Ideally this would not have been a season debut but I have had a slow start to 2026. So in the final weeks of preparation the race sort of transformed from an A/A- effort to just run and see how it goes.
As I mentioned in last weekend’s post, over the past decade I have often had my best races of the year in the spring. However, my training was different during that time and I would be up to 60-70 miles a week by February or early March and not cross country skiing as much.
The three long ski races in February took a lot out of me, and recovery was more like from a road marathon and much of March was just getting my legs back. My build up was gradual but I did get 50 mpw average over the past 4 weeks, and that’s a good foundation. Nevertheless, last year on this same weekend I ran 38:16 for 10K. Originally, I had visions of trying to match that this year on th course here, but I could tell it wasn’t coming together.
A lot of my workouts so far have been sub-threshold and those have felt okay, but running at anaerobic threshold effort or under has not felt easy at all! I came in thinking that 6:20 (39:20) would be a solid goal pace for current fitness, over 6:30 (low 40s) would mean that I was off and would have a lot of work to do.
Race day was cool at about 45 F, a bit drizzly off and on, but hardly any wind. The course is a loop along the Mississippi River and it’s scenic along residential streets and bluffs that tower over the river. This race has been around since the 1970s and for a long time it was fairly big, and sometimes with some national class results in the open division. I actually ran it once in 1981 when I was working nearby for part of that year. I went out way too fast (10:10 for 2 miles) and finished 33:35 or 40 after struggling over the second half with mile splits in the 5:30s-40s.
Fast forward to 2026, I remembered that experience from all those years ago, and even though the race has a downhill start I put on the breaks within a couple hundred meters. The first two miles felt too easy but my split mile split of 6:22 was right on and 2 mile at about 12:42.
The course has just three hills of note but they are only about 30 to 38 feet (10-12 m) each, the two bridge crossings (at 2.4 and 5.5 miles into the race) are gradual at 1-2%, the middle hill is steeper, at 3.2 miles, roughly 5-6%. My 5K split was at 19:47, so a little off but not by much. The last 3 miles were difficult and I had to keep focus in an attempt to maintain pace. Fortunately the last km is a gentle net downhill and I could pick it up a bit as we crested the high point of the second bridge. I ended up running 39:33 (6:22/mile, 3:57/km) which was good enough to win my age group win (my teammate was close behind and ran with me through 5 miles) and 88.6 age grade–both of which I’ll gladly take for a season opener.
Next up a 12K next month for fun and grins, a fast 5K here, and then in June a masters championship 4 mile and then a bucket list (with a fast course) 1/2 marathon.
rrunnin234 