With my first 5K right around the corner (2/13) my wife thought it would be a good idea to actually try to run for that long out on the open road. I have been so focused on swimming that I haven’t run almost at all so doing at least one run at this distance sounded like a good idea.
We mapped out a route using map my run in the hills of Torrington. I wrote all of the turns on a little sheet of paper and marked the points where each mile ended.
The first mile was up a steady long grade. It was nice because it helped to get everything warmed up. I have been reading about Pose running, more on that in a future post, and focused on landing softly on my mid sole. about 3/4 of the way through the first mile we turned down a hill. The first mile flew by effortlessly. I watched my heart-rate monitor and tried to keep my HR at 160. As it moved higher I slowed my pace down. I just picked 160 more or less randomly. It felt like a comfortable pace. My goal was to do an 11 minute mile. When I hit my stop watch at the mile marker I noticed that I had done a 10 minute mile! I was psyched.
The second mile was about the same. Nice comfortable pace, everything went smoothly. Even the traffic lights cooperated. I had plenty of energy reserves, and as I heard my sister-in-law closing in on me, I just leaned forward and opened up the gap. Once again, as I got to the end of the second mile, I noted a slightly slower pace, but still sub 11 min/mile. The third mile was up a long slow grade. this is where the heat started kicking in and, for the first time, I start to feel it. I was really struggling to make it up some of the steeper parts of the hill. I finally made it to the top and started a really steep descent. As I made it down the hill I felt a really strong wind blow over me, it felt amazing! I let myself build some speed down the hill and then used that momentum to sprint the last half mile. I crossed the three mile mark averaging about 10:20. The sprint lasted me almost all the way through the half mile. The last .2 miles (we ran 3.3 miles) were up another steep hill. I ran out of gas half way up the hill and had to go back to a slow jog. I also hit a few patches of ice, and walked for the first time. Not because I was tired (though I was) but because I didn’t want to risk falling. All in all I averaged 10:27 which I’m very happy with!
Heart Rate Info:
Max: 179
Min: 130
Average: 163
Pace: 10:02
Distance: 3.3 miles
Elevation Change: 1170 ft
Total Time: 33:56
The route.
I’ve decided to track what I wear and how I feel at various temperatures and conditions to help me figure out what worked best.
Weather Dress Info:
Temperature: 20°F
Wind: 12MPH
Clothes:
Polypropylene base layer by Duofold
Layer 8 pants over the base layer
Two pairs of Bridgedale Speed Deamon Socks
Upper Body:
An Under Armour cold gear compression shirt.
A Layer 8 cold gear shirt.
A pair of warm insulated leather gloves.
A Nike reversable knitted cap.
Comfort:
I started out pretty chilly. We jogged a little to warm up, but I felt cold before getting going. Not uncomfortably cold, but chilly. As I started to run the wind bit into my face and my ears felt cold. I pulled down my hat to cover as much of my head and ears as I could.
By the end of the first mile, I felt fine. Perfect actually. By the second mile I started to get warm. The sun was beating on me, and my head and hands were very hot. I could feel the sweat coming down my forehead. There was a big hill at the beginning of the third mile and as I made the turn to start down the hill I felt a huge gust of wind. If I had been standing there, that wind would have been horrible, but as I ran down that hill the wind felt like such relief. I just turned up the speed and hoped the wind would continue. After that I sprinted and when I got to the end I was pretty warm, especially my head and hands.
Lessons Learned
I think for windy weather in the 20’s this setup was pretty spot on. I think the only changes would be a lighter hat and gloves. I have another hat, and I picked up lighter cotton gloves so I should be ready for whatever this weekend race brings.
Weather info from www.wunderground.com.
Elevation and distance info from: www.gmap-pedometer.com