Race Report – Summer Sunstroke Race #5

Wednesday night was race number 5 of the Summer Sunstroke Stampede 5K Race series.  After last week’s race downtown on Town Lake, the series returned to the Brushy Creek Trail right behind our neighborhood.

I prefer this location over the Town Lake course for quite a few reasons as there is no rush hour drive for me, the trail system is much less congested and there are no streets to cross, baseball players to dodge or parking lots to run through.

The one advantage that the Brushy Creek course does not enjoy however is topography.

The Town Lake course is very flat with only 36 feet of climbing spread evenly over the 3.1 mile course.

Town Lake Course Elevation Chart

The Brushy Creek course features 71 feet of climbing, which is not too terrible, a little more than a seven story office building, but the elevation change is concentrated for the most part from mile 2 to mile 2.5 as runners climb from 778 feet above sea level up to 833 feet at the top of the dam.

Brushy Creek Trail Course Elevation

There is also a 180 degree switch back over the last 200 meters of the climb that requires runners to forfeit their forward momentum to navigate the turn.  It is a very technical course and by my estimation appears to be somewhere between :06 and :10 “slower” than its counterpart downtown.

Both courses feature a “cone” turnaround where you have to come virtually to a stop to make a quick U-turn, grab your water cup and head back on your way.  These races are also run predominantly on loose gravel, also adding to the challenge of posting a fast time.

All in all, I love everything about this series as I know it is making me stronger and faster for our road races later this summer.  Steel sharpens steel after all.  If you are going to pick a race series to help you get faster – you might as well pick a tough one.

Pre-Race:  I tried something a little different this week as I have started to really feel like a longer warm-up is benefitting me in these shorter races.  I ran a 1.5 mile warm-up last week before the Town Lake race and ran a new series PR of 19:14.

So last night I decided to leave the truck in the garage and run over to the race start from the house.  It was exactly a 2-mile warm-up from my drive-way to the starting area, covered in 16:13.  My ½ mile splits were just about perfect as I gradually increased the pace:  4:09, 4:07, 4:00, and 3:56.

I arrived at the start feeling like most of the soreness from this past weekend’s tiling job had left my body.  My legs were feeling pretty “racy”.  I paid my $10 entry fee and drank a bit of Gatorade.  Hung out in the shade chatting with my friend Joe McCellon and started to think about goals for the race as Joe left me to warm-up.

As much as I would like to have shot for last week’s personal series best time of 19:14, I thought that trying to come in under my time on this particular course from 2 weeks ago was a more sound plan.  I had raced very well that night duking it out with Sarah Mark over the final 2 miles to finish in 19:23. Hopefully I would have another runner to push me this week.

Mile 1:  In keeping with the low-key nature of these race starts, we assembled as a group behind the timing mat and with very little fanfare we were off with the starters “Go”.  I settled into my opening half-mile pace in 5^th position.  I felt like I was running right where I needed to be as Joe and Scott Rantall sped off ahead of the group.  They would be duking it out over the early miles.  Scott running a new course record in 15:59 or 5:09 pace.  They were long gone before we hit mile 1.

I clicked my first ½ mile in 2:53 only :01 second behind my opening half on this course two weeks ago as well as my opening ½ mile last week at Town Lake.  Just about perfect I thought.  I felt like I had run the opening mile just a touch too fast two weeks ago, so I backed off the pace slightly and let a runner slip past me.  My second ½ mile came in at 3:09, :07 seconds slower than the race two weeks ago, but I was betting that would help me over mile 2.

After all these races, I feel like I’m still trying to put together the perfect strategy.

Mile 2:  As we started the second mile I made a conscious effort to wind the watch a little bit and increase my leg turnover.  I passed back the runner I had let slip by and reclaimed my spot in 4^th place.  He fell off my shoulder quickly as I feel like he went out a bit too fast, and I ran alone for the rest of the second mile.

With nobody to push me and nobody to chase, I knew this was a critical mile.  I needed to make sure I didn’t let my mind and my effort wander and keep hammering away with that 98 degree heat beating down on us.

My two ½ mile splits were 3:03 and 3:05.  I had made up :13 seconds on my time from 2 weeks earlier over the same mile after “giving away” :08 seconds on the opening mile.  I had a shot at a new course record for me if I could keep it together, but we were approaching the start of the climb back up to the top of the dam and I was running all alone.

