Army Ten-Miler - Run10 Mile


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Washington, Washington, D.C.
United States
Army Ten-Miler
58F / 14C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 12m 44s
Overall Rank = 1502/21914
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 185/2103
Pre-race routine:

I had no real plan for this race, I've only run it once usually due to its proximity to my fall marathon plans. But this year my mary is in November so I put this on the schedule as a B race for training purposes. Unfortunately, it happened to fall on a beautiful weather holiday weekend. Since the weather was so nice my wife insisted that we spend it on the boat since we've had such crappy weather the last couple of months. This meant I got sub-par sleep and ate and imbibed a bit too much. Wasn't sure how the race would go at all.
Event warmup:

Up at 4:30 and had some breakfast and coffee, got ready for the race and drove into the city. Did a bunch of walking to and from metro and did some very light jogging for about 10 minutes prior to getting into my corral and stretching for about 10 minutes. I felt fairly good, but a bit stiff and "creaky" due to the sleeping arrangements on Friday and Saturday night, but I got most of my aches, pains, and stiffness worked out in the warm up.
Run
  • 1h 12m 44s
  • 10 miles
  • 07m 16s  min/mile
Comments:

Overall this was a pretty good run, especially given the conditions surrounding it... I really set myself up for failure on this race. I could have run a bit harder, but didn't really feel the need since I was approaching this more as training run.

I really hit my pacing well, I figured I'd come in somewhere between 1:10 and 1:15 so I decided to pace myself to split the difference and shot for 7:15 miles, see how that felt and adjust as necessary.

The first mile blew that plan, as there were literally hundreds if not thousands of people corralled wrong. I passed folks left and right that were out for a Sunday stroll through the park. Honestly, if you are running 12 minute miles or planning on walking the race, please stay in the proper coral, you will be doing us both a favor.

Anyhow after that first mile I did ramp it up a bit to try to bring the average down. Anyway I was happy with my overall pacing.

Avg. HR = 166
Max. HR = 181

Lap 1 8:03 (weave through the walkers)
Lap 2 7:09
Lap 3 7:09
Lap 4 7:01
Lap 5 7:19 (drink)
Lap 6 7:09
Lap 7 7:18 (drink)
Lap 8 7:04
Lap 9 7:09
Lap 10 6:52
What would you do differently?:

If this was an A race I would most certainly taper properly, but since it wasn't I kept my regular training schedule.
Post race
Warm down:

Jogged and walked the seemingly endless finisher chute to the post race area. Continued to walk a bit and then settled in for a nice stretching session. Had some granola bars and a banana, then waited for my wife to make her way in.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The hundreds of people that were improperly corraled for one, but otherwise I did exactly what I intended to do in the race. Had I been "racing" I would have tapered a bit the week prior and had better sleep and nutrition in the days leading up to the race.

Event comments:

Well organized race for such a large 10 miler, the soldiers supporting the race were fantastic, as were the civilian volunteers.




Last updated: 2011-10-12 12:00 AM
Running
01:12:44 | 10 miles | 07m 16s  min/mile
Age Group: 185/2103
Overall: 1502/21914
Performance: Good
Course: Start and finish at the Pentagon with a mostly flat run through the tourist parts of DC.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 3