Sorry for the delay in writing this report - no excuse!
I decided to run more 5 and 10 k races this summer and to that end, I entered the Burlington Canada Day 5K race. Then I found out about the Port Stanley 25K race on June 29. Why not get in a somewhat up tempo training run two days before a 5K race?? I also registered for it. Last year was the inaugural year for this event and had only 18 runners in the 27 km event. Yes - 27 km - Some confusion here but it is indeed a 27 km run.
Race #1 - Port Stanley 27K - June 29
We were up and off to Port Stanley on the Gold Wing by 5 AM. After a pleasant ride to Port Stanley we found the start area and I picked up my race packet. To my surprise, there were very few people around. The race director indicated that only 20 people registered for the 27 km. It ended up that only 8 of us showed up - four men and four women. There were also, only about 12-15 participants in the 6K event. I doubt that this event will survive.
The race itself is quite good. No spectators and, of course, few other runners, but a nice run through the countryside. The route has a few tough hills and the weather was hot and humid. We started at 8:00 AM under cloudy skies. It was overcast at the start and finish but we had about an hour of sun during the middle of the race. This made it quite difficult heat and humidity wise.
At the start I settled into a pace of about 6 min/km. This was my target pace with a hoped for time of about 30 minutes per 5 km segment. One runner dashed out fast and it turned out that her was running the 6K event. At about 1 km two people passed me, a man about 40 or so and a younger woman. I overtook the lady on the first tough hill. After we passed the 3K point where the 6K people turned around, I saw only the man in front of me for the rest of the race. For the next twelve km , I was about 300 metres behind the leader. I would get a bit closer until my one minute walk break ( I was doing 10 and 1's ) Overall the gap was pretty consistent. After 15 km, I noticed that I was steadily gaining on him. At the 16 km mark I passed him. We exchanged a couple of comments and I forged on. I was able to maintain a pretty decent pace but he was fading. The remainder of the race was spent trying to maintain pace and to ignore the heat and humidity. I knew that I was leading the not so large pack and knew that this was my one opportunity to be an overall winner of a race. ( Hey - you take where you can get them!!
) I ended up with a time of 2:36:41 with an average pace of 5:51 min/km and an average heart rate of 148 bpm
5 Km Segments Time Average Pace Average Heart Rate
#1 29:07 5:49 139 long uphill from 1 km to 3 km
#2 28:44 5:44 142 rolling terrain, no real hills
#3 28:39 5:43 148 rolling terrain - one short steep hill
#4 30:07 6:01 152 two long steep hills - some extra walking here
#5 29:45 5:56 153 gently rolling for first half and then a long downhill into Port Stanley
#6 10:22 5:55 156 flat terrain with a few sharp turns. Garmin distance 1.75 km.
It was a pretty tough race due to the weather and the humidity. I would run it again if more people participated.
Race # 2 - Burlington Canada Day 5K - July 01
Again we were up fairly early and off to Burlington. We found parking was easy and packet pick up very well organized. As we had about two hours before race time, we relaxed in the car until 8:30 AM. They had the kids 1K race first and that was very entertaining. Some of the young boys and girls can really run!!
Again it was hot and humid. In addition from the start until the 2.5 km turn around we were running into a very strong wind. However, it is a very flat course. I lined up a few people from the start and we were off about 9:16 AM. The wind was definitely a factor on the first half. My A goal was to finish under 25 minutes. My B goal was to get a PB ( under 25:47 ). I settled in at around a 5 minute pace and made the turn around at 12:34 on my stopwatch. I was hoping for a boost from the wind on the way back but it didn't seem to be happening. In addition I was heating up and my heart rate was inching up. I was maintaining a pace just around 5 minutes per km. At about the 4 km I noticed a man who might be in my age group just ahead. I decided to try to catch him. I did indeed catch him at about the 4.5 km point. ( It turned out that he was "5k" from here on runningmania ). He made a surge and passed me. I decided to try to stay with him and see if he could drag me to an under 25 minute finish. It turned out that he was having heart rate issues as well and slowed to a walk just enough for me to pass him. He ended up 3 seconds behind me. Thanks to 5k, I finished with a 24:55 chip time. A PB and the satisfaction of getting under 25 minutes.
After the race 5k introduced himself to myself and Mrs. Tortoise. We had a great visit while we waited for our awards. We both finished first in our age group and received a sport watch for our achievements.
This is an excellent event. It is well organized and the course is flat. Tie that into Canada Day festivities in the Burlington waterfront and you have a winner. After the award ceremony, Mrs. Tortoise and I spend some time strolling along the waterfront enjoying the Canada Day activities.
Race Data:
Time: 24:55
Average Pace: 4:59 min/km
Average Heart Rate: 157 bpm
