Shamrock Hill 10k Recap

After six pretty solid weeks of training, it was time to at least get an idea of where I was with my fitness and what I needed to work on, so I decided to bust the rust loose with the Shamrock Hill 10k in downtown Roanoke. I heard prior to the race that the course was fairly challenging, and indeed it was. The first two miles was basically all uphill, albeit gradual until a fairly steep little hill just before the two mile mark. After that it was gradually downhill until the four mile mark, then rolling the rest of the way, with a decent amount of climbing from about 4.75 to 5.5 miles. This was the first year for this event having a 10k (it’s been 5k only in the past), so I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of accuracy of the course, but it was basically dead on according to my Garmin, so between that and the difficulty of the route, I definitely got the feedback I was looking for.

The 5k and 10k started together, and as is usually the case, I found myself behind all sorts of people in the first quarter mile. I still have no idea why even experienced runners who know they’re going to average around 6 min pace or slower for their overall time run the first quarter mile of a race at sub-5 pace, but that’s a topic for a different day. Regardless, by about a half mile in, I was in fourth overall and second in the 10k and I set my sights on the 10k leader, Andrew Smith. I caught him right around the mile mark, which we hit in 5:26, and I put a few strides on him shortly thereafter. At this point in the race, I was already feeling rougher than I wanted. In fact, I just never felt good in this race and battled the hint of a side stitch from about the mile mark on.

Just before two miles, Andrew Smith came back alongside me, and from there he proceeded to put a gap on me. I was being a little conservative based on how far we had to go, how I felt, and knowing the difficulty of the last couple miles, but that fact aside, he was moving well and I didn’t like letting a gap open up. Around the three mile mark, we mixed back in with the middle-of-the-pack 5k runners, and at that point it became increasingly difficult to gauge where Andrew was in front of me. I had hit miles two and three in 5:44 and 5:43 respectively, which was about where I wanted to be, maybe a touch slower, then I got rolling a little better in mile four, splitting a 5:34.

As a result of picking up the pace, I was starting to gain ground on Andrew and get fairly close to him again just as we were approaching the point in the race where the 5k turned left and the 10k went straight. What happened next is a shame. I saw Andrew and the fact that I was getting close, told myself to double down and go get him, then looked again and he was nowhere to be found. At first I thought maybe that wasn’t him I was watching get closer (he was dressed in green along with countless other folks thanks to St. Patrick’s Day), and while I didn’t think or see how it could be the case, I was concerned that he was farther ahead than I thought. However, as I topped the hill by the O. Winston Link Museum and turned left to go through the Hotel Roanoke Parking lot, I could see well ahead of me and still he was nowhere to be seen. At that point I realized he must have turned with the 5k runners and gotten off course. I did a check behind me to see if he’d realized the mistake and gotten back going, but it was all clear behind me as well.

From there, it was basically a solo run to the finish, and I continued to hit fairly even, consistent splits, running 5:42 for mile five and 5:38 for mile six. I crossed the line in 35:04 and lamented the fact that I didn’t look at my six mile split or mount really anything in the way of a finishing kick since sub-35 was obviously there for the taking. Once I made my way through the finish chute, I caught up with Andrew to see what happened and found out that he had indeed turned with the 5k runners, which again is a shame. I don’t know how the race would have played out had he not missed the turn. I likely would have run a little faster in the process of trying to catch and beat him, but I don’t know who would have ultimately come out victorious. He was definitely running strong and looking good, so certainly he may have gotten the better of me on the day.

After the race I had mixed emotions about the result and still do to be honest, and that’s both due to what happened to Andrew as well as how I ran and felt. Since there’s nothing that can be done about the former, I’ll focus on the latter. My time was my fastest 10k since May of 2008 when I ran 34:10 at the Festival 10k. I also believe it to be a better quality race than what I’ve been running over the past couple years, especially taking the difficulty of the course into consideration. Finally, as I mentioned before, I ran even splits and was still running fairly strong at the end, with my last mile being my third fastest of the day even though it included the climb up Gainsboro after we came off the greenway at Orange Avenue. Those are the positives. The big negative is the way I felt, and to be honest it had me a little frustrated after the race before I had a chance to put it in perspective. Running right around 5:40 pace never felt smooth or comfortable, even in the first half of the race. Now the course wasn’t exactly easy, and I’m sure that contributed, but still, I would have liked the pace to have felt a little easier. The main reason for this is if I can’t feel pretty comfortable for a while at 5:40 pace, I’m going to have a hard time racing a 5k at 20-30 sec per mile faster.

Anyway, this is starting to get long, so I’m gonna wrap it up. Overall it wasn’t a bad first race of the season and I think I’ve got things headed in the right direction. I definitely need to continue to work on my basic speed and turnover. I’ve got to keep working towards a point where the pace at which I want to race 5k’s and 10k’s doesn’t feel fast, and one of the ways to do that is by getting accustomed to running even faster paces for shorter distances. However, I’m also going to have to work on my speed endurance, which is essentially the ability to hold race pace over the length of the event and very much related to the physiological term of VO2 max. It’s nowhere near as challenging for me to run a sub-5:20 mile as it was a few weeks ago, but I cannot yet hold that pace for an extended period of time. The temptation is there to start hammering even more workouts, cutting back on everything else, but for now, I think I just need to stick with what I’ve been doing and take it one step at a time. Nothing comes easy, so do what it takes!