Race Report: Cookie Run 10K 2017

This was originally my "A" race for the fall run season. After hitting my sub-20 minute 5K goal last year, this year the plan was to go sub-40 for a 10K. My oldest daughter is a Brownie, and was scheduled to work at this race as it's a fundraiser for Girl Guides. So it made sense to pencil this one in as the culmination of my fall run focus.

Things were looking up after my 5K on October 1st. Based on my time in that race, the McMillan run calculator predicted I could hit 40 minutes for a 10K, and I had 5 weeks to keep honing my run fitness. I had a great plan mapped out of progressive mileage, tempo runs, and speedwork. I knew reaching my goal would be a challenge, but felt confident in my fitness and training.

Ready to race on a chilly November morning

But, as outlined in my last blog post, the injury bug bit. It wasn't a sudden injury, but a cumulative one that really got exacerbated after the Great Gower Run. I was really worried it might be a stress fracture, or that it would turn into one if I kept running. Soft tissue pain is one thing but when your bone hurts, and you're facing the possibility of MONTHS off running, keeping up my run training was a risk I wasn't willing to take. I'm a multisport athlete first, so I'm never going to risk compromising my tri/du season for the sake of a running race.

So in an effort to keep my aerobic fitness, I got reacquainted with my trainer, and put in more cycle training than I've ever done before. I knew that cardio is one thing, but run-specific fitness is another, and so I devised a run-specific strength circuit in order to hopefully keep those muscles active.

One thing's for sure - I'm in great bike shape. After a good 6 weeks off of bike training, I was surprised to see I hadn't lost that much bike fitness. And by the end of my impromptu bike focus I was really smashing it. It would have been interesting to see what I could have done in a 40K TT.

With one week to go before the race, and really only a week after my pain went away, I got back on the treadmill. Two easy sessions and then some short race pace intervals, and no pain. Things were looking good. I was prepared to shut things down if the pain in my tibia re-emerged, but starting the race was a "go".

Race Day

It was below zero as we headed out to the venue. This race, along with several others over the course of the year, used to be held at a different venue, but for whatever reason (Canada 150 related?) quite a few races have moved to the Aviation Museum, using the Sir George-Etienne Cartier Parkway as the course. Not sure if this is a permanent thing or just a this year thing. Either way, it's a nice course. Great scenery, relatively flat (my Garmin shows 58m of elevation gain), and wide roads closed to traffic. And plenty of onsite parking (though it did fill up - we got there about an hour and a half early).

As a dude who doesn't do well in hot weather, I really like cold (but not subzero) runs. It was around 2 degrees when the race went off at 10am, which was just fine by me.

I figured that going sub-40 was going to be a long shot, but that was still going to be my goal. I wasn't interested in PBing - anything over 40 minutes would be a fail, whether I was over by 5 seconds or 5 minutes. So the plan was to try to hold 4:00/km as long as I could. If I made it all the way, fantastic. If I couldn't hold that pace, so be it.

Navigating my way through the crowd

 

This was the most congested start to a race I've experienced. There were about 900 runners at Rattle Me Bones last year, but the 5K and 10K started separately, and I managed to line up near the front on that one, along with a bunch of mostly fast runners. There were almost 1000 runners in this race, all starting simultaneously. And I didn't get to line up all that close to the front. There were some fast folks up front, but there were also a lot of people in front of me running at a more leisurely pace, with groups of friends, so it was a pretty congested first kilometre.

It was remarkable how quiet things got after the 2.5km turnaround. The 5K runners peeled off and I was left running with a small number of people running at around the same pace. I was running mostly by RPE at this point, still unsure of my run fitness, and glancing at my watch occasionally to see what sort of pace I was holding. I was keeping it under 4:00/km, and hit the 5K point at 19:52 (though actually making the turn at 19:56). I was on pace to break 40 minutes, and things up to that point had felt sustainable.

But accelerating out of that turn was somewhat labourious. And though I was still running at the pace I wanted for the next couple of kilometres, I was really killing myself to hold that pace. I was hyperventillating and started making these gasping/grunting sounds with every exhale. The runners passing me in the other direction were showing looks that alternated between genuine concern and what might have been outright horror. I was not in a good way, but was practicing what I call the alcoholic's approach: "You don't have to run the rest of the race at this pace, you just have to make it though the next kilometre." That worked for 2K.

Kilometre 7 clicked by at 28:03. I was now officially on pace to finish over 40 minutes. I knew if I could hold my current pace (at this point, 4:06/km) I'd hit that final K with 15 seconds to make up - actually more like 20 as my Garmin was ahead of the markers on the course. At North Gower I ran that final K right around 3:45/km. So maybe breaking 40 was technically still possible. Except for two things: #1, there was no way I was going to be able to hold my current pace - things were headed in the wrong direction and I was on the rivet; #2 to run the final K here faster than I ran the final K in a race half the distance... well, highly unlikely.

So the dream died at the 7km mark. I eased up and began running at 4:20/km pace. It was enough to get my breathing under control and bring my heart rate down a few BPMs. Unsurprisingly, people started passing me, including some guys I had passed before the turnaround. But I was at peace with my race - I was still running hard, but it wasn't the sufferfest that the last couple of kilometres had been.

With one km to go I made a brief attempt to pick back up to 4:00/km, but it was too hard for 1000m, so I backed off. I did get a good finishing sprint in as there was a dude just up ahead of me that I raced for the line. I thought I probably got in under 41 minutes, but my chip time was 41:10, so not quite. If I'd run a different race tactically, I probably could have gone around 40:30, but I chose to go all-in for the slim chance I'd actually be able to hold onto a sub-40 pace, and paid the price. But 40:30 wouldn't have felt any better than 41:10, so I had nothing to lose with my gamble.

Official Time: 41:26
Chip Time: 41:10
24/297 Overall
10/29 M30-39

Getting my finisher's medal from my daughter

 

I'm not disappointed in failing to reach my goal, given the circumstances. Mostly I'm just relieved that my shin pain didn't re-emerge during or after the race. But I'm really hungry to make sub-40 next year (I'm also keen to break 19 for the 5K). I think both should be doable as long as I remain injury-free, but that's always the caveat. Despite some setbacks, I've been trending in the right direction in that regard.

Lessons learned:
1) There's no substitute for running. I was able to maintain a good amount of fitness, but not run-specific fitness. I don't think my strength routine was necessarily misguided, but it wasn't giving my body what running would. I think specifically the plyometric aspect was lacking, though I'm not sure how I could have incorporated that type of work without compromising my recovery. And ultimately I didn't lost that much run fitness, but I do think I would have put up a better time a month ago. Where I really noticed it was after the race. I've never been so sore after any race, even three days later I was feeling it, and that's what happens when you all of a sudden ask your muscles to give everything they've got after a month off.
2) Running really eats into your bike fitness. I've never done a bike-only focus like I did in October, and the difference between only biking (and doing it 5-6 times a week) and dividing your time between biking and running is huge. It does make me wonder what I could actually do if I ever decided to become a single-sport athlete.