On July 9, I did the 5K road race event at the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh. This was my final event.
I don’t usually travel
out of state for races as short as this.
I flew to Pittsburgh for the 1,500 meter and 5,000 meter race-walk
events, because I knew I could be competitive within my age group in both
events. I had no reasonable expectation
of placing in the 5K run, but I qualified for it, and I was going to be in
Pittsburgh anyway, so why not stay one more day and do another event?
The 5K race was held at Schenley
Park. It was a single loop that started
and finished on Schenley Drive, near the west end of the park. The race started at 7:00 AM. I wasn’t sure how much earlier I should
arrive to check in and pick up my race bib.
At athlete check-in on
Thursday, I was talking to someone who lives in the area. He said the parking lot inside the park was
small, and I would probably need to look for street parking. Without knowing how long it would take to
find close parking, I figured I should arrive early. My experience at athlete check-in told me
that everyone else would also arrive early, so I decided to leave the hotel at
5:30. That, unfortunately, meant setting
my alarm for 4:30.
As it happens, I was
awake by 4:00, so I started getting ready.
I was planning to leave the hotel before they started their breakfast
service, so I had breakfast in my room.
I made a cup of tea and ate some Pop Tarts from a vending machine.
The race started and
finished near the Phipps Conservatory.
There’s a small parking lot in front of the conservatory. That’s where I ideally wanted to park, but I knew
the parking there was somewhat limited.
I left the hotel as soon as I was ready, and I got to the parking area
almost two hours before the race started.
By arriving so early, I was able to get one of the closest parking
spaces, right in front of the conservatory.
When I got there, the
volunteers were just starting to set up for packet pickup. While I waited, I talked to a few of the
other runners. I wasn’t the only one to
arrive early.
Pittsburgh is hilly, so it’s
not surprising that Schenley Park would be hilly. Some of the other runners had driven the
course, and they told me what to expect.
I learned that the first mile would be mostly uphill, with one really
steep section. After that, the course
would be rolling hills until the last mile.
Then it would be sharply downhill.
The tents for packet
pickup were right in front of where I parked.
When the volunteers were ready, I picked up my race bib.
My parking spot was also
close to the port-o-potties. I still had
a long time to wait before the race, so I made a couple bathroom stops.
Two weeks ago, I ran a 5K
race in 22:43. Ideally, my goal in this
race would be to improve on that time.
After learning how hilly this race is, I realized my time on this course
wouldn’t be comparable to my time on a flat course.
Earlier, I had looked up
the results from last year to get an idea what it takes to place in the top
eight. Last year, the 8th place time was
21:11. I knew that was way out of reach. Even on a flat course, I would be at least a
minute slower than that.
It was 70 degrees, with
high humidity. It started sprinkling a few
minutes before the race started. There
was heavier rain in the forecast, but that wasn’t supposed to arrive until
later in the morning.
I started the race at a
pace that was fast enough to have me breathing hard, but it wasn’t as fast as I
would’ve started on a flat course. I
held back just a little, knowing what was coming. Within a few minutes, the road turned
uphill. It quickly got steep enough that
I was forced to slow down. My pace felt
much slower than what I think of as a 5K race pace, but I was still out of
breath.
It took a long time to
get up that first hill. As it began to
level off, I worked hard to pick up my pace, even though I was still going
slightly uphill.
After cresting the first
hill, we came downhill briefly before making a right turn. Then I saw that we had to go uphill again. After that, the course was rolling until the
last mile of the race.
When I finished the first
mile, my time was 8:14. That was almost
a minute slower than my time in the first mile of a 5K race that I ran two
weeks ago. It was disappointing, but not
surprising.
As I started the second
mile, I sometimes found it hard to maintain my motivation. I wasn’t running for place, and I wasn’t
going to run a fast time. I was still committed
to running this course as fast as a could, but I knew it would be a slower time
than I ran two weeks ago. I just had to
focus on giving it my best effort.
On downhill sections, I
worked hard to run them fast. On uphill
sections, I had to manage my effort, so as to keep from wearing myself
out. I tried to accelerate as soon as a
hill started leveling off, knowing it would get easier when I crested the hill.
