I just got back from my second 4k race. The first one was when I was about 4 weeks into the C25K program. This time I cut around 4.5 minutes off that first time. It was rainy and (of course) overcast. The rain was light, however, and it was rather cool for a July day. It was a cool 64F (18C) with about a 10mph (16kph) breeze.
This year, the course was an out and back. During the first mile, we spread out and I was again pretty much running by myself. Although, there were people within a few yards ahead of me to keep me going. Afterward, I'm always thinking I could have run faster, but looking back at my heart rate record, it's rather clear that I couldn't have pushed it much harder without burning out. After the first mile, my heart rate got above 180 and stayed there for the rest of the race. During my final 0.1 mile when I kicked it up a notch to almost a 7min/mile pace, my heart rate got up to 193. My overall average pace was 10min/mile.
It took me 10-15 seconds to cross the starting line (it's a medium sized race with a wide starting line, so I was relatively close to the start), so my official time will be a bit slower. My Garmin shows 24:32 and 2.45 miles. That's pretty accurate, since 4k is 2.49 miles. I'd say 0.04miles is within the margin of error, considering it depends on which side of the path you run on! I set my Virtual Partner to my last 4k time. That didn't help, since I was so much faster this time. At about 0.5 miles, I checked and was 345ft ahead of my VP. So, I forgot about VP and switched to a different screen, one with time, speed, and distance.
I ran with an old favorite Podrunner podcast, Definitive at 154bpm.
Overall, I'm glad I got up and out of the door today, despite the rain. Now, on to the July 4th festivities!
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