Notes
19:12 Official, 29th OA, 4th AG.
A harsh reminder of how much proper pacing matters! Far too quick over the first mile - mostly the first half mile and I paid for it. Felt great to start so decided to just hold that effort despite seeing lap pace around 5:30 - that effort still put me well under 6 for the first mile - easily 20 seconds faster than I had originally thought. This made for a painful/uncomfortable race experience and not at all enjoyable after mile 1.
Even before the first mile mark I could feel the negative impact and a shift toward really aggressive breathing. From there on it was just holding on the best I could to the redlined state.
Ankle/tendon and calf/peroneal felt fine and didn't bother me at all during the race! Irritated after though.
A few notes / takeaways:
- Distracted by the ankle/tendon issue I never really solidified my race plan as was too concerned about doing the race. Having a no faster than a 6:05 for example on first mile would have been good...at least for pacing and enjoyment!
- Weather was so-so. Humid, wet (rain held off though) and mid 60s or so. Not my best conditions without being used to some heat. Historically don't race well in humid or warm conditions.
- Breathing was terrible. Seemed to have some throat congestion which even made mouth breathing feel off. I would occasionally try a quick deep nasal inhale and couldn't do it. Basically into "emergency" breathing mode by 1.5 miles if not a bit before. Had tried to get on 2 nasal strips after my warmup but skin was too sweaty and no luck...this may have been helpful.
- Family came out and gave me a nice boost a couple times. 2 kids ran short / sprint and was fun to watch them be competetive.
- I still have a really really long way to go but need to use my years of experience to my advantage. I also need to stick with what I'm doing as the consistency will no doubt result in this same pace feeling fairly comfortable in a year or so.
- Racing with GPS is tricky and something new for me. Garmin and mile markers were close but not quite - will plan to use manual lap going forward. Course is likely spot-on, GPS laps giving me an extra couple seconds here and there made me think sub-19 was still possible. Not that I could have done anything about it today!