A week after the 50k in Youngstown, I decided that I would run the Great Race in Pittsburgh. Originally, I wanted to just run the 5k, but for whatever silly reason, I thought I would run the 10k - and that decision was not one of the better ones I have made. I was still recovering from the 50k, and didn't really run all that much in preparation, however, I actually ended up doing something that I have NEVER done as a runner so far in the past two years of running, so there certainly was a silver lining to the race.
Anyways, the race is one of the oldest races in Pittsburgh, and runs from upper Frick Park to the Point in downtown in Pittsburgh. It is a great race - as you can see from the elevation chart above, the course is primarily downhill, but there are some uphill parts as well, in particular, mile 5 - that mile is a sneaky gradual 100 foot gain over a mile, it has the ability to break your pace.
Needless to say, the run was OK, but somewhat painful because I could not hold a 10k pace, and I had some erratic splits, ranging from 7'44 (mile 1) to 9'24 (mile 5) and 7'22 (mile 6). This was exaggerated by me having to go to the bathroom the first three miles because we got to the start line with less than 5 minutes til start and the porta potty lines were long, and I was on the wrong side of the street (the woods were an option to go to the bathroom, but, they were on the other side, and it was a huge crowd to cut through). I held on until for at least 3 miles and the 5k start point were there were porta potties - hooray! Lesson learned for next year - get to the start line early.
To make a long story short, I finished 7 minutes better than two years ago, and I negative split the run by about a minute, and that I have never done before, so I can report some progress, but, I would like to run a 10k without be fatigued from running a 50k the week before. It will be more of an accurate reading of my fitness, and my abilities in the 10k.
No comments:
Post a Comment