Humid, Hilly, Hard.
The Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, GA is a July 4th tradition, with the acclaim of being the largest 10k race in the world.
This 10k race holds a special place in my heart because this is where my running performance improved dramatically. Ever since running my 44:13 PR in 2021, I have been obsessed with running.
That turning point in my running life is a lot like hitting the perfect golf swing for the first time. Or when you hit your first strike in bowling. Or when you make the perfect swish on your basketball shot.
You experience a warm, fuzzy, and excited feeling in your body.
I think you get my point.
Anyways, this year’s race was challenging to train for. I’m the proud father of two young children at home, and life was challenging. Let’s just say that amount of training and quality of training was less than ideal.
At the starting line I felt ready, but I didn’t feel entirely confident. Sure I would’ve loved a PR performance, but I would’ve been perfectly happy with “good enough”.
Let’s break down my race performance.
Pre-Race
I did not get a good night’s sleep. I was too excited and woke up earlier than expected, resulting in a mix of “am I still sleeping” and “why am I still awake” states.
I did not let that stress me out though. I knew that I had a good night’s sleep leading up to the race.
I ate a light breakfast of buttered sourdough toast at home. I knew I was going to eat a stroopwaffle once I got to the special parking lot.
Not sure if the special parking lot option was new this year, but its something I’d do again. The parking is only a few minutes away from the starting line.
Caffeine has been shown to improve running performance, and so for race day I went with a cup of yerba mate green tea with honey. Because I drink coffee everyday for work, the change up to green tea, especially yerba mate tea, always gives me an extra jolt.
Two hours before the race I ate Maurten’s bicarb system. I’ll do a future email about the importance of sodium bicarbonate supplementation. This type of supplement helps buffer against that burning sensation of lactate and hydrogen ions in the muscle, allowing me to push just a little more.
After all the pre-race eats done, I got dressed and headed out for warm-up.
It’s always exciting to be at the starting line. This year was no different. I did my best to keep myself calm and go on with my easy paced run for about 15-20 minutes. Halfway through this warm up I found an area to myself to go through my multidirectional movements: quick and easy side step shuffles, high knee skips, butt kicks, and double leg hops sideways and rotations in place. I also got my upper body going with lots of easy intensity trunk rotations with overhead reaches. I found that this warm-up routine gets all my joints feeling loose and ready to go.
Race Start
I started in the A corral, so I’m really close to the starting line. A corral is right behind the seeded runners and elite professionals. One day I’ll get myself right up to the front, but for this year I stayed a bit back.
No fighter jets fly over this year, but there was the customary large US flag hanging high above Peachtree Road. There was a welcome message from Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens and then afterwards the singing of the National Anthem.
I did my best to soak this all in. I find that there’s nothing left to do at this point. All the work has been done in training. The mileage was done. The intense workouts were complete. All that was left to do was the race.
To me the race is celebration lap of all the months of hard work. There wasn’t much to worry about at this point. My performance on this race was already largely determined from my training. All I have to do was translate my months of work to this hilly 6.2 miles.
Announcer released all the runners.
It’s go time. But immediate I think…goodness there is a ton of people around me this year.
A quick flashback
My last Peachtree Road Race run was in 2021. This was a COVID year. Corral A was 30 minutes earlier (6:30am), and there was a much smaller field of runners. I remember when I left the starting line, I felt I had all of Peachtree Road all to myself.
This was not the case for 2023.
Mile 0-3
Mile 0-3 felt like being swept away in a strong current. My pace was fine, 7min/mile to be exact. My plan was to run easy for the first 3 miles then hammer in the faster paces for the hills. Yet despite my pace feeling fine, I still had the feeling of being pushed.
This is what makes race day different from training runs.
I run alone for most if not all my training. Rarely do I do group runs, and I certainly did not have time for group runs this year.
This sea of runners had me feeling pushed through the downhill portions of this race. Thankfully though my legs felt fine. By the end of mile 3, I felt ready for the climb ahead.
Mile 3-5
I wanted a conservative start to the hills sections of this race. Because I had limited training of hill workouts and tempo runs, I needed to hedge against ruining my legs so quickly.
This could explain my paces: 7:42min/mile for mile 4 and 7:54min/mile for mile 5.
My mile splits. The real work began at mile 4.
My body was feeling slow, and so every step I took needed considerable mental effort and focus. Without that extra effort, I would not have sustained a sub-8min/mile pace.
I was beginning to get weak in mental fortitude too. Thoughts of wanting to walk just for a few steps starting creeping in my head. I was really close to stopping.
At this point my finish time could easily been 50 minutes or more if I had stopped.
Special shoutout goes to the Shepard Center here in Atlanta. During this part of the race, you run past the Shepard Center, a facility that specializes in treating neurological injuries. Every year they have patients line the sidewalk to cheer the runners on.
As a physical therapist, I appreciated that the Shepard Center clinicians and staff have their patients come outside to be part of the race. They are outside cheering on all the runners as they climbed the hills. I made sure to wave hello and a thumbs up to all the patients.
Mile 5 to Finish
Whenever a run gets difficult, I tell myself to keep my legs moving, step by step.
The midtown Atlanta portion of the race is relatively flat. Right before the finish line is one more uphill. Thankfully, what comes up must come down. You’re rewarded with a downhill to the finish line.
Legs were burning intensely at this point. The muscles burned energy anaerobically, so lactate was building up in my body. With lactate comes hydrogen ions too, increasing acidity - this is where the burn comes from. My body was yearning for rest. The build up of lactate and hydrogen ions were quickly accumulating, signaling to the brain - stop.
But I didn’t stop. I kept pushing through. The finish line was in sight, so I kept running. When runners talk about a “kick”, this was it. Finding that extra burst of energy and willpower to push through no matter what the circumstances.
My kick was good enough for a 6:35min/mile pace for very last 0.2 miles of the race.
You see mentally I prepare myself for the kick with every training run.
I don’t finish to my watch for a set time. I consistently make myself finish at a set landmark. This way I’m prepared to run through any finish line.
Running through the finish line, I felt immediate mental relief. The race was tough. I was happy I finished. I was happy I didn’t succumb to stopping or walking.
Official time. Not a PR. Not a disaster race either.
Further analysis and final thoughts
My training, though less than ideal, was adequate to get me to a strong race and finish. The training was not enough to take me to a new level performance, and that’s okay. Any attempt to run a race above and beyond what my training provided would have been foolish.
The first three miles was excellent. Even paced for all three miles, and looking at my heart rate data, an intensity that wasn't pushing me to the limit.
Looking at the data, my body was obviously pushed to the very limit as the hills came along. Sometimes there are doubts whether more could have been done, but I don’t think much was left in the tank at the end of the race.
Considering the humid conditions, the push up the hills after mile 3 was done just right. I did not take them too easy a pace. I believe that if done too slowly, my remaining splits would have looked much faster, but the finish time much slower too. If the climb was done too fast, there was a real possibility I would have needed to stop.
Training will have to improve upon this year’s training. I needed more intensity in my training to adequately prepare me to push hard through the hills. My training mileage should increase too to get a better foundation of fitness.
One day I’ll get to a sub-40min finish…
Will I be running next year’s Peachtree?
As my good friend from Louisiana would say, “does a bear shit in the woods?!”
So…that’s a yes.
I love the challenges this race pushes you through, mentally and physically. When you get it right, the finish is so sweet. When you think you could’ve done better, you’re excited to try again for next year.
Thank you for reading! Did you finish this year’s Peachtree Road Race? How do you think your race went?
Happy running out there!
