Tuneup Race Tomorrow

I dropped by the Boulder Running Company this morning to sign up for tomorrow evening's Dash & Dine 5k. I need a tuneup race to really judge my current fitness; plus, 5k races are great for developing VO2 max, a major component of 10k race performance.

The Dash & Dine races are a great local series at the Boulder Reservoir. They are held every Tuesday night, starting tomorrow, for six weeks, which makes them perfect preparation for the Bolder Boulder at the end of May. The course is an out-and-back on dirt, starting at Coot Lake and following the shore of the Boulder Reservoir. It's pretty flat, which should make it fast, but in my experience the dirt surface and the typical windy conditions usually slow the racers down quite a bit. For example, I did three of the Dash & Dine races in 2005 leading up to the Bolder Boulder. My best time was 20:44. That predicts a 10k of 42:50, but my actual BB finish was 40:39 that year. My 5k splits at the Bolder Boulder were 20:19 and 20:20, better than any of my Dash & Dine 5k results in the weeks leading up to the race.

Since I'm hoping to beat my 2005 Bolder Boulder time, naturally I looked at my 2005 Dash & Dine results to see where I should be at this time of year. Here are my three 5k times from 2005:

Date	Time
April 12, 2005	21:15
April 26, 2005	20:55
May 17, 2005	20:44

Looking at these dates and times, it becomes pretty clear that I need to beat 21:15 tomorrow night in order to have a reasonable chance of meeting my goal of a sub-40 10k at the Bolder Boulder. With that in mind, I'm going to try to run a sub-21 5k, which means 6:45 minutes per mile or better. I will, however, try to pace myself by perceived exertion, which will hopefully prevent me from going out too hard. I don't want to repeat my time trial experience from 8 days ago!

Today's run stats: 5 miles total, at an easy pace. 42:54 (8:34 average pace). I'm temporarily abandoning the training plan, because a) I need a rest week, b) I wanted to get in this tuneup race, and c) I'm leaving for Costa Rica in two days. Training will resume in earnest April 23, if not sooner.