Crossing the line at Marshfield, Lexie had one job left: believe the clock. It was not interested in negotiation. Second overall woman. 43:05 for 6.20 miles and 501 feet of climb, 6:56 pace. Old best: 45:49. Goal: 45:00. She beat the goal by about two minutes, then filed the official race report: "Feeling like a big big dawg."
The Prefontaine Memorial 10K starts every September at 4th and Anderson in downtown Coos Bay and finishes on the track at Marshfield High School. The day before she texted, "I am nervous. But feeling strong." Nervous and strong can share a sentence, they do not have to like each other.
Never look back
The moment she remembers is the turn toward the track. She was hurting. Her friend Jordan was a couple of strides up, which is either companionship or a rivalry, depending on the mile. Thankfully it seems like friendly competition in this case! She has a rule about not looking behind her in races, so she outsourced the scouting and asked Jordan to see how many women were back there. The verdict: "oh you're goods!"
She spent the last bit enjoying the oval instead of conducting a census. She crossed. Then second place and her new PR showed up together, like they'd carpooled. #teamwork
She practiced the part she didn't know
Rolling hills were still new, and this course does not hand the climbs back on the way down. So we put the work on the race course, and on hills that felt like it. A few workouts at goal effort. Race shoes tested more than a week out, not the morning of, like she's a person who has met those consequences before.
Life also happened. For Lexie that means three jobs, school, Ember (her dog) to care for, and trying to stay on top of training and rest, which is a lot of plates for someone whose sport is already running.
The plan bent. She kept the big picture instead of sweating every missed detail. Coming off a bicycling injury early in the block, the easy days stayed easy. That's the whole trick. Easy stays easy so the hard stuff can actually be hard, instead of everything becoming medium and sad.
The session that I believe mattered most was September 3, about two weeks out.
Warm up easy (about a mile), then do 6-8 repeats of 60-90 seconds uphill at a strong but controlled effort like your 10K race pace. Pick a hill similar to the race course, nothing too steep. Walk/jog down easy between each. You should be fully recovered before starting each hill repeat. Cool down after to reach the 5 miles total. These build the leg strength and power you need for the rolling 10K course.
She wasn't sure she'd picked a good stretch. She had! About 40 feet of vertical, right on target. She said it felt good, the hills were a little brutal, and coming downhill on Ocean she had a hard time slowing down, which is the most runner sentence ever written.
Also: rain. Building the habit of staying smooth when the grade shows up is what carried her on race day. The hills did not get nicer. She got ruder about them.
The ups keep more than the downs give back
Don't borrow a flat 10K pace and try to staple it to the climbs. Treadmill research has found each 1% of upgrade slowed elite runners by about 3.3%, while the matching descent sped them up by only about 55% as much.
In round numbers, "each 100 feet of climbing costs the best athletes a little less than 20 seconds" and more than that for the rest of us. Downhills hand back only part of the time. Gravity is not a loyalty program.
So Lexie didn't chase a flat split up the rollers. She raced by effort. When the road tips toward the sky, listen to your body, not the watch having a panic attack.
What to notice on your next hilly run
If the race rolls, don't lock a flat pace on the ups. Run the climbs by effort. Let the downs stay smooth instead of a chase. Be sure to tell your coach the nervous part too. Lexie did. Then she trusted the hill work and the months of solid training, and the clock had to deal with it.
Congrats Lexie, you absolutely crushed this race!! We can't wait to see what you tackle next while Ember happily tags along trying to keep up with your badass pace :)
Further reading
- Lexie's Strava Activity | Give her some kudos!
- Downhill All the Way | Runner's World
- Race Details | Steve Prefontaine Foundation
- Coos Bay Readies Streets for Prefontaine Run | Grants Pass Tribune
- Prefontaine Memorial Run draws global participants | KCBY
- Hill Running: Benefits, Form Tips + Workouts | Marathon Handbook
