Lake Wylie Splash Dash 10K Race Report

This is a small race close to Charlotte, NC, but some competitive folks do show up. It is a hard, hilly course, and the temperature was in 80s, with high humidity, so it was quite clear that I won't run a huge time here. My main goal was to get an age group award, winning it if possible, and the secondary goal was to run 43:30, which would be 7-minute miles. After I ran 42:06 in training in April, I thought this would be easy. Well, on that training day, the track was flat and the night was cool...

I arrived at around 7:00, well before the 8 o'clock start. I started the warm-up at 7:30, and after just 20 minutes, I was covered with sweat. I had some GI issues in the morning and during warm-up: fortunately bathrooms were plenty in the camp where the start was.

I made sure to line up in the front, because the history of the race suggested many slower runners. At 8:02 the race started. The first mile was very hilly, but I think it was net downhill - at least there was one steep downhill on which I charged down, getting myself to close to the leaders. I let people pass me on the uphill portion after this - I'm not particularly good going up, and I didn't want to get winded early. I hit the first mile marker at 6:30. That was faster than my desired pace, even for a net downhill mile, so I eased up on the pace a bit.

I looked around. One skinny black guy (Robert, as I learned later) had just passed me and I tried to follow him. I decided to try to keep my position and pace off of Robert. We played yo-yo on the rolling hills: I caught up on the downhills, but he increased his lead again on the uphills. I started to get really really hot, and there were long stretches of the road with no shade. The temperature started to get me, but probably everyone else, too, because nobody passed me. I somehow missed the 2nd and 3rd mile marker, so I wasn't sure about my pace, but it was definitely slower than the first mile. Finally, when I hit mile 4, my time was 28:30: quite a bit slower than my goal pace.

About this time, Robert didn't increase his lead on a hill, and I caught him on the top, and passed him. He slowed down a lot: he lost more than 2 minutes in the last two miles, though he claimed he had a sub-40 PR.

I was running alone for almost a mile. I *almost* missed a turn. Volunteers were sitting in the crossing, but they didn't bother to show me the direction until I started to turn the wrong way, losing a few seconds. At mile 5, my time was a disappointing 36 minutes, but at least I had something in reserve. I caught a guy (Glenn), who just started to walk when I caught him. He looked really bad, and I was truly worried that he would throw up on me. He got himself together when I passed him, and he started to follow me.

At this point I felt OK, and I saw a few more people ahead of me. I picked them one at a time. Meanwhile we passed each other back and forth with Glenn, but he clearly wasn't in my age group, so I didn't worry too much about him. We passed 3 people, and one of them looked like an age-grouppper (he was!).

Just before the finish stretch, the organizers made another mistake and let an SVU on the road in front of me. That was extremely annoying, because the road was narrow (one way) with speed bumps, so I eventually had to dodge and pass the car, but not before it smoked me well, and I ran left-to-right like twice, until I felt safe enough to pass it on the right. Glenn was running in front of the car, and I probably wouldn't have beaten him anyway. We ran through the gate: my finish time was 44:26. Almost a minute slower than my goal, but considering the circumstances, this is not bad at all. I didn't know how hilly the course was, and I didn't know how hot and humid it would be today.

Post race food was great: lots of variety, too. I loved the southern style, very sweet ice tea. I didn't feel like cooling down (like it would have been possible!), so I was chatting with other runners while waiting for the awards. I won my age group! The award was a standard medal, nothing special. The overall winners received a beautiful glass trophy; I would have to train a lot more to have a chance to get one of those. (I was 8th overall; the winner's time was 38:59.)

Now I'm thinking about taking a break from running, for about 6-7 weeks. I'd like do to at least one (or two) more long trail runs in the Congaree National Park before we move to Kentucky, maybe I'll do those next week. I could race next Saturday, and there seems to be two options: a night 5K in Greenville, or a morning 5K in Charlotte. Neither of those are flat, and it WILL be hot again, so not much chance of running sub-20. I haven't decided yet, but I don't see too much point in doing either of those. After next week I will be traveling a lot, so I won't have much chance for training for at least two weeks anyway. And I don't see much point in coming back in July and running some races without proper training.

My longer plans now look like this: in the first weeks of August I start a periodized, 12-week 5K plan, and I'll find myself a 5K in early November in Kentucky. Then I'll run a sub-20, or bust!

I had an interesting tempo run this morning. The whole thing started on Monday evening. I was supposed to run an easy 4 miler, but I was so tired (sleepy), and it was so warm outside, that I decided to skip the run and to go to bed early. And also, to get up this morning early to do my Tuesday tempo run.

It was a total of 6 miles, with two easy miles (first and last), and 4 miles at 7:05/mile. Normally, I run 7 minutes miles for tempo, but this is a hilly course, so I allow a little extra time per mile on average. Usually I run the first fast mile in 7:10. This is the hardest mile because of a steady downhill and a steep uphill. Then I would do two 7 minutes miles (mostly flat ones), and 7:10 on the last hilly mile (which is a first mile backwards).

