Race Review – Securian Frozen 5K

This past weekend was the Securian Frozen 5K & Half Marathon, one of my favorites and a race that holds personal signifigance for me as it was my first half marathon two years ago

I knew that based on the weather conditions leading up to the race and the forecast for race morning, we were going to add a new chapter to my history with this race.

Two years ago when I ran the race for the first time, the half marathon distance, the weather was generally very nice, mid 20’s and cloudy. Last year it boarded on the extreme edge of running conditions, -15 degrees with wind chills in the -20’s. I originally signed up for just the 5K distance as I was not in race shape for a half marathon but because of the cold the half was shortened to about a 10K, which I could manage.

This year as we drove to downtown St. Paul with the hint of sleet in the air, temps were in the upper twenties and it was generally wet with a cold breeze from the east. I think for the most part we were lucky as later in the day it was straight up raining, in the middle of January.

At the back of the start line.

If you’re not familiar with this race it starts in downtown St. Paul at the Secuian Plaza on Jackson street and heads down to the river, it is basically then just an out and back along Sheppard road, with the 5K turning at the high bridge and the half marathon turning at Cleveland Ave. The only tough part of the course is at about 4 blocks from the finish line when you have to climb up the hill on Jackson St. from the river to get back to the finish line.

Kris high-fiving the catapiller runners.

Since we are concentrating on shorter distances and speed in 2010, we decided to run just the 5K and use it as an early season starter, not supposed to be fast but I was encouraging a little faster pace. As the race started we crossed the line at 35 seconds. We were actually the very back of the starting group. The first mile by far was the slowest; specify because of race traffic and by the time we passed the first mile we were able to pick up the pace a little. Mile 1 to 2 was our fastest mile, based solely on feel as somewhere or another I managed to lose my watch; it feels a little weird running without it. I could tell that we were slowing down a little during the last mile and I was doing a little pulling to keep up the pace, especially up the final hill. We crossed the finish line at 29:52 for a race time of 29:17 and a pace of 9:27; which surprised Kris a bit as she didn’t think we were going that fast.

That says 29:52 on the clock behind Kris

This is one of those fun races that I suggest everyone try at least once. First off it is a great off season race even if you not a big cold weather runner. Second, the Securian gives out great swag, every finisher gets a nice ceramic coffee cup, this year it was a big hot chocolate style mug. The shirts for the race are always an additional cost but the designs/logos/slogans are always very cool, and being available as a technical or cotton long sleeve make the extra cost worth it. This year they even had a cool looking stocking cap. The third reason to do this race is that it is very well run and has a very festive feel to as, partially because it is part of the Winter Carnival.

We ran into Dave Ryan after the race getting some Caribou Coffee.

And of course we had to get a picture with the mascot.

Next up: Yukon Days Winter Run on Feb 6th

Tuesday (Wednesday) Night Track Intervals

According to the schedule Tuesday was supposed to be 4x800m intervals at the track. Unfortunately when we got there the football team was still on the field and the marching band was just warming up, marching on the track?? We guessed they must be practicing Homecoming?? Anyway, we were unable to get on the track to get our workout in so we decided to try again on Wednesday evening, what we should have done was adjust and get in Wednesday’s easy run, but instead we headed home for dinner. Not a big fan of after work workouts, body is too hungry.

So last night we tried again, this time we also invited Steve, he was looking to get in a four mile and I suggested he could get it done on the track, with getting dark earlier it is getting tougher to get evening workouts in. When we got there, the only people on the track/field was that soccer team, but the track was clear so we started our warm up laps. When we finished with the warm up, Steve was just arriving, so he started on his 4 miles we started on our intervals. Unfortunately for Kris, her shins started to bother her on the warm up, so she was not sure what she could get done, but she started just after took off.

My first 800 was fast, wish I knew how fast but I had an issue with Kris’s Polar HR watch and did not get it started. I was able to see my HR and it was 172-176, which was about the target for tonight’s workout. I defiantly could tell I took off fast and slowed down a bit on the second lap. Really sucking wind when I was done, took a cool down lap and even then an extra minute to rest before I started again.

Second time was the charm, got the watch started and I finished with a 3:01, one second faster then my goal range but felt better, did not take off so fast this time. Cool down lap, grabbed the water this time. 3rd 800 was a bit slower, 3:08 this time, but still in my target range. Cool down lap, HR is no longer coming down as fast this time, down to 142. 4th and last 800, 3:00 my fastest timed 800 of the night, remember I had no time for the first 800.

All in all I was very happy with tonight’s workout. All of my 800’s were in the time range and my HR was actually lower then what I was expecting, closer to my Tempo range, 87-92%. And the average for the 3 800’s and the cool down laps was 144. So the question then becomes, do I have more in me, could I have gone faster? Do I have a faster pace in me? The second lap was tough every time so I am pushing myself.

During my workout I noticed that Kris had stopped, her shins were still bothering her and she did not want to push it, which is the smart thing to do, but I know that she wants to go fast and wanted to push herself tonight. I had to reassure her that one bad workout will not derail her training and that she is smarter taking it easy so she does not make anything worse. We have an easy run scheduled for tonight so we can see how she feels.

Two other things of note. Just after I finished my last cool down lap, Steve was just finishing his 16th lap; he was able to get in his full 4 mile run, good for you Steve. And it didn’t hurt any of us that the lights at the track were on, probably because of the soccer team but it worked for us as well.

After the workout it was VERY clear that I still have a bit of my cold from last week. Spent the next two hours in varying degrees of coughing fits. Feel fine today, but the hard workout really shook something loose in my lungs.