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| bonkers! |
| Saturday, May 17, 2008 |
The one thing besides injury that runners seem to fear is bonking. And it's supposed to happen in the long-ass distances. Before today, I only experienced it twice...during the infamous 2007 Queens half, and at mile 14 of a 15-mile training run 3 years ago. I somehow escaped the marathon unscathed. But who'd ever heard of bonking in a 10K? I defined that today at the Healthy Kidney 10K...splits tell the story!!
8:00
8:03
8:19
9:01 (started the decline here...)
8:28 (sorta saved by cat hill downhill)
8:40 (the last mile of the race didn't motivate me as much)
1:45 (neither did that last uphill)
wound up with 52:16 (8:25 pace)...5K splits of 25:21/26:55. Oy. A 1 1/2 minute positive split.
(For the record-Mr. Garmin said I actually did 6.35 miles at an 8:13 pace. It's so funny...when I met up with some of the Flyers afterwards...seems like *everyone* has a Garmin!! And another teammate's Garmin measured 6.35 too...)
In a nutshell...my legs kinda felt weak from the beginning. They just didn't have the same bounciness they had at Broad Street, or the last 4-miler I did. Still, was hoping to maybe negative split...but things just felt like they shut down on mile 4...it was like I could see the mile marker, but I just could not get there. Couldn't get my legs to push hard for the rest of the race-so by that time just decided to quit trying to race and do the best I could...whatever it was.
I think what happened was a mishmash of things...
- Am I still not completely recovered from Broad Street? I think I am not, considering the effort I gave there.
- Still feeling the afteraffects of Wednesday's workout? Perhaps, which leads to...
- Was Thursday's run not a true "recovery" effort? Probably, I should have been doing closer to 9:30-9:45s to really recover. I think going forward, any Thursday runs will have to be done solo...
- Had I put on weight in the last 2 weeks, therefore slowing me down? It's possible.
- Was it the crowds? Actually no!! I actually think the corral system really worked. I just feel bad for those in the corrals behind me that had to go around me because I was having a bad day!
- The weather? Yes. Even though it was a cool 50 degrees, apparently it was 80% humidity...and the sun was STRONG! Not a good combination for me.
- Did I eat enough? I'm not sure...been feeling a little "off" the last coupla days-it's seemed like I've been full after smaller portions. I did have my usual "before race" food, maybe not enough yesterday...
- Was it pacing? I don't think so...under normal circumstances, I'd say I was "right on pace" for the first coupla miles...maybe even a little conservative.
- Was it the calf? Nope-thankfully, no body parts were causing me pain. Not even a dreaded sidestitch.
- Was it the course? Good lord, it seems like Central Park got hillier in the last 2 days. Yeah, it was like mountain climbing compared to Broad Street, but I don't remember the 4-milers being this hard!
- Was it the distance? 10K is a weird distance for me. Not really feeling the love for it right now...after mile 1 I had the "I wish this was over" thought again. You can't blast it like you could a 5K or 4-miler, and you can't do the "slow down and pace" strategy that you can do in a 10-miler or half-marathon.
I'm not disappointed, I had my good race 2 weeks ago, and I'll chalk this one up as a "practice race." Means I got rid of all my strategic mistakes here and I got 3 weeks to get things right for the Mini 10K... - Taking it easy the next 3 weeks, with the exception of the Wall Street Run. Meaning no speedwork the week before the race, and possibly skipping it the week of 5/26 too.
- Keep easy runs easy, and do recovery runs solo to keep them a true recovery effort.
- Make sure to get a long run of 8-10 miles in the next coupla weekends
- Don't skip Harlem Hill...no wussing out and doing the lower 5
- XT at least twice a week
- hopefully lose a couple of pounds in the process
- pray that the weather on June 7th is more like 2006 Mini than the 2007 one.
And back on the topic of today's race-I'm so glad the course record didn't fall-no need to reward cockiness :) "The course record is not that hard"...whatever!! Ritz still owns Central Park... Labels: race, running |
posted by nyflygirl @ 6:08 PM  |
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Hey...sorry to hear you had a bad experience today. Wonder if maybe we pushed too hard on Thursday's run.
Where do you guys usually meet at the races? Was looking all around for a familiar face but finally gave up and went home.
Nevertheless, i think 10K is really a tricky distance. Can't go too fast or too slow. Plus, that damn 4th mile...they should rename that Backbreaker Hill...everyone has trouble in that section of the course.
Anyway, hope to catch you Thurs!
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You are right--CP is very hilly! Not ideal racing terrain. Plus, I think sometimes it takes longer than we think to recover from a really hard effort (ie Broad St). But all things considered, you still had a good time, even if it wasn't your best.
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Excellent point regarding Makau's "not so hard" course record comment. Ritz is a beast.
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sorry to hear about the bonking - but it was a beautiful day for a run, right? It was interesting to hear Mary Wittenburg ramble on and on about how hard the CP loop is... makes me proud its an everyday training ground for many of us.
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laminator-don't worry about Thursday's run. As I said, I think it was a mishmash of things, with not being recovered from broad street probably the main culprit. Besides, at least I got the bad run out of my system now, right? :) As for after the race...look around near the baggage area...you are bound to see quite a few Flyer logos (I personally had to leave earlier than usual since I was going to the Yanks/Mutts game!)
runner26-i know, but it's like, how many times have I raced on these hills before...arrrghhh :)
jud-guess it doesn't pay off to be cocky and be a hammerhead in the first half...right? ;-)
brooklyn-I guessed I missed that...must have tuned out her speech :-p
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The GNY coach also made the point that this course made us run up the hill to Tavern on the Green twice and through the west side hills. For the Mini we'll start outside the park on Central Park West so we'll miss a lot of those early hills.
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chelle-yep...every time i've run the mini, mile 1 is always my fastest...i try to take as much advantage of that mile as i can without being a rabbit :) just hope the weather cooperates!
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Hey...sorry to hear you had a bad experience today. Wonder if maybe we pushed too hard on Thursday's run.
Where do you guys usually meet at the races? Was looking all around for a familiar face but finally gave up and went home.
Nevertheless, i think 10K is really a tricky distance. Can't go too fast or too slow. Plus, that damn 4th mile...they should rename that Backbreaker Hill...everyone has trouble in that section of the course.
Anyway, hope to catch you Thurs!