Today the first splits were:
7:08, all is fine.
6:52. I knew this was fast, but I felt just fine. I decided to slow down a bit.
6:50. OK, I thought I slowed down, but apparently I haven't. I only check the splits at my mile markers, so I wasn't aware of my speed during this mile.
7:28. At the beginning of this mile, out of nowhere, I just suddenly died. I don't remember this happening to me before. One moment, I was feeling fine, then, maybe about 100 yards after my mile marker, I felt very winded, extreme stabbing side stitches, pains in my body everywhere. It was so bad, that I almost decided to stop. But then, I thought, this is a good opportunity for training to be tough, so I ran on. I was hurting so bad that I felt screamed out loud a few times. I was dragging myself for about a half of a mile. Then I recovered somewhat, and I ran up the last hill at a relatively steady pace, saving my time: the average of the 4 miles was 7:04.50.

I don't know what this means; this was last fast workout before another race on Saturday. I decided to run a 10K just two weeks from my disappointing 5K. In retrospect, the 5K was OK, nobody in the field I (or Alex) knows got any close to their PR. I don't expect a terrific time from the 10K. A sub-42 would be nice, but I can't predict the weather and I don't know the course. It is also a small race, so probably there won't be many markers on the course. Then I'll probably hang up my running shoes for a few weeks and I restart with 5K training early August. I want to do a full cycle of 12 weeks and see if I can smash my time in November.

After the disappointing race last weekend, I had at least a satisfactory training run last night. I ran 4 fast miles sandwiched between two easy miles. The time was 28:15, which is roughly 7:04/mile. That is quite good on the hilly terrain I ran. I was particularly pleased with the fact that this was not full effort, I didn't fall apart. It really does feel like I can maintain 7 minutes miles for a long time on relatively flat courses. I also think I am better at longer distances, 10 kilometers and up, I just virtually haven't raced those.

The grief has to end... I ran my race on Saturday, but I haven't gotten myself to write report until now. It is probably my biggest running disappointment so far. Objectively, it is not a disaster, but I was hoping for so much better.

Jailbreak IV 5K Race Report

Goal: 19:59

I arrived to the race quite early and I did a long warmup. My general feeling of being out of shape that had been haunting me the last few days stayed with me that morning. I ran around a bit on some trails close to the parking area, and I almost got lost... I arrived to the start line feeling better. I did some striders close to the start line. Finally, seven minutes before the start, I decided to get to the start line. This was a mistake for two reasons. By that time, the start area was very crowded, and I couldn't get close to the start line. (I had to spend the first quarter mile dodging people.) The other issue was that they started the race 2 minutes early, so there was only five minutes between my warmup and the start. Note to self: I have to get to the start earlier next time.

We were off, and then I tried not to trip over the slow people who started close to the front line (like the young lady with the small dog, and the elderly couple). After about a quarter mile, I spotted Alex from the RW forum (ColunbiaSC5ker), and I decided to try to follow him - he is faster than I, so if I can follow him, that should be good enough for me, even (or especially) if he doesn't run a PR. The first mile was slightly downhill, and I felt pretty strong, and also, my split was around 6:16, which was quite satisfactory. Maybe I actually started too fast.

I was hanging on in mile two, in fact I passed Alex at one point. I tried to push hard, somehow I missed the second mile clock, so I'm not sure about my split, but I was sill ahead of Alex and his time was 12:50, so I was still good. This part of course was quite hilly, and I started to really suffer on the inclines. Alex passed me back, along with a few other people, and then, within another quarter mile, I was done for. I was hot, in pain, and I felt like I would collapse at any second. Then I saw the finish line, and the finish clock was showing 19:5x, and I was still far away. I seriously had to talk myself out of quitting at this point, because I knew the sub-20 goal floated away. I crossed the line at 20:26.

The course was not easy, and the race conditions are not ideal, but I knew this before the race, and I still believed that I improved enough so that I can still run sub-20. Running teaches you humility. I was 5th place in my age group, which means no award - my extra punishment is that 20 minutes would have earned me a 3rd place.

This race reminds me too much the SC Peach Festival 5K last summer, where I tried to go sub-21 for the first time. I was good for two miles, and then I couldn't finish the job in the last downhill mile. I guess it is especially hard for me to run a race with a last hilly mile, but it is stupid to look for excuses - I simply wasn't good enough on Saturday.

The journey is not over. I will run a few races in the next few weeks, but I'm not exactly sure how it will work out with all my travels. Then I will most likely take a running break in July and start over in August. By that time, we will have moved to Kentucky. I will try to loose a few pounds to stabilize my weight under 160 lbs, I will do a full cycle of training per Pfitzinger, and I will try to kill my PR in November, in Kentucky.