The last three weeks leading up to today's race have been unbearable because I've had my eyes focused squarely on April 30 and Grande-Digue. I've felt my training has me light years ahead of where I was this time last year but I had no way to prove it. Driving to Bouctouche on Saturday morning, I kept flip-flopping on my race strategy. I ran a hard 7K tempo on Friday that came in at an average 3:59 min/kilometre pace and that got me thinking that during a race perhaps I could hold a 4:00 min/k pace. Seconds later, the other side of my brain would remind its crazy counterpart that its strategy would likely land me in the hospital around 13K. But there I was driving with this inner war raging in my head, while my wife, daughter and dog were all sound asleep. I wish I could say I came to a conclusion, but as I warmed up this morning I still had no idea what I was going to do when the gun fired.
The race was supposed to start at 10:15 this morning, which is about two hours later than my latest normal morning run, so I was trying to hold off eating breakfast long enough that I wouldn't need to eat twice. My right knee was bothering me when I got up, likely from running with the dog in the backyard of my in-laws. As I arrived in Grande-Digue, I had to find the registration centre and they had us parked so closely together that I didn't have time or the ability to sign up and then go and drive the course. So I was running blind. But the website bragged about a flat course (foreshadowing alert), so I figured what the heck and I started some light easy jogging, hoping to get that bothersome right knee to loosen up.
As I looked around I knew it was going to be a tough race because all of New Brunswick 's fastest distance runners were stretching on cars or nonchalantly discussing their recent Boston experience (not that I was eavesdropping or anything!) And what else did I notice, but the stunning array of Garmins. It was out of this world how many people had Forerunners strapped to their forearms.
So now the race, considering this is a race report. The race started a few minutes late but no big deal. Once the gun fired, I had tried to keep myself restrained. I had decided on running 4:05s for the first 10K and then we would see how that was feeling. Keeping myself from blasting forward was so hard, I just wanted to bolt with the frontrunners as I normally do, but I knew that would cause premature pain. I did my best to keep calm and I finished my first kilometre in 4:00, a bit fast but not bad under the circumstances. It was here that the crowd started to spread out and I noticed the wind. Of course, the wind would come, it is my natural nemesis. The wind was gusting head on for longer than I care to remember and there was no way to avoid it. I just lowered my head and tried to keep my pace strong. The scenery was breathtaking when I had a chance to notice. My sole goal was to try and keep my pace on target, which was not easy with those gusty conditions. I never really had a chance to get locked into my pace and it was all over the map.
So remember how I thought it was flat? The website said there was some inclines but never really called them hills. Well from 7.4K to 9.5K there was a brutal hill that never, ever stopped, or so I thought. It should be noted that this isn't Heartbreak Hill and I can't imagine it is anything that the Around The Bay runners experienced but it was tough, especially as I have skipped hill training so far to focus mainly on speed. But that wasn't even the cruel part. After a much needed decline, another hill started and this one was from 11K to almost 14.5K. This is when I really wanted to die. At 12K was the final of the three water stops and I was so thirsty that I grabbed the first cup I saw, gulped it all and then took another cup. Well behind me I heard a loud expletive that cannot be printed here. I didn't realize the guy behind me had his sights on that cup as well, turns out he got another but we both felt bad, me for taking the cup and he for his, um, outburst.
I should mention right about here that for the first running of this race the volunteers were awesome and the locals who cheered us on where great. Too bad I was too tired to thank them all properly. Now back to the hill…
Although my splits were bouncing from 4:01 to 4:11, they spiked at 9K (4:18) and 13K (4:46, this might be a GPS error because the previous split is 3:57), which were right smack dab in the middle of the two biggest hills.
Thankfully, the final hill ended. I had been passed by three runners however I was on the heels of one of them as we raced for the finish line. This guy must have been in his 50s maybe 60s. A wonderful French guy, who kept talking to me en francais and I kept trying to respond in my own broken French, but it is hard enough to concentrate in English let alone a second language after 14K. But he was the happiest guy ever. As we barrelled to the finish line, he kept yelling at me to push. And about 300 metres behind me I could see another shirt gaining on me.
Perhaps I should take a quick step back right now to illustrate my pain. After those two monster hills, my lungs honestly wanted to explode and they almost did, my average HR for the last 2K were 191 and 194 respectively. My quads were screaming at me for skipping hill repeats for tempo runs and intervals. And the sun was beating down on me and I could tell I was dehydrating quickly. But I could see the church as we rounded for home so I couldn't slow down now, plus I had my crazy buddy on my right egging me on. So there I am plummeting down this hill with him screaming or I think he was screaming, it was all a blur. The only thing louder than my French friend was my heart wanting to leap out of my chest and my legs literally ready to come flying off. Inside my underused brain, I kept repeating, "Faster …. Faster … vite… vite… wait, you can only push yourself in one language… but I really want to slow down… are we there yet … faster, faster" My arms were pumping, my darn HRM strap was falling around my stomach and my face was contorting itself into ways that I just pray there were no cameras around to capture. At this point, the PA announcer was saying something that I could not hear and the crowds were cheering us on. I had no idea where my buddy was or the person that was stalking me. All I know is I crossed the line and thought I was about to crash. But I did it and that's what counts. It was a great race.
They have not posted the official results but my Garmin tells me I finished in 1:02:08, about 53 seconds off my goal pace but a PB … considering this is my first ever 15K race. My average HR was: 185 and average pace was 4:08.
My splits were: 4:00, 4:08, 4:09, 4:01, 4:10, 4:10, 4:10, 4:11, 4:18, 4:06, 4:08, 3:57, 4:46, 4:09, 3:39.
No comments:
Post a Comment