Regarding my pace, that's where I left off in the race report.
The other runners were doing closer to 1.5 hour laps then slowed to 2-2.5. I was surprised to see that I was doing 2 hour 7.25 mile laps, doing the math now that's a 15 min/mile! I had NO IDEA of that while running. Would it have helped to know that? Probably not. OK granted, those times include all my bathroom and aid station and hive stops. I took my time there too, maybe too much time?
Do I think I could have gone faster in the loops? I dunno. I thought I was running a nicely conservative pace. I never pushed or hurried. But DAMN a 15min/mile pace?! Yes I double checked my math. Of course I did, I can't do math that I trust even when I feel good about it.
So I thought my pace was comfy, now it's looking like it was too comfy. Even if I held to my 2hr pace for all 14 laps, that would be a 28 hour finish.
Let's just dig into the other issues, sort it out later.
Nutrition
My in-race nutrition was spot on, excepting one issue I noted in the race and confirmed last night. I had cut up my powerbars and meant to eat 2 pieces per serving (about 80-90 calories) but I was only eating 1 at a time! That's not why I dropped, I was eating plenty other stuff. Nutella is great race food, two races confirm that my stomach handles it. My other foods were one 1 gel, my Tootsie Roll pops, my soft puff mints, a few Tootsie Rolls, a few servings of buttered rice crackers, and some Jolly Rancher pops for variety. Aid station food was initially those wonderful potato chips until I started burping them up, Nutella, only a few bites of banana, a few pieces of bacon, Mountain Dew,...Oh and my potato/egg dinner. Didn't get to my carameled rice balls breakfast. No bloating, no cramps, no nausea, and only a few burps and farts. So nailed it.
What I'm more concerned with is my out-of-race nutrition. With my restrictions I don't eat a wide variety of foods, and many foods I'd normally eat are consumed not at all or at minimal levels. I pretty much eat the same foods every week. What if I'm missing a nutrient, vitamin, or mineral? What if there's a toxin or pesticide on something I regularly eat?
Sleep and fatigue and energy levels
My sleep has been up and down, but in the weeks prior to the race it felt good. I've made changes in how much caffeine and volume of fluids I consume in the afternoon and evening, but there's still 1-2 bathroom trips a night. I don't consider that to be abnormal, I drink a lot and it's not like I'm venting small volumes. I'm in bed by 9:30, fall asleep quickly, and I'm up around 5am easily.
As for fatigue, I've had lots of that lately. How could I not have fatigue, I've been running 40-70 miles a week! But my energy is often "flat". I am occasionally bouncy with energy, but for the most part I'm not that way. Did I used to be that way? Also I've noticed that when I'm driving long distances it's harder to stay awake. The recent drives to and from the race highlighted this. I should be awake and tapered, but I find myself wanting to doze off.
Connected to training? Nutrition? Mental status?
Mental status and emotions
My mental state is also kinda flat lately. I don't seem to get mad, worked up, excited, I don't laugh much either. Am I depressed? I've wondered that a lot. There are many days where I feel like I need to prop myself up, encourage myself to get through the day, have to look harder to find a reason to be positive. Some days I just want to go back to bed and curl up for the day. Thankfully I don't indulge that fantasy.
So when it came to the race, I was never bouncy-OMG-excited for it. I just kinda calmly lined up and went into it. My prep for the race was kinda excited, I think that was OK. But the pre-race anxiety was missing. I've been attributing that to having enough experience to not need to panic pre-race, and to the fact that I've been practicing a lot of meditation.
The meditation is what I've used to get through the stress of the past year, it's calming for me and it's helped with the pain of my injuries. Plenty of those right!? Anyway, when I feel myself getting worried or panicky I step back into a meditative calm. Or do I just think I do that? Is that just an excuse or a brain-denial-cover up? I think I'm meditative calm but really I'm depressed?
Also when things went wrong in the race I didn't get terribly worked up, that's hard to gauge though with all the fatigue and race-associated mental changes. When things went right in the race I'd give myself the Golden Thumbs Up, and sometimes I really had to force that. I'd force myself to smile sometimes but, not all smiles were forced certainly. It was like another person was along with me pointing out the good things to me as I went along, it didn't always seem like it was coming from me. But of course it was, this is just hard to explain!
So as the pain and discomfort built up, I had my breathing techniques to help out. Of course that can only go so far! Many times I'd stop my rolling-messy thoughts to "just breath...and smile..." like in my podcast :)
Lack of mental stimulation
I only ran with another runner in the first two loops, the next 9 were alone. I'd encounter other runners but it wasn't a sustained conversation and 90% of the time they were going in the other direction when I did see them. In one of my last laps, I turned on a TJM podcast and that helped, can't remember what I was listening too!
Another way to stim the brain is with caffeine. I'd packed caffeinated gels but didn't use them. The Mountain Dew only lasts so long and leads to an up/down if not continued.
Too cold too soon
I lost a lot of energy being cold, not shivery cold, but just on the cold side of comfort. It takes energy away, and it's only a problem when you're already low on nutrition. And since I was
Not enough purple?
OK joking here. Referring to the hair ;)
What happened to my wrists?
Why did my wrists swell up? My hands were only slightly swollen. But the wrists were like sausages, so bad that the RoadID had to come off and the watch and Garmin had to be loosened multiple times. Salt? Holding my arms down (I don't really run that way)? Tight sleeves? Dad noted a few days later that I also had a crisp red line where the swelling was, looked like a very mild sunburn, so maybe the sleeves? I don't remember having tight sleeves.
What happened to my left leg?
I had two issues in the left leg. The uppermost was the hip flexor. It just quit. It hurt like hell too, wincing burning pain that had me thinking it was torn or injured. The rate at which it healed suggested otherwise. It was hurting on and off all summer, especially after the hilly CMAR 50K. I learned then that I needed to actively stretch and work the area. I've been doing that, still to this day, but it seems the hills of this race really reactivated it.
The second issue was the 'goosefoot' tendon in the inner knee, the pes aniserus or something like that. I thought the compression socks caused it at first, and so around lap 8 I rolled down the sock to take the pressure off. It helped, but the damage was done.
Afterwards I got to wondering how connected to two problems were? Is there a quad muscle or connection that links them?
Lots to be learned here, and I'm finishing writing this only days away from my next 100 at R2T!
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