Saturday, March 14, 2009

Irish for a day

After finding out that the indoor track was closed for Spring Break, I was granted the opportunity to do the Irish for a Day 10 mile race.

I knew the 6min mile pace was unrealistic, so I did the old "listened to my body" and to my breathing. I have not run a race shorter than a marathon in 2 years, as well as road vs. trails.

I really needed a benchmark as I know my deathmill is messed up. So, this will be my benchmark for this year to move forward from.

Had the chance to meet Cindi (the lawyer) and warm up with her. I saw Kurt, Joe, and their gang run by like they were already racing.

As to the poll, you were all wrong. I probably could have done 2-3 miles at that pace, but no more.

The race went well. Finished 1:06:33 by my watch. Was only passed once, and ended up finishing ahead of him by a few seconds. I did not crash and burn, did not hit the wall, but did have one bad mile. Not sure what happened, but it was very slick during that mile, and every time I tried to push, I slipped.

Splits
1 - 6:36
2 - 6:40
3 - 6:39
4 - 6:19
5 - 6:42
6 & 7 - 13:31 (6:45, 6:46)
8 - 6:59
9 - 7:29 :( (very slick)
10 - 5:36 ;)

Okay, I was all over the place. Cut me some slack, its been a while since I have measured splits on the road.

I guess I need to work on the mental aspect a little more. If I was able to bang out a 5:36 at the end, I wasn't working hard enough on the previous 9. I can't even tell you when was the last time I ran a 5:36.

The legs had the power, but I was lacking the cardio. In fact, I could probably do another 10 right now at an easy pace.

All in all, it felt great to hammer out a road race and work for it.

I guess I can say my tempo pace is around 6:35. I think I will try the 6:00 test soon to see what I can do.

Not next week.

Big mileage week next week.

4 comments:

Runnin-From-The-Law said...

Great to meet you in real life today!

5:36 for the finish? Dude.

Me too on the cardio vs. legs thing.

Nice job.

johnmaas said...

Nice run around the lakes, Matt.
I ran that race last year and it was extremely icy then too.
For comparison purposes, I ran it in 1:06:43. I think if we raced against each other, it would be pretty close.
Keep up the great running!
John

Helen said...

Nice run Matt!! Difficult to maintain consistent pace on the roads yesterday - I was out there also along the parkway and around the lakes and it was pretty bad in places. But what a beautiful day all the same. AND as predicted Ireland beat Scotalnd in the rugby...

Kurt said...

good job in the race. Sorry I did not see you. I was out for my run when I ran into those guys. It looks by the mile splits you are comming along real well. Keep up the hard work, you will rock the trails this summer.