Picture of my three running medals for completing races this month.
The Sporting Life 10k (46min),
Mississauga 1/2 Marathon (1hr56min),
Ottawa 10k (49min).
Even though I haven’t posted for a while to my blog, I thought it would be important to do today because of the lessons I’ve learned from my three races that other beginners potentially can learn from. I should have learned my lesson after each of the first two races since I said they were things I was going to change.
Here we go...
Lesson #1 - Don’t start too fast (an oldie but a goodie)
For every single race I was out of the starting gate and ran the first 3-5 kilometres WAY too fast. For future races I will first of all try to be more realistic about my finishing time and then start at a pace that is a bit slower than that. In the sporting life 10k I had completed the first 5k in 22 min, the first 10k of the 1/2 marathon I was on 1:40 pace, and finally the first 3 km of the Ottawa 10k I was on 41 min pace. That brings me to my second lesson...
Lesson #2 - Have some way to measure my pace
Don’t wait until you blow up to start comparing your time to what it should be. I should either use a pace band with the times for each kilometre written on it or get a heart rate monitor that measures pace and distance (like the Polar that I tried out for a couple weeks). That would be a more ideal solution as I would know my pace continuously. I think I will wait to get the new Garmin 310 XT that will be out later this summer as it is suppose to be great for triathlons as it is totally water proof and the GPS receiver is built right in the watch.
Lesson #3 - If I’m going to be wearing an iPod have race playlist prepared
You wouldn’t think this was a big deal but it really was a factor this past week for my Ottawa 10k. I was listening to a running podcast and my friend, although usually very entertaining, was engaged in a litany of depressing, self deprecating comments that really sapped the spring right out of my step. It became so disturbing that I ripped the earbuds off in a realisation of the state of mind I had let myself slip into. Sorry, if you’re reading this and you think I may be talking about you...Don’t be hard on yourself, just try to exude more self confidence next episode! ;D I should say that I had already hit the wall pretty bad wall, after disregarding lessons one and two, but I think if I had an iPod filled with uplifting, energetic music, I feel like the result may have been a bit different. Perhaps I could have avoided walking every 400m after 6k.
Lesson #4 - Run your own race
I got roped in to believing one of my friends’ comments about where he thought he would probably finish which happened to align with my time goals. I stayed with him for the first 3k of the Ottawa 10k race until I hit the wall pretty bad, okay REALLY bad. I was shocked at the finish when I realised that he had completed the 10k in 41 minutes. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? He ended up coming ~200th out of 10,000 people, no wonder I blew up! So everyone out there remember to run your own race or you could get in trouble like I did.
Lesson #5 - Don’t do hard workouts the week of your race
This should be obvious and I followed that for my first race, but I then started getting upset that I was getting behind on my swimming and biking workouts. These running races required recovery and taper that really would have left me totally unprepared for my triathlon. I did a hard 30k bike and then a hard 10k run on the Wednesday before the race on Saturday, along with another hard 30k bike on Thursday. Big mistake! With all of these mistakes, it’s hard to de-couple them to know which ones contributed the most. I think it was a true synergy, where the sum total effect was greater than the individual effects would have been on their own. I’m typing all this with a smile on my face, even though it might not come through that way, because of the absurdity of it all when assessed after the fact. What’s that saying about hind sight again? :D
Lesson #6 - Don’t over dress or carry too much
Long sleeves, a hat, a fuel belt with 4 bottles and an iPhone was a bit of overkill for a hot 10k race. Enough said on that.
Lesson #7 - Stick with the game plan you were mentally prepared to execute on race day
I initially had mentally prepared myself to jog this race with a good friend of mine at a pace that would have been somewhere around the 55 minute mark. He was never one to like to wait for people and I think he didn’t want me to feel like I was waiting for him. He suggested I run with his other friend as he would probably run closer to my pace. Hmmm, we all know how that turned out (see above ;D). So don’t change things up race day unless you are very, very confident the new approach will be more successful than your original plan.
Lesson #8 - Start in your appropriate section for your expected time
All I’m going to say here is that if the people around you only have their names on their bibs and they don’t have numbers, you are probably in the wrong section! Also, it helps to recognise what the Ethiopian and Kenyan nation team uniforms look like so if you see them around you, turn around and move back at least 3 time corals.
Lesson #9 - Three races with only 1 weekend off between them all is probably a bit too much.
Lesson #10 - Don’t do a half marathon if you only trained for a 10k unless you are prepared to suffer after 16k and at least 10 days after the race. I don’t know who would do such a thing, but I thought it might be a good piece of advice ;D.
That’s all on the lessons for now, there may have been more but those are the first 10 that came to mind. I am still proud of how far I have come since I was virtually stapled to the couch unable to walk fast around the block. It’s been a miracle really and am very thankful to God for all of my good fortune.
That’s all for now, tomorrow is my first swim with the Splash and Dash triathlon swim club so wish me luck.
Till next time...