7th female out of 123, 4th in AG of 26, 3rd place hardware
BIKE ~1hr and 16 miles, indoor spin later in the afternoon to shake things out
All those "out of" and hardware numbers, but the best part was that I FINALLY BROKE THE PLATEAU I've been lamenting! So much to say, how to get started?! Get ready for lots of exclamation points.
First off, a sub-8 pace! My only prior race with a sub-8 pace was a 5K in Nov 2009. ONLY. (I didn't look at my sprint tri times, to be fair, but I don't expect to find sub-8 there). The closest I got was an 8:01 at the 2010 St Patty's 5-miler.
Second, this was faster than my 10K PR pace from an olympic tri in fall of 2011, which was an 8:13 m/m pace. So this means I have a new 10K PR awaiting me, I just need to race it.
Third, holy nailed-that-goal cow, did I nail that pace! My goal set in late February was an 8 m/m and 1:45 race. It felt so good to see the miles go by at sub-8's, it was a confidence building boost. The 1:45 time was suggested by the McMillan Running "oracle" for my marathon goal time of 3:40. Now for the first time probably ever in my running career, I can use the oracle to say "this is my __K pace" and have a realistic number to shoot for in longer races:
CURRENT TIMES
Fourth, bring on the marathon!! Wow, I'm feeling good about this race now. I thought about the marathon during this race, thinking ahead to how I feel at this pace, how would I slow myself down, would I be able to do this distance twice over? I have a half-minute pace change to make, I'll need to do some training at the pace to be able to identify it. As a point of reference, Thursday's group run was an 8:43 pace, could I hold less than that for 26 miles...hmmm....
Fifth and finally, this result puts to rest so many doubts I've been having. I registered for this race the Monday after the second "event" then spent the next few days lamenting the decision. It's hard to feel race-ready when you're sick, I was getting certain that this would turn into a training day. Also, the recent weight loss and nutrition habit changes had me doubting my body and wondering what would happen when I got 8-10 miles in -- would my body would be ready for the rigors and up to the challenge? Today I learned: I'm not only fine, I'm doing great.
In February, this is what I typed into my Anti-Blerch Training Goals page:
| Half | Spirit of St Louis | April 2006 | 2:06:23 | 9:38:00 |
| Spirit of St Louis | April 2007 | 1:59:37 | 9:07:00 | |
| Frostbite | January 2008 | 2:10:02 | 9:55:00 | |
| Go St Louis | April 2009 | 1:58:22 | 9:02:00 | |
| Track Club | November 2009 | 1:54:38 | 8:45:00 | |
| Frostbite | January 2010 | 1:58:30 | 9:02:00 | |
| Alton | March 2014 | 1:45:00 | 8:00:00 |
Look-it that plateau I had going! BUSTED!!! WHOOP!!! My other half-mary PR was last summer's Route 66 Half Iron run of 1:49:28 at a 8:21 m/m pace.
This was a remarkably simple race, and reminded me of the ultras I did last summer. No big frills, small field, just a simple set-up and go type of race. Parking, packets, everything super easy. The course was simple too: short 2 mile loop then over the bridge (cross-tailwind), out-n-back along the river (tailwind then headwind), back over the bridge (cross-headwind) to mile 8, then out-n-back along the river again (tailwind then headwind again) on the levee trail to the finish.
I knew going in the race could be windy, and the low temps only added to my "what to wear" doubts. What you can expect from this situation is feeling too-warm in the tailwinds and too-cool in the headwinds. It's hard to dress for both! The irony of running from this park and along the levee trail was looking back at a training brick I did for Redman in 2012, in which the heat was so horrible that I promised myself I could play in the Pavilion's water fountain if I finished a good brick run. No playing in the fountain today! And no heat to warm me up, the temps were in the mid-30's. I decided right before the start to wear two hats and two pairs of gloves. You know me, would rather be too warm than too cold.
In previous races like this, I'd be hesitant to do any running as a warm-up. Today I jogged about 15 mins and did some speedy pulse-ups. I reminded myself that my best runs were after bike rides, so certainly I could handle a few mins of jogging today! I kept looking at the pretty half moon in the southern sky. A half moon for my half mary.
As for the race itself (this is a race report, and I've yet to get past the start line in it!), it was wonderful! I started nearer the front than usual (something I'm still learning to do) and was surprised to find that I stayed there the rest of the way. I was buoyed by the sub-8 mile intervals reported by the Garmin but wasn't really able to adjust my pace based on a mile of 7:43 or 8:13, I just ran what I could for that moment. The slow climbs up and over the bridge weren't as spectacular as I expected them to be, I ended up just staring at the roadway instead of the river. As I approached the first turn-around, I used the opportunity to count the females ahead of me -- only 7 of them! To distract myself from the headwind I counted the ones behind me too -- 122 womens total -- and I was struck by how many there were. [In fact, I just looked as I typed this, there were only 95 males in the race]. I also noted that the women runners tended to run in social groups and were having quite the fun :)
In contrast, I ran alone. Around mile 6.5 a guy passed me who was cheering on every runner we passed, I spoke briefly to him, and that was the extent of my talking for this race! At least the out-loud talking, my mind never shut-up: "I'm a strong runner, if I can be a smart runner today I'll nail my goal". "You can run the heat all you want on the drive home, just suck it up for now". "Two miles in, it's normal to feel tired, you're still warming up". "Perfect nutrition with the EFS, take only what you need, and take the cold aid station water even if you don't want it". "Run in your bubble, don't worry about the woman ahead of you". "It's supposed to hurt". "Stay in the bubble, don't worry about the woman right behind you!". "Remember Hoka/IM guy ahead of you? With the perfect easy form? Is my form like that too?". "My race, my pace". "How in the world is that person wearing shorts and t-shirt?!".
Oh if anything should get tired during a long event like this, you'd think it'd be my brain.
The race really started for me around mile 9.5. A tight inner quad muscle started to hurt, and it spread to form an upside down V from my hip, pulling on both inner and outer quad muscles. I was benefiting from a tail wind at this point and picked up my pace to take full advantage before I turned around. My goal was to save at least a little bit for a strong 12th mile and even better finish. As mile 11 came up, I could see the woman in front of me. I was slowly reeling her in, the question would be her mile 12 kick -- will she have one? (I joked that since she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, she might be in a hurry to finish!). I slowly, slowly, slowly, caught up and passed her. Then the worry was on that she'd be right behind me! So mile 12 was fast, legs starting to numb a little, and the worry about tripping or turning an ankle started to seep in. No such -- I saw the Mile 13 sign, turned it up a little more, and crossed the line a minute under my goal!
I've learned that I'll doubt my effort if I feel like I have left over energy afterwards. So although I felt OK at the finish, I don't think I could have run it any better. I probably made a mistake of not walking more than a few minutes, my fingertips were so cold they ached for 20 mins and I huddled in the truck waiting to warm up. My right quad muscles were definitely going to hurt tomorrow. But I nailed the nutrition (Powerbar nibbled before start, 2 servings of EFS in-race, 1 serving EFS immediately after), had no gear fails or chafing, managed to find the best balance of clothing for the weather...I was a smart runner today :)
I'm in a great place to start final preps for the upcoming May marathon only 7 weeks away!
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