Texas Round Up Race Plan

i liked chuck's title.

so, all you guys running tomorrow morning, make sure you get your packets today if you can. plan ahead for parking tomorrow morning. there should be road closure info on the roundup website. if not, let me know.

if you get there early enough, say, 7, you can probably find parking in some of the state garages down on trinity/san jacinto, and get you a little warmup jog to the start area.

if you have a time goal, go ahead and figure out your splits. you can use the mcmillan calculator. it's fun, and easy to use, like a Bedazzler. anyway, know what mile pace you need.

i'll be working, so i can't lead you guys through a warmup, but you're not newbies anymore, and you can take care of it. i would suggest that you all get together, say, at 7am, at 11th and Congress, right in front of the stage, or maybe at one of the landmarks just inside the gates to the Capital grounds.

run backwards on the course, up 11th street, left on San Jacinto, left on 15th, up to Congress, then turn around and come back. on the hills, watch each other and remind each other to keep their form together - hips under you, and rolling all the way through the toe before lifting off.

on your way back, do 2-3 "build-ups" - turning up the pace to what your 10K pace should feel like, for 30 seconds at a time.

come back to the start area, find a good place, maybe in the capitol grounds, and run through the basic drills. start getting to the start line at 7:45. you should see and hear me there.

like a 5K, you need to build and maintain warmth. if it's a little cool, wear a long sleeve shirt or something you can ditch right before the race. definitely keep moving, especially when you're lined up waiting to start. jump up and down occasionally, keep your arms, back, and neck loose.

the race itself

it's going to be crowded, and there will be a lot of walkers, and there will be 5K runners on your right, separated from you by a hard barricade for the first hundred or so meters. be patient, and plan ahead - don't be wasting energy jumping around people. find a line ahead of you to take, and if you absolutely need to get past someone, nicely say "on your left", or a simple "excuse me."

the first mile is a nice gradual downhill. usually, you want to take your first mile easy. in this case, i think you just want to be disciplined enough to not go out faster than your 10K pace. be a little conservative, holding back a bit, and relaxing for that first mile. the majority of people will, as you've seen, go out too fast, including some of your comrades. you have to run your own race. let them go. you'll see most of them again.

when you get about halfway across the bridge, you're at the start of the Austin Marathon/Half Marathon. think about that - you're about to run the first couple of miles of that course.

check your pace at the first mile. if you're fast, dial it down just a little. if you're a little slow, that's fine. you can't let that get in your head, you just have to decide what you have to do from there on out. if you're only 5-10 seconds behind, that's great. don't speed up yet, because you have a climb ahead that should drop your pace. work on holding what you got.

if you're slower than 5-10 seconds, figure out if that's real, or if you lost time in the crowds. if you really just are running slow, i still would not try to speed up yet. again, just hold what you got, and make your next challenge holding that pace as much as possible up south congress.

after you cross Town Lake, the 5K runners will be splitting off to the right on Barton Springs. this will be better regulated than in the past. plan ahead, keep to the left, and don't get caught up in that split.

the climb on south congress is going to nail a lot of people, somewhat because of intimidation, and somewhat from a lack of discipline. play it smart, and it doesn't have to be so bad. like i said in the half marathon race plan, this hill is a dragon on the course. charge it like mad, and you will get torched and/or your ass bitten in half. just maintain your pace.

BUT. if you are really wheezing and working too hard up the hill, pull the pace down.

south congress is sort of terraced. it alternates a climb with a flat portion where you can shake it out, relax a little, hold your pace, and recover before the next climb. break this hill up that way. your first climb will end at the big limestone wall in front of the School for the Deaf, across from Starbucks.

the next climb is very shallow, up past the new shops and up to Guero's, where it levels off a bit again. and again, use these points not to slow down, but to relax. the rest of the hill is just gradual and easy. focus, and hold your pace. mile 2 is at mary street - check your pace.

you'll go right on college street, to oltorf. here, you get a short downhill. do not blast down it. if you've been behind pace, you can pick up just slightly. remember, 5-10 seconds per mile is a lot on flat ground.

you turn right onto south first. if you've been reasonably close to your goal pace, here's where you want to try to get onto it, but do it by degrees. just work on being relaxed and moving into the rhythm of that pace. control your descent on the downhills with your quads. the rhythm of your footsteps shouldn't really change - shock shouldn't be absorbed in your footfall. use your quads, and keep your rate of turnover high. running downhill properly is a balancing act that takes a while to learn, but make the effort.

mile 3 is just past Live Oak. your mile 3 should be faster than mile 2. if it's not, then you need to think about whether your goal is reasonable, or if you're way off. you have to decide how much you can turn it up and stick with for another 3 miles. challenge yourself, but be a little reasonable. if you need to adjust your goal, that's fine. you're still running a race, and you'll still be pushing your limits. decide it, accept it, and do it.

the 5K people will rejoin the course at barton springs. at that point, you'll be at mile 4, and anywhere from 40 to 60 minutes in, and they'll be at a little over a mile, so there shouldn't be a problem.

this is the part of a 10K where you have to gut it out. that's all there is to it. if you've been at the right paces, you should not be entirely pleased with how you feel. get on your pace, and determine that you are not going to leave that pace for the next mile. you're going to have flat to a false flat ground for a while, until just past sixth street. then, take it a street at a time - you're going to hold your pace up to seventh street. then it flattens a little -hold your pace.

a lot of people use mantras, little phrases that encourage, or remind, or are nonsense, but somehow help them focus. obviously, i think "hold your pace" a lot. i use the zen "chop wood, carry water" a lot - it makes me think of being present and just doing the task that's at hand, climbing this hill, pushing through this pain.

at mile five, assess what you have in you, and pick up the pace. if you've gotten to mile five, then absent an injury, i guarantee you that you can pick up the pace for the last mile. you have to be smart, and consider that you have to hold it for a mile and two tenths, but you can do it. you have fairly flat ground to the right turn onto 15th.

start picking people off. pick someone ahead of you, and decide to catch them, gradually and steadily. then pick another, and another.

15th gives you a mild uphill for two blocks. you can push through this. do not let it take your legs or your speed from you. you're too close. hold your pace.

be on the left side - the 5K people will split off at Congress, and you'll be going into a short downhill. let the downhill carry you - keep your form, but let it pick up your pace just slightly, if you think you can do it.

right turn onto San Jac, and you're now on the old marathon course, about to face a hill that people hated. but you haven't run 19 miles already, and you have half a mile to go, not 7. pound through the hill. when i ran the marathon up that hill last year, i thought of the peter gabriel song called "San Jacinto," and the chorus - "hold the line, i hold the line". hold the line.

run through the top of the hill, see if you can pick it up slightly on the flat ground.

right turn onto 11th, and you're all in, now. you've got a downhill. fly. hold the form, and make your turnover faster - you won't take a beating, because as soon as a foot is down, it's coming back up again. keep finding people in front of you to catch.

make the left turn onto congress, and charge the finish. leave it all out there. i'll see you there.

go forth and kick butt, Team In Exile!