As I was getting ready for our annual holiday trek to St. Louis, I decided to see if there were any races the few days we would be visiting family. For the first time, I found one hosted by the St. Louis track club as part of the Frostbite series. The race would take place entirely on the roads of Forest Park. If you haven't been to St. Louis, I really enjoy running in this park (the external loop is 5.XX miles). Much like the Chicago waterfront, this park is an incredible addition to the city, and was the residual benefit of hosting a World's Fair.
Christmas with my nephews and their parents was wonderful. Great company, great food and a lovely day. I knew the next day was going to be cold and windy but racing the last few days of 2009, seemed a wonderful way to end the year. The race didn't start until 9am. It was going to be in the 20's with high winds. After having my espresso and breakfast (two pieces wheat toast pbj and a banana), I dressed in the following layers:
Hat that I could pull well down below my ears
Tight short sleeve running shirt for base layer
Winter running turtleneck
Wind jacket
Winter running pants
Socks
Shoes
Cheap glove liners
Fleece gloves
Vaseline on face
Okay, I know it all seems like over kill but I was actually slightly under dressed! I could have used a base layer on my legs. Temperature ended up at 27 degrees, with 18 mph winds and a wind chill temp of 17 degrees. In addition to the layers I still had a cold and decided to plunge ahead and consume a dose of mucinex with sudafed. The only other small issue is that I have some asthma and I know that cold can irritate my lungs. On the way to the race, I grabbed an 8 ounce coffee from Starbucks. I normally never drink drip coffee (too much caffeine...makes me edgy) but I planned on consuming it 30 minutes prior to the race to make sure my lungs were open (caffeine is a bronchodilator). It worked great! Maybe I should wear a sign that says, "this race brought to you by Sudafed and Caffeine!"
On to the race! This was a very low key event. There were probably about 300+ people which was surprising considering the conditions. One thing that did surprise me was the number of people wearing shorts over their running tights???? Huh??? Must be a St. Louis thing. It had been a while since I had run a shorter distance race and I knew with the hills in the park that I would need to be careful to not blow up. I also knew that there would be no warm up. Too damn cold to get hot and then freeze before the start.
The race started and I was off. At first I realized I forgot to move up to the start but I was amazed how fast people took off! Obviously, this race was for the hard core runners. I wore my Garmin 305 and monitored the pace. I was briefly panicked by how fast I was running and how easy it was to run the pace. I had not completed any shorter distance open running races recently and I was a bit unsure about the pace. On the fly I decided that my plan to hit 8:15 average was out. My goal would be to maintain 8' miles for the first 7 and open it up if I had anything left the last 3 miles. This was a two loop race with mile 3 and 8 the hilliest.
Mile 1: 8:04
Mile 2: 7:59
Mile 3: 8:06 (hills)
Mile 4: 7:54
Mile 5: 7:55 (water stop)
Mile 6: 7:49
Mile 7: 7:39
Mile 8: 7:47 (hills)
Mile 9: 7:35
Mile 10: 7:32
As you can see after the first three miles I realized I was running too slow and picked it up progressively. The only times I felt like it was hard was the uphill miles. Most of the time I felt comfortable with a bit of a push the last three miles. I think if I work on strides and some leg turnover I will learn that running under 8 is the right pace. I just need a bit more brain training to believe it!
How do I explain my improvement? A few things:
*Increased training load over the last three years
*Increased steady state training over the last 10 months thanks to Coach Gordo at endurancecorner.com
*Weight loss in the last month or so (not purposeful)
*Swim camp for two weeks; aerobic improvement and tightening of core
*Long runs flat...around the track have greatly improved my steady state race running
Entire race: 1:19:26, 7:49 minutes per mile and average heart rate of 168. I finished top twenty out of 171 women and 7th in my age group (wow, women 40-44 are damn tough!).
Oh yeah, I lived up to the race description and ended up a bit "pink" in places!
Some issues of concern:
*Too many small colds/illnesses lately (stomach bug 2.5 weeks ago and now a cold)
*How do I get through December and maintain a semblance of balance??? I have done well on diet, I hardly drink but the relentless series of events and travel is taking it's toll in fatigue and illness. I have one last family trip this weekend and then I need to stop. I spend 11 months of my life in balance and 4 weeks in chaos. Not liking the chaos...
*When will I see the sun again!?!!?!?!? This is the first winter where I am thinking I must leave. Now.
Off to bike indoors in the "pain cave" and follow it up with a steady 45 minute transition run. Did I mention it was eleven degrees outside??? And so it goes...
Run, Bike, Swim, Live, Laugh, Love
