bonkers!

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…

almost bailed. glad i didn’t.

even though i picked up my number and loverly tech-y shirt, i knew that the Healthy Kidney 10K was gonna be a game-day decision, due to both predicted rain in the forecast and a cold that hit me this past week.

race morning…even though the Weather Channel said current rain, I peeked outside…wasn’t doing anything except drizzling…and the fresh air felt invigorating…what the hell, i’ll do it. but performance-wise, not expecting anything great and prepared to drop out if need be.

expecting a massive crowd (and seeing the rec lane taped off with orange tape and cones), i knew that I better be lined up early, so I was lined up by 8:30 (which meant forgoing a full warm-up.) i saw a new Flyer lined up near me and we chatted while waiting for the start. Finally after the speeches, the elite male athlete intros, and the speeches, we were off. And here was how it netted out:

Mile 1-8:15

Mile 2-8:19

Mile 3-8:39

Mile 4-8:50

Mile 5-8:22

Mile 6-8:10

Last .2-1:44

52:19, 8:26 pace (5k splits 26:12/26:07)

Not my best, not my worst. The lingering cold and the lack of a full warm-up prevented me from really giving it my all. But, on the other hand, it’s dress rehearsal for the Mini 10K in 3 weeks…and can’t ever complain about a slight negative split…(at least at the Mini, I can get a better start and a full warm-up then…and the Mini has a slightly easier course in the first half)

Afterwards, a bunch of Flyers hung around for the raffle (they had some pretty nice prizes…wouldn’t have minded winning $250 worth of Tiffany’s bling, amongst other things…) and the awards ceremony…as the course record did fall by 2 seconds that day (good to see Ritz did it, though I was sorta hoping it’d be Mottram, as he came so close twice…)

Next-kick this cold and pray that the weather gods give us ladies a good day in 3 weeks…

(and as my faithful DS-Trainers are now approaching 200 miles…I think it’s due time to start breaking in the new pair in time for the Mini…)

fifty-fifty

or so it said on my watch afterwards! for once, i was actually a little disappointed that my time was actually a second faster according to NYRR…gotta love “novelty times!”

so today, at the Healthy Kidney 10K, we were all lined up besides (or behind) some of the best of the best in men’s road racing. As I said in a previous post-and Mary Wittenberg (the CEO of NYRR) seemed to share those thoughts when she was talking up the crowd before the race-it’s special to be sharing the road with these great athletes…whether today, or with some of the best female runners next month at the Mini 10K…or even other races where our local elites are also national stars. i’m sure that was part of the reason why this race was so packed today (or it could have been the attraction of a souvenir technical shirt, or for the locals, this was a club points race where everyone comes out in force!)

but anyway, backing things up a little. well first off, the fashion report 🙂 (this one’s for you, Skylight) My brand-spankin’ new so-red-hot Flyer singlet, my black Nike shorts with red and white trim/accents (Flyer colors!!,) black Flyer sports bra, thin black headband, and the orange/white Asics Cumuluses, coordinating again with yet another orangish and white race bib.

so i got to the race area in plenty of time…dropped off my bag, stretched and did a little bit of a warm-up…but still didn’t really feel loose (maybe after-effects from Tuesday, though i took it easy the remainder of the week?) found some teammates and walked to the start…then saw one of my faster female teammates and she pulled me in to line up with her (between the 6 and 7 minute markers again…might as well, this is a packed race. besides, i wanted to make sure my teammate lined up well, as she usually scores for our womens team in the points races.) so, stood through the elite male athlete introductions and speeches (though laughed a little when they said the elites will be around cheering for the rest of us at the finish…they’ll be done before I even get to mile 4!) so anyway, eventually we were off.

weather at the start was high 50s, humid, sunny, which made it feel much warmer…my original plan was the run the first mile cautiously, then hard and controlled til the 5K point (or maybe a little longer-like til after that last nasty hill in the 4th mile,) then hammer home. didn’t quite work out like that. the mile-by mile replay…

1. 7:59-good, didn’t feel like I rabbited this mile. saw Uptown Girl and the rest of her TRD “pom-pom crew” during this mile, as well as one of my teammates standing and cheering nearby (thanks JN!)
2. 7:57-still pretty good!
3. 8:20-first of the Harlem Hill climbs. yuck. (hit 5K in 25:12)
4. 8:45-steeper Harlem Hill-double yuck.
5. 7:56-fun mile. saw the pom-pom crew again, as well as the Flyers’ Mr. President taking pictures. Skylight caught up to me before Cat Hill and ran with me for the remainder of this mile before he took off. It definitely helped to have someone to run with when I felt I was fading a little.
6. 8:09-meh, ok, lets just get this done 🙂
last .21-1:43-caught up to and passed one of our female super-veteran superstars, but the uphill to Tavern always seems to rob me of a finishing kick. But helped to hear the cheering, from my teammates and other teams (yep, Morrissey, I did hear ya!)

So…even though my watch had a cool time of 50:50, according to NYRR, I actually finished in 50:49, 8:11 pace (25:12/25:37 5K splits.)

So, as usual, hung around afterwards with my teammates rehashing the day/race/whatever else. And of course, the blog crew was out in force…saw jbl (was it a PR? 😉 :-p), Sempre Libera with some of her TRD teammates (congrats on what I think is a PR?), Phil (congrats on 1st 10K!) and Brooklyn (congrats on a PR!)

and the PR’s…or course PR’s extended to the elites-Craig Mottram was the repeat winner of the race with a better time than last year, but missed the course record (and an additional $10,000 bonus) by mere seconds!! Man…don’t know what is the lesser of 2 evils-to miss a time goal by a long shot, or just barely…knowing you just…about…had it!!

Anyway, I had a good/fun run today. Still weak on the hills, but nothing I didn’t already know. Next up for me will be the Mini 10K in June. Another fun race, however, that is one that the weather can really make or break. (made it in ’04, broke it in ’05.)

time to nap…got to par-tay tonite 🙂