2012 Subway Commonwealth Games

July 22, 2012           Roanoke, Virginia

Ed

My Racing Spikes!

Well I ran a really poor race today.  Two actually, but the second was a result of the first.

I knew this was my last chance at a 1500 this year and my goal was to break five minutes.  Just last month I ran a 5:16 when my hip was still hurting quite a bit, so I felt like I should be able to cover the distance faster now that I was feeling better and had a few more good workouts under me.  But I made a rookie mistake and simply went out way too fast.

I had set out some splits that would put me out fast and I knew from my workouts that they would be tough to hit.  However, I wanted to put myself in a position to run in the 4’s and figured if I ran the race the way my fastest 5K’s worked (go out hard for the first half mile then settle back into my actual goal pace) then I could do it.

But when your goal pace is just under 80 seconds per 400 meters, the first one probably shouldn’t be a 72.

The plan was to go out fast the first 300 then taper back a little off the next two 400’s and just do whatever I could on the final lap.  Here were my target splits:

300 = 55 seconds

500 = 1:34
700 = 2:13
900 = 2:55
1100 = 3:37 

I had not run a 900 or an 1100 that fast, but I figured that I would be allowing myself to slow down each lap and I always wind up having more endurance than I think I do when I’m just willing myself to finish. Not today however.  Here’s how it went down:

300 = 51 seconds

500 = 1:31
700 = 2:14
900 = 3:00
1100 = 3:50
1300 = 4:37
1500 = 5:21

The wheels came off as I approached the 800 mark.

I experienced something I had only felt once before when I tried running a couple of 800’s up a really nice hill near my house: my arms felt tired.  They felt heavy and hurt a little like I was straining to bring them up with each stride.  I was talking to the guy that won the race (he’s 57 and ran a 4:50!) and he said that was the lactic acid.  Acidosis he called it.  He said that happens when you run “beyond the edge” and are going too fast for the distance you’re trying to cover.  I shook my head.

“Stupid,” I said. “I wanted to put myself in a position to break 5 and thought if I went out too slow I would rob myself of the chance.”

“Works the other way, too,” he smiled.

I walked over to my bag and grabbed a Gatorade and a gel pack, thinking I was still breathing entirely too hard since I had stopped running almost 5 minutes before that and started thinking about why I fell apart so badly after feeling so good.

I have to tell you that first 300 felt great.  Easy, fast and strong, and I even led the field all the way to the 400 mark.   I knew I couldn’t hold that pace for three more laps or anything, but I was confident that the strategy would pay off.  As I headed up the last straight before hitting 700 meters, though, I knew I was winded and relaxed some more.  Still hit the line just off pace, but I was beginning to struggle.  By the time I got to 800 meters I was just trying to hold on.

You’d think at this age I’d know better.

If you want to average 79’s just run 79’s.  Simple right?  I would have been at the 900 mark at the same time, maybe a little ahead, and felt completely different.  Next time.

The 800 was a struggle again for some old reasons I haven’t figured out, and because I had to do so much just to finish the 1500.

The old problem is this cramping I get in my calfs and hamstrings.  Starts after the first 300 meters or so and holds me up for all but the last 100.  Maybe I should just sprint when they start and see if they go away.  Somehow I doubt that will work.  Something else must happen by the time I get to that last straight that allows me to run hard again.  My coach friend told me to try blackstrap molasses, but instead I went with the gel packs.  I have never been able to stand the taste of molasses.  My dad loves it, but he’s a wackadoodle.  A runner I met last year who was nationally ranked in both the 1500 and 800 said he had the same sort of problem, but solved it with gel packs and Gatorade.

“Take a gel pack about half an hour before the 1500,” he explained.  “It won’t do a thing for you in that race, but it starts you off with some electrolytes and carbs afterwards where normally you’d be depleted some.  Then take another about an 45 minutes to an hour before the 800 along with drinking about 32 ounces of Gatorade.”

“All that between those two races,” I asked.

“Drink it the first half of it right after the 1500.  You’ll want it all right then, but spread it out.”

I tried that today and I guess it helped.  The cramps weren’t nearly as bad as last year, but they definitely were there and I didn’t want to have something ball up on me and get hurt, so I just slowed down.  Hard to believe my 800 was a full 6 seconds slower than the first 800 I ran in the 1500.

Pathetic.

While I was driving home another thought struck me; “What have I been averaging for weekly miles since I got hurt?  Maybe that had something to do with me falling off so badly.

I checked my spreadsheet and discovered I had not run more than 20 miles in a week since May 22.   Eight weeks.  Sheesh.  No wonder.  Three days a week of training, and no long sustained fast pace runs has got to impact my stamina.

I can’t do a thing about the injuries now except learn how to avoid them in the future.
For now, though, I will go on a 5 mile run tomorrow morning at a nice, easy pace of around 8:30 then go out again the day after for 7 miles of the same thing.  I don’t want to get stupid and run 50 miles this week, but I have to get more miles underneath me.  Which makes it a good thing that I have a couple of 10K’s and 5K’s scheduled to run in the fall and early winter to keep me on pace and striving for the ultimate goal of a sub 5 mile in my 50’s.