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Sunday, October 2, 2016

Blue Doo 2 mile race recap

Obviously, marathon training translates into two-mile training, right? Especially Hanson's, where the fastest I've run in months is like 6:47 pace...
But this was a race I was going to run, no matter what. The race supports the Tulane cancer center prostate cancer research fund, and since I am at Tulane and many of my patients come from the cancer center, it's definitely a cause I wanted to support.
The race was held at 5pm on a Saturday, which was a kind of unusual time, but since it was only 2 mies I didn't have to try to think about eating before, etc. I just had a normal lunch and a snack of butter with toast (just being honest about ratios) at some point. The race is on Tulane's campus, so close that I jogged over to get my packet, jogged back to put my T-shirt away, and jogged back to the start. I also started to feel a little hungry, so I grabbed a peppermint to take at the starting line. But instead of eating candy, I decided to lose my shirt, so I spent the last few minutes at the start stashing my T-shirt and re-pinning my number on my jog bra. It was a nice day, but it was 85F at the start, and I was sweating. I had worn my Tulane running team shirt, but the last time I wore that for a hot race I was SO SORRY so I opted for jog bra instead.
Then we were off! I dashed out, and was about fourth female off the bat. Some of the girls were obviously overextended themselves, but one of them is usually about my speed, so I kept an eye on her. The course runs through the campus with about a hundred sharp turns. It's kind of crazy, especially since most of the turns are right at the beginning, when it's still crowded. I was surprised to be in such a crowd, even as I picked off all the women but one, and I kept glancing at my Garmin when I could. I was SO SLOW. I kept seeing 6:55, 6:40...what the heck?! Then, right as I passed the first woman, at 0.65 miles, I took a good look at my wrist and realized that I was looking at the wrong Garmin pace (I miss my 305's huge font!). I was looking at instant pace. My overall average pace was 5:55. HA. My goal heading in was 6:15 to 6:30 pace, so no, that was not a good start.
I groaned, slowed down, and waited for the fatigue to hit. The problem with marathon training is I've lost touch with faster paces. I did feel like it was more effort than I should be putting out, but I was way off the pace. This isn't the first time I've made this mistake, by the way, but in my defense I'd just reconfigured the data screens.
So anyway. No time to give in just because I started way too fast. I slowed down and twenty or more guys rushed past, but no women. I was in the lead, but I knew my friends Lauren and Kim were both behind me and I expected Lauren to pass me at some point. We're usually close in pace, and I knew I was going to be fried later. We hit mile one in 6:11, which means that mile was far too fast and I was toast. There is a turn-around a little after mile one, and I had about six seconds on Lauren. By then I was just hanging on and trying not to totally fall apart, but I slowed considerably. I was also tossing that stupid peppermint back and forth the whole time. Far be it from me to litter! The whole second mile was a struggle, and the few glances at my watch were rather grim. But as we turned the last corner, the course biker called out, "First female!". I just hoped I was alone.
I was: I headed for the finish line and slapped awkwardly into the finishing tape. 12:40, not pretty, but my first overall win in years!

And that's a good omen for next week's marathon, right?

7 comments:

  1. Hello and Congrats ! Winning a race in New Orleans is no easy task. "back when" - I always used 5ks to judge my "fitness" during my marathon training. I think it's an excellent tool, even when your not specifically training for that distance. Good Luck next weekend ! I'm anxious to hear about the race and your post race Hanson plan thoughts. It's one of the few plans that I haven't tried.
    When it's convenient, can you do another update on the Garmin 620 (still like, pros cons, etc.) Sadly, very sadly my 2 - 305s are trying to die on me and I will have to upgrade soon. urgh !

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    1. I think the 620 is a good sub for the 305. It's also pretty cheap right now! I just like to have ALL the info available so I don't have to keep updating data fields. So I use one screen if I'm doing intervals, one for tempo runs or if I just need distance, and one for races. The ones that only give you 6 fields mean you have to change them depending on the activity, and that's too much trouble.

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  2. Congratulations on your win even if it wasn't pretty or planned! That's an amazing 2 mile time for marathon training and having not run at those paces in so long. Love that you still had the peppermint too because you didn't want to litter!

    I agree with you on cutting the mileage back a bit during taper because Hansons taper isn't really much of a taper, IMHO. Also can't wait to see your thoughts on the plan.

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    1. I can't wait to see my thoughts, too, ha ha! I really hope I have a good race next week!

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  3. Yep, definitely good signs for the marathon. If you can produce speed like that during a marathon cycle then you're in good shape.

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  4. Nice work!! Hopefully it bodes well for your marathon. :)

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  5. For sure, 2-milers are the key ingredient to marathon training! Congrats on the unexpected win! I should probably attempt to figure out the views on my Garmin so I can get a better gauge on my pace when I'm actually trying to run.

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