Race Report: 2011 Mahomet 5k

 On Saturday August 20th, 2011 I ran the Mahomet 5k race.  This was the 16th edition of this race and the first time I have ran in it.  It's a hometown race for me.  Expectations were high for myself as I wanted to finish in under 20 minutes.  I knew it was going to be somewhat of a challenge because the 3 times I ran this route my time varied between 20:23 and 20:39.  Complicating my under 20 minute goal was the fact that nearly half of the race was uphill with rollers.  I was banking on race day adrenaline to push me to a new 5k PR.

The weather was perfect at 68 degrees, light winds, and cloud cover.  Since I only live about a mile from the start line I decided to jog to the event to avoid the parking crowd.  Upon my arrival I stopped and visited with some friends before I started my pre-race warm up and stretching.  Everything was going as planned and I felt great.



Photo Courtesy of The Photo News



Prior to the 5k starting the 1/2 marathon runners and wheel chair racers went first.  Once they were off it was then 10 minutes before the 5k race started.  I got up towards the front near the starting line.  The gun fires and here we go!

The first half of the race is slightly downhill and flat.  I got off to a great start.  In fact, it was so great that I ran the first mile in 5:56.  That is really fast for me and I have never ran a mile that fast before.  In most cases I would back off a little and run a 6:15-6:30 pace, but I was feeling good and the rhythm was there, so I kept pushing on. 

The first part of mile 2 was flat and I maintained my pace while only slowing just a bit.  The second part of mile two was the beginning of the rolling uphill journey to the finish line.  I made up Turkey Farm Road better than I planned to.  My pace obviously slowed down since I was going uphill but my pace was good at 6:34 for mile 2.  At this point I was right on track to get under 20 minutes.

My weakness of the entire course was just ahead of me....mile 3 (State Street).  Its an up and down rolling street.  It doesn't seem that bad when you drive it.  The problem is running this street after just going up Turkey Farm Road. 

Physically, I knew I had it in me.  Mentally I knew this part of the route was my weakness and I think I let my mind beat me this time.  I ran the 3rd mile in 7:02.  My goal was to maintain a pace of around 6:30-6:40 during the 3rd mile and sprint to the finish.  My goal of getting under 20 was lost on State Street.  If I could have maintained my goal pace I would have gotten my goal time.

The race ended after one lap around the high school track.  There were two runners ahead of me as we entered the track area.  I did my best to catch them in the last 400 meters.  The 12 year old (the one behind me in the picture who past me just before we entered the track) ahead of me beat me by 5 seconds.

Even though I didn't get my goal time I was happy with the race.  I think I left some on the race course, which aggravates me a little, but that will motivate me in the next 5k race.  The majority of the race I felt really good and was able to maintain a fast pace comfortably.  Makes me dream of what my time would have been if the course was generally flat.

My official clock time was 20:23.  I finished 13th overall (out of 296) and 2nd in my age group (out of 15).  Another race....another medal.

Now, it's time to switch gears back to triathlon training.  I have two triathlons left this season and at least one more 5k race.  Can't get enough it!

Train...Race...Repeat

Race Report: 2011 Champaign Mini Triathlon

1st Place in Age Group Medal

On Saturday August 6th, 2011 I competed in the 2011 Champaign Mini Triathlon in Champaign, IL.  This was the site of my first ever triathlon a year ago.  I was excited about this event because this would be my first event I have repeated and could gage my improvement from a year ago.

Before the 2010 race I never really ran or swam that much prior to the race. 

Since that race I became a very active runner, a better swimmer, and overall improved triathlete.  So I went into the 2011 race with great expectations. 

My goal was to finish in under 38 minutes, finish top 10 overall, and finish 1st in my age group.  At the end of the day I finished in 38:14, 13th overall (11th in male division), and 1st place in my age group.  Came really close to accomplishing all three goals.  However, the most important thing to me was that I was 3 minutes and 13 seconds fast than last year.

Overall, I was pleased with how the race went.

The official timing of this event is pretty low tech.  Every participant is sent off every 15 seconds.  There were no timing mats and therefore no splits.  My split times below were gathered from my Garmin 310XT.  By the way, the Garmin 310XT is an awesome tool for training and racing if you are a triathlete.  Sounds like a product review in the works.

Swim

The swim portion at this event is 400 yards.  The first 200 yards are in the lazy river.  The purist in me says to swim it, but I also know the difficulty in swimming in 3 feet deep water.  So I decided to go with a dolphin dive approach in the lazy river.  This is what a majority of the other competitors did as well. 

