Notes
Pike's Peek 10k
1 6:19
2 6:36
3 6:25
4 6:29
5 6:32
6 6:31
0.2 1:02
6:26 avg pace, 19:20 first 3 miles; 19:32 second 3 miles
Light tail wind, mid 40s, ideal racing conditions.
Warmed up a bit with SDP folks, then went a bit more with Lucia and did 4 striders at what I thought would be race pace.
Started off holding back a bit, saw Dan Lawson and stayed with him until we caught Mike Sampson. Ran with Mike until mile 1, and although I was feeling OK, it was a tad faster than I wanted, so I stayed back for a bit (lots of people passed me). After mile 2 I picked up a bit the pace on the downhills, feeling OK. At mile 3 or so I realized Hai was around, so I trailed him and eventually we caught up with Mike Sampson. We ran for a bit together, but then they dropped back. I was alone for a bit, but still felt good, concentrated in taking short steps and this helped keep me focused and on pace. Around mile 4.5-5 I started feeling a bit tired, but not too bad initially. I tried to keep my breathing in 2-2 pattern and keeping short strides and it worked for a bit. Past mile 5 I started to labour some more and eventually closed my eyes and kept telling myself to stay steady and relaxed. On the last overpass over Montrose rd I was going back and forth with a lady and once we went over it, I told her 'sub 40 or bust' and pushed the pace a bit more and she came along for a bit. I realized I was coming up on Hector Montesinos and as we went over Nicholson Ln I passed him. At this point I was pushing the pace quite a bit and in a bit of pain, it seemed to me that the finish line was pretty far away. I hammered still and managed to get just under 40 :)
Ran the last .2 miles 2 seconds faster than in 2004, when I ran 37:53 (6:06 avg pace), and same as my 10k PR when I ran 35:05 in 2007.
It was a pretty good effort and ran a smart race (still need to work on going slow in the first mile!)
As Tom suggested, one can run 15-20 secs/mile faster than in Piece of Cake 10k