Race to the Taps - Bold Rock 8 mi race report (dedicated to Wilson)

[diablita]

I'm writing a race report for a tune up race (the goal race is a half next weekend) in big part because I've been listening to Running Rogue podcasts thanks to Wilson and I think this is a good addition to the goal statement, visioning and other pieces of the process they recommend.  I'm getting a LOT out of their advice.

I needed to run an easy 8 this morning.  Haven't had the best training season due to an ankle sprain on trail 2 months ago.  But I've been gunning for my goal anyways...or I thought I had a goal (PR my CLE half) but now I realize that's not really a goal.

So a friend reminded me this morning of the last race in the Race to the Taps series.  5k or 8 miles on the country roads around Bold Rock Cidery.  They're run by a friend who puts on really good races and I was excited to get reasonably small rolling hills (just one big one) in an area I've never run before.

All I wanted to do was try out my race plan: run the first 10 miles at goal pace and then if I felt good, speed up by 20-30 seconds over the last 3 miles.  I also wanted to run a negative split race.  Since it was 2 4-mile loops I knew that part would be easy to go for mentally.  I was supposed to run it easy and smooth and not race it.  Oops. 

I went out at a little faster than goal pace and felt totally fine.  Hit a little hill around half a mile in that thinned the crowd a bit and I started passing people.  Also slowed it down to race pace there.  Ended up passing quite a few people on the hills (esp the big hill) and only got passed by a couple, mostly at the water stops.  They had water at 2/4/6 and while I probably could have bypassed some, I was practicing for Indy.

Finished the first 2 miles just a tiny bit slower than goal pace (which is what I want for my half), 3 and 4 had me finishing a little bit faster than goal.  And it still didn't feel tough at all.  Having finished the loop I knew just what I was in for and decided I could push a little harder.  I ran mile 5 nearly 30 seconds under goal and 6 almost as fast, due to the big hill.  Hit the water stop one more time and then pushed harder again.  In mile 7 I passed almost 10 people and while it finally felt like effort, it wasn't that tough to run 30 seconds faster than goal.  Passed a guy on a downhill who had been running a really strong race about half a mile before the finish.  Coming into the shoot he bumped me as he went by so it was on: we both kicked hard and people were clapping and he finished just before me.  It was kind of cool just to be racing with a strong runner, both of us using it to finish that much faster.

Ended up finishing the 8 miles in 1:05 or with an 8:14 average pace.  I stuck around for the awards and ended up winning first Masters female which was a surprise because there were plenty of fast runners there.

This bodes really well for the flat Indy Monumental Half next weekend.  Now I have a big goal in mind that I'm not quite ready for (1:45 half) but it'll be fun to see how close I can get if conditions are right.

[Richard21142]

Nice; both the race and the report! 

[Fast Eddie]

CONGRATS!   

[Coyote Mas Loco]

Great! Congrats and looking forward to hearing how it goes next week.