A Passion for Running

I’m in a foul mood and it’s no one’s fault but my own. I’m going to do my best to find something positive about today’s race by the time I finish writing this post.

Goal Time: 1:12:00
Goal Pace: 7:45 minutes per mile

Finish Time: 1:14:00
Pace: 7:56

Okay, so that’s not TOO far off my goal and it IS a personal record for me at that distance so why am I not happy?

The short answer is I made a dumb dumb dumb mistake and I’m pretty sure it cost me those two minutes. What’s worse is I’ve made this mistake before…I can’t remember when it was but I know I’ve made the mistake in another race. I’ll be writing it down THIS time.

I planned my race based on using mile markers. This was a 15k race so that should have been my first clue but I was thinking they’d mark both kilometers and miles – they didn’t. I should have done the math for what my km pace was – I didn’t and once I’m running, I have a helluva time doing math.

So, I ripped the first mile off (that was the only marked mile) in a fast 7:00 minutes even. That didn’t worry me though because my plan was to go out aggressive since the first mile had a good downhill portion.

I slowed down a bit after the first mile and patiently waited for the next marker. My watch beeped at my preset interval of 7:45 and – no marker. ARGH!

I don’t know about you but I NEED to markers to establish my pace. I’m just not that intuitive with pacing to “know” how fast I’m running.

I also could have switched to using the kilometer markers if I’d know what my 7:45 pace was in kilometers but I didn’t. Again – ARGH!

So, I struggled with keeping what I guessed was a correct and consistent pace till the half way point when I realized I was amazingly still on pace for a 1:12. Unfortunately the erratic pace I used to get to the half really messed me up and I had to battle to hang on.

Close but no cigar – I lost 2 minues in the second half of the race. OUCH!!

OK. Now I gotta try and turn this around and figure out what I learned today.

Today I re-learned that I am not an instinctual pacer and that because of that, I really need to do things to compensate or I will pay the consequences.

Be it resolved that as of today – Canada Day I will:

1) Plan for kilometer and mile markers – I will ASK about markers before I get to the race.
2) I will wear both kilometer and mile pace bands.

There. I’m still dissapointed but at least I have some learning I can take into my next race which is the August 23rd half-marathon in Edmonton.

I guess on final point is that I knew 1:12 would be a tough time for me to get. I have to give myself credit for going for it. After all – you can never improve if you don’t shoot for something right?

Ahhhh, that feels better. Now, I’ll go enjoy the rest of Canada Day!