Notes
Wasn't sure what to expect today considering the poor workout last week. The couple of fast kms + hill sprints on Thursday did give me a bit of confidence though. Plan was to try to get as close to 31:00 as possible going out at around 3:40-3:45 and just tsking it from there.
Warm up went ok, conditions were pretty ideal. I was quite nervous at the start but settled into a good pace pretty quickly. The Vaporfly's with their cushiony sole do not feel fast so I wasn't feeling like I was killing it the first km. I would have been happy with something in the mid 3:40's so was shocked to see mid 3:30's. The first 1.6K loop is a bit rolling and then the course dives down Spring Road. I tried to maintain a fast pace around the loop but at the same time was worried I was going out too fast. Slower a bit before diving down Spring Road on which I passed a few people. Hit the 2nd K at around 7:17 so was happy that my pace hadn't slowed after the quick start.
The bottom of Spring Road is where I was having problems during the workout last week as I just got really lazy during this part. I feel like the same thing sort of happened today but it wasn't as bad. When I turned onto Centre Road I pushed the downhill and then tried to find a steady tempo as the uphill started. The 3 km mark is about halfway up the hill so I was happy to see a 3:51 km. The 4th km is always hard as it includes the upper part of Centre Road and then a false flat on Colborne on which you're trying to recover from Centre Road. This and the last km tend to be the slowest kms. Centre Road went by quicker than I expected as I was so focused on just following bodies in front and not focusing on the incline. I did take a while to recover at this top ad it wasn't until close to the 4K mark that I was finally able to get back into a fast rhythm. I hit the halfway mark at 15:13 and had moved up from around 71st place to about 57th place at this point. I would remain in this spot until the end.
I was excited to start the downhill kms after reaching the top of Colborne Lodge but my legs just wouldn't respond. These kms should be at least as fast as the first couple but I was only able to maintain something in the mid 3:40s. It definitely could have been worse though. The rollers really start to kick in after the 5K mark and I was fighting my hardest to push over the top and try to maintain pace coming out of them. By now my legs were really starting to fatigue and I could feel myself braking on some of the downslopes.
I knew i was on a good time by 6K and my breathing was still under control so I made a conscious effort to just try to relax and save my self for a final km push. At this point a couple of runners passed me but I made sure not to let them out of my sight. I could also see a couple more runners ahead that were slowing. Around 6.5K there is a gradual uphill that includes some rolling terrain. I knew my pace had slowed in the 7th and I could feel it suffering a bit at the beginning of the 8th km. At this point my breathing had accelerated but I made the decision to push hard until the base of the final climb. I reached the base at about 29:15 on the clock so I knew I had about 1:45 to get up and over the hill which seemed manageable enough.
The last climb like Centre Road was easier than I imagined as I passed 3 people, my legs proving strong enough to get me to the top at a reasonable pace. The hill training definitely paid off. My quads were burning the last 100m but I fought through and extended my stride around the corner to the finish. Couldn't have asked for a better result. as this time on this course suggests I am in 10K PB shape and could further drop my 5K time.
The most incredible part of the race was that I ran the stretch from the top of Spring Road to the top of Centre about 25 seconds faster than I had been running it in the workout last week.
Went through 4K in 15:13. Actual splits were something like:
3:37
3:40
3:51
4:05
3:44
3:47
3:59
4:04