Bouncing Back

Last Saturday I ran my first Pacific Association race of the year (and 2nd overall) at the NorCal 10 miler in Redding. I'll sum up my performance in 1 word - BLEH!

After a very consistent month of training in January, I had a disappointing day at my first race of the year - the Kaiser Half Marathon. Although I was excited to head to Redding in a month, I felt like I lacked a bit of direction in the week after Kaiser. But still - I had a great tempo run 4 days after that race, and was back to consistent training for the next few weeks. The only hitch to race prep was a ski trip to Big Sky, MT (getting back 3 days before). I wasn't worried. I would train hard before leaving the week before, then get some light turnover on the track the day I got back (which I felt good running 8x300 in 48-49).

The morning of the race, we woke up to surprisingly warm temperatures. I wouldn't say it ever got hot, but temps close to 70 degrees by the end of the race sure felt hot when I'd hadn't run in warmer than 60 degree whether since the fall. The race course runs out on a bike path along the Sacramento River in Redding, makes a loop through a neighborhood midway, then backtracks toward the start, and finally crossing a bridge and finishing on the other side of the river. It is pretty flat except for some rolling hills in the 3rd & 4th miles, which you hit on the way back in the 6th & 7th miles.

When the gun went off, Sergio Reyes (who ran 48-something for 10 miles last year) took off with 2 runners chasing him. I was part of the next chase group, including teammates Todd Rose & Julian Marsh, which hit the first mile in 5:19 & the 2nd in 5:30. The pace was no problem, and I was right on pace to run around 54 minutes. In the 3rd mile, Todd started surging through the series of hills. I backed off a bit, but hit 4 miles in 21:40 - still just over 54 min pace. But at this point, it was really starting to hurt, especially for so early in the race. It was hot, and I just couldn't find a good rhythm. As we headed into the neighborhood in the 5th mile, I just tried to focus my sight on Carlos Siqueiros up ahead of me. At that point 2 runners from the Strawberry Canyon club blew past me, and masters phenom Jim Sorenson caught me. I tried to relax & focus on a smooth stride to stay with Jim. I kept Jim in contact for several minutes, but every time I tried to relax & increase the pace, I quickly red-lined.

By mile 6, the wheels started coming off. Through the hills in the 7th and 8th miles, I hit both splits slower than 6 minutes. I slowed down to get a full drink of water at the last water stop and couldn't believe how thirsty I was. At least I dropped my pace back under 6 minutes for the last 3 miles, but I fell from 8th place at the 4 mile mark, to 16th at the finish. I'm glad I didn't realize that 48 year old Linda Summers-Smith was less than 30 seconds back, enroute to a new American age group record, because I probably would have gotten scared & run slower. Congrats to her for setting yet another age group record, as well as the women's course record. She also holds the course record for the next PA race on the schedule, which she set in 1995! My final result was 16th place in 56:54.

Shortly after the race I started getting the chills, despite the heat. I wasn't the only runner who struggled, as quite a few runners ran 1-2 minutes slower than they normally would (I was almost 4 minutes slower than my 10 mile split at the Humboldt Half Marathon). Among my buddies, Todd ran well, finishing 4th in 53:47, and Rebel's runner Mike Styczynski ran a PR for 5th in 53:52. Dana joined me for the trip, and although her longest recent run was 6 miles, she felt good over 10 miles, running 1:28. She's excited to use this as a kickstart for her running this Spring.

On the drive home, I had plenty of time to think about the race. If I came up with anything wrong I had done in training, I'd be completely nit-picking. I've run consistent mileage (most weeks between 55 and 65 miles), and gotten 2 solid workouts in every week without over doing it. Maybe I hadn't done a lot of race sharpening work, but that doesn't mean I was unprepared. Maybe I was a little run-down from having been at 8000 feet for 5 days the prior week, or maybe I had a low grade illness (I was feeling a bit "off" after work the day before). Or perhaps I was just unlucky that my 2 off days in 2010 happened to be my race days.

The only thing I can say I was doing wrong was to let a bit of anxiety sneak into some of my workouts & the races. I need to get back to my "just run" philosophy that treated me so well last Fall, and to enjoy the ability that God has given me.

I'll sign off by sharing something I read in Running Times which came in the mail today. Greg McMillan, who coaches several elite runners, including 2:10 marathoner Brett Gotcher, listed "The Five Habits of Highly Effective Runners" (with my own comments)

#1: Don't Dwell: The idea is to shake off bad workouts or races move forward. Every runner has a few bad ones every season, and the best runners drop them and move forward. Well... I know I just wrote a blog post about my crappy race, but hopefully the point comes across that my training is there, so I just need to keep it going. But I am the very analytical type, so this is hard for me sometimes.

#2: Fine Your Sweet Spot in Training: When I first read this, I thought it meant to train your strengths, but I was wrong. The idea is to train at a consistency where you advance your fitness, but not so hard that you struggle to get from workout to workout. This is one thing I have done very well recently.

#3: Focus on Consistency: I really think this is an extension of #2. Don't be a hero in one workout, then barely be able to run the rest of the week. Rather train in such a way where you're building momentum throughout the season.

#4: Be tenacious: I've summed this idea up several times by saying "just run". Being tenacious is important on many levels. You have to be tenacious throughout the grind of training, and over the miles of a race. I'm realizing that "just run" is really an abbreviation for "just keep running and stop thinking so damn much".

#5: Build Your Confidence Consistently: Trust your preparation!

Great points from someone who coaches some amazing runners!

The next race for me will be the Across the Bay 12K a week from Sunday.