Striders 30K today. I was little concerned about this race, since I have been traveling so much and since it is only three weeks before the marathon. I was concerned about how much fatigue I had from traveling, and also worried about depleting myself too much. At the same time, I wanted to retain my standings in striders circuit, and get some good LDR circuit points as well. In order to achieve all these goals, this race would have to go out slow and be more about tactics than all-out effort. It was an absolutely beautiful morning, about 50 degrees, sunny, and no wind at the start. It would get to be pretty warm later in the day, but I was pretty sure heat wouldn't be an issue during my race itself. So optimal conditions. The course is an out-and-back semi-loop, so no net elevation change. But the terrain is rolling and has a long gradual uphill and subsequent downhill in the three miles adjacent to the turnaround. Combined with the elevation (~5000ft), it is not a fast course, but compared to the 5k, 10k, and 10-miler earlier in the series, it is not too difficult either. The start line was a lot thinner than the other WRC races. A lot of familiar races were missing. From the gun, it was me, Bob, Steve, and Sasha. Pace started very slow (5:50-ish), and gradually inched up each mile, until we were doing 5:20's on the gradual downhill until the turnoff to go around Pineview Reservoir. Sasha dropped around Mile 9, right before the turnaround, so it was just me, Bob, and Steve from there on. On the rolling hills we did 5:30s for a while. Although the pace felt conversational during the first half of the race, I was laboring a lot more by this point, and no one else was talking much either. Bob put in a surge around Mile 14 that dropped Steve and I pretty quick. I didn't have willpower to go with him, and stayed with Steve. I thought at first we just slowed down, but we were still 5:30 that mile, so Bob must have thrown a 5:20 or so. Bob seemed to have stabilized about 15 seconds ahead of us, but neither Steve nor I were making any moves to fill that gap. I was just trying to finish the race at that point, not feeling particularly great. I think the 5:20s earlier took a bit out of me. Around Mile 16, Bob's calf went out and he pulled up, so it was just Steve and I to the finish. I still wasn't feeling great, but at the same time the pace slowed to 5:45. It was playing out to be a tactical finish. Most of the tactics were going on in my own head, as two different voices kept trying to tell me what to do. "Slow down more, ease in and take 2nd (which is good enough, after all). Save it for the marathon," said one voice. The other said, "Win the darn race. $25 extra is worth it, and the LDR points are major as well. Quit slacking!" This basic conversation went on in my head for the next two miles, and in the meantime I sat behind Steve and just tried to stay on him. Finally we hit the 18-mile mark, and I thought, "Nuts to these voices! I'm just gonna go!" I let my body over (since my mind wasn't doing me any good), and went into 1000m interval mode, kicking the last 0.65 miles very hard. Steve didn't go with, and I ended up in 1st. Steve was 2nd and Sasha came in 3rd. I was very impressed with how Steve ran, especially considering he ran a marathon the week before! I think he could have just kept going and finished a marathon under 2:30 today.
It was a very good overall race, and I met my goals. I don't think I gassed myself by any means, but still did some very hard running and got some fast splits, which is good for both the body and mind. It was an interesting race, since it was rather tactical, and we got more surges and pace variations than in most of the other WRC races. I need to obviously work on some of my mental dialog, but it did come through in the end, so I can't complain too much. It's just frustrating (and amusing) how my mind plays so many games with me at times. | 1 | 5:50
| | 2 | 5:54 | | 3 | 5:46 | | 4 | 5:42
| | 5 | 5:43 | | 6 | ?? - watch malfunction
| | 7 | ?? - watch malfunction
| | 8 | 5:50 | | 9 | 5:41
| | 10 | 5:35 | | 11 | 5:24 | | 12 | 5:21 | | 13 | 5:33 | | 14 | 5:21 | | 15 | 5:35 | | 16 | 5:31 | | 17 | 5:45 | | 18 | 5:48 | 0.65
| 3:21 |
(Burn: 131 miles)
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