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hoopsguy · 05-28-2016, 02:03 PM

First race for the journal; Chase Corporate Challenge. This was my first run, back in 2013. I agreed to run it with a co-worker, and spent about 4-5 weeks getting practice runs in the neighborhood preparing for the run. I'm not sure if I appreciated the difference between the 5k distance and 3.5 miles that make up the Corporate Challenge, but I do know that I ended up walking in order to complete the race in 30:51. Good for 8:48 mile pace. That number came down to 28:31 a year later (8:08/mi) and our company skipped the event in 2015. So for this year, I set a goal of 27 minutes, which I figure got me somewhere around 7:50/mi pace. It wouldn't be a record 5k pace for me, but this race isn't exactly conducive to PRs.

There were 27,000 people who showed up for this one, per the announcement at the outset of the race. The corral system set up so that roughly 1,000 people end up in the "elite" corrals and the remaining 26K are funneled into the rest of the area. Because people generally line up with their co-workers, you've got a mix of faster runners, slower runners, and walkers that are all jumbled up together. Which makes for a very congested race, particularly the first mile.

Normally, I head over with a group from our office and we settle in the middle of the pack. But the group left before me, and I was with one other straggler as we arrived near the starting area. We were unable to locate the other 20-ish people from our company, until seeing the fastest runner of the group snaking his way up closer to the start of the non-elite area. So I did end up a little closer to daylight than I would normally. We departed about 3 minutes after the beginning of the race, with maybe 2K people in front of me on the course. Which likely saved me a few seconds on the overall race time.

The first 500 meters was almost entirely spent dodging slow folks in front, trying to find some kind of a lane to run in. At this point, the race in on Columbus drive, which offers 8 (maybe 10?) lanes to run in as we approach Lower Wacker Dr. The Lower Wacker part of the race covers the middle two miles, before re-emerging on Columbus to finish. Another challenge emerged with Lower Wacker - entirely expected, based on past races - due to GPS signal being lost somewhere before the first mile marker.

Did I mention that it was hot? Temperatures were around 80 at the 7PM start, which made it the warmest day we had so far this year. And that I was battling a head cold that had emerged the previous morning? Neither of those were super awesome in terms of hitting my 27 minute goal. But my 1k split showed a time of 4:40, which had me running ahead of schedule. All the splits after that were useless, due to the GPS failure, so it was about running by feel from that point forward.

Hot night, Lower Wacker Drive, tons of people, rain the past couple of days = a nasty, muggy hot box of a run. I didn't know if I would be using the water stations going into the run, but I pulled up to both of them, futilely trying to sip a smidge of the water before dumping the rest on my head. I was definitely tiring approaching the 2nd mile marker, and turned my focus on breathing and quickening up my cadence while hoping to shorten stride length.

This race has one pretty annoying element down the stretch. When you jump back on Columbus you see signs showing your time in what appears to be the end of the race. However, that is just the "mile 3 marker" and you have a couple more blocks to go, before taking a left turn and then sprinting for the last 200 meters to the finish. That got me both my first and second times doing the race, where I opened it up for the 3 mile marker and hated life for the last 1/2 mile. This time, I was just lamenting how much further I had to run on Columbus to get to the sign.

I would like to say that my finishing kick was strong, and I guess it was in terms of passing more folks than passed me. The official time for the race was 26:34, but with the splits messed up on Strava (which had me running 6.2km, or about 400 meters further than I did) I can't easily qualify what parts of the race were particularly good or bad.

In terms of the watch, I do not think that the heart rate metrics were correct either. Up to this point, I had observed the watch being in the right ballpark the vast majority of the time on my resting heart rate (with short durations of being insane) and distance runs. But if I'm to believe this data my heart rate was lower in the middle of the race than it was over the first mile.

1km 4:37/km 152bpm 170spm
2km 4:04/km 155bpm 174spm (not horribly off, but likely wrong)
3km 1:09/km 146bpm 176spm (um, yeah ...)
4km 3:50/km 150bpm 176spm
5km 7:24/km 153bpm 174spm (clearly not right either)
6km 4:46/km 176bpm 174spm (think this is accurate)
0.2km 11:17km 168bpm 134spm (junk data, I guess ... mis-clicked following race, but thought it was for just a second or two)

So I had hoped that the heart rate data and cadence data would be reliable, even if the GPS screwed up my splits. I largely trust the cadence, but I'm positive that my heart rate would have spiked up throughout. The max heart rate of 185 is entirely in line with expectations. Average cadence of 173 seems right on, even if I wish it were a tiny bit faster. But all in all, the data on the run does more harm than good. I got 4 achievements on Strava for that run that are all bogus.

As far as the watch goes, again I've got bunk data that I'll need to figure out how to purge:
- Fastest 1 km: 1:37
- Fastest 1 mile: 4:16
- Fastest 5k: 20:50

I only see an option to "Clear All Records" but further digging gives an option to "Clear Record" ... however, it doesn't clear the entry, but the record entirely. So that isn't great either, but I suppose better than flushing all data.

Closing thoughts on run + watch. Chase Corporate Challenge is a total mosh-pit of a run that would be a sure skip if it wasn't a fun event to do with non-runners at work. The last point probably keeps it on my schedule, even if I hate the actual run itself. As far as the watch, I'm disappointed with the heart rate data I got when pushing myself for this distance. A 5k race is, to a large extent, an aggressive tempo run. I anticipated some challenges with surges in activity, but not on something like a tempo run. And I'm still holding out hope on there being more granular controls over records, but for now I'm disappointed in what I've found without breaking out the manual.

