2012 Trolley Run Race Report

I originally hadn't planned to do the Trolley Run but my company is a sponsor of the race, so we got some registration spots for teams and I put my name in the lottery for bib.  I was selected and placed on the "fast" team.  Not sure if that was a wise idea, considering...

As with previous years, this race uses the corral system and I had times to be placed in the first corral (sub-7:30 minutes miles).  Considering my training over the last 5 weeks which has been mostly on base building with a low heart rate, I wasn't confident I could even hold that pace.  I have had no sort of speed or tempo training, so I was planning on running a pace that would be respectable for the first corral.  Don't get me wrong, I raced this event.  I decided it would be a baseline race to see where I am.  This race is known as being a downhill so if I ever check against my baseline, it would be best to test on this course.

Pre-Race
My pre-race routine was the same as last year with a toasted bagel with peanut butter and a banana.  We arrived around 6:45am with temps in the 50s and rainy.  I put on a trash bag as a rain coat and took off for the buses.  Every year I swear these busses drive 10 miles out to the start line because it seems to take forever.

I happen to pick a bus with Denise,  one of my company's ruthless Corporate Challenge coordinators, and then saw another co-worker, Todd, as I got off.  I chatted with Todd and his running mates for a while as I hit the port-a-potty.  After taking care of business I found a member of my Trolley Run Team and talked about our times.  The top 3 times on the team are used.  I knew there were three people on our team that would be running 24:xx minute times but Jeremy informed me that one of the three was not running so my time was going to count.  Oops.

I took off for a warmup jog of half a mile or so and then walked over the the corrals where I met up with Joe VI.  During the National Anthem, I spotted Ryan and waved him over.  We chatted up until the "Go" call.  I don't remember when but the rain had pretty much stopped by this time or down to a slight mist.

Mile 1 - 6:47
My goal here was to simply not go out too fast, as usual.  I managed to run at a comfortable pace that I thought was fairly slow, I noticed I was going at a sub-7 minute pace.  That surprised me but I didn't change anything.  Comfortable is comfortable.  I figured my warmup run helped keep me from feeling like I was running too fast.

Mile 2 - 7:03
I had set my watch to my "race" setting before the start.  This puts my current pace and average pace on the same screen.  At this point I couldn't remember which one was current and which was average because every time I looked, one was higher than the other number.  It was different every time.

This section had the last of the hills for Trolley Run.  I started thinking about my knees and hip.  There was some slight pain but it was manageable, so I focused on my form.  I took a peek at my Heart Rate and it was 170 - 175, which is where I expected.

Mile 3 - 6:55
More of the same.  Focus on form.

Mile 4 - 7:07
It's at this point where I start thinking, "You'll be done in less than 7 minutes."  Probably not the best mantra.  I knew my miles were coming in around the 6:55 - 7:50 miles, so I kept pushing.  The course flattens out here.  I tried to kick it up near the end as I always reflect back thinking that I should have (of course those reflection do not recall the pain my system is in at the time).  I managed to push through the pain to hit sub 6 minute miles, but it was only brief.  I was motivated on finishing under 28 minutes as I was hurdling down on the finish chute.

The splits were based on my automatic mile splits on my Garmin.  I actually have an additional 7 seconds before hitting the stop button.  Assuming Trolley Run's mile markers are correct, those seven seconds are probably evenly distributed in the above splits.  I need to do manual splits on all run races.

Finish
Overall: 380 / 5,929
Age Group: 64 / 421
Time: 27:54
Average Pace: 6:59

Post-Race
Everything was the same as last year, that I can remember.  One of the nice things about finishing in the top 7% of participants is that there is no trouble getting post-race food.  Plenty of water, gatorade, bananas, rolls, yogurt, chocolate milk, donuts, pizza, popcorn, etc.

My right knee and quad was feeling a bit sore on the drive home.  So I iced them before my shower.  They were feeling better within an hour.

Overall
I am pleased with my time, considering it was all downhill.  It's under 7:15 pace per mile (which is my BQ pace, which will likely need to be 7:10-ish).  My cardio seemed to be taxed more than I thought it would, considering my leg speed/strength is what I figured would be my delimiter.  I'm sure as I work on leg speed (started last week), my cardio system will also improve.

The Proof
Hmm.  I actually didn't get any photos there.

Up Next
Next weekend I have the Corporate Challenge 5k race.  I'm planning to move my long run to Wednesday to effectively make this race and next weekends 5k speed workouts.

UPDATE:  It took a day to post the team results.  Our team members did get screwed up and so we were all on different teams.  That meant that my mens only team was now a co-ed team.  Had it been correct, we would have placed 4th in the mens only division, instead my team placed 14th in the co-ed division.   So my score not only counted, it was best in the team.  In addition, my team was the fastest team of my company.  Woo hoo!