k PR — 46:26
4. Papa John’s 10-miler PR — 1:15:20
5. KDF mini-marathon PR — 1:46:12
6. Flying Pig marathon PR — 3:39:44
7. Hunger Relief Relay (9.2) PR — 1:12:34
8. Home Run 5 miler PR — 37:03
9. Santa Sprint and Stroll — 21:41

1/4 mile splits:

Elevation: (flat like a treadmill)

It’s been a roller coaster year for my running. 8 PRs this year, including back-to-back 10 miler PRs (-10 minutes each time) and a PR by 55 minutes (3:39) at Flying Pig. Then came a rough showing (4:42) at the Hatfield-McCoy Marathon, followed by tendonitis and an SI joint injury. My physical therapy ended September 25th, so the Flying Monkey marathon came just 8 weeks + 3 days after physical therapy ended. I made it up to 50 miles for one week prior to tapering (40, 30 and 14 miles for the 21 days prior to Monkey).

We had a send-off for a co-worker (beer involved) on Friday, and then wine Saturday, so hydration wasn’t optimal.

On to the report:
It seemed to take forever to get to Mile 2. This was no trick by the Monkey RD; my Garmin 305 confirmed that I was only at mile 2. There’s nothing like wishing a MARATHON was over at mile 2. This feeling continued through mile 6. I managed to get a little benefit on the first couple downhills, but my joints paid a heavy price for the extra speed I gained. The downhills also caused so much friction that a large, heart shaped blister formed in the front arch area of my right foot. (The good news is, my forefoot actually went numb from the pain).

It was at this point that I resigned myself to slower marathon than I had hoped for that I started enjoying the scenery. The trees provided a nice autumn picture, the sun highlighting the trees at times. At each water stop I paused, mostly to rest.

By the second half, I couldn’t control my stride enough on the downhills to get much benefit from them, and had some pain reminiscent of SI joint pain at mile 18, and had to walk the downhill. …I had several miles in which I had to break stride and walk, principally miles 19-20, where the full elevation was scaled in two miles, mostly in 19. Amazingly, I had something in the tank left for the last two miles, and managed to get my second best marathon time (4:30:30) on minimal time to train after recovering froom injuries.

Due to the cool conditions, I held things together here better than my Hatfield-McCoy performance. I’m certain that a summer Harpeth Hills course would have been far more brutal than H-M. H-M has one huge hill and some relentless small hills. Flying Monkey has several relentless large hills:

Elevation Data

Splits