Saturday, February 10, 2007

RACE: Tiger Dash 10K @ 45:03, Wickham BCC PL


This morning was the Tiger Dash 10K, my first race in... 3 weeks? (Titusville).

The day before, Coach wrote all of us campers "a few keys to have a successful Saturday race". Let's check them out

1) Run 2-4 miles very easy on Friday. Leave the watch at home and just get out for an easy 30 minute run. Pace should be recovery pace, and conversational. Take a running partner along and have a good chat.
No running partner, but I did make it out for a good 3.2 miles. Check.

2) Eat and drink properly Friday. Be sure to avoid the fried foods and dairy products. Avoid McDonalds and be sure to hydrate with water. Avoid large quantities of alcohol!!! It will dehydrate you.
No alcohol, no fried foods (Little Caesars pizza is greasy but not "fried" so that was okay). Check.

3) Get to bed early!! Save the late night out for Saturday night. A good night sleep of 8-9 hours will do wonders for your hard working body.
Um... 1am = 6 hrs of sleep... oops (but sort of expected). No check.

4) Pack your gear on Friday night. When you are wide awake and have plenty of time, it is better to pack all you will need for race morning on Friday night.
Just needed the camera, and I have a mess of clothes in the trunk of my car, so... Check.

5) Allow yourself plenty of time in the morning. You will race better when not stressed about making it to the race in time.
Instead, I didn't waste time before the race. I left the house early enough that I wasn't worried about making it to the race on time. Check.

6) Avoid the caffeine on race morning. Coffee has about 225 mg of caffiene in a 10 oz cup. This will be great if you are racing anything under the mile. But after that, BONK! : )
I didn't eat or drink anything before the race. The bag of popcorn I had the night before really didn't help me though. Check.

7) Get to the race 60 minutes before the start. This allows you plenty of time to pick up the race packet, go for a warm up, hit the bathroom, change into racing shoes, and make it to the starting line, "before" the gun goes off.
I think this one was directed at me. I went to the bathroom many times at home before heading out and got there 20 minutes before the race started. I knew it was friggin' cold outside, and I figured that I wasn't likely to attempt a warm-up, being so tired and all. No check.

8) Do not stand around for 5 minutes waiting for the race to start. Do not let your heart rate come down to resting and then sprint out the first 200 meters and run it to max. Jog in place, do strides down the starting line, but keep the heart rate slightly elevated.
I didn't stand around the start line for 5 minutes. I was only there for 2, and still I was using that time to stretch the important stuff... um... Check please.

9) Go out at the correct pace. Do not get caught up in the race excitement and go out faster than you know you should. You even splits, you will run your best times when you do!!!
I ran the first mile in 6:45 when I should have been aiming for 7:15. Miles 2-4 were about 7:30, then mile 5 (Post Rd) was about 7:00 flat. I ran the last mile at about 7:15-ish, but kicked it a couple times on the final stretch (I have good leg speed, even though I felt like throwing up). Half-a-check.

10) Last but not least, Have a "POSITIVE" attitude!!! To run your very best, it starts at the top! You need to believe to achieve!
I was feeling good. Not a lot of stress before the race. 6.2 miles was more than my long run has been, so I was glad to run it without stopping. My goal was sub-45, and I ended up with a 45:03, so Almost, but I'll take it, happily. Check.

Now for a few pictures...

A couple friends asked if I had lost a lot of weight; they said that I was trim/thin. What do you think? Here's what I wore:
I think it was the slimmingly-dark sleeveless compression shirt I sported (don't worry, this isn't the same one from last night. Yes, I have two purple compression shirts).

Here are a couple of my friends, Robin and Wayne. Robin is fabulously back from injury. And Wayne and his wife Fiona (not pictured) are marathon MANIACS!:
There was a lady who had a couple of doggies for sale. And don't you know it, they were pugs!!! I just had to hug a puppy (don't worry, I won't eat you):

Asides from the obvious fact that I don't know how to hold a puppy, my hands/arms don't retain much heat and the poor thing was shivering. If I had known, I would have brought extra blankets, and hug him, and squeeze him, and call him Sweetie.

I didn't get a puppy (as I was reminded of how much I'm not at home), but I did get a cat... a tiger... a bobble-head tiger! (Bobble-Head!!!) I got 3rd place in my age group:
I was SO excited! I knew that John and Ed were ahead of me, and I wasn't sure how many other people were in my age group. Turns out there were 8 total (so it was actually pretty competative). This is going in the office.

Okay, that's the race report and all. I'm now going to upload the photos and send out the link... then rest, fold laundry/finish watching Little Miss Sunshine (my 2nd time), then off to work, how ever late that is... then I may have tomorrow free... maybe.

1 comment(s):

Poker and Euchre said...

That's why you need TWO doggies! You can borrow us anytime - we just need lots of treats.

Can't wait to see you, we're already planning your visit!