Get In Gear 10K Preview and Upcoming (Impromptu) Duathlon

>> Thursday, April 26, 2012

So I'm skipping the "Cannon Falls Duathlon" this weekend. I've done this race the last 3 years in a row, and it's a great little race - I've got NOTHING against it. Here's a photo from each of the last 3 years:


2009: after racing with a lot of my wife's family!


2010: a BEAUTIFUL (but windy) race!


2011: wet and a bit chilly pre-race with Ross and Matt.

(Check my right side-bar for links to race reports and photos from those races.)

Instead, I'm racing the "Get In Gear 10K" on Saturday. It's part of the MDRA "Grand Prix" series, so I've gotta go race and earn some more series points! It's a big race, and all the "crazies" show up (meaning "super fast people"). Last year, nearly 3200 people raced this 10K, and another nearly 3000 raced either the half marathon or 5K as part of GIG too!

Here's the map and elevation chart on the GIG website:





At the north end of the race course (around mile 3), I'm less than a mile from home! This race is on roads that I'm VERY comfortable with!

And the elevation chart is "weird." I think those 2 big dips are where we run DIRECTLY ACROSS THE SURFACE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. So... I'm pretty sure that's wrong. But that nice little hill from 5-6K... THAT hill is real. It's the same little gut-buster that's on the TC 10 Mile and TC Marathon course with 5 miles left.

And then there are just gentle little rollers along the river the rest of the way, with a bit of a climb to get up to the Ford Parkway bridge with a half mile left. Super... that's a GREAT spot for a little climb. Sheesh.

My current 10K PR (the ONE 10K that I've ran) is 36:46, or 5:55 / mile. I'm hoping to better that on Saturday morning! It's supposed to be COOL, and I do good with cool weather. I just hope it's not cool AND wet. Here's what weather.com is saying a few days out:



And then the weekend AFTER that (Saturday the 5th of May), I'm doing my first multi-sport race of the year! I'm doing the Cinco "DU" Mayo Duathlon at Square Lake (just north of Stillwater, MN). They have a long course (5K run, 20 mile bike, 5K run) and a short course (2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run), and I signed up to just go "balls to the wall" in the short course! I put 100+ miles on my bike in March, but I haven't touched it yet in April, so..... yeah......

It should be a fun couple of weekends!!

- Check back on Saturday for my pre-race thoughts and specific goals going into the 10K. (One of my goals is the opposite of what I've been saying for the last few years...)
- Check back on Sunday for maybe a quick photo from the race.
- And check back on Monday for a full race report!

4 comments:

Robyn 6:22 AM, April 26, 2012  

I'll be volunteering at packet pickup on race day. (Hamstring injury.) Might see you there!

You're sure they didn't change GIG to a run/swim this year? That could explain the elevation chart :-)

Seriously, I don't know how MapMyRun calculates elevation, but there are a number of spots along the river where their charts are ALWAYS wonky. I think someone's map database just has bad elevation info along there.

Steve Stenzel 8:44 AM, April 26, 2012  

I'll look for you Robyn! Yeah, there's also a nice half-mile downhill leading up to mile 2 that doesn't seem to be anywhere on the elevation chart either... I NEVER have good luck with those charts. Oh well. Should be a fun (killer) race!!

SteveQ 10:17 AM, April 26, 2012  

I'll probably be spectating again and will look for you. That elevation profile obviously is showing the elevation of the river and not of the road.

GoBigGreen 3:39 PM, April 26, 2012  

Laat year it poured and was freezing! I didnt even warm up! So lets hope the rain stays away and you at least get a dry run! Good luck:)

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