Mile 3:  This is the part of the course where Sarah and I really started to chase each the last time I raced at Brushy Creek.  There were no footsteps behind me to be heard and the third place runner Colin was a solid :30 ahead of me.  Too far to realistically chase I was pretty much on my own.

I pushed hard up to the top of the dam and then started to once again regain some pace over the second half of the mile.  My two ½ mile splits were 3:16 and 3:10.  My sixth half mile was only :01 slower than my second.  It was going to be pretty close to come in under 19:23.  It was all going to come down to the kick.

Finish:  I hit the last 1/10 of a mile and could make out the finishing clock counting down the last few seconds under 19:00.  I kicked hard and tried to really push through the finish, just before the finish line Dawn was there holding baby Landry and I could hear Dawn say, “Here comes your Daddy” …. Too tired to smile on the outside, I had a big smile on the inside as I hit the timing mat.

19:19.

:04 faster than two weeks ago and another course best for me in the series.  It was good enough for 4^th place overall, 1^st place in the Male Masters (over 40) division.

Post-Race:  I walked down to the water and Gatorade, caught my breath and then walked back to turn in my timing chip and meet up with Dawn and Landry.

I had a great time introducing Landry and Dawn around to Tom, Jason, Joe, Colin, Pete and a few of the other runners that I see just about every week.  The highlight of the night for me though was during the awards ceremony while I was holding Miss Landry.

At school the last week or so they have been working on “clapping” and Landry has picked this up very quickly as well as saying bye-bye and waving to us.  Sometimes she does that when it is more of a “Hello” situation, but hey, she’s 9-months old, give the kid a break right?

But last night as all of the Age Group winners were called up for their awards, Landry would clap along with everyone else in attendance with the announcement of each winner.   When the clapping stopped, Landry would stop.  She would wait to hear the next name, then clap along with everyone else.

It was absolutely the coolest and she got quite a bit of attention from all of the runners and their families.  A year ago I was running the same series and Dawn was 6 months pregnant.

Amazing how things change, and how much cooler things are one year later.  I’ve got a pretty great little “race fan” right now, it might be time to try out that jogging stroller this weekend.

Summer Sunstroke Stampede 5K Race Report

On the six-month anniversary of the Run for Dom blog we have a race report to share.  It is truly amazing to me that we have had so many visitors, supporters and friends visit our blog since November.  Thank you all so very, very much.

It was a very interesting race last night under all kinds of “strange” conditions.  To be completely honest I had virtually no performance expectations heading into the race.  Not only was the race during the middle of the work week on a Wednesday – it was held at 7:00 p.m.

For a morning runner like myself – who virtually NEVER runs after 7:30 a.m. at the absolute latest – the 7:00 p.m. start was the variable I was most concerned by.  I know how much the 10:00 a.m. start effected me at Boston this year – I could only imagine what an evening run would do to my performance.  There were quite a few other factors at play as well.

The course was sure to be slow as we had heavy rains in the area beginning at 2:00 a.m. Wednesday morning that lasted until well past Noon.  I know this as our house sits just .67 miles from what would be the turnaround point on the race-course.  Having run the trail several times a week for the past 3-4 years I am very familiar with how the course would fair under those conditions.  Let’s just say I knew where the puddles of standing water would be.

Nutrition on Wednesday was another concern.  Since I am a morning runner and typically do not eat much of anything before a run.  Even for a 20-mile training run during the height of marathon training, I bounce out of bed at 5:00 a.m. and consume gels during my run, no pre-run breakfast.  By 7:00 p.m. on most nights I have already eaten dinner and am pondering my evening snack.  This late start time had me questioning what if anything I should eat prior to the race.

I decided to just have an “Elvis” – a light snack of a bagel with peanut butter and a banana at 5:00 p.m. two hours before the start.  I was hoping it would provide me with enough fuel for the 3.1 mile race – but not make me feel “full” as I was trying to push pace.

Since the race took place on my “home-turf” I was curious if that would be a benefit or a detriment as I tried to hold a strong pace over the familiar course.  Running for me, like most distance runners, is all about rythym.  On training runs I typically get my leg-turnover to fall into a certain cadence and then simply let my muscle memory take over.

