NicoleOur New Year’s Day tradition is to run the Rescue Run put on by the Pikes Peak Road Runners and El Paso County Search and Rescue. The race motto is “Rain, Snow, or 20 Below” but fortunately this year it was a sunny 40 degrees. In the last 5 years we’ve had 3F and 12F and snowing, so a mild day is always welcome. I also enjoy this race because I can see a lot of running friends to start the new year.
Pre-race
Steve and Dottie picked us up shortly after 9am and we headed over to the Norris-Penrose Event Center/Bear Creek Park. Most of us were doing the 10k option, which is a fairly challenging course. Coming off a solid 10k in November in Raleigh in early November, I was curious on how my sea level and altitude performances compare. I do have 2 other race times on this course (it was moved from another Park in 2022). Last year I raced about 3 weeks after Covid, this year I was racing about 10 days after a different respiratory virus. Fortunately I felt rested and fresh.
I’ve been running about 10-15 miles per week, mostly easy and moderate to maintain fitness rather than trying specifically to get faster. I was stripping off layers before the start as the sun was out and it warmed up a lot faster than I thought it would. When the starting gun went off, it was time to navigate through the people and see what I had. The course was as ideal as you can get here in winter. There was only a little ice on the course in a short shady section by the creek and was covered with dirt so traction was just fine.
Just run hard
With a 10k race I basically just get to where I’m pretty uncomfortable and hope I can hold that. I knew there were a few steep kickers and it was OK to power walk the short sections. The 5k and 10k courses overlap and there were over 1000 people racing, so there were always people around to chase, try to keep up with, or just watch them pull away from you. I ended up running a 53:50 and placing 3rd in my age group. Our neighbor had a solid race and also got 3rd in his age group going sub-50. This was his first 10k race (though he did race high school cross country back in the day).
My mile splits were 8:24, 8:56, 8:51, 8:44, 9:23 (this hill always crushes me), 8:06, and then a slow 0.2 The race finishes on a substantial climb back to the parking lot. This race has around 500 feet of elevation gain and loss. My average power was 201W and my average heart rate was 168bpm. I was faster than last year by about 90 seconds, so I’ll take that! This race takes place at an elevation of 6000 feet.
Comparisons
To compare to the road 10k about 8 weeks ago in Raleigh that is at 400 feet with about 285 feet of elevation gain (and loss). My average power was 226W and my average HR was 173bpm. I know I put out less power on trails, especially the single track sections, as I’m paying more attention to where my feet are going. This trail 10k amounted to an 11% reduction in speed (and power). I compared this with my husband, who also ran both races, but lives and trains at 6000 feet. As I’m in school in Raleigh, I spending the majority of my time at sea level. His race differential was just over 6%. Granted, there are not too many conclusions to draw from that data as it’s just one race comparison, and we are different ages and genders, but it was interesting to see the difference. I hope to collect more data when I’m back in the summer!
I always enjoy racing with friends and visiting with friends at our house afterwards. I hope 2024 is a great year for everyone!
Nicole
