Total time: 22:27
Kilometer Splits: 4:15, 4:25, 4:45, 4:33, 4:30
Ranking: 12/18 AG, 85/152 OA - yuck!

Race Report:

Click to enlarge Race morning - ready to roll!

This was my first race of the 2003 season. As such, I didn't have great expectations of a lifetime PR or anything. In addition, my mitral valve prolapse and associated palpitations had been acting up a bit causing me to miss 2.5 weeks of training leading up to the race. After an assortment of tests (echocardiogram, EKG, etc.) and a trip to my cardiologist, I was pronounced fit for racing only 7 days before the race. From that day forward until race day I only did some easy miles and in fact ran the day before the race (5 miles) which is a no-no for me if I'm really trying to nail a good time.

The Subaru 5k (formerly known as the Jordan 5k) is the second of 7 races in the 2003 Financial Running Series (details can be found at instride.ca), with the last one being the Casablanca 5 miler (a favorite of mine) in November. Due to my marathon training schedule, I unfortunately won't be doing them all but I looked forward to this one as the series is very competitive and always tends to attract very good runners. Being in the male 30-34 age group in this series is not good if (a) you aren't very fast and (b) you are very competitive with respect to your age group ranking. Unfortunately, I'm both.

The race itself is right in the wine region of Niagara about half-way between Hamilton and St. Catherines. When I woke up race morning I noticed the weather was great - about 0C (32 F), clear, with just a gentle breeze. Alot different than the gale-force crosswinds I had to deal with in the Casablanca 5 miler last November. I decided on tights with a double layer of long-sleeves on top. I almost wore shorts, but decided at the last moment to play it safe and go for the extra coverage.

Click to enlarge Jordan Arena

I arrived at the race site about an hour before the race start time. As I hadn't picked up my race pack yet, this was perfect timing as it gave me well enough time to pick up my pack (within the Jordan Arena) and do my normal warmup before the race started. After affixing my race number to the front of my shirt, I did an easy 2km warmup then 5x100m at race pace (with walk-backs) to get my blood flowing. I then did some easy running drills and stretching before lining up for the start. By race time it was almost 5C (42F) - perfect racing weather. Let's get it on! The announcer then counted down the final 10 seconds and we were off.

As I really hadn't run much in the last month, I really tried to conserve at the start and control the flow of my adrenaline. I had hoped prior to the race that I could maintain a 4:30/km pace throughout and tried to get onto that pace from the onset. The first km was very easy - a gentle downhill and straight, and I hit the first km marker in 4:15. A little too fast. This is something I must work on this year - better pacing. I'm convinced that my best times will come from either even or negative splitting each kilometer. But I wasn't too hard on myself considering the fact that I hadn't been running alot of late so it wasn't surprising my internal clock was a little off.

I made the conscious effort to control my pace in the second kilometer and it worked. I hit the second kilometer marker in 4:25. But soon after the second kilometer marker, things got alot harder. The initial rush of adrenaline had worn off and I was battling my form and cadence to keep pace. Near the 2200m mark the internal demons came into view amid my lactate haze telling me - "C'mon, let's just slow down a bit. You haven't been running much. It's okay to just coast it in and call it a day." I had to fight very hard to not give in. But I pressed on.

Click to enlarge The home stretch.

My third kilometer was my slowest of all at 4:45. It was then that I had to make my final choice - coast in and just finish or gun for that 22:30. Totalling my time I was still 5 seconds under pace so I decided to go for it. So I focussed on form and cadence and managed to pull together a 4:33 4th kilometer. Doing some quick math, I needed another 4:33 to meet my meager goal time. I quickly locked in on a lady who passed me near the 3.5 kilometer mark to pull me in. I caught her with about 400m to go and then cruised home for a total time of 22:27! So my final kilometer was 4:30 - damn it felt faster than that.

After the race I did an easy 1.5km warmdown before driving back home to Toronto happy that I had finished my first race of the year.

Final Thoughts

This race was disturbingly slower than my 5k PR from last year - 20:18 in the Gatehouse 5k. But I feel my performance was undermined by missing three of the last four weeks of training and the fact that I had done zero interval/tempo work in the last 5 months. But at least this gives me a good (and beatable!) benchmark to work from this point forward.

See you at the races,

Clive

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