The Hypo/Flat Out 5k Recap
I'm back after an unexpected one week hiatus caused by a sinus cold that started last Sunday evening and knocked me down for most of the week. Thankfully, it came in the week leading up to the first race of the season. Great timing!
I know I've spoken here before about my dislike for running in the winter, and in particular the cold weather. I don't know if I have specifically mentioned the Hypothermic Half Marathon or not, but it is a race that I have avoided, essentially on principle. The name spells out the fact that it is going to be cold; that's more than enough to keep me away. :)
Well, this being Newfoundland, running a race a month into Spring doesn't promise that conditions will be any better. At race start this morning it was -5, with winds 50 km/h gusting to 80 km/h, and a wind chill of -15. At least it was sunny!
Needless to say, I was not looking forward to racing in those conditions, and definitely not coming off a week of being sick. I got to Boston Pizza, parked and got out for a warmup of 2-3 km. That works out perfectly on this course, as it's about a 2.7 km loop. Unfortunately, doing the loop for a warmup was simply an indicator of just how miserable the race was going to be. It also led me to decide to wear 4 layers on my upper body and keep my pants on over my shorts, which ended up giving me quite a funny race pic that I've included below.
Over the last month, I had been looking forward to this race as an opportunity to test my fitness leading into my Tely 10 training. My goal was to crack 20:00, or at least come close. That went out the window this morning. My rough plan was to start out at a 4:00/km pace for the first 2 km, knowing that I'd give back time on the third km, which is uphill and was right into the brunt of the wind this morning. Overall, the key was not to push myself too far and risk getting sick again. I feel I executed that plan fairly well, and my splits for the first 3 km tell the story of the day:
Kilometer 1 - 3:58
Kilometer 2 - 3:52
Kilometer 3 - 5:18
That's not a typo. I was 1:26 slower on the 3rd km from the 2nd. That generally only happens if there is a drastic elevation change. I'm sure my recovery from being sick had some impact, but I'm crediting the wind for most of that. For comparison, I checked my times from last year, and I only had a 25 second drop-off between those 2 kms.
I got back down into the 4:25 range for the last 2 km, and crossed the line with a chip time of 22:31. That was 11 seconds faster than last year at this race, so considering all the variables that points to my fitness being much better right now than it was this time last year, so I will take that as a win.
That covers my experience today. A huge shout-out to everyone else who braved those elements today, and especially those who manage personal bests in those terrible conditions. Also, there were 3 runners from the current Learn To Run session with our Paradise Running Club who completed the race today. Normally, they would do a 5 km with our group as their Graduation Run, which is scheduled in two weeks time. These 3 ladies chose to jump into an organized race a little early, and then had the commitment to follow through and complete it despite the freezing cold and wind. Tremendous job!
Weekly Summary (April 2-8 and April 9-15)
Mon. (Lunch): 6.1km, 30:39, 5:01/km pace
(Evening): 20 minute yoga, Deep stretch neck and shoulders
Tue. (Lunch): 10 min warmup, 1600m (3:54/km) / 1000m (3:55/km) / 800m (3:55/km) / 400m (3:47/km) w/ 3/2/1 min recovery, 10 min cooldown (Workout total: 8.67 km, 41:00, 4:43/km pace) [treadmill]
(Evening): 20 minute yoga, Deep stretch chest and back
Wed. (Lunch): 6 km, 29:43, 4:57/km pace [treadmill]
(Evening): 20 minute yoga, Deep stretch hamstrings
Thu. (Lunch): 7 min warmup, 9 min (4:05/km) / 3 min (4:00/km) / 3 min (4:05/km) / 2 min (3:55/km) w/ 3 min recovery, 7 min cooldown (Workout total: 7.89 km, 38:00, 4:49/km pace)
Fri.-Sat.: Off
Sun. (Morning): 20.8km, 2:07:06, 6:05/km pace
Mon.-Fri.: Off
Sat. (Morning): 16 min warmup, 3x200m (36s/42s /43s) w/ 1 min recovery (Workout total: 4.08 km, 21:16, 5:12/km pace)
Sun. (Morning): 2.73 km, 15:06, 5:31/km pace (Flat Out warmup)
5.1 km, 22:32, 4:25/km pace (Flat Out race)
Total: 61.41 km
I had a pretty good week of training for the first week in April. I did a good workout on the treadmill on Tuesday, hitting all the intervals at the paces I wanted. I struggled a bit with my tempos on Thursday, but it gave me good feedback on where I need to improve. I also got 3 yoga sessions in, which was nice since I'd been slacking in that regard for the last month or so. And the weekend ended with my longest run of the year to date. That was all great, until...
....I got sick. I have been fortunate to avoid the bad flu that has been going around this winter, but I got a sinus cold that knocked me down for 4 days. So this past week consisted of just a brief test workout Saturday morning, and then the warmup and race this morning. Oh well, we all are going to get sick sometime, and the only sensible approach was to take the rest and hopefully prevent it from hampering my training for any more than the one week.
That's all for this week. As always, thanks for reading. Cheers!
