Race: Manhattan Beach 10k
Date: October 2nd, 2010
Start Time: 7:30AM
Location: Manhattan Beach, CA

First off, I PR’d this race! Chip time was 1:06:57, which is a full 2 minutes and 27 seconds from my previous best! Though, I believe a few weeks ago (as posted on Athlinks), I posted that I was targeting a a sub-hour finish, but I’m taking this cos a Personal Record is a personal record.

A few things to note:

• Semi-preparedness. I’m glad I write these recaps for posterity because the night before the 10k, I was reading my past post on the same race (about 5 years ago). As a result, I was prepared for the worst — the course’s rolling hills and steep declines were still there! Now I remember why I haven’t done this race in 5 years! LMFAO
• Heart Rate Monitor. 191 bpm was my max heart rate at this race! Average heart rate was 179 bpm. I knew I was working hard but kept my breathing steady (albeit it was laborious towards the end) and I resisted looking down at my watch for fear of my brain telling my body to slow down. I will be mindful the next time, though and won’t let it get this high again. That, and I need to incorporate more mid-week speed training in my workouts as I get into the higher mileage of training.
• Humbled by this elderly lady. I’m always excited when I pass people during a run, especially if they seem more fit than I am Towards the final mile of this race, though, an elderly lady (and when I say elderly, I mean a lady who looked like she was 90 years old) literally flew past me! Inspired, I attempted to draft behind her and follow her pace but she was just too darn fast! I dropped off just as she kicked it up a notch from 9:30 min/mile to 9:00! In hindsight, had I stayed with her, I probably would’ve dropped dead @ the finish, albeit gotten close to (if not achieved), my hour goal!
• Found Pace Leaders. Throughout the race, I probably found three or four people to follow and set the pace that I wanted to run (yes, including the elderly lady towards the end). However, (as usual) I always go too fast in the beginning and peter-out towards the end (still have to work on that). Finding people who run your ideal pace is nice, though and I’m fairly lucky that I found a couple who maintained their pace for at least the first half of the race.
• Proper nutrition. I didn’t really take any nutrition for this short race but I should’ve and just plain forgot to do so. I also felt dehydrated from the previous night (woke up at 2AM on race day because my mouth was parched) and that should’ve been my cue to hydrate a few hours later but nope. During the race, I did stop at two water stations, though (well, one was a jogging pass-through and most of the water ended up on my shirt. ROFL)

Overall, I’m pleased with my effort and though there’s loads of room for improvement, I’m still elated with the result.