10K Race Report

This race - the Holbæk Classic - turned out to be a lot smaller than we had expected. This misunderstanding was mine; all I can say is, I must have confused this race with another , much bigger, race in the Holbæk region that I have been vaguely aware of.

As we were warming up, the Girl pronounced that she had "buttery" legs, and that she was going for a time of about 40 mins.

My right ankle has been hurting on and off for a few months due to al the snow running and it was giving me some trouble. After jogging a few miles, it quieted down, though.

After the gun, we circled the track twice before embarking on the two-loop course. I glued myself to the leader for the first lap, feeling good. Then a third guy passed us both and pulled at a brisk pace for a short amount of time. He was obviously going too fast and had to surrender his lead. However, he grabbed the spot right behind the leader, and this turned out to change the dynamics of the race for me. After 1K, while we were taking several sharp turns, he lost the draft of the lead runner, with me being stuck behind. It was just a 3 yard gap and I assumed he would close it, once we got onto a straight road. But he didn't, and the gap grew.

The pace had increased and I kept hoping I could stay out of the wind and that the gap would close by itself. Instead, the gap grew and grew. I had to suck it up and close it, which took next 2K. I don't know if the leader saw me coming or what, but it took muck longer than it should have. This surge probably took me into the red zone for a little bit too long.

Anyway, at 3K, I was back up there and we were cruising along. I stayed behind him until around 8K. Not that I was a complete weasel about it; I did try to take short pulls in front, but he didn't seem interested in letting me lead. Then at 8K, there was a long stretch coming up with a storng headwind. This laster until the track, and I figured it was now or never, if I didn't want it to come down to a sprint finish. I was feeling good and was hoping I could put in a surge that would drop him before the headwind.

I accelerated through some turns and had a 5-yard gap coming into the headwind. Just enough to eliminate the draft. I felt him edge closer and accelerated again. But he stayed at 5 yards and then started clawing his way back. Then for maybe a quarter mile, we both slowed down to what seemed like a painfully slow jog. Neither of us wanted to lead. I tried one last surge; got a few yards but he was able to close the gap.

With my lack of speedwork, I didn't really trust my kick, although it used to be decent. Coming into the track, the guy starting speeding up and it became more of a long anaerobic surge than a pure sprint. There was a decent amount of spectators, nearly everyone cheering for the other guy (this was his home track), so it felt more than a little anti-climactic to get beaten.

After the race, the winner told me how he was "hanging by a thread" during the first headwind surge. I keep asking myself what would have happened, had I kept surging. There is no doubt I'm in good shape but without speedwork, I would have been wise to put all my money into dropping him before the finish.

On the other hand, this guy was stronger than me. In a time trial, he would certainly have beaten me. I drafted off him for a long time and was only able to have a shadow of chance of winning because of this. And what a cool race it was! Most of these small races, I end up running alone, often in first or second position with no one else in sight. This was the kind of race that's so exciting you don't feel your legs until it's over.

The Girl's race... Turned out to be a complete fiasco. Running without female competition, she opened with a 20:20 5K, a little slower than she had wanted. Then she got stomach cramps and had to slow down. The cramps turned into vomiting the following day and it turns out a violent gastroenteritis is running its course through our family.

My time was around 34:50, which is very acceptable, considering the lack of speedwork. The breathing got labored, when we started going really fat, but the legs held up beautifully throughout the race. It certainly felt like I could have gone on for a while.

I feel very ready for the 50K in two weeks!