Kodiak 10K

Race strategy

Short race: go all out.

• Hold your race pace up to 4.4km, but stay in control.
• Control your HR on the first mountain, and go all out on the final descent from 4.4km.
• Start · 0.0km–2.1km · Race-day nerves push your heart rate up: don't follow the crowd, find your own rhythm.
• Work · 2.1km–4.4km · Plus 1 more climb. This is where the race is built: steady, solid effort. Climb by heart rate or breathing, not pace.
• Home · 4.4km–8.7km · Descent of 254m averaging 6%, high point 2330m. Kick for the line: give it everything you've got. Long descent: keep it even and let go only near the end.

Course

The course climbs 280m+. With 28m/km of climbing, this is a rolling, mostly runnable course. By gradient, 25% of the distance is uphill, 40% downhill and 34% flat. The longest climb runs 4.4km at an average 6.8% grade (296m of vertical). The longest descent runs 4.3km at an average 5.9% grade (254m of vertical). The steepest climb averages 25.8% over 0.4km. The steepest descent drops at 11.6% over 0.6km. Surface: 71% trail, 17% road, and 12% smooth. Flat-equivalent effort: 11.7 FlatKM.

Poles

The course is runnable enough that trekking poles are not needed.

Quad damage

There is too little runnable descent to damage the quads: plan the race around climbing and fuelling.

• Control your HR on the first mountain, and go all out on the final descent from 4.4km.

Weather

On race day, start temperatures have historically ranged from 7°C to 20°C, with around 14°C at the highest point; the chance of precipitation is about 6%.