Race Report - 2009 Corporate Challenge

I'm a night person, but not usually because I eat late. I can't sleep with food in my stomach, and tonight was the second night in a row I've been out with friends eating late. Definitely enjoy the food, company and the social atmosphere, but I'm not a young buck anymore that can function normally on short sleep.

That said, what better time to write about the 2009 Corporate Challenge while I sip on green tea to ease digestion. My race experience in one word: painful. I wonder if it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Here are my splits.


Mile 1 | 6:08
Went out too fast, but I really thought that I could manage. Adrenaline has a way of throwing off pace. At this point, I thought I could slow down just a little bit and ease into a more manageable pace.

Mile 2 | 6:24
Slowed down some as planned, but realized that it was not having the restful effect I had expected. As a matter of fact, I felt pretty bad. 189 HR confirms that. I was not going to have a 2007 repeat, which was to completely shut down and walk a few seconds, but I'm not denying I didn't want it.

Mile 3 | 6:34
This was supposed to be the 6:10 mile, but it was just not going to happen with such a fast start. I kept pushing and trying anyway. Dropped shoulders, relaxed hands, leaned slightly forward, etc etc. I kept thinking, "only 3 more 800's. Only 2 more 800's. 400 at a time." Whatever kept my legs churning.

Mile 3.5 | 3:24 Totally gassed. Max HR of 196! That's the highest I've ever seen in the yrs I've had my monitor. No wonder I couldn't push any more. And no wonder my mouth and right arm went numb. Spirit was willing, but the body was shot.

Total time: 23:33
My Garmin405 read 3.53 @ 23:33, but I accidentally added 3-4 seconds and distance when I was trying to scroll through to the watch history post race. Also stopped it slightly after the finish. I think 23:29 was a more accurate finish, but rounding it up to 23:30.

I was 30 secs off my goal pace. Totally overshot. I did much much better last year at 22:10 when I didn't expect so much.

2008 Corporate Challenge

How did I miss so badly? Here's my reckoning:

• went out too fast
• self pressure
• speed workout two days before wore out legs?
• speed workout two days before made me expect a little more

And from this huge miss, I get the following:

• motivation to continue speed work to get faster for the CC championship in October
• wondering how much more headroom I have for short race speed

Congrats to my friends and colleagues who had a great race, had fun, and made the day a lot of fun. You know who you are.