River Shiver Polar Bear 5K Race Recap

I participated in the River Shiver Polar Bear 5K on Saturday.  I didn't really know what to expect from myself, because I have been feeling run down, and felt really exhausted during the last Frozen Foote.  Add to that the fact that the course in Ogdensburg has changed frequently in the past year, in light of construction to the path and walking bridge - and a time goal was simply difficult to pin down.

Race Goals:
I settled on an A goal of getting a PR for a 5K.  I decided that a good B goal was to simply be under 24 minutes.

Race Recap:
The weather was good.  Although it was slightly cold (about 20 degrees or so?), it was sunny and so it didn't feel too bad.  I was going back and forth on whether or not to wear a hat, and ultimately decided not to after my warm up.  Yes, I decided to do a warm up consisting of a 10 minutes of easy jogging (about 10min/mile) culminating in one stride of approximately 100 meters.  The reason I decided to do this is because I did it for my Frozen Foote PR this year.  I don't know how much it contributed to that success, but I figured, what the heck - if there's a chance...  I've also been scrutinizing whether or not the fact that I chose to not warm up for the last Frozen Foote contributed to my stale performance (I struggled to run 8 minute miles, and felt horrible).

Mile 1:
Like I said, I wasn't sure whether the last Frozen Foote was the start of a downward spiral, or if I'd bounce back, so I started out easy, even though many of the people around me at the start shot out (at what seemed like) a really fast pace.  Incidentally, I lined up in the middle, so I didn't think that there should be a lot of people charging ahead of me right from the gun.  But I let them go...

I focused on a pace that felt calm, and allowed me to breath easy.  I have been reading a lot lately about hitting anaerobic levels of exertion too soon in races, and the negative impacts, so I was trying to delay the cross over from aerobic to anaerobic as long as possible.  I chose not to look at the Garmin for the entire race, and simply run by effort.

The first part of the path is very windy (curves not wind), and had slick ice patches on it, so I had a difficult time really settling on my pace as I opted to change my strides and foot placement in an attempt to avoid taking a nose dive.  After the curves, we turned onto the bridge, and the course straightened out.  I think that's where my race really began.  I settled into my pace, and my breathing started to get more labored.  I began to pass a lot of the people who had shot out so quickly.

Mile 2:
I had my eye on a guy from the start, who runs similar times to mine.  He was one of the people who started quickly, so I just kind of kept him in my sight throughout the early part, and somewhere in the early part of the second mile, I realized that I was closing the gap, and soon I was running right next to him (runner A).  A pleasant surprise was that I realized that another guy I knew (runner B) was about 5 feet in front of us.  I figured that we were either moving really fast, or he was having an off day, because I don't usually see him (except for out and back races).  It turns out that it was a little bit of both.  Incidentally, I had been talking about how I want to be challenging him by the fall (which is a lofty goal for me, because he usually runs about 2-3 minutes faster than me for the 5K).  I had even mentioned this to him before the race, stating that my goal was to finish a race with him in sight by the fall, to which he responded, "it might be today."  I thought he was kidding.  I had the juice to pass him as we neared the turn around point, but I didn't want to do it right there because of the awkwardness of trying to pass someone right before the turnaround.  Plus, I didn't want to be a jerk and unintentionally cut him off, or throw off his rhythm.  It was a little frustrating, because he slowed his pace right before the turnaround - which caused me to fall a little out of rhythm.  It always seems like things like this happen to me - obstacles get in the way, right at the times when I feel best, and like I can make a move to pass someone.  Does that happen to you?  After the turnaround, the wind was in our face, so I drafted on him for a while.  Again, there were a few times, when I felt like my pace was such that I could pass him, but once when I pulled up next to him, he increased his pace, so I slid back in line behind him to draft more.  Every other time I felt good enough to make a move, the walkers and/or other runners seemed to provide a convenient obstacle for me, once again impeding my attempts, so I'd have to lay off my pace a little and slide back in behind him so that we were narrow enough to squeeze through traffic.  I heard runner A breathing behind us until somewhere right before the hill, at which point I never heard him again, but assumed he was still pretty close.

Mile 3:
I think that mile 3 probably starts somewhere near the only significant hill on the course.  I kind of psyched myself out of the hill before we even got to it - knowing that I'm not a good hill runner, and expecting him to drop me on the hill - which he did.  He put about 50 feet in between us on the hill.  So I told myself to forget him, and just run my race.  So I ran the rest of the third mile by myself, but as we closed in on the last part of the race, a slight uphill before you get to the curvy part of the path again, I noticed that I was closing the gap between us.  I told myself that the race was almost over, so that there was no reason why I shouldn't work the hill hard, so I did - and continued to close the gap.  However, the curves and ice threw me off rhythm again, and I think cost me my opportunity to get back to him (I almost took a nose dive once, and soaked my right foot in a misjudged foot placement).  When the path straightened out, I went into the "I'm almost finished, so just run as hard as you can" mode.  At this point, I was gaining on him fast.  When I was about 5 feet from him, I noticed that he started to kick, and at this point we were at about 50 feet from the end.  I managed to finish within a second of him.  Runner A never caught back up.

Results:
Mile 1: 7:15
Mile 2: 7:19
Mile 3: 7:06
21:41 Net
7:15 pace (yeah, I don't quite understand the math either - just reporting what the Garmin registered)
GR=3.0 Miles
A PR for the 5K, even though it wasn't truly a 5K, it was still a PR pace for me.

Other Stuff:
The main thing that stands out to me was how well organized the race was.  There were volunteers at every turn to help tell you where to go, so that was a pleasant surprise.  Usually there aren't very many people out helping along the races in Ogdensburg - so when the course is new, you have to guess sometimes.  In fact, we were talking about how many runners went the wrong way last year...

The refreshments afterwards were awesome.  Boy do I love bagels and cream cheese!

They started the walkers out in front of the runners by 20 minutes so that everyone could finish within a closer time frame to one another.  Great concept if the walkers actually understood how difficult it is to go around them when you're running at a 5K effort.  Many of them walked 2 abreast, and didn't move as I came up on them to pass them.  To complicate it further, other runners would be coming towards me, (out and back course), at the time when I would be trying to pass 2 abreast walkers.  The path really only accommodates 3 across comfortably, so you get the picture.  I think that the walkers lack of awareness for runners was probably the thing I liked the least in this event.

They had prizes 3 deep in every age group, so that was nice - and the medals looked nice, but I didn't get one.  I finished 8th or 9th overall, but at least 3 of the runners in front of me were in my age group.

I like the new course, and I'm curious to see if they'll keep it this way next year too - or if it was a one time deal, just to play off of the new footbridge.  Thanks to the organizers for a fun time - and thanks to runners A & B, for making this a really fun race for me.  Runner B, watch out, because I've now changed my goal to beating you sometime in 2013.