Lessons from My Second Racing Experience

On the eve of my third race, I realize I never posted my commentary on my second.  It was such a stark contrast to my first that I thought I really do need to post something.  My first race was at the beginning of this month, and was a 5K with about 1,500 participants (only 995 with bibs, so I'm guessing the field was about 50% bigger than the set with bibs).  It was run at 9:15am on a very hot and humid day with lots of sun exposure.  The runners were largely of the less-intense variety.

Fast forward 20 days, and my second race was in the evening (7:15pm start) on a hot but bearable day on a largely shaded course (though it was irrelevant at this hour).  Oh, and the field was 13,700 people deep with a large population of serious runners (as proof of this, the winner of this 3.5 miler was 2 minutes faster than the winner of the shorter 5K I did for my first race).  The course was slightly longer (3.5 miles), and about half as wide.  Needless to say, it was jam packed.

So I had two big lessons from my second race.  The first was just being schooled in what a dense race is like.  In the 5K I did, I picked targets and passed them, never to see them again and to benefit from a bit more room after clearing more of the pack.  With this race, as many people as I passed, there always seemed to be lots of people around and in front of me. It wasn't that I was hoping to win so seeing people in front of me meant I wasn't in the lead, but more that I was running all too conscious of the space I was taking up and having to check my pace to fit into a hole - either slowing down when I had energy to spare or having to speed up to avoid getting squeezed out (or off the course).  I definitely ended up expending too much energy to get through a few holes far earlier than I should have.

And that leads to lesson number 2 - bonking.  In my 5K, I went out far too fast, but I had the fuel to spare, and finished fast, turning in my best 5K ever (by a healthy margin, too).  In that instance, I was very much in control of my fueling before the race, and breakfast was still benefitting me when I started.  With the 3.5 miler, dinner wasn't with me anymore as I had to play this awkward game of eating early enough that I didn't have a heavy stomach but not so early that I ran out of juice. I messed up.  I should have drank my chia/water/lime mix just before the race (like I did for my 5K and will tomorrow for my 10K, though I substituted the lime juice with a Nuun electrolyte tab).  I also should have eaten a newbodi.es bar pre-race (again, as I did for the 5K and will do for my 10K). To put it plainly, I needed a bit more fuel for this race, and had options but didn't use them.  I ended up bonking soon after the half way mark, and felt my strides getting more labored while more and more runners I recognized from passing them on the way out now passing me on the way back (the course was a loop through Boston's Back Bay).

I did a lot of self-coaching, and got myself to the point I wanted to sprint.  I started working it, and quickly felt like I was about to drop.  I sprinted about half the distance, and then fell back to a jog (maybe in the mid to high 8s).  With about 100 feet to go, I started pumping my arms and legs, and sprinted in - always important to finish strong.  I made it under my goal time by 2 seconds, so I'm glad for that final push. I was 11 seconds behind my old boss, so I'm bummed about not sprinting the entire distance or keeping my pace up for the last 1.5 miles.  This was 100% about fueling.

Since then, I haven't run a ton due to knee issues and then getting really bad blisters with 5 days to go before my 10K.  I did play around with fueling a bit, tested things like Gu and Nuun to see how my body responds, and have a better plan for tomorrow's race.  It really is important to think about fuel. Even if it doesn't actually make a difference in the energy your mind will allow your body to expend, it can make you feel more confident in your ability to perform, and then you will perform better coming from a platform of confidence.

As I learned first hand on the Three Peaks Challenge, the body can do almost anything, but it needs the brain to allow it.  Get the brain to believe in your abilities, and you will enlighten.your.body.