like my last race the week before, i had time on my hands this morning. the race didn't start until 10.05 am, and burlington is only a short 35-minute drive away. my legs were feeling a little tight because i wasn't able to stretch after all of my workouts in the lead up to the race, so i hopped on my bike on the trainer in the basement for a little spin to get the blood flowing. afterwards i did a full stretch and was feeling top notch, so off i headed to race site. from the very beginning, this race was all about heart rates. there was a 5k event held alongside the 1/2 marathon that i was originally planning on doing, but my coach recommended that i do the longer race with a predetermined plan. the goal was to maintain a steady heart rate for the first half, and then bring it up and maintain a higher rate for the second half.
it's good i had that chance to do a little warm-up at home because i got to the event much later than i had hoped, and i was only able to jog for a few minutes before i had to head to the start. because of how i'd structured this race for myself, i was feeling super relaxed just before it began, more relaxed than i've ever been just before the start of any race i'm sure. i knew that i wasn't out there competing against anyone, and i wasn't even out there competing against myself; i was just there to finish the race in whatever time it took. had i arrived earlier i would have made my way to the back of the starting corral, but because i got to the line so late i found myself only three rows back from the front, and when the gun went off, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of other runners poured past me. starting slowly, my plan was to run 4.40/km for the first 10k, and then finish the race at a pace of 4.10/km, but once i got going i found that i was able to run right at my threshold and maintain a pace of 4.30, and with that i changed my plan just slightly. i decided that i'd run the first half right at my threshold, regardless of pace, because i knew that was an effort i could hold for hours.
as the race wore on, more and more athletes left me behind. my ego took a beating and i had to continually remind myself what this race was about. but it was tough. very tough. going into this thing i was hoping that i'd be able to finish with a time of sub-1.40, and just about the only thing that made me feel good this early on was that at one turnaround point i discovered that i was quite a bit ahead of the 1.45 pace bunny. with my ego in check and my pace settled, i carried on.
even though i was getting passed by every athlete and their uncle, as the Ks ticked away i realized that i was feeling great and really enjoying myself. running right at threshold is an effort that most athletes are likely very comfortable at, and i'm certainly no exception. it was a beautiful day and it was a beautiful course and the pace that i was running at really gave me the opportunity to appreciate so much of what i would otherwise miss, and as the halfway point of the race approached i started to get excited. i was feeling so good and had so much left in me that i couldn't wait to pick things up. not quite sure where i was on the course at the time, i looked at my garmin and saw that i was at 10.8k, and knew it was time to get going. there was a dude that had caught up to me and had been running with me for a few hundred metres, but once i hit that 10.8 mark, off i went, dropping him, on my way to a very different second half of the race.
now that i was moving quicker, i had to find a pace with a higher heart rate that i could comfortably maintain for this last half, but since the point of this race plan wasn't to compare split times, i didn't want this second half of the race to be a full-out 10k effort. i wanted to cross the line strong, not worn out. i ended up settling about 10 heart beats higher than threshold, which brought me down to about 4.10/km. although this definitely isn't race pace for me, i stuck with it and started catching up to and passing the crowds of people that had passed me much earlier. because my heart rate was still fairly low and i still had all of my reserves left, i was feeling great and started cruising towards the end. my ego started peeking out from behind the curtains as i passed all of the people ahead of me, and together we charged on. there was a bit of a headwind coming back towards the finish so as i moved up from one group of runners to the next, i would use the other athletes to break the headwind for me, take a moment to recover slightly, and then move up to the next group. i overtook the 1.35 pace bunny and was hoping to catch the 1.30 bunny, but knew that would only be possible if i brought my splits down to about 3.40. on another day, sure, but not today.
it wasn't until i was at the 16k marker that i realized i was feeling the first signs of fatigue. i normally feel spent in the first few kilometres of a race and have to push myself to keep things going for the rest, but today that wasn't the case at all. today i'd conserved everything and my body was feeling fantastic. even though my ego was right there on my shoulder telling me to go faster, i ignored him and stuck with my pace until the last 2k. at the 19k marker i finally allowed myself to put the pedal down and those last 2 kilometres were the only ones that i had a sub-4 pace, and i crossed the line at a pace of sub-3 with a finishing time of 1.31.44.
never had i felt so good at the end of a race! i made this race easy on myself for sure, but i never expected to feel as strong as i did at the end, nor did i expect to come so close to breaking a 1.30.00 finish time with such a relaxed effort. normally when i'm out there racing i'm pushing myself to go harder, but for almost every step of this race i was holding myself back. i can say with all honesty that this lesson in mental training was way, way, WAY harder than trying to psych myself up to go faster. i stuck to my race plan and looking back my HRs were rock steady: for the first 10k they only drifted 2 or three beats for every kilometre, and for the second half, although they were much higher, they only differed by 2 beats, except for the final 2k. this was a tremendous exercise and i would certainly urge anyone to try it.
i never would have enjoyed this day as much as i did if i were out there with a regular race plan. it was fun, but i'm definitely excited to head back to the burnlington 1/2 someday to see what sort of time i'm capable of finishing it. i've got a couple more races this year with similar race plans, but, for me at least, this type of racing can get old very fast. i like finishing near the front and i like training to try to bring my times down. i'm getting older and have a limited number of years where i'll be able to finish near the front, so for now me and my ego are working together to see what we can do. and my coach, too. can't forget about him.
also, a HUGE congrats to my friend suzanne who finished 2nd in the women's race. we train together at AETT and it's always awesome to see friends on the podium.
