2nd run on this course (last year) 2:47:16 (12:46s)
3rd run on this course (today) 2:33:13 (11:41s)
I like this race because:
- It’s local, so I can sleep in my own bed and eat my own food and not worry about “checking out” of a hotel room
- I’ve run the course and parts of the course dozens upon dozens of times. I’ve ridden the course, too.
- It’s CHEAP! On time registration is only $30, if you wait, it goes all the way up to $40. Seriously, if you can make it down here some time, it’s well worth the money, and given enough notice you’ve got a place to stay if you want. There’s no “expo” AT ALL, but really…. Who cares? If you need a midwinter timed run, this is great.
- The terrain is rolling hills, with a few steep ones just for kicks and giggles.
- It’s typically in January, just far enough away from most fall marathons that you need to build again, but then again, close enough that you still get the benefit of residual fitness.
- It’s usually about a month before my swim meet, so training for them both gets to be interesting.
- Since the marathon, the longest I’ve run is 8 miles.
- The weekend I wanted to get a 10-mile run in was spent hacking up a lung in bed.
- I’ve been battling shin splints lately.
- My confidence got significantly shaken with the poor performance @ Richmond.
So, I go into this race feeling way undertrained, not 100% healthy, and just a little apprehensive that I won’t be able to hit my “jobs” that CS gave me.
Dinner last night was my new favorite broccoli slaw stuff (OMG, I LOVE IT!!!), and rice & chicken. Thanks Becca for the idea of rice as a pre-race meal!! Then, into the shower to relax and get smooth legs (it’s sort of this race OCD thing I have… must have shaved legs before races) then to lay out the clothes to run in (or the planned ones, at least), into bed to chill and relax and get rested. During dinner, though, I noticed that my hands were shaking when I was holding the fork and such. I noticed it in passing, as something odd and interesting but didn’t think much more about it. Got my last minute admonition from Sheldon, and off to sleep I went. Then, of course, the dream. Yup, Sherry decided (she must have, cause I didn’t decide it) to send her dream fairy to my house.
Breakfast 1a was a bowl of Lucky Charms. My not so secret love from my childhood. Of course, we weren’t allowed to have them, but whenever I could get them (at friends’ houses, etc.), I would. I was craving them the other week and got some, and they really helped me control the snacking over the holidays. So, I’m sticking with them.
Fashion: Underarmour thermal tights, thin running socks & smart wool running socks (pink, the both of them), skirt sports bike top as bottom layer, underarmour mock t-neck thermal as first layer, loosefitting zip mock t-top as top layer; Hi vis hat and gloves. I originally planned on wearing a fleece on top of all that, but some friends convinced me not to wear it, and it turned out to be a good thing. Instead of my old washcloth going with me for “nose duty” the gloves had to fill in, and I just shoved my gel flask in my sleeve to carry it since I was giving up my pockets. I was COLD at the start, but used the two or three trips to the car to jog a bit and get the blood going, then did some jumping to get warm while we waited to start.
On the way to the race, about an hour before the start, I had breakfast 1b, a large banana and some water to aid in digestion. Then, about 15 min before the start I sucked down an orange gel. All fueled up!
I saw my tri-friend from the master’s club at the start! She’s just graduating from Vet school here, and is moving to Holland. She was in Holland already but had to come back for some school stuff, so I’m glad we connected. I also got a pic of my friends who swim in the mornings … all of us in our cold weather running gear.
So, my job was to put the HR at 170 and leave it there… allowing for drifts up on the uphills and drifts down on the down hills, not let it go below 166, nor above 175. So, I argued with the watch last night and finally figured out how to make it beep at me when I was outside of those ranges. That put me solidly in the middle of z3 for the race. Sheldon said there was 2:10-2:15 in me (I thought he was high), my pie in the sky goal was 2:30, but anything faster than my fastest would be good, too.
The start is “around the block” which is the middle median place of this strip mall sort of place here in town. Then, down a road, turn left… down another road, turn right, up and back on the bike path, turn left into the neighborhood by the first road, up a street and culdesac, back out the neighborhood, back up the first road, turn left into a neighborhood behind the strip mall and in through the back of the mall to finish on an uphill that’s steep but mercifully short. Lots of rollers, a few steeper places. Shade and sun about even throughout, and great police support over the course of the route.
When I woke up this morning, I felt like I had stage fright. You know the feeling, right? At Mullet Man last spring I told Sherry I wanted to puke… I had it then, too. Today’s wasn’t as bad. But, my hands were still shakey, and my belly just wouldn’t quite settle, although I didn’t feel like I had to puke, it was just full of butterflies. This butterfly feeling didn’t go away until about mile 3 or so. Aid stations were at mile 3.5/8/9.5 (same intersection), and mile 6. I saw a dude taking pictures, so I’ll have to see if they were any good.
After my jumping around to stay warm, my HR at the start was in the high 120s/lo 130s. I didn’t feel like it was racing, though…. And, based on what I’ve done in races this year, a higher HR at the start seems to be what I do. I don’t know whether others see this or not, but it sorta shocked me the first time I saw it.
There’s not a gun… just the race director yelling, “On your marks, get set, GO!” Gotta love those local races. Around the block we go, and set off down the road. I did my best to be near the back and away from the fastholes, but I still got passed by a ton of people. I passed a few in the beginning, but some of them came back later and repassed me. I kept the watch quiet. Right in the zone. The volunteer (a friend) who was working traffic control at one of the intersections said that I looked, “nice and smooth.” Yay! And, he liked my high viz gloves. Bonus! My other job was to stay within myself, and not lollygag, look around, daydream, or lose focus. So, I did. It got to where people would speak to me by name and it would take me 10 or so steps before I’d realize that they’d said something. This was also the first race EVER where I didn’t carry my own water with me. Fuel over fluid! I had my gel flask with 3 gels diluted with water, so I got some fluid that way, but I relied on the water stops for my water. Didn’t do Gatorade there since I had my own calories with me.
