NicoleAnother year, another St. Patrick’s Day 5k in Colorado Springs! It was a great day for running. It was a little on the cool side with race-time temps in the mid-30s(F), but the sun was shining and the wind was light at about 5mph. I’ve run this race every year since 2008, except for 2012 when I ran the LA Marathon, which happened to be on the same weekend.
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned in previous years’ race reports, I love this race because it is great for an early season benchmark. It’s flat for Colorado Springs (~55 feet of gain). Well over 1000 people come out to run it, and many take in the spirit of the event and dressed in green. After the run there is the annual St. Patrick’s day Parade and downtown fills up for this.
As far as my training has been going leading up to the race, after the Super Half Marathon I’ve shifted over to a trail running focus, and added back bike training in. My general schedule is:
Monday: recovery/short spin
Tuesday: run intervals
Wednesday: bike intervals – right now these are just aerobic system focused
Thursday: run intervals or easy
Friday: recovery/easy spin
Saturday: long ride
Sunday: long run – trail
Tuesday/Thursdays are also bodyweight strength training days, and I do a couple days of more mobility (range of motion) work. (I use Mark Lauren‘s website for my resources.)
The Race
Rudy and I left the house around 9:10am to get in our warm-up. A perk for this race is living a half-mile from the start. No need to drive! We already had our race numbers, so with no check-in required we just headed out to warm up on the race course.”
I had a ballpark pace and power to aim for today. With last year being a bust for any intensity, I knew that it would be a challenge to feel that red-line heart rate of a 5k. We made our way to the start with about 5 minutes to go, chatted with some friends, and soon enough we were off. (Didn’t hear a horn, but the masses were moving!)
The first half-mile of this one is tough because it’s a slight downhill and easy to get caught up in the adrenaline of everyone going out to fast. We probably started a little too far back and had to work around a few people, but soon enough it opens up and we could settle into pace.
My legs felt strong – even better than they had in the warm-up. I was a little low on my target power, which means I probably could have suffered a little more, but I was happy being able to hold sub-8 pace. I was slightly faster than I was in 2017, and significantly faster than 2018. Love me some oxygen carrying capacity!
Splits:
Mile 1: 7:48 / 211W
Mile 2: 7:51 / 213 W
Mile 3: 7:40 / 207 W
Final 0.1: 7:05 pace / 224 W
Time: 23:53
Rank 5/123 AG, 32/819 Female
I was hoping to run around 220 W, but I was quite happy with the pacing. It was my fastest run in some time! Rudy ran a solid race as well, earning himself a personal best. He’s getting faster and was able to beat his run power target.
It’s great to start the season with some familiar races (Super Half, St. Pat’s 5k) and after this we will be delving into the unknown with the Rattler 25k Trail Race coming up on April 13th.
Nicole
