[First Race] Bay to Breakers - Race Report

Race information

• What? Bay to Breakers
• When? May 15, 2016
• How far? 7.45 miles (12k)
• Website? www.zapposbaytobreakers.com/

My Exercise Background

Played basketball my entire life and have never ran distances longer than a mile. I did the 100m dash for track one year. Post-HS I played intramural basketball and got into lifting weights (5 x 5 Strong Lifts).

A friend wanted to sign up for the race and I didn't want to look stupid so I started training.

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Survive	Yes
B	1 hour 15 mins	No
C	1 hour 22 mins	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	9:18
2	10:05
3	11:35
4	10:48
5	10:42
6	10:14
7	9:50
8	9:41

Splits from Strava app.

Official Time

1:21:27. Just under my goal, woo!

Pre-race

5:45am - Wake up.  
6:03am - Be in denial.   
6:07am - Breakfast. 
   - 3x hard boiled egg whites
   - 300g coffee w/ half & half
6:38am - Nature calls. I answer.  
6:49am - Freak out about first race.  
6:56am - Transit to race.  

Training

I attempted to follow Hal Higdon's 10k novice plan and added a couple more weeks of running to the end. Check out my training sheet.

Race strategy

I ran with 3 male friends so my plan was to run my own pace and try not to tire myself out too much at Hayes Hill.

Miles [1] to [2]

Kept up comfortably with my friends. So far so good.

Miles [2] to [3]

...Hayes Hill. I strategically avoided running any hills in my training. Mistake. Managed to make it 3/4 of the way up the hill without walking. That was the only walking I did for the race so I don't count it. Heh.

Miles [3] to [4]

Recovering from Hayes hill. Heart rate got up ~186bpm so I was trying to slow that down.

Miles [4] to [5]

I started developing a blister on my foot so that was all I could think about.

Miles [5] to [6]

This mile my quads went numb which was surprisingly a relief.

Miles [6] to [7]

Downhill grade made me feel superhuman. 10/10.

Miles [7] to [7.45]

So much energy now that the end is near!

What's next?

Overall a great experience. I am registered to run the Rugged Maniac (5k) this coming weekend and Wharf to Wharf (10k). My only goal is the beat the pace from Bay to Breakers. I will probably pick lifting up back now and see how that affects the running.

This report was generated using race reportr, a tool built by /u/BBQLays for making great looking and informative race reports.