Coach's Race Report: Christmas Crusade 5k, December 2014

The course:
The draw of this race was that it was on my home mountain, South Table in Golden, but also that it was mostly run on the police race track (for cars, not running), a venue I've fantasized about. It was a loop on the track, an out and back on gravel road with a 250-300 foot hill, then a partial lap on the track to the tape.
The "breakfast" of champions:
KetoCaNa (about 3/4 serving), 2 tsp Now MCT oil, a Vespa Concentrate, a SaltStick, and 100 mg caffeine
In addition to 30'ish ounces of water, I took this around 7:50 for a 9:00 race start. I began my warm up at around 8:30. 

     I needed the warmup to be extra slow and easy. With the moderate training load this week (100 miles) I needed to not only let my leg muscles loosen up, but also allow my metabolic pathways to get burning as well. More fat metabolism seems to mean faster recovery, and it certainly means less oxidative stress.. But I'm not a doctor, just a solo test subject, and there are a LOT of variables. I had 38 miles left for the week and two days left (Saturday and Sunday), so the 5k race would just kick off the weekend of training. -And hopefully not take much out of me.

The voice of KYGO setting us off

      After a 1.5 miles extremely slow, I allowed myself to cruise up to under 6 minutes/mile pace for 200 meters or so and I was ready. I felt pretty solid as I changed into my racing shoes. As I bent over to tie them my nose dripped a little and (surprise!) it was bleeding. Great timing. Must be a little to much sauna training and a little too much dry air. Gotta remember to moisturize your nose holes when training heavy and running in the sauna!

Getting up to speed in the first few moments

     I held it for a moment as Rhino from KYGO (a local radio station) got us up to the line. After I got a little lead I spewed a bloody mass out and was pretty much better. The first mile around the track went smooth and I felt stable at the pace, 5:20 almost exactly.
     The second mile lead us onto gravel road with a slight uphill before a quarter'ish mile downhill, a tight 180 degree turnaround (on gravel still!), before heading up the hill. About 20 meters into the uphill I hit the second mile: 5:21. Still in good shape but I'd have to hope this hill didn't hurt as bad as I figured it would.
     Trying to stay smooth and not fry my legs too early, I averaged 7:12 for the uphill portion. "Ok, now I just have to kick it down to... like 4 (min/mile) flat for the last half mile.." I was still hopeful I'd get in under 17, but could tell my legs weren't fresh as I tried to kick a bit entering the track again. In the end I just wanted to go fast enough to get the last full mile in under 6:00, and I did: 5:55. Not what I would've liked exactly.
     Still, a win is a win, and running alone can be difficult, especially during a hard training week. The RD (Race Director) got cards printed out within a few minutes of each finish, with our times on them: 17:09 -5:31 average. "At Mad City I only have to go 7:04 average, so that's plenty fast without any speedwork." So overall I'm content, but my PR isn't that much faster than that, so it definitely means I need a flat, fast 5k or two to target in the next few months.

Happy Hermit!