Monday, April 12, 2010

The Second Race

Racing is like golf - It's wonderful if you don't take it too seriously


I had an awesome time this weekend. The Seahawks 12K was amazing - what a huge race. it doesn't hurt that even with hills I put in an awesome 9:47/mile pace. It was also a nice morning. Before the race I went to The Balanced Athlete, and chatted with The folks there - Eric, the owner advised me that I would not be needing the long sleeve shirt, just to wear the tech T-shirt I had on over it.

     "It's 50, [during the run] you're going to feel like its 70 degrees"

Having learned to heed expert advise I was rewarded by feeling very comfortable and cool during the race. I went back to the changing room and reset my ensemble - why is it that headphones always tangle in knots? anyway. We talked about who was racing which race - there was a 5K starting a 1/2 hour after the 12K. I was looking at all the folks sporting The Balanced Athlete attire - all shapes, sizes, ages. Eric said - if you are wearing a shirt and you get your picture in the paper, you'll get a free pair of shoes. I'm not sure if anyone did, but I don't think anyone's real motivation was to get a free pair, more to show support to a great establishment that gives back to the community.

At about 15 minutes before the start we all started heading out to the starting line - actually the starting area - if you were planning on running 5:00 miles you needed to be up front. I placed myself in where I thought might be the 10:00 mile section quite a ways back. All the runners were "chipped" so there would be no issues with starting late and the crowd moved comfortably forward. The announcer's voice blared through the loud speakers and became close to painful as I passed by each one on my way to the starting line. I had my ipod in hand ready to click the start button, and as I passed under the start line arch I activated it and then my Garmin - one can never have too much data.

A noticed within 100 meters that I forgot to set my Garmin up correctly as my heart rate alarm was singing, (It was set for 135 and I was not going to see that rate again until a few minutes after the race) a quick change on the run to 165 and I was good to go.  

As the run progressed I found that cadence is really important to maintain. maintaining cadence on hills meant although I was going slower up, I was going faster down. When my body was locked "into the groove" I was running at my best. One failing that I noticed was that I was listening to music that had differing tempos - these caused me to slow or speed up and did not provide for a natural pace. For my next race I will attempt to choose more non-tempo music - music that has an easily ignored tempo like the World of Warcraft sound track.I may even check into specific pace-music to help support and lock in my cadence.

The halfway point greeted us with a trip around the Seattle Seahawks training site.  Seahawk players passed out water and Seagals cheered us on. I re-learned the lesson "Walk through the water line" as breathing water really has a negative affect on your cadence! As we rounded the backside of the facility the Blue Thunder drum line was laying down some serious rhythm.

Heading back the hills seemed a bit steeper, but I was locked in - I popped out my earbud and listened to my body. Setting the pace au-natural worked nicely I put my glasses on top of the brim of my hat and worked on heart rate. Up hills I was fighting to keep my heart under control, and for the most part I was winning the battle. If you are running at a fixed pace, breath control is your only heart rate control. I was passing by runners whose breathing was controlling them - sucking wind loudly. I knew I would be there, but only near the end when I open it up within a 1/2-1/4 mile of the finish.

As the race wound back down by Coulon Park, I started getting antsy. I know the end is near! Should I crank it up? Should I wait and lose those few extra seconds? As the Lake Washington boulevard dumped onto Park Avenue, I thought I could see the starting arch... time to hit it! now I'm looking at 8 mph - 20% above my normal speed. about a minute in, my heart is talking to me - it can keep going, but it's not happy. I find 727 Avenue and turn west I'm passing folks at a pretty good clip now, I turn onto Logan and head north to the start/finish line and it's not there!!!

Apparently my Garmin was right, I was still about a 1/3 away from the actual finish line! Do I slow down? Hell no! My Garmin's heart meter is once again telling me that I have topped 165, after 170 it stops it's obnoxious ringing. I've got under 1/4 mile - more like 1000 feet and here's Blitz, the Seahawks mascot waving us in, I'm running as flat out as possible, but I pass close enough for a high-5 from Blitz. Now I see the finish, I'm about at max heart rate  (178) and running at >10 mph I cross the line and I'm spent - this is the first time since a hard TKD workout that I thought I was going to succumb to nausea, it didn't happen, but it was close!

Walking it out after getting the chip removed was euphoric, I passed on the sports drinks they were offering as euphoria and nausea seemed to go hand in hand. I just wanted to let my lungs work. From what my Garmin was telling me, I was seeing a huge improvement over my last race in December - 20 seconds per mile faster! I didn't stay for the after run block part, but I did stay for a bit and chatted with all the other "balanced athletes" it was a great event, and I am really happy with the outcome and the improvement over December's race.

1 comment:

  1. Epilogue - I finished 6th! (from last) in the Men's 45-49 division. I'm OK with that, because in December I finished 4th (from Last)

    ReplyDelete