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FrogMan · 06-02-2014, 09:29 PM

Race Report
La Descente Royale, 10K
Sunday, June 1st, 2014
Boischatel to Beauport, Québec

Pre-race morning
It really was a gorgeous day for a race. Bright sun out but almost chilly. It was only 43F when I got in my car to head out to the race site at about 5:55am on Sunday morning. Race course is a point to point so we had to park at the finishing area then take a shuttle to the starting site. It was my first time doing that, the shuttle thing I mean. Lots of first for me this season.

It was also my first race without my contingent of cheerleaders since my wife had to be at a soccer activity with our youngest son and my oldest son was teaching karate. This'll explain the utter lack of pictures from this report, at least until some show up on the race race website.

I felt kinda lonely boarding the shuttle bus but it was a pretty cool experience. I'm not the chatty type, at least not with people I don't know and also not when I'm getting in a zone, sorta, so I put on my headphones on the bus and looked out the window. That was an interesting ride as I could feel us going up and up and up then oops, down? That wasn't good news. If the bus was going "down" on the way up, that meant we'd have to run up on a downhill course?!? (makes sense or are you getting a headache?

)

I had a windowside seat and could see down toward the St Lawrence river. I expected the view to be great and it was. I made a mental not as we crossed the Montmorency river that leds to the Montmorency falls to enjoy the view when we'd get to that point during the race...

Start area and race start
Sun was still shining bright when we got to the start area but most of the area was shaded by lots of big trees. That start area was in a pretty rural part of town, a place I'm sure never sees 1200-1300 people at once on their streets. I did my warmup mile on a sort of backyard sand road, not even gravel type, actually in sand. That was kind of a bummer because it was uneven so I couldn't really do any strides but I decided to roll with it. They'd gathered people maybe a hundred meters from the starting gate and when we got the call to get closer to the starting gate I walked with a good pace and had already walked by quite a few people, kinda determined not to get stuck behind too many slower runners. I thought I was well positioned but again got kinda stuck behind a few slower fellas, in particular two older guys who decided to get into a conversation as the starter began is 10 seconds countdown to start. It annoyed me a bit, I mean, this is not a marathon and I want to get into my stride from the start, or fairly close to it, not 400 or 500 meters into it. I eventually passed many people and settled into a good pace.

For reference, here's the course with elevation:

As you can see, the first couple km were with only a tiny, but steady downhill. Not much, and with the crowd at the start, I wasn't sure what kind of pace I'd have over the first kilometer or so. My watch is set to give me splits every 500m and I was sort of relieved when I saw an average pace at 4:02 for the first 500m. I felt good then, and even with the crowd, to be able to stay this close to a 40 minutes pace, I thought it was an excellent start.

First downhill
Close to the end of the second kilometer, we hit some serious downhill and I really let 'er rip, I mean almost full out, but the heart rate was steady at around 157-159. I remember seeing my current pace showing on the watch as low as 3:15 or 3:20 per km. I saw this as putting time in the bank. This downhill was followed by a slight up which slowed me some but not too long and I got a good mental boost seeing a split average pace at something like 3:58 despite that little up.

Right around the 4.5 km mark, we came to that bridge over the river that becomes the Montmorency Falls and I did something I had never done in a race yet. Without slowing down my pace, I lifted my eyes and took in the scenery. We were up so high and looking over the falls, I could see the tip of the Ile d'orleans (Orleans Island) and the south shore of the St Lawrence river, were we live.

Here's the satellite pic from that portion, right were we took a 90 degree turn to our right:

Mid-race
Just a couple hundred meters later, we hit the 5K mark. I remember seeing the timing mat on the ground and shuffled through to total time on my watch, from the heart rate reading, and it showed 19:55 or so, again MAJOR mental boost right there. I'd just done the first 5K under 20!!! Something I'd never done before! I was very happy and knew I could get something nice done overall but even though I usually have a good kick at the end, I often start fast and am not always a good negative splitter. At that point, I wasn't sure I could trust myself to have as fast a second 5K as I'd had in the first...

Final kick
We then hit a couple rolling hills down and up and from the 6th to close to the 8th kilometer, I was kinda cruising and I remember just wanting to stop and walk, just a little. Heart rate was creeping up a bit and even though I tried telling myself there were only 2 km to go, they were getting tough. Legs, knees and ankles were feeling quite ok despite the downhill pounding though. Crazy enough, I didn't feel any pain all of yesterday but today, it's a bit rough. Back to the race, at that 8K point, we hit some major downhill, and I mean something fierce. After seeing some momentary 4:22 or so current pace around the 8K point, I started picking up pace on the downhill and from the 8.5 to the 9.5 km mark, or just were the course goes straight south, it was just a blur, very crazy fast. I thought to myself I had to let it out all there and would cruise easy in the last 500m but I didn't! I get going as the downhill subsided and finished it just as strong. Garmin says my last three 500m splits were done in at paces of 3:44, 3:48 and 3:45 min/km (6:00, 6:07 and 6:02 min/mile).

