Beginners and Beyond

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FAAP Fall Classic 10k RR - Spectacular Blow Up (Read 70 times)


Trail Monster

    I haven't posted in awhile. My apologies but I needed a break. From running, from training, from thinking so hard about it all. So what did I do with my two weeks? Nothing. I didn't run. I didn't work out. I ate anything I wanted. I drank some beer and wine. After about 12 days of living a normal American lifestyle I'd had enough.


    I started with the P90X plyo DVD followed by a 3 mile run the next day. Apparently that was too much. My legs were super sore yesterday and still complaining this morning. But Shane was excited for this event so we were on our way at 6:45am. I chose my INKnBURN denim shorts and leaf 'em sports bra under our Team Brunazzi shirts. Shoes were Altra Superiors with the rock guard removed. We dropped off the kids with Shane's sister to play with their cousin and then headed to North Park.


    We picked up our shirts and bibs and then talked to the other runners and our friends from the timing service. Shane decided we should do a warm up so we headed up the road a ways and immediately my legs complained. After a short distance I gave up and headed back to await the coming torture. I also discovered my Garmin decided to discharge its battery and shut down so I would be running 'blind'.

     

    Shane pre-race

     

    This race is held by the Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh so there was a hand-carved gong to get us going. The race director recognized Shane and I and offered a greeting before launching into the course description and markings. After that the medical director gave a short word on not pushing too hard and respecting your limitations. I admit I snickered that a 5k/10k had a medical director so maybe I only got what I deserved.

     

    The 10k started 10 minutes before the 5k and at the sound of the gong I went hard. I knew we would move from road to trail quickly and I wanted to be in position before we bottle necked. Suddenly I realized I was ahead of Shane and all the other women. I pulled back and about 5-7 more people blew by me. Shane shouted, "You're running 6:15 pace. Slow down!" I should have listened.

     

    I pulled back a little bit as we hit the trail and settled into the chase pack. My legs hurt but I knew I was refreshed from the recent rest and wanted to see if they would shake out. I started to worry when I was looking for the 1 mile water stop long before we actually hit it. Feeling like you've run way over a mile at only 0.75 is not a good sign. Without a Garmin I figure I went out too hard. I probably ran a 7:45 first mile. Oops.

     

    The next two miles were a blur of pain as my lungs and legs began to burn. I kept pushing knowing that I should be able to place well since it was decently technical trail and a short distance. I couldn't get any decent pace on the uphills (I've had this happen a LOT recently) and I was overheating. I whipped off my shirt, not caring that my bib was on it.

     

    As we approached some volunteers pointing to a turn I thought, "We must be over halfway now." Nope, they shouted, "2.8 miles. Almost halfway!" I wanted to die. I decided to pull back for a mile and see if I could recover enough to push hard to the end. A few men passed me and a woman I know, Natalie, caught me and ran with me for awhile. We chatted and I relaxed into it for a bit until we hit a long uphill. I let my friend go and silently berated myself as I walked up.

     

    The last couple miles another runner I know, Mike, caught me and basically stayed on my tail with another man. We were all suffering and didn't chat much except for when we came to two forks in a row that were unmarked. We made our best guesses based on the general direction we needed to head and hoped for the best. Thankfully we came upon another volunteer about a quarter mile later. I quickly told him about the unmarked forks but I guess he didn't say anything because I found out a lot of people got lost there, including the leaders.

     

    As I pounded down a hill a volunteer shouted that there was a downed tree at the bottom to watch out for. A man bolted past me, ignoring the warning, and caught his feet on the tree taking a pretty awful digger. But he got up and kept running so he must have been okay. I took the time to walk to the tree and step over and lost the man in the process. As I ran up an access road I heard another set of feet approaching. I figured it was Mike but a quick glance over my shoulder told me differently. A woman passed me and quickly gapped me. I didn't care in the least by that point.

     

    As we headed back towards the start I knew there was a field and then one last road section to the finish line. Two more women approached from the rear and I gathered enough dignity to push hard enough to ensure my lead. I tried to catch the woman who had passed me on the way to the finish but I didn't have enough of a kick. I dragged myself across the line in 1:05:15. 27th overall, 9th woman.

     

    I crossed the line, handed over my bib tag after some fumbling with my shirt, and then stumbled to the grass where I promptly collapsed. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I was hot and then cold and not sweating. I chugged the remainder of my water between gasps and stared at the swirling tree branches over my head. I was slightly amused by how I must appear to the other runners. Out of shape? Not a trail runner? Inexperienced? I mused that the medical director would be showing up to give me a speech any second. Only it was just a fellow runner and a volunteer who came to my aid. After a few minutes of listening to them debate whether I should stay laying down or get up and walk, I dragged myself to my feet and into the port-o-john to hide. After about 10 minutes I felt almost normal although a little wobbly. I swallowed my pride and rejoined the festivities outside.

     

    While waiting for results the FAAP put out Filipino food but I couldn't even look at it. I grabbed a banana and hunkered in the corner to watch the dancers do their performance.

     

    Filipino dancers

     

    As I watched my strength returned. I just wanted to go home but Shane had finished in 7th place in about 55 minutes and earned 1st in his age group so we waited. I was shocked when I was called for 3rd in my age group. I absolutely felt my performance was undeserving of anything. I also learned the first woman had finished in 55-something. On a good day I probably could have smashed this course and gotten an overall award. That's going to drive me in regaining my fitness in the coming weeks for sure. In the end I'm just glad I got a run in and got out on the trails even if it was an embarrassing performance.

