I wasn't sure what to expect going into this race. It's been a long year of IM training and I wasn't sure if I had rested enough. I had thoughts of "PB" dancing around in the back of my mind, but I wasn't sure if I had it in me. I got my current PB (2:09:14) at this same race last year, so I was willing to give it another shot to see if the course would be good to me again.
I was relaxed going in. I didn't feel any pressure, just the normal pre-race excitement. It was great connecting with lots of my friends from the running club, too.
My plan was to try to stay in front of the 2:15 pace bunny (BG) and hold onto the 2:00 bunny (DG) as long as I could. Well, I lost sight of DG before the first kilometer marker (which I'm sure was off because my watch said I ran it in 4:51!). The 1-mile marker seemed to be right, though (9:40).
I also decided to follow my "average pace" on my SDM and use that as the gauge. For more than the first half, I was just under 6:00/km. I was kind of shocked by that because it's about 10 seconds/km faster than I normally run this distance. But I was feeling good, so I stuck with it.
This was also the first time in a long time that I raced with music. I pre-programmed my Nano with the best running tunes I could find, and tried to put them in order that I'd want/need to hear them.
The downside to running with music is that I couldn't hear my watch beep for walk breaks, so I had to keep looking at my watch. As a result, I didn't take them regularly every 10 minutes and they weren't a full minute long.
By the time I hit the 14K mark, my average pace had started to slow down to about 6:04 (this was the up-hilliest part of the course). It stayed at 6:04 all the way until the 18K mark when I decided to go for broke. I took my final walk break at the aide station there and then hunkered down and drove it home.
Just as I was getting to the 19K mark, an old favourite "earworm" of mine and my friend BG came on: "S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y-NIGHT! S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y-NIGHT!" That really got me going and I picked the pace up significantly. Then at the 20K mark, "Clocks" by Coldplay came on and I thought, Yeah, this is the perfect song to take me home. Finish before it's over, La.
Well, I hammered as hard as I could and as I got close to the finish line I saw the clock turning from 2:06:59 to 2:07:00. Yes, it was going to be a new PB!
Official chip time: 2:06:55!! Oh, baby! That was 2 minutes and19 seconds off my previous PB! That's smokin'! I really feel that sub-2:06 is within my grasp now. I honestly didn't think I had it in me as it seemed so far away from my previous PB of 2:09:14 (which had taken me 6 years to achieve).
Anyway, I'm sore. My hammies are killing me, but my friend's hot tub is calling my name, so I'll end my report here.
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6 comments:
ohh wow! good on ya La, well done indeedily :)
Congratulations! And just catching up on some old posts of yours -- what a transformation. You should be so proud!
Way to go on your run! I'm just a beginning to run and damn it's hard! I would like to do the danskin mini tri next summer. I can do the swim and bike not but my jogging needs a lot of work. Your an inpiration for me!
One more comment, I noticed below that you said you had breast red. surgery. If you don't mind sharing/talking of this, was it worth it? Did you get the results you wanted. It's something I have thought about for a long time but am scared to do it too. I have a bunch more wt to get off first too. Thanks.
congrats! My PB at the half-m distance is 2:09:10, so you're right in my ballpark -- I wish I could take 2 minutes off, but I don't see it happening. Great report!
Congratulations, La! Who knew the Bay City Rollers could be so inspirational.
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