Vindication

After my disappointing run at the Hypothermic half, my coach suggested I race again to get the hang of it. We decided on the St Albert 10 miler because another half marathon would be detrimental, and 10km isn't long enough. Coming up to this race I felt pretty good. I've seen improvements in the water and on the bike. I think the interval runs I did really prepared me for what race pace would feel like.

On race day the weather was perfect - overcast, and about 6c. It was the end of rest week so I hadn't trained hard all week, but did ride for 1:45 on the trainer, and swim for 45mins the day before. Based on my half marathon times, I figured I would finish around 2 hours. But the real goal was to stay in the right hr zone. I used the race plan from the hypo - first hour in zone 3, the rest in 4 or 5.

I had a great run! This is a hilly course, but I managed to run the entire race except once I walked for about 30 seconds to try and fix my bib because it came loose. The last few kms I was so tired I couldn't even talk. I felt bad because I like to thank the volunteers but all I managed was a wave. Here are the km breakdowns from my garmin (everything according to plan)
km:time:hr
1: 6:31: 158
2: 7:02: 162
3: 7:07: 164
4: 7:15: 161
5: 6:47: 163 5km total 34:43
6: 7:04: 163
7: 7:09: 162
8: 7:03: 163 8km total 56:00
9: 6:57: 160
10: 6:45: 164 10km total 1:09 (my fastest 10km ever)
11: 6:53: 167
12: 7:03: 170
13: 6:59: 169
14: 7:15: 171
15: 6:50: 171
16: 6:50: 172 16km total 1:51:35 = second 8km 55:35
final 280 meters 6:39: 173

Results: 712/772 overall
312/348 females
104/110 age group
Official finishing time: 1:52:55

I was exhausted and really sore afterwards, but I felt great! I ran the plan, finished 7 minutes faster than I thought I would, with a negative split. It has been amazing to suddenly see the results of 6 months worth of training.