     

    Close up of the bamboo award

     

    shirt

    2013 races:

    3/17 Shamrock Marathon

    4/20 North Coast 24 Hour

    7/27 Burning RIver 100M

    8/24 Baker 50M

    10/5 Oil Creek (distance to be determined)

     

    My Blog

     

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    INKnBURN

    Altra Zero Drop

    wcrunner2


    Are we there, yet?

      Sounds like you ignored the medical director. Wink  Seriously, from how you describe the way you were feeling with swirling branches, alternating hot and cold, and not sweating, I would have dragged you to the medical tent or dragged one of the EMTs over to see you. Even if it's only a 10K, please take those signs seriously.

       2024 Races:

            03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

            05/11 - D3 50K
            05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

            06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

       

       

           

      RunTomRun


      Wickedly Average

        Glad you're OK, but do be careful. Those symptoms bring to my mind heat stroke or heat exhaustion.

         

        You kept up the fight against the odds and that's great. Just remember to stay within the envelope of your condition.

        Tom (formerly known as PhotogTom)

        5K - 25:16, 10K - 55:31,  15K - 1:20:55,   HM - 1:54:54

        redrum


        Caretaker/Overlook Hotel

          Ya, the 3 weeks off and jumping right into a 10k were probably not the best ideas.  However, you know it's about fitness.  Only 3 weeks is not enough to put you far off.  Your fitness will return quickly.

           

          In the future, if you can possibly convince yourself to do something "else" or "different", I've found that to be a great way to bridge gaps of lack of motivation, disinterest or even disgust.

           

          Keep running enjoyable!!

           Randy

          meaghansketch


            Two weeks off is not enough to lose any fitness, and is probably in the long run a good thing.  Sometimes your body just needs some extra recovery time (even without any specific injury coming on) and I think the feeling of burnout is a way of your body signaling that it needs more recovery than you're giving it.  I do think you went into your 10K probably feeling more fresh (even if you legs were a bit sore) than you have in a long time, making that 6:15 pace feel way more reasonable than it should have!

             

            I agree that your symptoms sounded like they could be the beginning of heatstroke/ heat exhaustion.  Be careful with that and don't be ashamed of getting help.  Experienced runners suffer from heat-related illness too.  It's not a sign of weakness, it's a natural law that running hard causes your body to build up heat, and experienced runners can be in some cases more vulnerable because they are able to push themselves harder against physical symptoms that might cause less experienced runners to slow down or stop.

             

            Good job hanging in there!


            Trail Monster

              I took 12 days off after training for the last year for a hundred miler and then running a successful 50 miler two weeks ago. I really don't think there was anything wrong with my fitness or that I pushed too hard for a normal day. My guess is I had a bad day. Maybe I was dehydrated from drinking beer, wine, and pop for two weeks. Maybe I packed on some weight that led to overheating. It was cooler than it had been for Burning River and Baker so it wasn't conditions. Only thing I can figure is my endocrine system is still out of whack and doing a plyo workout left my legs too sore. I doubt I was ever in any danger. I had my wits about me and knew what was happening and I walked a lot of the hills. All in all it was just a bad experience.

               

              oh, and it was my 100th lifetime race so I guess it needed a jinx.

              2013 races:

              3/17 Shamrock Marathon

              4/20 North Coast 24 Hour

              7/27 Burning RIver 100M

              8/24 Baker 50M

              10/5 Oil Creek (distance to be determined)

               

              My Blog

               

              Brands I Heart:

              FitFluential

              INKnBURN

              Altra Zero Drop

              meaghansketch


                Not sure if you are responding to me but I'm definitely not saying there was anything wrong with your fitness- much the opposite, in fact.  It does sound like you just had a bad day.  I've just seen experienced, extremely fit runners collapse on courses and it had nothing to do with their fitness, it was just a combination of running very hard in non-ideal conditions.  Glad you are OK and glad you never felt like you were in danger.

                scottydawg


                Barking Mad To Run

                  1:05 is blowing up for a 10K?  I'm terrible at it, then, my 10K time is usually about 1:15 or so, lol.  Trail run would probably be even longer than that.  So from my back-of-the-pack perspective, you are quite speedy!

                   

                  Sorry you did not do as well as you would have liked, but sounds like you may have gotten a touch overheated, a touch of heatstroke, etc.  Glad you ended up being okay and they did not have to put you on IV fluids, etc.  Congrats to you and Shane for your AG awards!

                   

                  Sorry you missed out on the Filipino food.  I lived in the Philippines for 6 and 1/2 years and loved eating the food there!  Mmmm..lumpia....good stuff!

                  "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt


                  Trail Monster

                    No Meaghen. The comment 'run within in the envelope of your condition' from RTR made me think people thought I was out of shape. Plus there was a comment about doing other exercise while off. My understanding is that even elites take an off season. My timing is weird for it but my goal races are over so I felt ready for it. Just felt like I was being judged overall for having a bad day.

                     

                    scotty, youre also twice my age. Im pretty sure you're ahead when we age grade our results.

                    2013 races:

                    3/17 Shamrock Marathon

                    4/20 North Coast 24 Hour

                    7/27 Burning RIver 100M

                    8/24 Baker 50M

                    10/5 Oil Creek (distance to be determined)

                     

                    My Blog

                     

                    Brands I Heart:

                    FitFluential

                    INKnBURN

                    Altra Zero Drop


                    Hip Redux

                      It could have been a combination of things, really - the good thing is that you got some bling for feeling that crappy!  :P  Nice.

                       

                        Sorry it was a tough day, Banshee.  Cool event, anyway.

                        Docket_Rocket


                          Sorry you had issues.  Take care of yourself, as George said.

                          Damaris

                           

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