For day nine of the Running
Ragged 20in20 Series, we returned to the Sartell Community Center. This is a paved trail going around a
pond. It’s a nice surface for
race-walking, so my plan today was to walk half of every lap.
Each out-and-back lap included going
twice around a pond. First, we went
counter-clockwise, then we turned around and went clockwise. When we were here a week ago, I ran the first
half of each lap and race-walked the second half. Today, I reversed it and did the race-walking
first.
Doing a substantial amount of
race-walking would slow me down, but it’s also much easier on my body. I wanted to make today an easier day for my
knees, Achilles tendons, and quads. Instead, I worked my glutes much harder.
Up until now, I’ve been faster
every day. With so much walking, I knew
I wouldn’t be as fast as yesterday’s race.
I also knew I wouldn’t be able to win today. My friend Justin was here, and he’s much
faster than I am.
The temperature at the start
was in the mid-50s, and it was forecast to get up to 70s by the time I
finished. Ordinarily, I would wear
something sleeveless in those conditions.
I decided instead to wear my T-shirt from the We Walk! Marathon. I thought that would be appropriate, since I
was going to do a significant amount of walking today. I wasn’t sure if I would get too hot wearing
a T-shirt, but I went with it anyway.
When I got to the race, I
discovered it was much windier than I expected, as you can see from these
flags.
With the wind, it was cold at
the start, and never felt that hot. I
had no regrets about wearing the T-shirt.
In the first lap, I started out
walking at the fastest pace I thought I could sustain. When I reached the turnaround point, only
three runners were ahead of me, despite the fact that I was walking. One of them was Justin.
As I transitioned to running, I
felt a little discomfort in my right knee.
I thought half a lap of walking would be enough of a warm-up, but my
legs were still cold and stiff. When I
made the same walk to run transition in my second lap, I didn’t notice as much
discomfort.
I knew the other runners would
eventually start taking walking breaks, by the end of my second lap, the only person
still ahead of me was Justin. I was
barely into my third lap when Justin lapped me for the first time.
On my third lap, I no longer
noticed any discomfort in my knee when I started running. By now, I was sufficiently warmed up.
Through my first three laps, I
averaged about 15:30 per lap. That was faster
than last week, when I was averaging 16 minutes per lap. I’m not sure if I was walking faster, runner
faster, or both. I was putting a lot of
effort into walking as fast as I could.
On the other hand, the cold wind might have been making me tense up and
run faster than usual. Ideally, I wanted
my running to be as relaxed as possible.
When I’m cold, I have trouble relaxing.
After my first three laps, my
lap times slowed a little, but I was still averaging 16 minutes per lap. I kept up that pace for most of the race.
The wind kept getting
stronger. There was one point on each
lap, where I was always afraid it would rip my race bib right off my
shirt. There was a fountain in the pond
we were running around. When I was near
the turnaround point, I could feel spray from the fountain.
I was almost to the middle of
my fifth lap when Justin lapped my for the second time. The first two times he passed me, I was
walking. A few laps later, I asked him
if he could try to time it so he would pass me while I was running. He took a walking break and talked to Angela,
so he wouldn’t pass me at the wrong time.
Finally, when I was in my 9th lap, he caught up to me while I was
running.
I ran with Justin for the rest
of that lap. He slowed down for me, but
I still had to speed up a little to stay with him.
I reached the halfway mark in
2:21, putting me on pace for 4:42. That’s
much faster than I expected, but I knew I would slow down in the second
half. I could keep up the same running
pace, but my walking would inevitably get less efficient as I got fatigued.
Justin slowed down so he could
run with me again in my 10th and 11th laps.
He was three laps ahead of me, so when I finished my 11th lap, he was
already done with 14. We needed to do 18
laps in all, so he just had four to go. Justin
sped up and ran the next few laps on his own.
I had to remind myself that I still had seven laps to go.
I started noticing some
discomfort at the top of my left calf whenever I made the transition from
walking to running. I don’t think it was
actually the running that was making it sore.
It was the race-walking. Besides
working my glutes harder, I was also working my calves harder.
I also began to notice some
sore muscles around my hip. That was to
be expected. I kept reminding myself
that the whole point of the race-walking was to use different muscles. I might have some soreness tomorrow in a few
muscles, but others were getting a long-overdue rest.
On my 13th lap, I started to feel
warm for the first time. I was on a side
of the pond where the wind was at my back.
As soon as I turned and felt the wind again, I went back to feeling
chilly. It was sunny and the temperature
was rising, but the wind was nullifying that.
The only times I ever briefly felt warm were when the wind was behind
me.
At the end of my 13th lap, I
had to make a bathroom stop. I’ve been
careful to drink enough to stay hydrated.
Most days, I need to stop once or twice to pee. I was glad I made it this far before needed
to use the bathroom. I was pacing myself
very consistently, so I hated to lose any time, but I felt much more comfortable
afterwards.
As I neared the middle of my 15th
lap, I saw Justin walking. He was in his
last lap, so I assumed he was waiting for me to catch up to him. As I made the turnaround and resumed running,
I began to catch up to him. As it turns
out, he was getting dehydrated, and some of his muscles were cramping up. After I caught up to him, we ran together for
the rest of that lap.
Justin finished his race in 3:58,
easily winning the race. I was his
closest competition, and I still had three laps to go.
During those last three laps, I
was tempted to just run the rest of the way.
At this point, running felt more comfortable and it took less
effort. I reminded myself why I was
doing the race-walking. It took effort,
but I wanted today to be an easier day for my knees, ankles, and quads. Every time I finished a lap, I was tempted to
just keep on running. Every time, I switched
to race-walking to begin the next lap.
I eventually finished the race
in 4:46:57. I was almost five minutes
slower in the second half. That was
entirely due to a slower walking pace.
The good news is that I was more than seven minutes faster than I was on
this same course a week ago, when I was doing the same mixture of running and
race-walking.
I’ve finished nine consecutive
marathons. I’m almost to the halfway
point of this series. Hopefully, the
race-walking I did today will make it easier to keep running in the races still
ahead.
During the race, I was noticing
some discomfort in my big toe. That toe
still has a blister under the toenail that I first noticed a week ago. I think something about my walking motion
makes that toe rub against the top of my shoe.
When I got back to the hotel, I drained it. There wasn’t much additional fluid.
I also noticed a small blister
had formed on the back of one of my heels.
I’m prone to getting blisters on my heel when I race-walk. The good news is that it didn’t hurt at
all. The bad news is that heel blisters
tend to form deep under thick layers of calloused skin. It’s very hard to drain them, and once they
form, they cause more friction on the back of the heel. I don’t think it’ll bother me when I’m
running, but I’ll be hesitant to do much more race-walking during this series.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:46:57
Average Pace: 10:57
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
414
Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:
67
Consecutive Days: 9
No comments:
Post a Comment