2018 Sweetheart 8K: No Sweetheart Needed But Accepting Applications
Today was the second consecutive day of racing for me. Today was the Sweetheart 8K and it couldn’t have been more different than yesterday’s 5K. I wore my compression sleeves all day to help my legs recover and prepare for today. Last night, I had some muscle cramps in my calves so I drank a bottle of GQ-6 last night to help with the muscle cramps and boost my hydration. I knew it was going to be much warmer this morning compared to yesterday (forecast was for rain and mid-60’s compared to rain and mid-40’s yesterday). I rolled out my legs last night right before bed and tried to get a decent night sleep. I prepared another bottle of GQ-6 to sip on during the drive to the venue and finish off after the race.
Today, I got the race venue about an hour before the race started. I needed to pick up my race packet and do my warm up. When I got the race site, I realized I forgot to pack a race belt to attach my race bib. I really hate pinning the race bib to my shirt. My warm up today wasn’t as thorough as my warm up was yesterday. I am still trying to get into the habit of doing the same thing for warm up for each race. Eventually it will become habit. I got in a light jog and some dynamic stretches and then made my way down the starting line. I knew I had two friends, Denise Lester and Anne Edge, also running today so I quickly found them in the line and snapped a group photo. It was so nice to see them lined up and ready to rock.
Today, my coach said he wanted a negative split. If you are not familiar with that phrase it is when the second half of the race is done at a faster pace than the first half. It takes disciple and good fitness to negative split a race course. You really have to pace out the first half of the course, which is difficult since most people will start the race at a faster pace than they can sustain as they are caught up in the crowd, adrenaline, and excitement is pumping through the body. Like yesterday, I walked into this race with a particular pace in mind for each half of the course. The problem with that is I was going into the race blind. I didn’t know anything about the course so I set a pace that just sounded good to me. I was an idiot. During the first mile, I felt awesome (like everyone else) and I was hitting my pace. Then came the second mile as we entered into the neighborhood where it was nothing but rolling hills. It was so deflating and frustrating. My legs were heating up and I could not put out the fire. I could tell my heart rate was really elevated but my breathing wasn’t all that labored. I have been working on trying to run in different cardiac zones. It is like my heart only knows one zone to run in and that is Zone 3+. My average pace during the first half of the race was 9:58 per mile, which is about 15 seconds slower than I wanted. The second half of the run didn’t get any better. Still more rolling hills and my legs were starting to really get tired. The last 0.9 miles of the run is a slow climb back and I really just wanted to cave in and walk some of it. But I kept pushing and would not give up and made it to the top. I finished the second half of the race with an average pace of 10:28, which is about a minute slower than I had planned. I finished with an overall time of 51:06. It was really humid out this morning and I was definitely not trained to race in mid-60’s with high humidity in early February. Needless to say I didn’t execute the plan well enough to negative split the course. I would have needed a significantly slower pace during the first half in order to have the legs to accomplish that. That is a hard pill to swallow for me. I now know my coach’s plan was “ambitious” for me. But I trust him explicitly and I know he wouldn’t give me something he knew I could not do.
I really want to thank the volunteers for being out there today. Without these people, these types of events would not take place. I also want to thank the Richmond Road Runners Association Advanced 10K Training Team for the race registration. This race is promoted as a “couples” race as Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. I also want to thank GQ-6 for a product that keeps me moving forward. I know for a fact without the necessary nutrition, my body would not have been ready to race today after racing yesterday.
It would have been really nice to share this type of event with someone special. I know there is someone out there who is supportive and wants to share in these types of events with me. I did today’s race for me because it makes me happy. Up next, is the One City Marathon Relay on March 4th.
