Now that I've completely healed from Mercedes (my pride moreso than my body), I can sit down and spew forth some sort of race report... I've come to realize that race reports can really be boring if you're not into what I'm writing about and that I do have a tendency to be long winded... very long winded... whatever... this blog seems to be a way for me to process training and racing and make sense of it all (gosh, that statement came directly out of my qualitative research methods class... gag)
Anyway, I'll try to cobble together the race report... I've tried to block out most of the race (well, miles 10-13.1 anyway) because I had another "Frostbite" experience... But anyways...
Here we go...
Load up Saturday and hit the road to Bham... Arrive at Chad's and proceed to do absolutely nothing... watch some basketball on TV, meet the girl who trumped me for couch duties that night (Sam Mazer, who's a badass), roll around town with Chad to pick up his new Willier road bike, and so on and so on... Packet pickup too... Kendrick and Sara (his gf) met us there... Sara had flown in from Austin, but had managed to get herself sick before leaving TX... (she actually booted while going through security in the airport, bless her heart)... So she wasn't planning on running, but then had offered that if she felt better, she'd pace me so I'd hit my goal time of sub 2 hrs for the Half... (In the end, Kendrick got sick and Sara ran...)
Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, just like 2010, with Chad, Sam, and Hallie Blunck (the other half of Team BA, Blunck and Aurich, or badass... but Hallie's way more of a badass than I am)... Had arranged to stay with my buddy Kyle Lee, a former UA swimmer/triathlete who's living in Bham and trying to get his pro card... He drops off a key to his place at CPK and with it, says, "I've put sheets on the bed, so you're good to go"..."oh, you have an extra bedroom?"... "no, you're racing tomorrow, we'll camp out in the living room".... Ballin.... Man I have awesome friends...
After dinner, we hit Yogurt Mountain, just like in 2010... yes, it's all becoming a tradition now... After YM, I head to Kyle's and am brutally exhausted.... In bed by about 9/9:30'ish, but of course, as with every night before a race, I don't fall asleep until close to 11....
I tossed and turned most of the night, thinking about my pace plan, and thinking about how bad Frostbite had been... I felt "stronger" with this race, having trained at my "new" paces for another three or so weeks since Frostbite... I figured that I'd be ok, and after talking with Kendrick, just knew I was going to go under 2 hrs the next day... Off to sleep, knowing that the next day would be a victory, or another crushing defeat...
Alarm goes off early... quick shower, then head back over to Chad's for breakfast... I've been learning more and more about pre-workout nutrition-- and how bad I am at it... So I decided to play it safe with the usual bagel w/ peanut butter and banana... I had 2 gels ready for the race, to take in at 45 min and 1:30... I figured I'd be ok...
Get downtown and I'm strangely calm (unlike last year)... to me, this year was just another race... just another training day... just another run... it'd be a tough race, but I was calm and had convinced myself that I'd go sub 2...
The night before, Kendrick had said that Sara was feeling better, and that she didn't mind pacing me so that I'd go sub 2... Of course, I don't find her anywhere in the crowd of thousands of people.... no big deal... run into Marion (UA Tri Team president) and Anna (team member), chat with them for a few, then head to the 4 hr pace group... figured I could start with people who might hammer early, but I'd be ok...
The gun goes off.... here we go...
My pace plan was specific: miles 1-4 nothing faster than 9:45, nothing slower than 10, miles 5-10 at 9:08, last 5k at max effort.... I click off the first mile in like, 9:40... shit, slow down... next mile was 10:++.. shit, speed up... race day jitters I guess... I'm trying to keep myself together and know that I can't play this back and forth game all day... I've become pretty dependant on my Garmin's "Virtual Partner" application, where you can put in a pace and it'll tell you if you're ahead or behind of that pace, so I resolved to just keep my VP pace at 10, and try not to go anything more than 15 secs ahead... it didn't work...
The first 4 miles were great... time was decent, legs felt good, course wasn't as bad as I remembered it... yeah, there were some hills, but nothing like Frostbite, so I was happy.... I pass up the first few aid stations, skipping water (which I admit, was dumb)... the first few stations were so damn congested with people that I told myself to hold off on water until the race thinned out a little... (this is where you need to start keeping count of dumb shit I did that day)
As I mentioned earlier, I've been learning (the hard way) about pre-and during race nutrition and for some reason, I'm still not "getting it"... (actually, on my ride yesterday, I think I'm starting to, but until yesterday, I was still clueless)... So I took 2 gels with me for the Half... "enough to get me through" I thought.... and I probably would have been correct, but I'll explain that later...
So I'm clicking off miles with little effort... just trying to run my race, trying to stick to the pace plan as much as possible (which at this point I was crushing!)... End up taking a gel around 50 mins (I think)... A tad late (I thought), but I was feeling really good and running really fast (fastest mile during the race was 8:55), so I figured I was doing ok... (take note, this is another dumb thing I did)...
Around mile 9 or so, I see Hallie on the side of the road cheering people on... She's been fighting some injuries lately so she couldn't run... I feel bad for her, because she's a stellar athlete and an even nicer person, and I know she's really frustrated with the injuries... Anyway, I pass her, say hey, and she says, "How you feelin?"... "Fine... for now..."
I should have known better... keep your mouth shut Dave...
Cause then, it happened...
Right around mile 9 or 10, I fall apart.... :(
My pace shoots up from like, 9:10 to 10:30's... I'm reduced to walking, dry heaving, and I'm getting a tad light headed.... "Just keep moving" I tell myself.... I try to walk at a decent pace... My calves are starting to cramp... Great... Dry heave some more... awesome race day...
I run for a bit, then walk for a bit... run for a bit, dry heave, run for a bit, cramp, walk... this plays out for the last 4 or so miles... It. Was. Miserable.
The battle with my mind is raging... "Why?... Why is this happening? This is bullshit... I trained hard, I didn't blow my pace plan too early... I ate my ge... dammit, I only ate one gel... coulda done that better... dammit, I'm hurting... hell, we're almost done, just keep going"
End up crossing the finish line in a painful jog...
2:08:49, avg pace of 9:50/mi... not too shabby... another PR, so I guess I can't be too upset...
But, I am upset.... I'm furious... I'm glad it's over, but I'm mad that it happened again... "Well, I guess that just means I've got to run another half in 2011" I tell myself... I also say, "I've got a loooooong way to go before a 70.3"...
I look around the finisher's village for Sam, Chad, Kendrick, Sara, anyone who I can complain to... no one is anywhere to be found.... I wrap up in the space blanket, but am so pissed that I blew my race, I toss it in the trash (that's yet another dumb thing I did...)... I'm walking around aimlessly, cramping, hungry, and tired, looking for my people... End up going to bag check, getting my stuff and changing into some dry clothes...
Turns out that Kendrick ended up not running-- apparently he caught whatever Sara had (and it wasn't food poisioning afterall)... Sam ended up winning her AG so we stuck around for awards... except that it took for-freakin-ever, so we bailed... (I'm leaving a lot of stuff out, but it's been two weeks since race day!)
Overall, I'm still torn on how I did... yes, I PR'd, which I'm happy about... I took 11+ mins off from my time last year, and yes, I'm happy about that... I'm learning that chasing down a sub 2 finish is going to be a lot harder than I thought... but the fact is, is that a sub 2 finish is still out there, and as soon as I hit that, I'm gonna want to go lower... and lower and lower...
Ahh the viscious cycle... I can't get enough...
Thanks for reading...
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