Hard to call this a race report as it really was more of a training workout - where I just wanted to see how much I would be able to push through without really being rested for a race. I have been putting in miles and daily core/strength work over the last two weeks and did not take any time off to rest for this workout. I was indeed pretty fatigued and sore before the race.
This is a series of 4 races over the summer on Clearwater Beach. They have been doing these races for years. Generally pretty fun, but tough to run very fast due to holes, water, soft sand, other non-racing beach patrons wandering into your path etc. Not to mention the Florida heat at 7 pm. Every now and then if a storm blows through to cool things off and hardens the sand well, I can get a decent time.
Anyway, I arrived a little later than expected, but ran 3 miles to warm up which with the temps in the upper 80's with high humidity did not take long. I sort of mistimed the warm up such that I began to be concerned that I would not get back to the starting line on time, so had to run at a pretty quick pace to get lined up. As it turned out, the "kid's mile" took a little longer than expected so I ended having about 4 minutes to spare at the start. Several high school runners jumped out into a pretty stiff headwind of about 10 miles per hour -(oh to be so young and strong) and for some reason I thought I was feeling ok and never glanced at my watch except one time just before the mile marker. I was surprised to see that my heartrate was nearly maxed and I was only running about a 6:16 mile pace. I could tell I was blowing up, so I just held on to the turn around with my HR in uncharted territory (mid 180's) - and decided to see what I could do to bring it down and still not lose too much on pace. Well, with the wind now at my back at just about the pace I was running, it only made my body temp feel higher and so the HR stayed up and I just slowed to about MP for the rest of the way in. Pretty sure the race conditions did me in, having just done a treadmill workout at 6:18 pace for three miles earlier in the week.
I find it remarkable how profound an effect the heat has on my performance as I get older.
Did an easy 3 mile cool down and stopped to see my daughter at the Palm Pavillon where she has a summer job as a hostess. Saw an old friend Dave Batten who works there - he and I ran together in high school. He told me his older brother Keith just ran 16:35 last week in Tampa - He's going to give me his contact information - to maybe do a run together.
Planning to do road 5k next Friday and then back on the beach the week after - will be interesting to compare times over the next couple of weeks.
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