Independence Middle School 5k
Good race! Happy with my time, my performance and how things appear to be shaping up for the Elizabeth River Run next weekend. The first mile saw the predictable couple of kids take of really fast in the first half mile. I settled in to 3rd of 4th place early on, but soon found myself out in front. It’s not every day I get to lead a race, even if it is just a local low-key 5k, so I decided to make the most of it and hang on for as long as I could. Looking around at the start line, there were a couple of guys who I knew could (and probably should) beat me. As I followed the bike leader and a lone police patrol car, I could hear only one set of footsteps behind me and a breathing pattern not disimilar to my own.
The first mile split was 5:39, not crazy fast, so I had hopes I wouldn’t slow too much in the next couple of miles. The second mile was quite uneventful - I tried to get in “the zone” and concentrate on gliding rather than grinding it out. My heart rate was only 4 or 5 beats away from my max so I knew I only had a little in reserve. The breathing and the footsteps were still right behind me as I went through 2 miles in 11:26 (5:47 split), and for some reason I tried to surge and break away. My Garmin 305 GPS kept reminding me my heart rate was at least 176 (4 beats off my max), but try as I might I couldn’t shake the guy behind. With about half a mile to go, he (fellow Brit, Steve Johnstone) drew alongside me. He was hurting too, so I surged and put a few feet on him. It didn’t last long however, and before I knew it, Steve was pulling away - 1 second ahead, 2 seconds ahead, maybe 6 or 7 seconds ahead. As we approached the 3 mile mark (split 5:50), I gave one last huge effort, but it was too late. Steve crossed the line in 17:49, me 6 seconds behind and with a new max heart rate for 2006 - 181bpm!
GPS Data
Device: Forerunner 305 2.40
Agent: MotionBased Agent 2.2.0.21
Technorati Tags: race, 5k, heart rate, Garmin 305, GPS, Forerunner 305, MotionBased
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