Race Debrief 26-04: Big Bear 10K
Two weeks ago I ended a debrief with one job for this race: start like someone who read her own debrief. Here's the receipt.
By the numbers
Official time 1:26:16 against a target of 1:26, set weeks ago. Third woman, 17th of 75 overall. 6.4 miles by the watch with 1,398 feet of climbing through Harriman's rocks and leaves. Average heart rate 168, max 185. UltraSignup rank for the race: 74.42, my second best ever.
And the number that matters most: mile one at heart rate 164. Controlled. On purpose. In a race field, where the last two debriefs proved I don't do that.
What happened
The last two races had the same shape: out too fast with whoever happened to be in front of me, then a long fade with the math. So the plan this time wasn't a pace, it was a ceiling: first mile by heart rate no matter what the field did. It cost me positions in the opening minutes. It bought them all back and then some.
Mile one: 13:21 with 315 feet of climbing, HR 164, letting runners go. Miles two through four: settled at 173 to 176, hard but owned. The big climb: a 17:55 mile, hiking with purpose at 108 steps per minute, passing people who'd outrun me at the start. The descent: a 12:14 mile at HR 153, which is the Bulletproof Knee work quietly cashing a check. And the finish: a sprint at 8:50 pace and 192 steps per minute, the same closing gear that showed up at Highlander, except this time there was a podium at the end of it.
Five minutes faster than my practice run on this course. Sixteen seconds off a target set before the leaves turned.
What the target was for
A goal doesn't make a race the goal. This was always a checkpoint on the way to a 20.6-mile mountain race in December, and the 1:26 target existed to answer one question: can I execute a plan under race conditions instead of racing the people around me. Answer: yes, when the plan is written down and the first mile has a number on it.
The unfinished business is fueling. The legs executed. The stomach filed a complaint afterward, and eating enough before and after hard efforts is still the system I haven't built yet. Ray Miller is three times this distance. That's the project between now and December 5.
The streak
Four races in five weeks: a comeback half, a 4,000-foot monster, a headlamp night race, and now a podium at the one I circled. Two of those races taught lessons the hard way. This one proved the lessons took.
Next
Pocantico Hills Half, November 7, carriage roads, a pacing checkpoint. Then Malibu. The fall block is working, and the discipline finally showed up wearing a bib.