Monument Ave 10K Race Report

Another Monument Avenue 10K is in the books. This year was my sixth race and I was hoping it would be my fastest yet. Last year I ran 43 minutes on the dot and I thought perhaps this year, I could beat that time. While I have not been running as much this year as last year, I have been doing some intense cycling workouts at RCC two times a week since November as well as more consistent swimming workouts. I thought that all that training plus the Saturday rides, Sunday long runs, and Tuesday evening track workouts could lead me to another PR.

As the race day approached, my coach thought I could easily beat my 43. At least that is the impression I got from her. She set a goal pace of 6:40 per mile for me. I decided that I would do my best to not go out too fast. Running the first mile at 7 minute pace seemed like something to strive for. That way, I would not tax my system too much and I could gradually pick up the pace as the race unfolded.

The Monument Ave 10K has 40+ waves that help minimize congestion. I started in wave B. When I was making my way in to wave B corral I saw my coworker's daughter and friend who run high school cross country and track. I knew that Erin's goal, as dictated by her coach, was to run the first mile at a 7 minute pace and then to pick it up and finish sub 42 minutes. When I saw her in the corral, she said hello and I wished her luck and then made my way closer to the front of our corral. More on her later.

Usually at this point in my race report, I would say something like, "when the gun went off" to designate the beginning of the race. But at this race, it was simply a man who said, "GO!" And we were off. I was able to hold back more so then in previous years and ended up with a 6:47 minute per mile for the first mile. This is faster than I had intended but not too crazy fast.

The next mile I ran a 6:47 followed by a 6:46. From there, I faded. I am not sure why exactly. My legs felt good and my knees were only slightly gimpy. But I just could not kick it up a notch. The gears were just not there. My next mile pace was 6:58 followed by a 7:04. My next mile was the slowest at 7:20. I did manage to pick it up a little for a 7:06 pace followed by the final .2 miles which I did at a 6:46 pace. My paces as reported her are from my Garmin so they are as accurate as they are going to get. My final time for the race according to both my Garmin and the text message I received from the race was 43:38. As you may recall, this time is 38 seconds slower than last year's 10K time.

Before reflecting on my race, I have to mention Erin. During the first part of the race, Erin and her teammate caught me. I guess I was already fading pretty fast at that point. Erin pointed at me and laughed as she ran by. I told her they were looking good but on the inside I was a little miffed by her laughter. This picture is what it reminded me of.


Looking back at my performance, I was a little bummed but at the same time, I think this is a great learning experience. Last year at this time, I was doing significantly more track work. That is to say the volume was a lot higher. At one point I did 13X400 repeats with a 400 recovery in between in each repeat. I was also doing more 800s followed by 400s and other combinations of 1200s, 800s, and 400s. It seems like this lead me to faster times in the 10K but I have to wonder how such a training regimen affected my early season triathlon times. This year, I focused more on the bike and the swim-my two weaknesses. My run at the 10K seems to have suffered slightly because of that. But I can only imagine and hope that my new training regimen will be more conducive to better triathlon times. Triathlon is my focus right now although I enjoy running 10Ks and other races especially trail races.

After my 3rd race of the season, I think I have tuned into my body and its abilities pretty well. If I want to focus on a 5K or 10K, I know what I need to do-more running. We will see how the triathlon season unfolds. In two weeks, I will race my first tri of the season, the Rumpus in Bumpass International (1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, 10K run). I think my work on the bike at the RCC and my swimming workouts will help me go a little faster throughout the race. I am looking forward to it. Although those few minutes before the crazy open water swim start are always nerve racking.

Thanks for reading.