I questioned whether I would be able to run mile splits :45 seconds faster than my average pace on a course that I cover on just about every one of my run-days.  Would I be able to sustain that effort, or would my body “automatically” fall into a more comfortable and much more familiar “slow” rythym.

Lastly, temperature.  I was not worried at all about thunderstorms or rain as I actually enjoy running in the rain – but the forecast was calling for 85 degrees with 79% humidity at 7:00 p.m.  That is “hot” no matter how you slice it and although I would only be running for approximately 20 minutes or so – the weather was certainly going to be a major factor when it came to my finishing time.

How would we deal with the above “variables”? Well, we were about to find out.

Because I like to break down every race into manageable bit-sized portions to keep me on track, I jotted down the following “splits” to bring me in at my goal time for the night:

Mile 1:  6:25, Mile 2:  6:15, Mile 3:  (uphill) 6:45, Closing .10 mile :35 – total time 20:00

I packed my race bag into the truck and headed over to the trail at 6:30 p.m. – just enough time to park, get my timing chip and do a few strides before changing from my training shoes into my race flats.  I decided to go with my Brooks T6 Racers in a game-time decision as I wanted to see how they held up over the 3.1 mile course.  To that point I had only raced in my flats in the Congress Avenue Mile a couple of weeks before.

This race was all about providing me with a tune-up for the Holland, TX 5K a week from Saturday – so I decided to make it a dress rehersal, right down to my socks, shoes, shorts and singlet.

Being my first time racing in the series, I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but there was quite a good turnout with well more than 100 runners ranging from teens to 60+ years in age.  I did a few warm-up strides in my trainers then switched out to my racing flats, tied on my timing chip and got ready to roll.

Mile 1:  I wanted to run a quick first mile, so I got right behind the high-school boys who looked very “runnerish” and tried to hang with them for the first half-mile.  Without looking at my watch I felt like I was running at a nice comfortable pace and as we left the loop by the lake and headed up hill to the first mile check-point I thought I was running just about spot on my goal pace.

My Garmin sounded with a beep and I turned in my first mile at 6:24, just :01 seconds off of goal.

Mile 2:  At the end of a mile of running I am usually just starting to work into a nice “lather”.  Not too much sweat has accumulated on my running shirt and shorts and I am starting to “feel it”.  Wednesday night was a much different situation however as I was already soaked to the bone in sweat.

I was going to have to slow down my pace a bit if I was going to have anything left to crest the uphill section of the course from the 2.2 to 2.8 mile point of the race.

I had hoped to run a 6:15 second mile – but knew that was pure folly in the conditions.  I stuck with the effort I wanted to expend instead of fixating on my watch and at the sound of the beep at mile 2 I had turned in a 6:35 mile.  Those :20 seconds would be unrecoverable in the conditions, but I was holding my place among the runners and had not been passed to this point.  I was running a strong race and was anxious to see how I would fare on the climb to the top of the dam.

Mile 3:  This was a mile that I had originally hoped to run in 6:45 – but again – given the conditions that was probably a bit too aggressive.  I took aim at two young runners who I had been trailing by 100 meters or so to this point.  I knew that this part of the course was one I had run many, many times in my training and thought that it was my best opportunity to close in on them.

I kept my legs churning, stayed tall in my strides and began to gain on the two runners ahead.  I would reach and pass them long before we crested the top of the hill.  As I finally reached the 3 mile point I glanced down at my watch and had turned in a 6:47 third mile.  Strong split all things considered.

Finish:  All that was left was the final .10 miles where I would pick up the pace and kick to a :36 second closing time.  Just one second off of my goal for that final 1/10 of a mile.

Age Group Victory

Total time 20:23 which would amount to an age-group victory for me in my first race in the series and a 10th place finish overall.  Not a PR for me, but all things considered a time that I am proud of for a Wednesday night.

With our “big race” approaching in 10 days I will have to skip next week’s Race #6 in the series – but I do plan on making it to the next few races after Holland, TX.  Running these events will make my speedwork this summer much more enjoyable than running intervals and tempo runs on my own.

I fully expect my times to rise as the temperature here in Austin does the same thing.  But these weekly races will certainly make me a much stronger runner at the 5K distance and provide me with a great opportunity to log a lot of “race experience” in a short period of time.

Besides, who doesn’t like taking home a blue ribbon on a Wednesday night?