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Race Result

Racer: Richard Gendron
Race: Run For the Arts
Date: Saturday, October 25, 2008
Location: Wolf Trap, VA
Race Type: Run - 5 km
Age Group: Male 40 - 44
Time: 0:23:24
Overall Place: 52 / 435
Comment: Experiment in Smiling (7:32 pace)



Race Report:



PRE-RACE
Officially out of transition and into base building for next year, I'm running this one for fun. Well, as much fun as a compulsive data hound can have. My training the past week has consisted of 8-10 hours of Recovery and Endurance riding, plus two 1 hour runs in a comfortable zone.

Towards the end of one of my recent 2 hour indoor endurance rides, I experimented with the smile/grimace thing. I used the mirror in my training room to observe my usual race grimace and then tried to figure out the bare minimum needed to turn it into a smile. I learned that a smile is simply a grimace with lifted eyebrows. It's like drawing winnie-the-pooh, if you raise his eyebrows, you have a smile, lower them and tighten the eyes up, and you have a look of consternation, without changing the mouth.

Now that I am armed with data, I plan to use the Wolf Trap 5K, to train my usual race grimace into a smile. I'll be setting my HR alarm at 158, and I will, I will, I will pull back if I hear it going off, no matter how many 3rd graders, strollers or walkers pass me. And I will work on keeping those eyebrows up.

It should be easy to smile, there will be a 1 mile fun run before the 5K and my 3 year old and 5 year old will be running with my wife. Immediately after the race there is costume contest, that both kids will really enjoy.

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL
I sat between three chairs.

1) It rained early so my wife and kids stayed home. They missed the best weather of the day during and just following the race. They would have had a really fun time.

2) I went out too fast for my goal, spent 1.5 miles managing down my HR and never got it below my target 158, decided I was not having fun and took off the breaks -racing the second half with abandon. Average HR 170 !

3) Overcooked the second to last hill and was forced to pull back just a tad with 600m to go, and finished OK.

I did get a nice 30 minute bike ride in before hand, so it goes down as a Brick. All in all not a bad experiment given how hilly the course was. Really wish the family had come out, Wolf Trap did a great job with the kid-ertainment.