I must first admit that I might have exceeded the effort and pace for a tempo run. I ended up running the race at 93% of max HR; average HR was 178 bpm. Despite running the race a little faster than tempo effort/pace, I never felt like I entered the anaerobic threshold area.
At the start, I only saw and knew one runner (Ivan) who is quite fast. I have never ran with him in the same race until this one, but I still knew from previous results that he is one of the top runners in the area. The gun went off and the two of us ran controlled for the first two hundred meters. However, right before the first incline Ivan suddenly surged giving him about a 20 meter lead. I thought it was an odd move to put in a surge that early in the race and considering the amount of gradual incline to come. We descended a small downhill coming across the 1K mark, which I split at 3:18. Ivan must have gone through somewhere around 3:05-10.
The next two kilometers were gradually uphill. At 2K (6:42), I evened up with Ivan just by running the same effort. We reached 3K at the top of the hill together in 10:20 (3:37 split). Ivan then put in a small surge again. About 30-45 seconds later we were side by side again. I think he realized that he wasn't getting rid of me with his small surges while I was running an even effort/pace race. 5K split was 17:06 (5:30 pace). Ivan and I ran stride for stride the rest of the race clicking off kilometer splits between 3:22 & 3:26 (5:25-5:32 pace) with the exception of 9K (3:35) which was uphill.
With 400m to go and still running stride for stride, I knew that I was going to settle for 2nd place. I was fine with it because my thought all along was to use the race as a workout. Another reason was because there was no doubt Ivan had more leg speed than me, probably from the 12 years of serious cycling he did. The way he surged during the race also seemed effortless. With about 200m to go Ivan shifted into another gear and took the win. I had no interest in trying to challenge for the win. I could tell Ivan was extremely happy of the win because he literally jumped in the air and pumped his fist as if he won a million dollars when he crossed the finish line. On the other hand, I was also very happy with my race, specifically the way I executed it. Running 34:19, with the 2nd half only about 6 seconds slower, on that course with a steady effort shows a good sign of fitness. Splits below and results here (click on "Heren 10 km senioren").
Distance / Split / Time
1K / 3:18 / 3:18
2K / 3:24 / 6:42
3K / 3:37 / 10:19
4K / 3:25 / 13:44
5K / 3:22 / 17:06 (5:30 pace)
6k / 3:26 / 20:32
7K / 3:26 / 23:58
8K / 3:24 / 27:22
9K / 3:35 / 30:57
10K / 3:22 / 34:19 (5:31 pace)
2 comments:
That's quite some pace for a race that you did not run all-out!
nice race - good splits
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