Last Thursday saw a first-in-a-while running accomplishment. For the first time in a long time, I managed to run 10 kilometers in training. This was significant for a couple of reasons; my pace was not notably slower than runs of a much shorter distance, ten to twelve seconds per mile slower. The big takeaway, however, was how I felt at the end of the run. I had just 6.2 miles in under eighty minutes and did not feel wholly gassed. I could have gone longer (how much or how far, I don't know), but my goal was 10k, so I left it at that.
But it got me thinking. Am I now in a position to do a half marathon? What seemed impossible a few months ago now looks at least a remote possibility. Also, the New Bedford Half Marathon is rapidly approaching and will be held on my birthday, no less. After calculating pace and distance conversions for what seemed like hours, I figured I could give 16 kilometers a shot at a pace of around 7:50 per kilometer. This would provide me with leeway for the cut-off time of three hours and a general idea of where my fitness stands concerning these longer distances.
Thursday, February 23, sees me set out to the Cape Cod Canal bike path, chosen for this experiment due to its familiarity and easy terrain. When I arrived, it was clear that the weather was cold and windy, perfect conditions not to time trial. I abandon the canal, but before giving up entirely, I try another bike path. The Shining Star Bike Path is only a fifteen-minute drive and is less exposed to the elements than the canal. Off we go.
I arrive at the northern trailhead parking lot and am immediately struck by the fact that I am the only car in the lot. Yes, it is cold and lightly raining. Yes, it is not the summery tourist season. Yes, nobody wants to ride a bike for fun in this weather. But the last time I was here, we had to fight for a parking space. I was unsure whether to take this as a good or bad omen, but so be it. All electronics and necessary gear gathered, and away we go.
I have only been on the Shining Star Bike Path once before, and that was for an extended rehab walk. Most users were cyclists, but that would not be an issue today. The topography was primarily flat, with mileage markers every .1 mile. The cons didn't seem to have much to do with the path itself; the weather, while much improved from the canal, was still pretty miserable, my goal of ten miles within a specific time frame was still a vast unknown, and a lot could go wrong physically with my body trying to complete this ambitious run. Warmup complete; time to go.
I covered the first two kilometers in a little over fifteen minutes. As I am still "Gallorunning," I thought running through one of my walk breaks this early stage would be beneficial. My split for the 2nd kilometer was under eight minutes, so I naively thought this was a good thing. Uh-oh, foreshadowing. The markers placed every .1 mile make for a worthy goal to try to hit at the end of a run split. Things are going well through the first seven kilometers, a little less than halfway to go, and my worst split is slightly over eight minutes.
Between the seventh and eighth kilometer was the beginning of the end. I start to feel both fatigue and a sense of being uncomfortable settling in. My heart rate was beginning to reach the high 140s during the run segments, and I could not get it below 140 during the walk segments. The constant light drizzle is adding to general dampness, especially on my feet. My glasses are useless, so I hook them into my shirt, only to have them dig into my skin. I chose to walk through a run segment; initially, this was not a bad idea since my split ended at 8:25. I hit the five-mile halfway point, resumed my planned run-walk schedule, and hit a decent 7:36 split.
It was a little into the ninth kilometer that things fell apart. I had to walk through most of the kilometer and ended up with a 9:35 split. Feeling like I still had something left, I resumed my run-walk cadence at the ten-kilometer mark and continued a mile. My time for that mile was about thirteen minutes, suitable for what I was trying to accomplish and for this point in the run. But that was it. Run officially abandoned.
I had to walk about three miles to return to my car, plenty of time to contemplate what went wrong. The overriding problem was that I tried to tackle a run that was too far in distance while at the same time trying to finish said run in a certain amount of time. The constant calculating and recalculating of pace and miles took up too much headspace. I doubt I could have finished a ten miler, at any rate, today, but attaching a time goal just was not realistic. Even though I should have taken some positives away from the run, it was tough to swallow a metaphorical DNF and a long walk to process it.
Getting back to the car, I figured I could enjoy some decent metrics about the run, but that was not the case. Most of the numbers were expected. The only positive thing was a gain of four on the Strava fitness scale. My final time was 1:33:52 for an 11.6 km run, for a pace of 8:05. I wanted to keep it under eight, so it wasn't too bad, but certainly not what I was hoping for.
I held on to the belief that I could take another run before the half and give it another shot, but that thinking came and went. No New Bedford Half Marathon this year. Let's just keep training and see what happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment