Circuit Endurance - Défi hivernal Vaudreuil-Dorion 10k race report
After three months of maintenance, I started speed training two weeks ago for the Spring race season. My goal is to accelerate my 10k and I registered to this race (February 25th) and the next (April 7th) to see my progression. The times to beat are my official 2018 PR 54:51 and my unofficial 2020 PR 49:58.
Not knowing where I was in terms of fitness, we settled on the midway point objective at 52:30 with a constant progression, aiming for the following 2km splits:
5:35 min/km
5:25 min/km - about M pace
5:15 min/km - about HM pace
5:05 min/km - about T pace
4:55 min/km - or all out.
The Défi hivernal (38th edition) was held in Vaudreuil-Dorion for the first time (so 1st edition but with an experienced race organization). It is part of Circuit Endurance which means a 90 minutes cutoff and a fast crowd of runners. The weather was favourable, sunny -9°C (16°F).
I drove for half an hour to the start location, a high school and picked up my bib in no time. I had a shock when I realized that I was now in the F50-59 category (age on December 31st of the year). I did a nice warmup, an indoor pit stop and walked to the start line. A fellow F50-59 asked me what I was aiming for so that she could maybe have a pace buddy but I was starting too slow even though her overall objective was just slightly faster.
Anyway, that and the best intentions did not stop me from going out too fast. I try to slow down from 4:xx min/km and make it to about 5:20 at which point I know my legs don’t want to calm down and I decide to hold that pace for six to eight km. The headwind on the second half is tiring. I try to accelerate a bit in the last two km, and I do, but not much. I push for a last kick at the very end.
With my finisher medal around the neck and while eating the banana from the snack bag, I lookup my results. My official time is 53:03 and I am third place in my age group! I wait for my bronze medal and head home, happy to have given my best and to have a measure of what that best is.
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Later in the day, I recount my race to DH and he asks how many people in my age group, overall placement, etc. I look up the details and learn two things: My 53:03 would have also placed me third in the F40-49 and… my chip time is 52:59. My new shinny official PR is under 53 minutes!