The day before this race, I finally got around to checking out where it was taking place and how to get there. I found that getting there would involved walking to the station (15 min), taking two trains (2:35), and taking a shuttle to the start (30 mins). Hmmmmmmmm.
So on Sunday morning, we took our sweet time waking up, having breakfast, and snuggling in bed. Around nine-ish I half-heart-idly decided it was about time I packed up, which I then did very reluctantly. I left home around 09:50. After buying my train ticket, whilst waiting for my train, I decided I probably was going to need some lunch, since the 10K did not start until 1:30pm. I very wisely chose to buy a chocolate croissant (because everyone knows that French pastries are the best pre-race fuel) and two bottles of water. Obviously I got bored in the train and the croissant was gone pretty much before the train had pulled out of the station. I also had a Luna Protein bar soon after because I thought one croissant would probably not be enough.
When I finally made it to the race site, I was pleasantly surprised by how quaint the village was. Also, the 30K and half were finishing up, so it was fun to see all those people nearing the end of their race. However, except for the finish line, nothing was marked, so it took me forever to find the bag drop-off.
Once I finally did, I was worried I would be too late to the start, so made my way there. Thirty minutes later, when I found the start, I realized that if I warmed up, I probably would get sweaty, and then really be cold waiting for the start. Instead, I spent the 30 minutes I had left eating my Luna Bar, drinking my water, and freezing my butt off.
I was a bit too close to the front of the "amateurs" (the pros/elites/fast people had their own coral), but I never realized how many people were behind me. So when the gun went off, I merrily tried to keep up. Whoops.
Mile 1: I was planning on running mile 1 in 9:00 and the rest at 8:30 (I wanted to go sub-40). Instead, mile 1 flew by in 8:00 which I knew was way too fast... I just kept getting passed, which made me think I was going slow... I quickly started breathing very heavily and thought to myself that perhaps I should have used my asthma inhaler, but after a while I relaxed and was breathing fine again.
Mile 2: mile 2 went way too fast as well. 08:02. I knew I would not be able to keep this pace, but I really did not want to give up. However, this section had quite a few downhills, and I should be trying to save some time on the downhills.
Mile 3: I had officially blown up by then. Also, I was surprised at the number of downhills, and was getting worried that the second half of the race would be all uphill. Mile 3 clocked in at 8:31. I lost some time walking through the waterstation, and I also took my one gel around this time.
I passed the 5K mark in 25:56.
Mile 4: I was completely done at this point. I kept getting passed by all the people I had seen at the start that started conservatively and were negative-splitting their race! I tried to get out of their way, though :-) Mile 4 clocked in at 09:04.
Mile 5: I was sooooo tempted to walk some of this. The nature around us was breathtakingly beautiful, so I felt I should walk to savor it. My Garmin stubbornly was sticking to 4.XX miles for the longest of times. So mile 5 felt endless! It only took 09:06 though. I was also still waiting for the monster uphill....
Mile 6: ...which never came. Mile 6 had a few rolling hills, but finished off with a massive descent back into town. So by what miracle was this a "descent only" race? None. Turns out there were some pretty substantial elevation gains (according to Garmin) throughout the race, but I never realized I was going up, I only realized I was going down... So no wonder some of the miles felt so hard... I was going up in the world. I finished mile 6 in 08:32 and the last itsy bitsy (0.26 miles) in 2:11 minutes.
Total time: 53:39
Place overall 895/2327
Place women 136/900
Total elevation gain (according to Garmin) 215 ft
Average HR 189
Max HR 216 (!!!)
So... not too shabby!
So on Sunday morning, we took our sweet time waking up, having breakfast, and snuggling in bed. Around nine-ish I half-heart-idly decided it was about time I packed up, which I then did very reluctantly. I left home around 09:50. After buying my train ticket, whilst waiting for my train, I decided I probably was going to need some lunch, since the 10K did not start until 1:30pm. I very wisely chose to buy a chocolate croissant (because everyone knows that French pastries are the best pre-race fuel) and two bottles of water. Obviously I got bored in the train and the croissant was gone pretty much before the train had pulled out of the station. I also had a Luna Protein bar soon after because I thought one croissant would probably not be enough.
When I finally made it to the race site, I was pleasantly surprised by how quaint the village was. Also, the 30K and half were finishing up, so it was fun to see all those people nearing the end of their race. However, except for the finish line, nothing was marked, so it took me forever to find the bag drop-off.
Once I finally did, I was worried I would be too late to the start, so made my way there. Thirty minutes later, when I found the start, I realized that if I warmed up, I probably would get sweaty, and then really be cold waiting for the start. Instead, I spent the 30 minutes I had left eating my Luna Bar, drinking my water, and freezing my butt off.
I was a bit too close to the front of the "amateurs" (the pros/elites/fast people had their own coral), but I never realized how many people were behind me. So when the gun went off, I merrily tried to keep up. Whoops.
Mile 1: I was planning on running mile 1 in 9:00 and the rest at 8:30 (I wanted to go sub-40). Instead, mile 1 flew by in 8:00 which I knew was way too fast... I just kept getting passed, which made me think I was going slow... I quickly started breathing very heavily and thought to myself that perhaps I should have used my asthma inhaler, but after a while I relaxed and was breathing fine again.
Mile 2: mile 2 went way too fast as well. 08:02. I knew I would not be able to keep this pace, but I really did not want to give up. However, this section had quite a few downhills, and I should be trying to save some time on the downhills.
Mile 3: I had officially blown up by then. Also, I was surprised at the number of downhills, and was getting worried that the second half of the race would be all uphill. Mile 3 clocked in at 8:31. I lost some time walking through the waterstation, and I also took my one gel around this time.
I passed the 5K mark in 25:56.
Mile 5: I was sooooo tempted to walk some of this. The nature around us was breathtakingly beautiful, so I felt I should walk to savor it. My Garmin stubbornly was sticking to 4.XX miles for the longest of times. So mile 5 felt endless! It only took 09:06 though. I was also still waiting for the monster uphill....
Mile 6: ...which never came. Mile 6 had a few rolling hills, but finished off with a massive descent back into town. So by what miracle was this a "descent only" race? None. Turns out there were some pretty substantial elevation gains (according to Garmin) throughout the race, but I never realized I was going up, I only realized I was going down... So no wonder some of the miles felt so hard... I was going up in the world. I finished mile 6 in 08:32 and the last itsy bitsy (0.26 miles) in 2:11 minutes.
Total time: 53:39
Place overall 895/2327
Place women 136/900
Total elevation gain (according to Garmin) 215 ft
Average HR 189
Max HR 216 (!!!)
hmmm....maybe I should start fueling that way :)
ReplyDeleteFantastic race Alinda!
ReplyDeleteI admire you to travel 3 hours and 15 minutes for a 10K race. Have to be honest that that's not worth the distance for me.