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Monday, February 3, 2014

Not a great race

There will be other races. Sunday was not a good one. I wasn't in the shape I thought I was in, and it was not ideal weather.

Getting to the race, bathrooms, and corral was fine (although RnR placed the port-a-potties right against the Mardi Gras viewing stands, which are basically bleachers, so there was no place to line up! Fail!). I squeezed into corral one, said hi to people I knew, tried to re-think my game plan. Saturday, I was convinced I had a 1:30:xx in me. In fact, I thought it might even be 1:30:30 or below. But the weather Sunday was worse than originally thought: in fact, Deena Kastor didn't start after seeing the forecast. Nevertheless, I really thought I could do 1:30:something, even if it was :59. But I overestimated my fitness.

Now, I don't know what's up with my Garmin, and hopefully it was just the very overcast weather, but it went nuts Sunday. It beeped a mile at 2/3rds of a mile! And then the pace went blank, and didn't return for miles. I ended the race with 13.42 on my Garmin and I KNOW I am not that bad at tangents. Sadly, this might be the beginning of the end for ol' Garmy.

The first few miles I think were fast: I am estimating 6:50 - 6:55 (my Garmin helpfully has miles one and two sub-6, lol!). There are mile markers and time on course, which is the only reason I have some idea. I didn't slow down because I thought I could run that pace.
I was hot. It was damp, humid, sticky, and gross. It was in the 70's early. But things were going ok until we got to the French Quarter. It was so humid that the roads had turned into an oil slick! You could see the oil sheen on the roads and I slid around like a crazy person. I know this was a problem for a lot of people: so many runners mentioned it to me after the race.


I took a gel during the race and it might have been a bad idea. It was a Roctane, and my stomach cramped right away. I've had that problem in the past with Roctane. That was when I started to slow down.

At one point in the race, we turned a corner and SPLAT! ran right into a wall of cold, wet air. The fog rolled off the river and we rolled into the fog! It was quite dense, and visibility wasn't great. Such strange weather! So humid!
I saw David and threw him my sunglasses - yeah, didn't need those - and finally finished the race. The last few miles felt hard for me, but I was actually slowing down. In my delusional Garmin-less state I thought I was speeding up....
Me throwing sunglasses and Gu at David

If I can believe my Garmin (I can't), I had a few miles right at 7:00 and two over 7: one when my stomach cramped right after the gel, and the other was mile 12. That is because I did a jello shot at mile 12. What?! I figured why not? I was already way off pace. (I did a bloody mary during Louisiana two weeks ago!). The Louisiana Running Company guys were out there and were pressuring me, so I took one - OMG it was so strong. Perhaps I need to stop blaming my Gu for my stomach cramps and start blaming green jello shots!
Is it me or is my foot turn-in a little better?  :) Yay for hip strengthening! 

I finished in 1:31:31, not even close to what I wanted, but it's a good lesson. I wasn't in condition to run faster. Yes, it was a tough day out there, but fit runners can overcome. There were some signs today that told me I was not as prepared as I should be: my feet hurt, and my stomach cramped. Cramping usually means I'm working too hard and losing too many electrolytes. So, I know what to do. Keep working, and keep stretching and rolling and strengthening so I can keep working!

13 comments:

  1. 1:31:31 is an amazing time.

    Those do not sound like ideal conditions, for sure.

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  2. Well, I love that you did the jello shot! I still think your time is smoking, and I think it's a great start to getting back to where you want to be.

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  3. Sounds hideous. And for the humidity to affect the road conditions - that's definitely extreme.

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  4. My cousin ran that same race. Way, way slower, I'm sure. :)

    Definitely sounds like tough conditions. Humidity kills me. The jello shot, though, that's pretty awesome. I'd totally do that. Of course, I also stop during races to swing on fences, so maybe I'm not the best at competition. :)

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  5. Ugh, I hate running in humidity. I know you must be much more accustomed to it, but still. Not surprised at all that Deena didn't start.

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  6. Sorry you didn't have the race you wanted! But those would have been tough conditions for ANYONE even in tip-top shape.

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  7. considering the conditions I don't think 1:31:31 is off your fitness that you thought....

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    1. Maybe not, and I sort of reassessed what my fitness really is, too! :)

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  8. Even though you didn't meet your goal time, that's a nice time for a winter race Grace. You can tell by the pics it was less than optimal, and yes, your form looks pretty good (at least from the pics) ... hips are tucked, don't appear to be over striding, and good posture.

    I've had almost the exact same experience in a couple of races - that's why I'm pretty concerned about Little Rock in a few weeks. There's obviously a huge difference in "winter-fit" and everything else. Plus, that was pretty cool of David to hang out in those conditions to snap a pic.

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  9. I ran the RnR with you, Grace :p but I was wayyyyyyy behind you :):) It was my first 1/2 though so I'm proud. There were many times during the race that I couldn't see anything but fog. My daughter said it was creepy at times, but I chalked it up to New Orleans. My Garmin was acting up too, and mine is pretty new...it beeped every 30 seconds...yeah, that was fun. Overall, we had a blast though and are trying to decide our next race! Congrats on your fantastic run!

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    1. Congrats on your race! That is actually not normal weather at all for NOLA - the humidity is, but the dense fog usually just stays on or near the river. I don't know what was happening yesterday! At least it dropped the temperatures. I heard that there was a 10 degree difference from the first to the last corrals in start temp!

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  10. Great read !!!! Being this was my second half marathon it was overwhelming with all the people (Crescent City nightmare ) but not as bad!! But this was no Ole Man River Half , I started running with this beast of woman named Pamela who I drove with to the race. She is a friend of an old friend of mine, She is from Atlanta and was her first race in New Orleans.. She ran plenty of Half and Full marathons including Boston and also Iron Man Triathlon (whew!!!) I rand with her from the starting line and then lost her at mile 3. She told me she uses Gu and she gave me one. I never used it before in any races .. Big mistake for me.. Gave me little cramps and no telling what it else it did to me !!! The weather was crazy and then I made another mistake of taking off my LRC shirt before I got to the Jackson Square.. BRRRRRRRRRRR!!! The it felt like Esplande ave took forever !!! I wanted to beat my Ole Man River time of 1;57.12 and do it around the 1:55 mark but oh well .. I take the 1:58.08.. Still happy I did it under 2 hours... Hope to meet ya on the next race ! You rock homegirl!!!

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  11. I think you did great, considering you're just coming back from an injury and it takes time for the body to adapt again. No doubt you'll get your goal next time - what a studette!!!

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