I'll admit it: I was nervous going into the race today.
Today, I learned trust. Trust my training, trust my coach, trust my strength, trust my legs, trust my heart. Sure, I've been fairly diligent about following my prescribed training (except when I depart from Coach Jack's plan and go AT skiing!), and, yes, I've been holding pace on the running portion of the program Coach Jack set for me, and, yes, I had a great result last week from my bike FTP test. Despite all of these things, I still had a nervous feeling going into today's race.
First, I haven't raced since Ironman Canada in August 2011. I had butterflies.
Next, I haven't raced FAST since at least two years ago; training for IMC required that I go longer, not faster. I was worried about holding a fast pace and doing the shorter distance. I had butterflies.
Finally, I really, really wanted to do well; in fact, based on some of the training runs that I had been doing, I estimated that I could break even or maybe even better my Personal Best (PB) that was set at this race, on this course, two years ago. I had butterflies.
I met with Coach Jack earlier in the week to review an ideal race plan, get fashion advice for the race, and generally talk about how my training was progressing. It was a good meeting: I like how he visualizes the course, sets a realistic goal based on our interactions to date, takes into account my goals, and gives me a bit of a push. The plan was to start out slow, build, hold, and "see what happens." He also told me this race would be a negative split.
Now I really had butterflies.
Today dawned beautiful - no frost, no icy roads, beautiful sun, even warm enough to wear capris and no jacket, just a wind vest over a long-sleeve shirt. Nice. I woke on time, ate my standard pre-race breakfast (quinoa and cranberries with cinnamon, made the night before, topped off with almond milk), got dressed, and found a prime parking spot. I socialized a bit with former teammates (who have made me an honourary team member). I did the recommended warm-up: 10 min. eazy running, A's, B's, C's. I chatted some more en route to the start line. Then the air horn sounded.
I had seeded myself close-ish to the front with other friends who are notably faster than me - and I let them run (as it turned out, I wasn't so far behind!). Despite frequently glances at my Garmin 310XT to check on pace, I started out faster than planned, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't seem to slow down to get into the plan. I was a bit worried, but decided to roll with it. Around the 2km mark, friend Sarah GP and hubby caught up with me. Now, Sarah is one of my favourite athletes. She is dedicated, calm under pressure, incredibly fit. And eight months pregnant. There was NO WAY that an eight-month pregnant lady was going to outrun me today (note: Sarah finished in approx. 57min. Amazing.). So I put it in gear.
Yep, each progressive kilometer got marginally faster, not a lot, just a smidgeon. I trucked up the hill without breaking pace, found I still had juice in my legs at the top, and coasted down the other side. I held pace, kept ramping up just a weeeeee bit with each turn.
At the half-way mark I checked my time and was pleased to see I was slightly ahead of pace, and if I ran a slower, warm-up-style pace I could still match my PB. And then I found the "pain cave."
At approx. 5-7km there is an out-and-back portion of the run, which I find energizing and fun, because you get to see friends going in both directions. It's a flat stretch of pavement through a residential area. Very innocuous. Except my faster pace was starting to catch up with me: my legs were still running on full energy, but they didn't have any zip left in them. I needed to FOCUS, trust my training, trust my heart that said: go for it. So I got good and comfortable being uncomfortable, and kept on running (guess what, no walk breaks today!).
The final 2km are through a beautiful park pathway that rolls along with the bank of the river. Not exactly a hill, but not exactly flat either. Just enough to eat into your legs. I kept on running.
In fact, I kept on running, speeding up slightly on the final 2km, to hit the finish chute at 56:16. Nice Personal Best! I cleared my other record by over a minute!
56:16 was my official finish time.
Here are my splits for each kilometer:
5:44
5:42
5:48 (hill)
5:36
5:35
5:36
5:25
5:28
5:31 (dig in mentally)
5:19 (nice kick!)
Average: 5:34
It was a beautiful day for a PB.
