Tonight's race was a prediction race. I'm sure the organizers heard it all at registration as they didn't even nod when I predicted that I'd get wet (it was misting) but not get lost.
The race was 3.65 miles long, one loop around a local river park. I've done the loop several times but never without walking. I figured that since I did 3.1 in 34 minutes, and I was sure to need to walk during this longer run, I'd be safe to tack on another 10 minutes and then added another for good measure for a prediction of 45 minutes.
Well the victory was bittersweet. I did not make my predicted time. In fact, I was off by nearly 4 minutes. Four minutes UNDER. I never took a walk break and I felt fabulous the entire time. Well, that's not true. The first 5 minutes are always tough and today were worse than ever. Everything hurt immediately and all at once. I think I may have started out a little too fast, or it could have been the lifting I did the day before but I was surprised at how badly my shoulders and lungs were screaming right off the bat. But in about 8 minutes, I felt terrific and that feeling didn't go away for the rest of the night.
So my pace was still no faster than Saturday's - I think I can cut myself a little bit of slack here - but my endurance increased and now I have a new bar for the next race. And I did manage to come in nearly 10 full minutes before the 60 year old who is recovering from open heart surgery she had LESS THAN A YEAR AGO!!!!! I was beaten shamelessly by a 6 year old and an 8 year old. I take comfort in the fact that they were running with their parents and likely were just running away from them.
And so what will be the next challenge? I don't know about that triathalon, Counselor. I did one lap at the pool on Sunday using my very best dog-paddle / frog stroke and that was tough. I think I'd make a better bouy than a racer for now. I'll have to look into swim lessons and a place to practice. That sure would be a hell of a fish to seize.....
As I mentioned previously, the hellish first five minutes could be due to the highly acidic environment in your cells caused by anaerobic energy production. Once you moved into the aerobic range (and the endorphins started to kick in!) you were in your running bliss. Here's an excerpt that describes the physiology in more detail:
ReplyDeletewww.cptips.com/bscphys.htm
You can triathlon! Yes, swimming's a trick. I can teach you if you wish.