Once out of the lazy river you have to run around to the main pool and do eight 25 yard laps.  This part you actually had to swim.  The water depth was only 5 feet so I guess you could have walked through it if you wanted.  This portion of the race killed me last year due to lack of any meaningful practice time in the pool.  This year it went really well and completed the 8 laps in under 4 minutes.

Race traffic in the pool wasn't too bad.  I passed a few slower competitors and nobody really got in my way.

Total swim time (lazy river, run to main pool, swim in main pool) was 6:17.  My goal time for this portion was 6:25.

Transition #1 (Swim to Bike)

My T1 time was 1:51.  The transition from swim to bike has always been a struggle for me.  I always seem to take longer than I plan to.  I was hoping to be about 20 seconds faster in this area, but I had a little trouble with getting my feet dried off enough to put socks on.  I am thinking I may need to learn to cycle with out socks then put socks on before the run.  That way it would allow my feet to dry and thus be able to more quickly out socks on.

Once I had everything on I grabbed my bike and ran to the mounting cone.  Mounted bike with no issues.  The only problem minor mishap was my bike was in "granny gear" which didn't allow me to get up to speed as fast as I wanted.

Bike

The 6 mile bike portion (actually only about 5.85 miles) is three 2 mile laps around the park.  There are four turns and two long straight aways.  It's pretty most of the way around the circuit.  There is a slight incline going up Kenwood Road and as you turn right on John Street.  Then its a slight downhill from there until you get back where you started.  Had a headwind on the down hill portion and a tailwind on the uphill portion. 

My goal on the bike was to average 22 mph.  I was able to maintain that speed consistently throughout the entire 6 miles.  This biggest change from last year is that I put aerobars on my bike and purchased an aero helmet.  These two items alone are a life saver.  They allow me to gain every bit of aerodynamics available and keep me refreshed for the run.  The only piece of air cheating equipment I need now is a tri bike.

Never got passed and did a lot of passing.  I was pleased with how my bike split went. 

Transition #2 (Bike to Run)

Transition 2 went very well.  I dismounted with no issues and ran to my transition spot.  I had some difficulty racking my bike.  The bike racks weren't big enough to secure the bikes properly.  At most events you rack your bike by placing the seat over a horizontal bar.  The racks at this event are like you see at a park where you put the wheel in between two slots, etc.

The first attempt at racking my bike resulted in my bike falling over.  I was tempted to just leave it, but I didn't want to effect anyone else's transition setup.  The second attempt I took a few extra seconds to make sure my bike was properly racked.  This took precious seconds off my race time.  I was hoping to do T2 in 30 seconds, but ended up at 50 seconds.

Run

The run portion is 2 miles and takes you on the same loop as the bike portion.  Except you run on the sidewalks instead of the street.  My goal was to run the 2 miles at a 6:45/mi pace.  Learning from past mistakes of starting too fast I decided to start my run doing about 6:55/mi pace then speed up a little faster about every quarter mile.  This allowed me time to get my run legs back.  Towards the end of the run I was able to maintain a significantly faster pace which brought me to the finish averaging a 6:48/mi pace.

I was pretty much by myself the entire run.  Only passed a couple of competitors.


Summary

I was very please with the overall outcome of the race and was excited to see my improvement over the course of a year.  A couple of little mistakes here and there cost me my goal time, but all in all, it was a great race.

My only gripe about this event, as it was last year, is that the transition area is really a free for all.  They have bike racks which aren't big enough for most adult bikes.  The transition area is not really marked off that good.  One would assume that the area is where the bike racks are.  But people were placing their bikes anywhere in the general area.




If I had known you could setup here I could have saved about 20 seconds



Transition area.  View from transition exit





 I got there early to secure a good rack position, but really I should have just waited because I could have gotten a lot closer to the transition exit if I knew it was more of a free for all.

Also a lot of participants, from bike to run, will just dump their bike around the transition entrance and not return it to their rack.  I guess one could do this if they wore tennis shoes on the bike portion.  I think the event organizers could do a better job educating participants and volunteers on transition area etiquette.

Again, this is more of a family friendly event, so I try not to complain that much.  It is a good event for all types of people and especially younger kids getting involved in the sport. 

I haven't decided if I will do this event again next year.  The next time I do this event will hopefully be with one of my kids doing their first triathlon.  After participating in USA Triathlon sanctioned events I appreciate the rules and structure that USAT events provide.

On to the next race.  I have two more 5k races and two more triathlons before I settle into my winter routine.  Hopefully I can qualify for the 2012 USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals before this racing season is over.

Train.  Race.  Repeat...