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February 12, 2008
after some reflection
How quickly we forgive ourselves sometimes!
As might be expected, I've spent the past 48 hours thinking about the race, and running, and the comments received on Sunday's self-pityfest. In particular, Salty's comment got me thinking:
I am wondering why you had the pace so micro-managed before hand. I can just imagine how disappointed you felt when mile 6 came and went and you hadn't dropped the pace. Heck, the disappointment was probably beginning to build when you were 1 second "slow" for those few preceding miles.
I wasn't really trying to micromanage the pace. Really, though it certainly looks that way, doesn't it :-) Tinman had advocated a negative split and cautioned against running faster than 7:03 the first couple of miles, and I just kinda took it from there. I thought that by giving myself a small task to focus on each mile, I could avoid going out too fast, getting overwhelmed by everything, or having to do math late in the race. But now that you mention it, that was probably unwise, or at least unrealistic. I just haven't figured out how to race yet, even after 6 years.
btw, due to a combo of transient GPS inaccuracy, 6am darkness, and middle-aged failing eyesight, those 7:01s all looked like 7-flat to me, so I didn't start bumming until the 6th or 7th mile :-)
Anyway, yesterday I fumed my way through a too-fast, too-hard 50 minutes, chewed on running and other stressful stuff all day, and finally realized the only thing to do was get right back to proper training. This morning, spent and sore (but forgiven, ha), I had my first truly awful run in months - 70 minutes of slog that I could not wait to finish. One day I'll learn.
PS - Adeel: Sorry the 15k didn't go so well. I looked for you Saturday, thought I saw some yellow shorts 'round 8 or 10 minutes into the race (I was jogging along Bayshore on the other side of the street), but I never saw either the shorts or your bib number at the finish. I was really looking forward to yelling ADEEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as loudly as possible as you crossed the line, but I missed you.
Posted by joe positive at February 12, 2008 9:03 AM
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Comments
I am so glad you're feeling better. No doubt due to the magincal healing powers of bourbon and running too hard!
After I posted that I was worried I came across as an ass! I didn't mean to say you did anything "wrong" just that I can see where having the pace you SHOULD run all mapped out like that could lead to disappointment when the race pans out differently. And yeah, after 6 years there is still way more to learn and that's what makes it fun. If you knew everything now, what's the point on going forward?!
Ok, and Tinman gets on my case about going out too hard too. I've boned myself in a race by worrying about it too much too. I think it's a matter of getting to a place where we consciously hold back for a 1/2 mile for shorter races and maybe 2 miles for longer ones and then ease on down from there. But it really can't be forced. You have to let your fitness and your the race itself dictate how things go. Every single time I "try" to do something in a race, I struggle, over think and end up pissed at myself. When I just go out there and see what happens I almost always do better. However, I know that's so much easier said than done. It's damn hard to let go!
Posted by: Salty at February 12, 2008 11:03 AM
Yo, figuring out *how* to race is really hard. It comes, as I'm learning super-slowly, from continuous practice with race pacing workouts and under/over sorts of things. It's fine a line between micromanaging pace vs. holding backt though. I do remember reading via Glover that the first 2/3 of a race is for pacing, the last 1/3 of the race is for racing. I think that's true to a certain extent, although if you're running XC or trying to beat a certain group of runners--place as opposed to time--then that strategy goes out the window.
Generally, as Satly aptly points out, you got just to let things happen on their own accord. It's a feeling thing, you know. My best race, IMO, was a hilly, hilly 15k where I held back in the opening and then went for blood in the end. At some point in that race, the early pacing allowed me to go for a hard PR--and the funny thing is, at some point, the splits stopped mattering; it was catching that MoFo in front of me, which I did, and then he passed me back, and on it went for the last three miles...
Posted by: tuscaloosarunner at February 12, 2008 8:07 PM
I don't think anyone ever learns how to race if by that you mean running the perfect race. When you're at a reasonably high level (and you train your ass off), you need a lot of things to align to run the perfect race. You can't just turn in a pretty good race and hope to get to 1:30 or 1:29 or whatever the goal is for you.
I guarantee there was no one else wearing such ugly shorts, at least not a guy. That was probably me. You probably didn't see me at the line because I jogged in with the pack (maybe 300th place), and you wouldn't associate with someone coming in at 66 minutes anyway.
I was planning to come out and cheer the half and full runners the next day, but I needed the sleep (I was nauseous until Monday morning). I staggered through 6k on Sunday morning. I was looking forward to yelling Joe Positive and exposing your alter-ego to those nearby.
Posted by: Adeel at February 12, 2008 10:13 PM
I don't think anyone ever learns how to race if by that you mean running the perfect race. When you're at a reasonably high level (and you train your ass off), you need a lot of things to align to run the perfect race. You can't just turn in a pretty good race and hope to get to 1:30 or 1:29 or whatever the goal is for you.
I guarantee there was no one else wearing such ugly shorts, at least not a guy. That was probably me. You probably didn't see me at the line because I jogged in with the pack (maybe 300th place), and you wouldn't associate with someone coming in at 66 minutes anyway.
I was planning to come out and cheer the half and full runners the next day, but I needed the sleep (I was nauseous until Monday morning). I staggered through 6k on Sunday morning. I was looking forward to yelling Joe Positive and exposing your alter-ego to those nearby.
Posted by: Adeel at February 12, 2008 10:15 PM