It's official - I've had my very first DNF in a race.
That's quite the honor!
Here's the thing: I went into SF10 expecting to have some fantastic race. I knew I was gonna PR that thing, since my 10 mile PR is inside of half marathon(s).
Two week earlier, my first 10 of the Green Bay Half was 57:09... and that was during freakin gale-force winds, and on a mildly hilly course. SF is a flat course, and winds were beneficial for a wisely-run negative split race. I felt like I should've been able to at least muster up a sub-57, or ideally closer to 56:30 (= 5:40 pace). GB should've just been a warm up for SF10.
Anything worse than Green Bay's 10mi split would've been tragic.
There was a head wind through 5, and I found myself running alone for about 3 of those miles. I first got dropped by faster runners (as expected), and then I gradually got swallowed by a small pack of 4 runners.
In my mind, that pack shouldn't have been near me and it initially bothered me. But, they were working together and that proved to be a much better strategy, so I accepted it.
As we turned at 5 and gained a tailwind, I realized that I was working waaaay too hard to hang on to that pack. The 6th mile was 5:38 and it felt like I blazed a 5:20. I couldn't fathom hanging onto that pace for any longer, in spite of having that tail wind. And then I got dropped. Passed 7 at 5:49. I was disgusted that I was blowing up.
I thought no way in hell was I going to be able to maintain that for another 3 miles. Everything collapsed so quickly. Like I hit a wall, but only after 7 miles... and 7 miles slower than what I ran at GB! I knew it was over. I didn't have to think twice about it. I immediately pulled the plug.
So there you have it. I turned the corner, expecting to get this big ol' boost from some wind at my back... and even get the favor of running with a few guys..., and instead I got dropped on my "out of shape" ass. I was damned if I was going to run slower than my 10 miles at Green Bay, let alone start choking out some marathon paced miles in a 10 miler. And damned I was!
For the second race in a row I had negative, self-destructing thoughts dictate how I raced... or lack there of.
I'm OK with it too. It's clear now that I did too much. With in about 2 months, I ran Cary 1/2, PR'd Oak Park 5k, PR'd Rotterdam, slugged my way though Green Bay, and then attempted SF10. That's a lot of hard running! My eyes were bigger than my stomach.
SF10 probably would've gone much better if I had been more aggressive with my training in the past few weeks - but honestly, I didn't feel like it. I've been running on empty since Green Bay. I lost the motivation. I didn't want to bother with the track or a couple mid-week longer runs. I got lazy and paid for it. It should've been either GB or SF... not both.
I need to recovery before I can do much more. I'll do a little running this week... only enough to possibly choke out the Roselle 5K... if I even bother... then 2 weeks of heavily reducing miles.
I need to get feeling fresh again before I can think about the Chicago Half and Chicago Marathon.
Split recap:
1- 5:36
2- 5:42
3- 5:45
4- 5:44
5- 5:45
6- 5:38
7- 5:49
A waaay too difficult 7 mile average of 5:42.7.
Note, I went through GB mile 8 with a 5:39 average, before getting slammed by the wind.
That's quite the honor!
Here's the thing: I went into SF10 expecting to have some fantastic race. I knew I was gonna PR that thing, since my 10 mile PR is inside of half marathon(s).
Two week earlier, my first 10 of the Green Bay Half was 57:09... and that was during freakin gale-force winds, and on a mildly hilly course. SF is a flat course, and winds were beneficial for a wisely-run negative split race. I felt like I should've been able to at least muster up a sub-57, or ideally closer to 56:30 (= 5:40 pace). GB should've just been a warm up for SF10.
Anything worse than Green Bay's 10mi split would've been tragic.
There was a head wind through 5, and I found myself running alone for about 3 of those miles. I first got dropped by faster runners (as expected), and then I gradually got swallowed by a small pack of 4 runners.
In my mind, that pack shouldn't have been near me and it initially bothered me. But, they were working together and that proved to be a much better strategy, so I accepted it.
As we turned at 5 and gained a tailwind, I realized that I was working waaaay too hard to hang on to that pack. The 6th mile was 5:38 and it felt like I blazed a 5:20. I couldn't fathom hanging onto that pace for any longer, in spite of having that tail wind. And then I got dropped. Passed 7 at 5:49. I was disgusted that I was blowing up.
I thought no way in hell was I going to be able to maintain that for another 3 miles. Everything collapsed so quickly. Like I hit a wall, but only after 7 miles... and 7 miles slower than what I ran at GB! I knew it was over. I didn't have to think twice about it. I immediately pulled the plug.
So there you have it. I turned the corner, expecting to get this big ol' boost from some wind at my back... and even get the favor of running with a few guys..., and instead I got dropped on my "out of shape" ass. I was damned if I was going to run slower than my 10 miles at Green Bay, let alone start choking out some marathon paced miles in a 10 miler. And damned I was!
For the second race in a row I had negative, self-destructing thoughts dictate how I raced... or lack there of.
I'm OK with it too. It's clear now that I did too much. With in about 2 months, I ran Cary 1/2, PR'd Oak Park 5k, PR'd Rotterdam, slugged my way though Green Bay, and then attempted SF10. That's a lot of hard running! My eyes were bigger than my stomach.
SF10 probably would've gone much better if I had been more aggressive with my training in the past few weeks - but honestly, I didn't feel like it. I've been running on empty since Green Bay. I lost the motivation. I didn't want to bother with the track or a couple mid-week longer runs. I got lazy and paid for it. It should've been either GB or SF... not both.
I need to recovery before I can do much more. I'll do a little running this week... only enough to possibly choke out the Roselle 5K... if I even bother... then 2 weeks of heavily reducing miles.
I need to get feeling fresh again before I can think about the Chicago Half and Chicago Marathon.
Split recap:
1- 5:36
2- 5:42
3- 5:45
4- 5:44
5- 5:45
6- 5:38
7- 5:49
A waaay too difficult 7 mile average of 5:42.7.
Note, I went through GB mile 8 with a 5:39 average, before getting slammed by the wind.
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