05-28-2016, 02:03 PM	#12
hoopsguy General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chicago	First race for the journal; Chase Corporate Challenge. This was my first run, back in 2013. I agreed to run it with a co-worker, and spent about 4-5 weeks getting practice runs in the neighborhood preparing for the run. I'm not sure if I appreciated the difference between the 5k distance and 3.5 miles that make up the Corporate Challenge, but I do know that I ended up walking in order to complete the race in 30:51. Good for 8:48 mile pace. That number came down to 28:31 a year later (8:08/mi) and our company skipped the event in 2015. So for this year, I set a goal of 27 minutes, which I figure got me somewhere around 7:50/mi pace. It wouldn't be a record 5k pace for me, but this race isn't exactly conducive to PRs. There were 27,000 people who showed up for this one, per the announcement at the outset of the race. The corral system set up so that roughly 1,000 people end up in the "elite" corrals and the remaining 26K are funneled into the rest of the area. Because people generally line up with their co-workers, you've got a mix of faster runners, slower runners, and walkers that are all jumbled up together. Which makes for a very congested race, particularly the first mile. Normally, I head over with a group from our office and we settle in the middle of the pack. But the group left before me, and I was with one other straggler as we arrived near the starting area. We were unable to locate the other 20-ish people from our company, until seeing the fastest runner of the group snaking his way up closer to the start of the non-elite area. So I did end up a little closer to daylight than I would normally. We departed about 3 minutes after the beginning of the race, with maybe 2K people in front of me on the course. Which likely saved me a few seconds on the overall race time. The first 500 meters was almost entirely spent dodging slow folks in front, trying to find some kind of a lane to run in. At this point, the race in on Columbus drive, which offers 8 (maybe 10?) lanes to run in as we approach Lower Wacker Dr. The Lower Wacker part of the race covers the middle two miles, before re-emerging on Columbus to finish. Another challenge emerged with Lower Wacker - entirely expected, based on past races - due to GPS signal being lost somewhere before the first mile marker. Did I mention that it was hot? Temperatures were around 80 at the 7PM start, which made it the warmest day we had so far this year. And that I was battling a head cold that had emerged the previous morning? Neither of those were super awesome in terms of hitting my 27 minute goal. But my 1k split showed a time of 4:40, which had me running ahead of schedule. All the splits after that were useless, due to the GPS failure, so it was about running by feel from that point forward. Hot night, Lower Wacker Drive, tons of people, rain the past couple of days = a nasty, muggy hot box of a run. I didn't know if I would be using the water stations going into the run, but I pulled up to both of them, futilely trying to sip a smidge of the water before dumping the rest on my head. I was definitely tiring approaching the 2nd mile marker, and turned my focus on breathing and quickening up my cadence while hoping to shorten stride length. This race has one pretty annoying element down the stretch. When you jump back on Columbus you see signs showing your time in what appears to be the end of the race. However, that is just the "mile 3 marker" and you have a couple more blocks to go, before taking a left turn and then sprinting for the last 200 meters to the finish. That got me both my first and second times doing the race, where I opened it up for the 3 mile marker and hated life for the last 1/2 mile. This time, I was just lamenting how much further I had to run on Columbus to get to the sign. I would like to say that my finishing kick was strong, and I guess it was in terms of passing more folks than passed me. The official time for the race was 26:34, but with the splits messed up on Strava (which had me running 6.2km, or about 400 meters further than I did) I can't easily qualify what parts of the race were particularly good or bad. In terms of the watch, I do not think that the heart rate metrics were correct either. Up to this point, I had observed the watch being in the right ballpark the vast majority of the time on my resting heart rate (with short durations of being insane) and distance runs. But if I'm to believe this data my heart rate was lower in the middle of the race than it was over the first mile. 1km 4:37/km 152bpm 170spm 2km 4:04/km 155bpm 174spm (not horribly off, but likely wrong) 3km 1:09/km 146bpm 176spm (um, yeah ...) 4km 3:50/km 150bpm 176spm 5km 7:24/km 153bpm 174spm (clearly not right either) 6km 4:46/km 176bpm 174spm (think this is accurate) 0.2km 11:17km 168bpm 134spm (junk data, I guess ... mis-clicked following race, but thought it was for just a second or two) So I had hoped that the heart rate data and cadence data would be reliable, even if the GPS screwed up my splits. I largely trust the cadence, but I'm positive that my heart rate would have spiked up throughout. The max heart rate of 185 is entirely in line with expectations. Average cadence of 173 seems right on, even if I wish it were a tiny bit faster. But all in all, the data on the run does more harm than good. I got 4 achievements on Strava for that run that are all bogus. As far as the watch goes, again I've got bunk data that I'll need to figure out how to purge: - Fastest 1 km: 1:37 - Fastest 1 mile: 4:16 - Fastest 5k: 20:50 I only see an option to "Clear All Records" but further digging gives an option to "Clear Record" ... however, it doesn't clear the entry, but the record entirely. So that isn't great either, but I suppose better than flushing all data. Closing thoughts on run + watch. Chase Corporate Challenge is a total mosh-pit of a run that would be a sure skip if it wasn't a fun event to do with non-runners at work. The last point probably keeps it on my schedule, even if I hate the actual run itself. As far as the watch, I'm disappointed with the heart rate data I got when pushing myself for this distance. A 5k race is, to a large extent, an aggressive tempo run. I anticipated some challenges with surges in activity, but not on something like a tempo run. And I'm still holding out hope on there being more granular controls over records, but for now I'm disappointed in what I've found without breaking out the manual.