Airport 5k race report and last weeks training

Last weeks training unfolded like this

Sunday - 20 mile long run
This was my first 20 miler since Paris. The run was about 4 miles on trail and the rest on the road. Same 20 mile route that I was running last summer which includes running up to ravine by the brickyard then back through Mount Pleasant Cemetery along the beltline and ravine then back home again. Got the mileage math right this time so didn’t have to add on at the end.

Monday – sweet sweet rest.

Tuesday – 9 miles (trails)
Ran the trails in High Park at easy pace. No run ins with snakes or worms.. Yawn.

Wednesday -11 miles
On the Lakeshore with Longboat. Ran the first 7 miles at a moderate pace with a 10 minute interval run hard (7:20 pace) then finished the run at an easier pace.

Thursday – 9 miles
I decided to run on the road instead of trail with the airport 5k coming up on Saturday. Decent run at usual recovery pace.

Friday – 3 miles
That’s right 3 miles. Thought I would play it safe with a race on Saturday so just did a very slow and low mileage workout. Got to save those legs for tomorrow. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Saturday – 4 miles
Small warm up and 5k race. Actually way to small a warm up. For more details see race report.

Total mileage 56
I originally had planned to do 60 miles but cut back on Fridays run. Expect to go to 60 this coming week.

Runway Run 5k Race Report
Saturday was the second running of the Toronto Airport 5k runway run. Oddly this was also the second time I had run this race. I ran it last year and really liked it so I signed up to do it again.

This race is run on one of the main runways at Pearson Airport. No you don’t have to really dodge planes. They actually shut done on of the main runways for the morning while flights are still taking off and landing on the other runways. As you can imagine this course is flat and can be fast but it’s also unsheltered so wind, heat and the sun can be a factor.

Last year I liked this race because it was small capped at 400 it think and it had a very different feel and unique vibe to it. This year it was much larger more then 1000 runners and the many many walkers.

Pre race
Kim and I meet up with Steve and drove out to the Airport. Nearly got run off the road by a charter bus on the 407. Bus was in the fastest lane and then decided it wanted to move over. We were in the middle lane going 100 km. Bus tried to pass us instead of slowing down and merging. When it couldn’t it beeped its horn at us and then cut into our lane forcing us into the other lane. We were about half way down the bus when this idiot tried this. Good thing Steve is a decent driver and there was no traffic. Then bus then proceeded to cut across 3 lanes in front of us. Now you would think this was the move of someone trying to get across for an exit lane but you would be wrong. We used the exit lane the bus just keep on going straight. Guy must be a cab driver in his spare time.

Got to the race in plenty of time and picked up our race kits. No bag check again this year. This race is now close to 2000 people so it should really have a bag check. Had planned to do a good 20 minute warm up which is what I really need to get the body working right. I had planned to do this before we were escorted out onto the runway but heard that they were going to take people out 30 minutes before the start. Since I believed this I did a 5 minute warm up and then lined up to go out on the airfield. We waited and waited. Then we waited some more. After 25 minutes of waiting they lead us out. That meant no warm up. Grrrrrrrr.

We got out and lined up at the starting mat and then waited some more. The race ended up being delayed by 10 minutes. I was cursing my lack of warm up. Just before the starting gun an F16 fighter did a low level fly over which is a pretty big deal in Canada because I think we only have one so kind of cool. Then we were off.

The race
The course starts about 3/4s of the way down the runway. You run from the start a short distance to the end of the runway then turn run all the way down the full runway turn back again and run back up the tarmac to the start / now finish point.

Started off well and was on the pace I was looking for during the first part and into the first turn around. There was however a bit of a headwind. After the first turn headed back down the length of the runway. Was in good shape at 2k and felt okay but that didn’t last. Somewhere around 2.5k I felt myself beginning to struggle a bit. Pace dropped slightly. Worse then that my hamstring was a bit tight, wonder why… GRRRR.

Held on to this pace for a while but began to struggle a lot more. By the time I made the second turn and headed back towards the finish line my pace had dropped of even more. Even worse then that mentally I was not sharp at all. Instead of focusing on form, trying to reel people in and push I was thinking “I’m dying here”. GRRRR

The last section of the course I could really feel the headwind which made it tough. Also was running ragged. Finished the last 400 meters really strong but was not happy at all.

Post race.
Finished in 22:41 which is 45 seconds slower then my PB but is also still my second fastest 5k. Finished in 77th place out of 1100. Not as disappointed in my time as I was with my run. Bad warm up, bad ragged form and no focus at all left me wondering what the heck happened out there.

Kim ran pretty well missing her PB by 12 seconds even though she had been out the night before indulging. Steve came in at just over 23 minutes.

Also congratulations to Longboater Rob Campbell who finished 4th overall, second masters.

Still this is a decent race and if you haven’t done it before you might want to give it a try. I thought it lost a bit of its charm in its second year with a bigger field and maybe its just because I had done it before. Not sure if I would run this a third time but glad I ran it the first 2 times.

Will post some pics once I get them.

Think I may do the wine run next year instead. Drinking and running at the same time in the heat on a very hilly course what could go wrong.