10 Miles of Fun

Race Report

By Roger Hospedales, Team Running Free

Race:  Acura 10 Miler

Date:  Sunday June 11, 2009.

Location:  Distillery District, Toronto

Description:  10 Miles (16.1km)

Sport:  Running

Website: www.canadarunningseries.com/torontoten/index.htm

Before I get into the details of the race, let me first start off by strongly recommending this race to everyone. I’ve never been disappointed by a race that the folks at the Canada Running Series organizes and this one was no different. The course is flat, fast and scenic (Tommy Thompson Park), everything is based right out of the Distillery District – quite a cool setting, the race debuted the new bib timing – which worked perfectly, and I was home home by 11 am to catch the end of the Tour de France on TV.

With Ironman Lake Placid 2 weeks away, I was just coming off my largest training week (25.5 hrs counting today), topped off with the longest bike ride I’d ever done (191km), completed just 16.5 hrs before this race. Knowing that I would need extra motivation to get in the run I needed, and to drag my butt out of bed, I signed up for this race.

So the plan was to run 5 km before prior to the race, run the 10 miles at a heart rate of 150-155 bpm (an easy Zone 2 aerobic pace throughout – my hopeful and manageable Ironman pace), and run another 4-5 km to cooldown.

I ran the 10 miles in 1:27:31 (5:26/km pace), the first 5 miles in 46:59 and the second 5 in 43:46. This is no breakneck speed but I was pleased with it because I thought those heart rate targets combined with the heat would bring me in at 5:41/km pace. Instead I felt strong the whole way, and loved every second of the race. I performed tons better in the heat than I did at the Welland Half Iron–maybe I’ve learned something here? My average heart rate for the run was 151. It was tough letting people run past but I had a goal in mind and I sure hope it pays off with a good Ironman run. Plus, my body is sure thanking me right now because I don’t have the crazy soreness from hammering a race. Maybe next year I’ll get the chance to push it a little bit since I am pretty sure this will be my last go-round at IMLP.

Congrats to all the TRF runners out there – there were lots, but especially Leslie Sexton who won the women’s race. She banged out a 58:22, which is total science fiction to me. I wish I could maintain that pace for 1 km. She even looked great and fresh as a daisy when we crossed paths during our cooldowns along Lakeshore Blvd. A truly wicked performance by Leslie and there will be more to come.

Thanks for reading and I hope to catch you in Gravenhurst this coming weekend.

Train safe and race smart

Roger