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FLRC Newsletter - Oct 2003 |
| A Tale of Two Races | |
It was the best of races, it was the worst of races.
Well, okay, that's an exaggeration, but I had one of my worst races of the year at last Thursday's Forge the Gorgeous trail race, and one of the best at Pud's Run the following Sunday. It all came down to the 4 H's (no, not the farm kids with ponies): heat, hills, histamines, and head.
Heat: Even though Forge the Gorgeous was an evening race, and even though Pud's Run had a relatively late morning start of 10 AM, the weather was radically different. Thursday night was still hot and humid, forcing me to wish for High Noon racing shorts, since there was no way I could imagine wearing the racing jersey in that heat. But by Sunday, it was almost as though we'd switched from summer to the beginnings of fall. It was 52 degrees Sunday morning when I got up, and even though the brilliant sunshine had warmed things up by race time, it was still cool and comfortable down at Stewart Park for Pud's Run. There's no telling exactly how it affected me, but my stomach cramped up after about 4 miles in Forge the Gorgeous, whereas I had no troubles at all in Pud's Run (admittedly only a 5K), and the heat may have been a factor.
Hills: Don't get me wrong, I like hills. I even like hills in trail races, as long as they don't go on, and on, and on. I particularly like running down hills toward the end of races. Forge the Gorgeous features a huge hill at the start, but that wasn't a problem. I even kept Earl Steinbrecher in sight until we were up the hill and well into the second mile, which I was pleased with. But on the way back down that huge hill, I was running on fumes and could barely stay on the trail. Once I even tried a minor cutting of a corner and almost ran smack into a wire cable strung to keep people on the trail. And unlike Tortoise & Hare, where I'd been able to blast down the final hill into the finish, I found myself hopping back and forth over the roots and stones, never managing to maintain fast forward momentum and sometimes coming to a complete stop as I tried to navigate a sharp turn on rough terrain. It was not my finest trailing running hour, and Tom Meyer managed to put a 40 second lead on me, entirely on that downhill. And Pud's Run? It could have been in the Midwest. Flat as the proverbial pancake (although researchers have apparently now proved that pancakes are in fact much hillier, at a comparable size, than the Midwest).
Histamines: Several days after Virgil Mountain Madness, a few weeks ago, I started having what seemed like bad reaction to bug bites, and a few days later, someone pointed out that my rashes weren't a reaction to bug bites, they were from poison ivy. (Given the location of the worst spots, on my lower legs and inner arms, I suspect I actually got it at Grisamore Farms, picking blueberries while kneeling.) I was in pretty bad shape still on Thursday at Forge the Gorgeous, with the rashes in full blistering, itching, weeping glory (not to mention several nights of lousy sleep thanks to being woken up by the itching). The itching didn't disappear while I was running, and was definitely somewhat distracting, but the real hint that my reaction to the poison ivy was problematic for my racing was that after I finished, I could barely stand up, my head was swimming, and I couldn't properly focus my eyes for 15 minutes or so. I've never had that happen before. Luckily, by Pud's Run on Sunday, the rashes had started to go down, and I'd learned that running the hottest water our hot water heater can produce over the rashes in 5 to 10 second bursts shut down the itching response for a number of hours, making it possible to sleep and to go to the race without constant scratching.
Head: I can't say what percentage of a good race is mental, but it's definitely up there. I started Forge the Gorgeous in second place behind Earl, and managed to keep him in sight for about 11 minutes. Then, at 25 minutes, someone who I thought was Eric Maki caught and passed me fairly convincingly, since I was starting to drop the pace pretty seriously at that point. About then was when the excuses started to flow through my head, and no matter how I tried, I couldn't get them out. It was even worse when the real Eric Maki caught me next, and not too much after that, Tom Meyer passed me heading back up to the long downhill finish. Even Tom telling me stay with him didn't help, and I couldn't dispel the defeatist thoughts about why I was running so badly, making it so I ran even worse. I was utterly disgusted with myself at the finish, and even though my time wasn't terrible (48:10 for 7 miles, though I should have been at least up with Tom, who came in at 47:30, passing Eric decisively on the downhill), I felt as though I'd failed at the entire race after those first two miles. Keeping my focus and controlling the race, rather than letting it control me, was therefore my goal at Pud's Run, and other than some momentary irritation at all the kids who cluttered up the first half mile by sprinting from the start and then dropping way back, I ran exactly the race I wanted. I went through the first mile in 5:38 with Rick Hoebeke on my shoulder, then started picking people off ahead of me. The only thought in my head the entire time, as I stared at the next guy in front of me was, "You're mine. All mine." I caught John Hylas at the two mile point, going through in about 11:12 for a 5:34 second mile, and continued gaining places until we were into Stewart Park, where I made up a lot of ground on the last guy, but couldn't quite reel him in before the finish. I came through in 17:17 by my watch, three places behind Casey Carlstrom (16:54). That meant my third mile was probably in the low 5:30s as well, and it was a good 18 seconds faster than last year. Coming in right after me were Rick Hoebeke (17:32), in his first road 5K in a year, and Tom Meyer (17:41?), who reportedly just nipped John Hylas (17:42) at the finish. Full results aren't up yet, so apologies if I've biffed anything.
Realistically, my poor race at Forge the Gorgeous and my good one at Pud's Run weren't the result of any one of the H's, and they were no doubt all related. But when I put them all together, I could see why the two races were so different for me. Now the trick is to maintain the Pud's Run focus in the Groton Labor Day 5K next Monday and on into the Upstate Cross Country Series throughout the fall.
Despite my race experiences, Forge the Gorgeous had great race direction from Tim Ingall, with excellent markings on the trail such that even Boris didn't get lost (though Boris had a doozy on Sunday, somehow missing the Pud's Run course entirely and getting caught up in the insanity that is Triple Trax). The food and the company at Forge the Gorgeous were top notch, as has been true of all the trail races, and the only problem was the pizza, which the pizza place somehow didn't think needed to be delivered. But once it came, it was good, and extremely welcome along with the watermelon, bagels, and cookies that were already there. In contrast, and as with the last two years, I remain slightly irritated with Pud's Run after the race ends, since they don't post race results anywhere I've seen right afterwards, you have to wait in an immense line for the chicken BBQ, and the awards apparently aren't given out until after everyone has eaten (everyone who hasn't given up and gone home, that is), presumably sometime in early September. So while there was nothing wrong with the race itself, and I'd give Pud's Run high marks for running a popular race (679 runners this year) and creating a summer festival-like atmosphere, thanks in large part to huge numbers of volunteers, next year I'd like to see quicker race results and a timely award ceremony like at the Skunk Cabbage Classic or Ithaca 5 & 10. Think chip timing, folks, and perhaps keep all the race direction in one place, rather than have registration well separated physically from both the start and the chicken BBQ area at the pavilion.
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