Saturday Springfield Ride and Run

Dane and I got up early Saturday morning, loaded up the bikes and drove out to Springfield for a bric workout. They were having the first annual Olde Effingham Days 5k at 8:30. We got there and got registered for the race by 7:00 and were on the bikes riding by 7:05.

I was a little colder than I had expected but I wore my jacket and felt fine. Our goal was to get in a good 12 mile "time trial" on the bike and then transition straight into the race. We rode out of town at an easy pace for 10 miles. Then at the 10 mile mark we started the "time trial". We rode out for another 1 mile, then did a u-turn and headed back in 11 miles for a 12 mile total.

Dane was on his cervelo tri-bike, so I'm gonna blame that for why I lost sight of him half way back. I was keeping a pretty good pace, staying around 21 mph most of the way. I had just got my new Cateye Astrale 8 cyclometer so I was able to check my cadence for the fist time. I kept the cadence around 95 most of the way.

I drank water and gatorade every few miles on the way back then tried to take a gel at around mile 9.5. This was right before a slight uphill and big downhill. It was hard peddling uphill with the gel in my hand. I came down the other side of the hill going about 31 mph then finally stashed the empty gel in my jacket pocket. I think I may just go with gatorade alone in the race and not take the gel.

After the big downhill, I slowed down thinking that I needed to get my heart rate down and rest my legs so they'd be ready for the upcoming run. That work OK, but I lost too much time. I think I rested a little to long and should have pushed it until I was much closer to the end of the ride.

Dane beat me back to the truck by 3 minutes, or say he says. He was probably there much longer but just didn't want to make me feel bad. My total time on the "time trial" was 35:07 for 11.75 miles, giving me an average speed of 20.1 mph. I'm OK with that speed but think I could have done better.

I changed into my running shoes quickly as Dane locked up my bike on his truck. Then we had to wait for 10 minutes or so for the race to start. This was the first time I'd tried to run after riding. It felt quite weird at first. When the race started I tried to go out too fast (of course) but my legs quickly put an end to that. After about a 1/2 mile I settled into a good comfortably hard pace of around 7:45/mile.

The course had some hills in the second half starting with a short downhill where I passed some folks, followed by a long uphill to the turn-around. It was coming up on the turn around that I realized how well I was doing. I got the see everyone that was ahead of me and didn't see anyone who appeared to be in my age group. That got me a little more excited and motivated to keep up the good pace.

We turned around and went back down the hill then up another long hill to the finish. I finished with a good kick and crossed the line in 24:30(click here for results)!! My best 5k time yet was only 33 seconds faster at 23:57, so I felt really good about that. I think I could have maybe even gotten under 24 minutes if I had pushed a little harder. I felt like I still had some kick in me.

Turns out I did win my age group. Of course it also turns out I only had to beat one other guy to do it, but hey, I beat him and that's what counts. I came in 11th out of 56 overall with about 10 or so appearing to have walked the whole way. Anyway, I brought home the medal and that was cool.

I had a great time. I especially enjoyed the ride through the countryside. The views were a big improvement over what I'm used to with riding at Hunter and on Jimmy DeLoach. It was cool to watch the sun coming up and burning off the dew on the fields. It was a great time!


10 Mile Warm Up Ride

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12 Mile "Time Trial" Ride

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2006 Olde Effingham Days 5k

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