I know I've spoken here before about my dislike for running in the winter, and in particular the cold weather. I don't know if I have specifically mentioned the Hypothermic Half Marathon or not, but it is a race that I have avoided, essentially on principle. The name spells out the fact that it is going to be cold; that's more than enough to keep me away. :)
Well, this being Newfoundland, running a race a month into Spring doesn't promise that conditions will be any better. At race start this morning it was -5, with winds 50 km/h gusting to 80 km/h, and a wind chill of -15. At least it was sunny!
Needless to say, I was not looking forward to racing in those conditions, and definitely not coming off a week of being sick. I got to Boston Pizza, parked and got out for a warmup of 2-3 km. That works out perfectly on this course, as it's about a 2.7 km loop. Unfortunately, doing the loop for a warmup was simply an indicator of just how miserable the race was going to be. It also led me to decide to wear 4 layers on my upper body and keep my pants on over my shorts, which ended up giving me quite a funny race pic that I've included below.
Over the last month, I had been looking forward to this race as an opportunity to test my fitness leading into my Tely 10 training. My goal was to crack 20:00, or at least come close. That went out the window this morning. My rough plan was to start out at a 4:00/km pace for the first 2 km, knowing that I'd give back time on the third km, which is uphill and was right into the brunt of the wind this morning. Overall, the key was not to push myself too far and risk getting sick again. I feel I executed that plan fairly well, and my splits for the first 3 km tell the story of the day:
Kilometer 1 - 3:58
Kilometer 2 - 3:52
Kilometer 3 - 5:18
That's not a typo. I was 1:26 slower on the 3rd km from the 2nd. That generally only happens if there is a drastic elevation change. I'm sure my recovery from being sick had some impact, but I'm crediting the wind for most of that. For comparison, I checked my times from last year, and I only had a 25 second drop-off between those 2 kms.
I got back down into the 4:25 range for the last 2 km, and crossed the line with a chip time of 22:31. That was 11 seconds faster than last year at this race, so considering all the variables that points to my fitness being much better right now than it was this time last year, so I will take that as a win.
That covers my experience today. A huge shout-out to everyone else who braved those elements today, and especially those who manage personal bests in those terrible conditions. Also, there were 3 runners from the current Learn To Run session with our Paradise Running Club who completed the race today. Normally, they would do a 5 km with our group as their Graduation Run, which is scheduled in two weeks time. These 3 ladies chose to jump into an organized race a little early, and then had the commitment to follow through and complete it despite the freezing cold and wind. Tremendous job!
As one of my running buddies pointed out, the wind gave me MC Hammer Pants!
Also, the fingers on my glove look crazy, because my actual fingers are balled up
trying not to get frost bite!
I feel this picture accurately sums up the fun I was having. Haha
Mon. (Lunch): 6.1km, 30:39, 5:01/km pace
(Evening): 20 minute yoga, Deep stretch neck and shoulders
Tue. (Lunch): 10 min warmup, 1600m (3:54/km) / 1000m (3:55/km) / 800m (3:55/km) / 400m (3:47/km) w/ 3/2/1 min recovery, 10 min cooldown (Workout total: 8.67 km, 41:00, 4:43/km pace) [treadmill]
(Evening): 20 minute yoga, Deep stretch chest and back
Wed. (Lunch): 6 km, 29:43, 4:57/km pace [treadmill]
(Evening): 20 minute yoga, Deep stretch hamstrings
Thu. (Lunch): 7 min warmup, 9 min (4:05/km) / 3 min (4:00/km) / 3 min (4:05/km) / 2 min (3:55/km) w/ 3 min recovery, 7 min cooldown (Workout total: 7.89 km, 38:00, 4:49/km pace)
Fri.-Sat.: Off
Sun. (Morning): 20.8km, 2:07:06, 6:05/km pace
Mon.-Fri.: Off
Sat. (Morning): 16 min warmup, 3x200m (36s/42s /43s) w/ 1 min recovery (Workout total: 4.08 km, 21:16, 5:12/km pace)
Sun. (Morning): 2.73 km, 15:06, 5:31/km pace (Flat Out warmup)
5.1 km, 22:32, 4:25/km pace (Flat Out race)
Total: 61.41 km
I had a pretty good week of training for the first week in April. I did a good workout on the treadmill on Tuesday, hitting all the intervals at the paces I wanted. I struggled a bit with my tempos on Thursday, but it gave me good feedback on where I need to improve. I also got 3 yoga sessions in, which was nice since I'd been slacking in that regard for the last month or so. And the weekend ended with my longest run of the year to date. That was all great, until...
....I got sick. I have been fortunate to avoid the bad flu that has been going around this winter, but I got a sinus cold that knocked me down for 4 days. So this past week consisted of just a brief test workout Saturday morning, and then the warmup and race this morning. Oh well, we all are going to get sick sometime, and the only sensible approach was to take the rest and hopefully prevent it from hampering my training for any more than the one week.
That's all for this week. As always, thanks for reading. Cheers!
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