Ann (swim coach) was at the first water stop. I ran through it, drank (didn’t choke!), and didn’t dribble too much on me. I didn’t want to freeze my chin with water from the cup. Down the road toward the bike path… lots of rollers again. Pretty uneventful. I did find it hard to keep the HR down, though. The other thing that I’m working on these days is paying attention to RPE. I tend to way underreport my RPE, so it’s a constant thing to monitor so that I can learn how to be more accurate. My RPE was in the “I’m working, but could work like this for a LOOONG time” stage. The downhills were fun… I had to remember not to relax too much on them, but instead just let the recovery happen.
Once I turned on to the bikepath, though, the rollers got more significant. The ups were harder to keep at pace, and for the first time, I felt as if I slowed in order to keep the HR under control. Turns out, I’d been slowing as the race went on, but not by too terribly much. It was just more noticeable on the bike path. You do the path twice, as an out and back. Right near the end, this chick blows by me like she’s got rockets on. She had to hit the portapotty they had there. I figured if I kept my nice even pace, that would be the first person I’d pass. Nope. A mile and a half later, she passes me again, with a friend of hers, but at least she’d left her rockets in the POJ.
After we turned off the bike path, I saw several people strung out in front of me… run/walking. It was sooo tempting to really chase them down, but I really did try to keep it under control and reign it in. I figured if I ran the whole time, and they ran/walked, EVENTUALLY, I’d catch them.
Into the neighborhood just after mile 8…. Down the street, and into the culdesac. I can see that group of people…. I do manage to pass them. Yay! More water, and back down the first road toward home. The rollers on the way home are harder to handle, because they’re a net uphill to the finish, as opposed to the net downhill that they were in the beginning. But, this is the same road that the 10-mile race was on in the fall so I knew I could manage them if I just didn’t panic.
Chick in the purple was next. I just kept reeling her in. Hah! Passed her when she dropped something. She tried to pass me again, but I passed… (I really like passing people when I can). I’m slow, oh yes, but now, I’m getting to where I can pass SOME people. Turns out, my fitness is improving, because I ran the whole thing. The reason I was able to pass these folks is that they were having to stop to walk.
Chick in Green…. You’re up! Ooo… she was a bit harder to catch. I passed green lady about mile 11 or so…maybe 11.5. She definitely got faster to go after me, and I let her. “Go ahead, burn it all now, I don’t care.” Then, something happened and I just stopped hearing her. Later, I did hear her as she was yelling and cussing about something…. But it wasn’t very nice. I find out later from my student that green lady is some die-hard marathoner person. He he he.
Next… pink fleece lady. She was FAR in front, and I was thinking that I wouldn’t get her, but there was no reason not to keep taking steps after her. Caught her too. She was a better sport about it than green lady, though…. I think she might have just been trying to breathe.
The last 1.1 miles I decided that the zones needed to go, and I needed to steadily increase the pace to the finish. Anyone can suffer for a mile, right? I got super close to catching someone else, but that uphill at the end prevented it. I did finish on her heels, though.
My RPE up till about mile 10 or so was very consistent. My pace wasn’t so consistent, but not so varying that I was upset by it. I kept the watch on the HR view, with the stopwatch in the tiny numbers at the top. The only time I had an idea about pace was when I hit the lap button. I was in MUCH more control this year than last (the precipitation nightmare). This is the first time I’ve ever run the whole course without walking. I’m stronger. I did manage to hit 198 on the HR monitor during the last mile… my poor watch said I was at 100%. Lol My average HRs for each mile were pretty consistent.
Mentally, this was supposed to be a catered training run that I was to run hard the whole way. So, I played a bit with HR on the ups and downs, to see what it felt like, but still stayed where I was supposed to stay.
I don’t know if there was more in me to give throughout the whole distance. Looking back, I don’t remember it HURTING except during the last mile. But, I was definitely WORKING the whole time. My shin splints were non-issues, didn’t even feel them. For that, I’m very thankful. My massage chick, copious amounts of sticking and stretching, plus twice daily icing really helped during the last week.
Annotated Splits:
- 10:10 (aHR 167; mHR 172) – did I give up the fleece too quick? I’m cold!
- 10:35 (aHR 172; mHR 176) – Still cold, starting to feel a rhythm.
- 10:48 (aHR 171; mHR 176) – Belly beginning to settle.
- 11:38 (aHR 174; mHR 177) – Water just before here, HR jumped a bit while I was drinking)
- 11:39 (aHR 173; mHR 178) – Smile for the camera!
- 12:34 (aHR 174; mHR 180) – rollers on the bike path. Starting to get hard to keep the HR @ 170.
- 11:37 (aHR 173; mHR 179) – back up the bike path rollers.
- 13:19 (aHR 175; mHR 180) – Had to slow WAY down to get the HR down to the 170 range. Beginning to consider just letting the watch beep high.
- 12:05 (aHR 176; mHR 182) – First group passed.
- 11:53 (aHR 178; mHR 185) – Headed home. Begin the net uphill climb.
- 12:32 (aHR 181; mHR 186) – Bye by Purple and Green women. Feel good? Think about picking it up.
- 11:57 (aHR 183; mHR 187) – Start to pick it up.
- 11:13 (aHR 186; mHR 198) – Yup… You picked it up. Breathing this last mile started to get loud. Belly starting to hurt from breathing, lungs complaining.
- (last .1 miles) 1:07 (aHR 190; mHR 96) – DONE! The walking to cool down was really hurtful to breathe, I wheezed a ton. I also scared a little kid who was walking after the kids race. But, it went down after about 75 yds or so of walking.
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