Chock Full of Weaksauce - Audi Best Buddies Challenge 10k Race Report

Let's keep this short and sweet: some days you just don't have it, and you suck. That was my day.

Yesterday, I felt great. I knocked out a ridiculously easy 10k averaging 4:35/km, 15-20 seconds faster than normal at the given intensity. I was so ready for this morning. We got to the race site about an hour before the start, with me doing the 10k run, and my wife pushing the stroller for a 5k walk. The weather was less than pleasant, a cool morning with a light rain. I avoided starting my warm-up until the last minute, which may have been a bad idea, although I felt fine on the line. Who knew?

The gun went off and right away the fast guys set off at a quick clip. I tried to restrain myself, knowing the course was tough. After a kilometre on the flat, it runs downhill for 2k, dropping 80m. After 2k on the trails and over some tough little bridges, it turns around and comes back the same way. If you don't save gas for the second half, you'll be suffering. I kept a nice pace for the first part, and got some speed on the downhill, but once in the valley, my battery was on 'low'. I just couldn't get the bounce I had the day before, and worse, I couldn't push myself to get it back. So, pretty much, I quit. This is second time in 4 races I've done this. I kept a solid, but not 'race', effort, moved up a few spots on people who blew themselves up, and made a token kick in the last kilometre for the line. I just snuck under the 41-minute barrier, about two minutes off what I would have expected.

Official results:
10: 40:59 clock, 40:58 chip, 22/484 overall, 7/45 AG

The only benefit to today was the celebrities handing out the race medals: Olympic medallists Alex Bilodeau, Joannie Rochette, and Tessa Virtue. Turns out, Olympians are short. I'd be amazed if any of them were much taller than my shoulder, and I'm not that tall.

Looks like it's back to the trials of miles. Without any real peaking, I know that race results can be up and down. It's disappointing that this is a "down", but it happens. I'm not about to switch things up just yet. There's a long way to go before my next 'A' race.