There was about 400m to go from that last right turn west and I couldn't make up the time on the finish line clock in the distance. As I got to about 150m or so, I saw something like 39:05 and I knew it was in the bank but never allowd the legs to slow down. I crossed the line sprinting while pumping my fist in the air. Heart rate spiked to 168-169, no wonder I felt a bit dizzy there, had to steady myself on one of the fences at the back.

I got my medal, nobody from my family cheering me on but so many people shouting encouragements at the same time. I heard the PA announce my name at end of my sprint, as I came close to the finish line, that's a cool touch. I also heard him say there would be a big crowd coming around the 50 minutes mark and while he was congratulating the crowd of finishers, he wasn't naming them one by one. I guess finishing around top 50 give you that.

I'm very, VERY happy with that time but I remain realistic. I'm pretty sure you'd put me on a flat course and I would never be able to go that fast. Not gonna it was like cheating but well, a world record wouldn't stand on a course like that.

I will take it for now but I'll be working very hard to repeat that kind of time on a flat course and if I ever do that, I think you'll hear me scream from my race course to your house, wherever you are.

Strava have something they call GAP for "Grade Adjusted Pace". I'm unsure how they calculate it but they have to sort of compensate for when you are either going up or down. While my average straight pace for my Strava activity if 3:56/km, their calculated GAP is 4:08 which is about what I'd expect to be able to do for a 10K.

I know it's not always the best to compare yourself to others, since so many things can be factored in, but these I'm very proud of:
50th overall out of 1247 (top 4%)
14th in my category (M40-49) out of 174 (top 8%)

In my very first 10K last August, in a much smaller race, I had the following:
69th overall out of 247 (top 27.9%)
11th in my category (M40-49) out of 38 (top 28.9%)

Have I worked hard or what? And I will keep on working hard, while having fun and listening to my body.

Finally, I scored a couple nice cheapies from their previous year article sale including a nice jacket for 20 bucks.

Started a 12 weeks training cycle today that hopefully will get me to finish my second try at a half marathon at the end of August. I'll be back with some post about it later one this week.

Before that HM, the next thing on my plate is a kinda crazy 13.5km staircase challenge in two weeks, then a 5K (my first) three weeks after that.

Thanks for reading, any and all comments welcome.