In the second mile, there
were a lot of turns. Often, I couldn’t
see what was coming. As I ran up a hill
that seemed to be leveling off, but I had to wait until I got around a bend
before I could see if I was near the top.
Then I saw a bridge. Was that the
top? By the time I got onto the bridge,
I could see runners ahead of me making a sharp right turn and going up a
steeper hill. It was steep enough to
have switchbacks.
The two mile mark was in
the middle of that hill. I ran the
second mile in 7:32. That was still
slower than my average pace two weeks ago, but it was a big improvement over
the first mile.
After another switchback,
I could see that the hill continued, but it wasn’t quite as steep. I knew that the last mile was mostly
downhill, so I gambled that this was the last hill. Before reaching the top, I began to
accelerate.
When the road finally
turned downhill, I tried to speed up, but I was already at my aerobic
limit. Finally, I reached a steeper
section. I was able to speed up a little,
but not as much as I wanted. If nothing
else, the steepest part of the hill allowed me to catch my breath a little.
Eventually, the road
started to level off. It was still downhill,
but as it got closer to being level, it was much harder to maintain my pace.
As I came within sight of
the last turn, I looked at my watch. I
had run 2.83 miles so far. I felt like I
was running out of gas, but I just had to continue for a couple more minutes.
The approach to the last
turn was slightly uphill. I did my best,
but I could tell I was slowing down.
Finally, after making the turn, I could see the three mile sign.
The third mile took me 7:26,
even though it was mostly downhill. That
was disappointing, but I just couldn’t go any faster. The climbing in the first mile took too much
out of me.
As I ran to the finish
line, two other runners raced past me. I
had nothing left for a strong finish. I
was just trying to maintain my pace long enough to get to the finish line.
When I crossed the line
and stopped my watch, it read 23:53.
That’s more than a minute slower than my last 5K race, but it’s like comparing
apples and oranges. This was a tougher
course.
After finishing, I
started to feel drops. It was only then
that I realized that it wasn’t raining for most of the race. In retrospect, I only noticed rain in the
first minute or two of the race. After
that, I was so focused on the hills and my effort that I didn’t notice that it
was no longer raining.
The humidity must’ve been
close to 100 percent. Several minutes
after finishing, I was still sweating heavily.
The sweat on my forehead was running into my eyes. My shoes and socks were soaking wet, but it
wasn’t from rain. It was from sweat. I’m sure the humidity also contributed to my
relatively slow pace.
They had a tent next to
the finish line with a display that scrolled through the times of everyone who
had finished so far. I waited for it to
start over at the beginning, and I started counting the runners in my age group
who finished ahead of me. I stopped
counting after 10. Only the top eight in
each age group get awards.
According to this
display, my time was 24:00.18. That was
several seconds slower than the time on my watch, so I assumed this was a “gun”
time. After I got back to my car and
turned on my phone, I saw an email with a link to the official results. My “net” time was 23:53.23. That agreed with my watch. I was 66th overall, but 21st in my age group.
It’s hard to say whether
this was a good effort. If nothing else,
it was good training. Including my
race-walking events, if was the third straight day that I went up against my
aerobic limit. I got some good speed
work this week.
In April, I ran the
B.A.A. 5K race in Boston. My time there
was 24:21. I didn’t do any speed word
before that race, so I referred to that result as the “before” picture. I was expecting this race to be the “after”
picture. I did run faster here, but it’s
not really a reflection of how much I improved.
My time two weeks ago in Missoula was 22:43. For now, I’ll have to consider that to be the
“after” picture, although it’s still a work in progress. I’ve been lacking in speed work in recent
years, and doing an occasional 5K race would probably help me get back some of the
speed that I used to have in my late 40s and early 50s.
The National Senior Games
are normally only held in odd-number years.
The only reason they were held last year is because they were postponed
from 2021. The next National Senior
Games will be held in 2025 in Des Moines.
Maybe by then, I can get in shape to be more competitive in the running
events.
No comments:
Post a Comment