Spring Thaw Race Recap

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I'm excited to share my first race recap of the year.  On Saturday, I ran in the Spring Thaw race at North Park.  

This is an interesting race- there are three distances available (10, 15 and 20 miles) which equals 2, 3 or 4 laps around North Park.  Everyone is scored on the 10 mile distance, but you can decide on the day of the race which distance you're going to run.  I love this, because some times you're having a great day and other times you're not feeling it- so you can change your distance with no penalty or fee!  Love it.  There's also some pretty good swag- everyone who completes at least 10 miles gets a hat and medal.  15 milers also get a pair of gloves, and 20 milers get all of that and a neck warmer.  Here's what I got:

I decided to run the 15 miles (3 laps) and test my marathon race pace.  My goal was to run a 3-mile warm-up, 15 miles with at least 10 miles at MRP (9:04) for a total of 18 miles.  My plan was to run with the 9:00 pacer for the first two laps and hold on as long as I could for the final lap!  I'm going to break down the race by lap so you can see how I did!

Note- my miles splits are based on my Garmin and the lap time/overall times are all official race results so they are a bit different.  My watch was about 2/10 of a mile off which is why there's about a minute extra at the end!

Lap 1 (Miles 1-5) : 44:58

[8:47, 8:52, 9:00, 8:52, 8:53]

Listed to : Criminal podcast

Fuel : Date @ Mile 5

The race started out, and there was a huge group around the 9:00 pacer.  Everyone was talking and enjoying the race, so we started out a bit fast for the first few miles.  The course went counter-clockwise around the lake, starting at the boat house, so the first 2.5 miles are a one-way street that was closed for the race.  One bad thing about this course is that the road is extremely sloped on this half of the park, so I made sure to run in the middle of the road where it's more level as much as possible.  Doing this affected my tangents which is why my watch was off, but it was worth it for the sake of my hips and knees!

The second half of the park is on a busier road with three substantial uphills and downhills.  I actually prefer this half of the park.  The first half is pretty much 2.5 miles of the same scenery and the same rolling hills along one road, whereas the second half has turns and more "landmarks" that I know to look forward to.  It always seems like this section goes by a lot quicker!  Overall on this lap, I felt pretty good but a bit cold.  It was around 30 degrees and windy, so it took me a while to warm up!

Lap 2 (Miles 6-10) : 45:00

[8:50, 8:59, 8:56, 8:57, 8:51]

Listened to : Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me podcast

Fuel : Water @ Mile 6, 7.5, Honey Stinger Gel @ Mile 10

As soon as we crossed the start/finish line to start lap 2, I took a bite of my dates for a bit of fuel.  I wasn't really hungry or hurting yet, but I figured I should practice fueling during a race.  There were a lot of water stations set up- about one every mile- so I grabbed water at mile 6 and 7.5.  They also had a sport drink (I believe it was Glukos) which I enjoyed after the race, but sports drinks usually make me cramp up during races.  It didn't taste very sweet or sticky like some other sports drinks, so I actually think it wouldn't bother my stomach during a race!

I started to feel a bit sore on this lap.  My breathing was still relaxed and the pace felt easy, but my legs and arms were feeling really stiff.  It almost felt like they were frozen from the cold and were having a hard time bending or moving quickly.  I tried to loosen up a bit by shaking out my arms and doing some butt kicks and that helped a bit.  Overall on this lap, I still felt decent but was beginning to feel sore.

Lap 3 (Miles 11-15) : 43:50

[8:42, 8:54, 8:39, 8:39, 8:36 (extra 1:13)]

Listened to : Music

MO- Kamikaze

Pentatonix- Love you Long Time

Journey- Lovin', Touchin,' Squeezin'

Jesse Cook- Shake

R. Kelly- The World's Greatest

Sia- Cheap Thrills

Intervals- I'm Awake

Coldplay- Hymn for the Weekend

Lil Wayne- Lollipop

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis- Light Tunnels

Flo Rida- Hello Friday

Fuel : Water @ Mile 11, 12.5, 14 Date @ Mile 12.5

Once we crossed the start/finish line to start the final lap, I ate a bit of my Honey Stinger Gold gel.  There was water right at the timing mat, so I went to grab some to wash down the gel.  Unfortunately, a bunch of people in front of me also grabbed water, so the volunteers didn't have time to pour new cups of water and I had to skip it.  I knew that water was just a mile away so I figured it wasn't a big deal.

As soon as we got away from the water, I switched on my music and told myself it was time to go!  I was still feeling pretty good and my body felt warmed up.  I also realized that I was the only one left with the pacer, so we started to talk a bit and I decided to stick with her on the first half of the lap.  This is the area where I struggle anyway, so I figured having someone to run with would help me out.  I also grabbed some water at mile 11 and 12.5, and had a piece of date at mile 12.5.

I started to pull away from the pacer around mile 12 and really felt great!  On all of my long runs, it seems like after the halfway point is when I really start to loosen up and feel my best, so I'm glad that that was the case in this race as well.  

The only issue that I had on this lap was that my stomach was bothering me right around mile 13.  I'm not sure if it was because I picked up the pace, or because I didn't wash down the gel right away and the second piece of date was too much, but it was really bothering me!  I was worried that the pacer would catch up to me and I would fall apart right at the end, so I'm glad that I kept it together for the final two miles and actually had my fastest miles of the race!  Overall, besides my stomach issues, I felt the best on this lap.  My body felt warmed up and relaxed, and I took a few minutes off my lap time.

Overall Time : 2:13:46

Overall Pace : 8:56/mile

I'm really happy with this race.  I executed my plan perfectly, and this was a huge confidence builder for hitting my goal of 4 hours in the marathon!  If I'm able to keep this same pace for 11.2 more miles, that's a 3:54:03 marathon.  I feel pretty good about that!  I just need to work on my fueling and continue training hard for the final 8 weeks!


Anyone else have a race this weekend?
Do you like running odd distance races like this?
What did you do this weekend?
linking up with Holly, Tricia and Katie