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Five Colleges 10 Miler

February 28, 2016 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Race day. So beautiful out, kinda chilly but it was very warm in the sun. Race started at Amherst High School at 11:00 so I had time to wake up eat breakfast and prepare. I rode my bike over there, getting a little bit of a warm up in getting the legs moving. I was still a little tight from the past few days. As I rode up to the gym, I saw Nihal and a visiting masters student named Marco. Apparently Marco was running the race too. Hes actually pretty legit and hes training for the season in the Netherlands. He also does steeple which was pretty cool. Unexpectedly exciting to have someone to run with! We did a little warm up around the high school, getting warmed up more. It was nothing major I didnt feel like I was in racing mode really. Stretched in the gym then headed outside with about 20 mins till race. We timed it perfectly. It was warm enough to be comfortable in racing shorts out there, which was good because it took a while for the organizers to get the start line set up. Marco moved to the front of the pack, he was looking for sub 60. I was aiming for 75-80 honestly, around my regular pace. Its been a while since I have gone 10 miles. I was just packed up in the middle. Gun went off and it started to space out early. Route headed over the Whitney then up to Strong and then up into a big loop by the reservoir. I havnt been up there in a long time, back in the REU summer actually. That was one of my long run routes. I had some god packs to run with through the first few miles. Went through at 6:30, which freaked me out! I thought that was way too fast, but it felt comfortable. Second mile was also right on 6:30. Into the 3rd and 4th mile, the hills started to get pretty steep getting up to the reservoir. I settled in near a few other runners, but it was mostly alone on the dirt roads. Very very legit. Think I was just cruzing along at 7ish. At 5, the course shot downhill back to the main road on the way back to Strong. This guy who had been reeling me in passed me and shot ahead, so I kept my sights on him once it got flatter. At that point, I was surprised how good I felt. Legs felt really controlled and strong, as opposed to heavy and locked up like they were in the first few miles. I picked the pace up and started surging, still knowing I had a few miles to go. It stayed pretty good until mile 8, at which I realized the hill we came down on on Northeast Rd was actually pretty steep, and now we had to go up it. Hit that hill kinda hard and just tried to maintain up it. I had been calculating on and knew I was still on sub 7 pace, which was pretty cool and unexpected. The hills in the last few miles did slow me down but didnt stop me. Passed 9 miles at 60 on the dot, knew I had to maintain into the finish. Got a little cramp and hit some wind on the finishing straight away, and I was alone, but still finished up the last mile sub 7. Pretty pleased and pretty tired. Marco had finished too in 57, so he had a solid race up nearish to the front. Legs felt pretty beat but I felt great overall finishing. Didnt feel like I had amazing speed, but consistent maintained speed throughout. We got waterbottles and lunch then did a little mile cooldown, since I knew I was gonna be sore without that.

Essentials: Stretch

Stretched a little in the parking lot. Legs feel worked, and shin and hips a little tight too. Could feel it in the beginning of the race but it all loosened up. Shoutout to Phil for convincing me to sign up for the race. It was a blast with such great weather. Pretty impressed I dont feel like I am in my half marathon shape, but basically held the same pace on a tougher course today. Consistency in the training helps a lot. Thought my feet would be sore from wearing trainers and cause they hurt yesterday, but they feel pretty good! Afterwards just biked home. Good thing it was mostly downhill since I didnt really want to pedal much. Overall pumped at a solid race and good execution of the gameplan.