U-G-L-Y. That is the only description of the race. There are days when you have it, and days when you don't, and today was a day that not only didn't I have it, I owed it to someone who would break legs if I didn't pay up. I would love to just put down the time and call it that, but in case I ever want to revisit this, I'll provide all the gory details.
With a 7:30 gun time, it was an early morning. So early, in fact, that I didn't get any coffee, just a quick breakfast before heading out the door. Maybe that was the problem right there. The drive was much better than the day before, and we were in Oakville a bit before 7. After a quick trip to the port-a-potties, I set out for a nice little warm-up, about ten minutes with a couple of 30 seconds pick-ups. I felt pretty good, and got a nice sweat going. I found a spot in the second or third row, and was ready to move once the horn sounded.
There was a little jockeying for position early, but I got through the crowd, and was moving at a nice clip, maybe a bit fast, but I knew I'd be able to rein things on at the first marker. My goal today was roughly 38:30, so around 3:50/km. Based on the hilly sub-40 in April, and a summer of running, I thought this was more than reasonable. I hit the first sign at 3:32, which was obviously too fast, but I wasn't killing myself, so I just had to pull things back. I did that, found what I thought was about the right rhythm, and hit kilometre two in 4:09. OK, I came back way too far. After that, I tried to get the speed back, but I was never close. 4:04, 4:01, 4:10 all came by, and I was trying to make deals with myself. I was pushing as hard as I could, there was just no pop in my legs. Not only wasn't I flying compared to the spring, I was well behind the pace I could mange then. Somehow I had gotten slower. And the second half got worse: 4:16, 4:11, 4:10, 4:15. I completely sold out in the last kilometre for a 3:58.
I saw my wife as I was approaching the line, and I put the gun to my head to show my disappointment with my race. Maybe they caught it in the race photos. Somehow my result was still 12th overall, second in M35-39, winning me a $10 gift card. I think that says more about the field than about any speed I could purportedly have.
Official results: 40:49.2 clock/40:47.5 chip, 12th overall, 2nd AG
So on Saturday I said that today would answer some of the questions about my running. Well, that didn't happen. It just added more. Sure, racing on Saturday blunted my legs, but two minutes slower than projected? I don't know what else could have slowed me down, but nothing was working. My pace was slower than I've run off the bike on more difficult courses. I guess it should be obvious I'm not a sub-39 runner yet, so I should move back my training paces. Do I need more mileage? Less? More intensity? Longer sets? I feel like I'm at the start of an experiment and have no idea which protocol to follow, but I only get one real chance to make these improvements, so I can't get it wrong.
I think I'll be back next year. It really is a lovely, fast course, and next time I won't race the same weekend. Last year in the half-marathon I almost ruined my foot, this year in the 10k I just ran poorly. Maybe next year I should do the 2k. That might be more my style.
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