Friday, November 30, 2012

Race goals/strategy


There is really not much to say and it is probably not even worth a post, but maybe if I write it for the whole world to see I might feel slightly more accountable.

If this was a triathlon race I would say that my goal was to win (because it seems that sub-par swim + sub-par bike + sub-par run= ok triathlon. Duh. ) but this is a running race (unfortunately sub-par run=sub-par run), and I cannot really hold my own in running races now thus I do not care about placing and I am more concerned about the time. 
I think that it will be a very small race because it is happening in a town with population of whooping 2500 people (and I have no idea how they counted that since there is nothing else than a community college, a truck stop and a few mobile homes). But you never know, maybe people from other towns will join and maybe XC/track team from the college will run. But the students from the culinary program are supposed to cook soup and chocolate for runners, I hope that it is true and not just a way to trick people to come and run.

Anyway, since it is that small, they do not have a course map so I am not 100% sure what the course looks like but I talked to the race director (also working as my swim instructor/local swim coach/director of aquatics program at the college and who knows what else) and she said that it was flat (of course, this is IL) and fast with only one cone U-turn. I will take that. Although I am concerned about the wind since it blows there all the time. So we shall see about it. Maybe I will be able to put into practice the suggestion I gave to AM (let it rip when with tailwind to get some time cushion for headwind stretches).

Thus I am thinking holding low 3:50s. Starting at 3:50 and holding it there for as long as I can and hopefully I can do that to the very end of the race and will end up with 19:15. I do not think that 19:15 is that hard, although I realize that it is not very hard when you are in 19:00 shape and might be harder when you are in 19:15ish shape.

So that’s my strategy and my goal.

Now I only need not to forget charge Garmin and set it to show me total time, average pace and beep every kilometer and show me split for that km. And if I do not forget I will wear heart rate monitor to gather some info. And I also need to buy some one or two chocolate bars for my pre-race breakfast. Or maybe I can eat one of those 48 chocolate gels I received yesterday. Or one strawberry and one chocolate one. 

5 comments:

  1. You don't need to eat too much before a 5K. Go light on the food pre-race. Good luck!!! RIP IT!

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  2. Excited for you! Sounds like a great plan! Hoping for ONLY tailwind:)

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  3. I was planning on eating light. One Milka chocolate should be plenty. (But I need to buy two because as I know myself I will eat one already tonight and if I had only one then I would not have anything for breakfast tomorrow.) Yeah, my quest to become a good athlete starts on Sunday.

    So am I AM, so am I (hoping for only tailwind):)

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  4. assuming no wind... start out conservative. it has been awhile since you raced. it is very hard and demoralizing to come back from going out too fast but by going out conservative you will not lose too much time in the first 2 kms and will likely have a much more solid second half.

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