FM

06-02-2014, 09:29 PM	#83
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	Race Report La Descente Royale, 10K Sunday, June 1st, 2014 Boischatel to Beauport, Québec Pre-race morning It really was a gorgeous day for a race. Bright sun out but almost chilly. It was only 43F when I got in my car to head out to the race site at about 5:55am on Sunday morning. Race course is a point to point so we had to park at the finishing area then take a shuttle to the starting site. It was my first time doing that, the shuttle thing I mean. Lots of first for me this season. It was also my first race without my contingent of cheerleaders since my wife had to be at a soccer activity with our youngest son and my oldest son was teaching karate. This'll explain the utter lack of pictures from this report, at least until some show up on the race race website. I felt kinda lonely boarding the shuttle bus but it was a pretty cool experience. I'm not the chatty type, at least not with people I don't know and also not when I'm getting in a zone, sorta, so I put on my headphones on the bus and looked out the window. That was an interesting ride as I could feel us going up and up and up then oops, down? That wasn't good news. If the bus was going "down" on the way up, that meant we'd have to run up on a downhill course?!? (makes sense or are you getting a headache? ) I had a windowside seat and could see down toward the St Lawrence river. I expected the view to be great and it was. I made a mental not as we crossed the Montmorency river that leds to the Montmorency falls to enjoy the view when we'd get to that point during the race... Start area and race start Sun was still shining bright when we got to the start area but most of the area was shaded by lots of big trees. That start area was in a pretty rural part of town, a place I'm sure never sees 1200-1300 people at once on their streets. I did my warmup mile on a sort of backyard sand road, not even gravel type, actually in sand. That was kind of a bummer because it was uneven so I couldn't really do any strides but I decided to roll with it. They'd gathered people maybe a hundred meters from the starting gate and when we got the call to get closer to the starting gate I walked with a good pace and had already walked by quite a few people, kinda determined not to get stuck behind too many slower runners. I thought I was well positioned but again got kinda stuck behind a few slower fellas, in particular two older guys who decided to get into a conversation as the starter began is 10 seconds countdown to start. It annoyed me a bit, I mean, this is not a marathon and I want to get into my stride from the start, or fairly close to it, not 400 or 500 meters into it. I eventually passed many people and settled into a good pace. For reference, here's the course with elevation: As you can see, the first couple km were with only a tiny, but steady downhill. Not much, and with the crowd at the start, I wasn't sure what kind of pace I'd have over the first kilometer or so. My watch is set to give me splits every 500m and I was sort of relieved when I saw an average pace at 4:02 for the first 500m. I felt good then, and even with the crowd, to be able to stay this close to a 40 minutes pace, I thought it was an excellent start. First downhill Close to the end of the second kilometer, we hit some serious downhill and I really let 'er rip, I mean almost full out, but the heart rate was steady at around 157-159. I remember seeing my current pace showing on the watch as low as 3:15 or 3:20 per km. I saw this as putting time in the bank. This downhill was followed by a slight up which slowed me some but not too long and I got a good mental boost seeing a split average pace at something like 3:58 despite that little up. Right around the 4.5 km mark, we came to that bridge over the river that becomes the Montmorency Falls and I did something I had never done in a race yet. Without slowing down my pace, I lifted my eyes and took in the scenery. We were up so high and looking over the falls, I could see the tip of the Ile d'orleans (Orleans Island) and the south shore of the St Lawrence river, were we live. Here's the satellite pic from that portion, right were we took a 90 degree turn to our right: Mid-race Just a couple hundred meters later, we hit the 5K mark. I remember seeing the timing mat on the ground and shuffled through to total time on my watch, from the heart rate reading, and it showed 19:55 or so, again MAJOR mental boost right there. I'd just done the first 5K under 20!!! Something I'd never done before! I was very happy and knew I could get something nice done overall but even though I usually have a good kick at the end, I often start fast and am not always a good negative splitter. At that point, I wasn't sure I could trust myself to have as fast a second 5K as I'd had in the first... Final kick We then hit a couple rolling hills down and up and from the 6th to close to the 8th kilometer, I was kinda cruising and I remember just wanting to stop and walk, just a little. Heart rate was creeping up a bit and even though I tried telling myself there were only 2 km to go, they were getting tough. Legs, knees and ankles were feeling quite ok despite the downhill pounding though. Crazy enough, I didn't feel any pain all of yesterday but today, it's a bit rough. Back to the race, at that 8K point, we hit some major downhill, and I mean something fierce. After seeing some momentary 4:22 or so current pace around the 8K point, I started picking up pace on the downhill and from the 8.5 to the 9.5 km mark, or just were the course goes straight south, it was just a blur, very crazy fast. I thought to myself I had to let it out all there and would cruise easy in the last 500m but I didn't! I get going as the downhill subsided and finished it just as strong. Garmin says my last three 500m splits were done in at paces of 3:44, 3:48 and 3:45 min/km (6:00, 6:07 and 6:02 min/mile). There was about 400m to go from that last right turn west and I couldn't make up the time on the finish line clock in the distance. As I got to about 150m or so, I saw something like 39:05 and I knew it was in the bank but never allowd the legs to slow down. I crossed the line sprinting while pumping my fist in the air. Heart rate spiked to 168-169, no wonder I felt a bit dizzy there, had to steady myself on one of the fences at the back. I got my medal, nobody from my family cheering me on but so many people shouting encouragements at the same time. I heard the PA announce my name at end of my sprint, as I came close to the finish line, that's a cool touch. I also heard him say there would be a big crowd coming around the 50 minutes mark and while he was congratulating the crowd of finishers, he wasn't naming them one by one. I guess finishing around top 50 give you that. I'm very, VERY happy with that time but I remain realistic. I'm pretty sure you'd put me on a flat course and I would never be able to go that fast. Not gonna it was like cheating but well, a world record wouldn't stand on a course like that. I will take it for now but I'll be working very hard to repeat that kind of time on a flat course and if I ever do that, I think you'll hear me scream from my race course to your house, wherever you are. Strava have something they call GAP for "Grade Adjusted Pace". I'm unsure how they calculate it but they have to sort of compensate for when you are either going up or down. While my average straight pace for my Strava activity if 3:56/km, their calculated GAP is 4:08 which is about what I'd expect to be able to do for a 10K. I know it's not always the best to compare yourself to others, since so many things can be factored in, but these I'm very proud of: 50th overall out of 1247 (top 4%) 14th in my category (M40-49) out of 174 (top 8%) In my very first 10K last August, in a much smaller race, I had the following: 69th overall out of 247 (top 27.9%) 11th in my category (M40-49) out of 38 (top 28.9%) Have I worked hard or what? And I will keep on working hard, while having fun and listening to my body. Finally, I scored a couple nice cheapies from their previous year article sale including a nice jacket for 20 bucks. Started a 12 weeks training cycle today that hopefully will get me to finish my second try at a half marathon at the end of August. I'll be back with some post about it later one this week. Before that HM, the next thing on my plate is a kinda crazy 13.5km staircase challenge in two weeks, then a 5K (my first) three weeks after that. Thanks for reading, any and all comments welcome. FM __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...