Saturday, October 03, 2009

Worst. Race. Ever.

OK, it wasn't really my worst race ever. That would be the Rattlensake Master in 2003, when I pulled a DNF due to stomach problems. This may have been my worst race that I finished since high school, though. I ran a 10k and finished with an even worse time than the 2007 New Years' Day 10k I did in Palo Alto after not running for a month due to a sprained ankle and hamstring problems (I didn't even think of that as a race, to the extent that I apparently didn't even blog about it). To be fair, the altitude of that race was about 5 feet with very few hills, and this was a moderately hilly course at about 5000 feet. Forget the time. I got smoked by a girl on a climb. That Does Not Happen.

Well, I won't forget the time completely. I came in at exactly 40:00, in 5th place. The course was exactly the same as the other 10k in July that I ran almost 3 minutes faster. I didn't warm up very well for this race, but that's not why I ran poorly. I just wasn't in good enough shape. I might have gone out a little fast; in the last half of the race my turnover felt good but I was in too much pain to extend my stride much.

Conclusion: I need to hit the track. I don't really like track work that much in the best of circumstances, and it's really hard a mile up in the air, but I need to do it. I have been doing tempo and segment runs occasionally, but I've been doing them on trails where I'm probably using sharp turns and hills to take breaks.

4 comments:

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Um, congrats?

Or ... sorry?

This post left me feeling slightly disoriented. Worst race ever? Not? The 40 minute finish was for ... this race? Or that other one?

Ah, sweet, sweet beer takes the confusion away! I'll just have another sip.

There! Now EVERYTHING makes sense & I am as coherent as a ahe dta hre syruzx.

Al Dimond said...

This was the worst race I've finished since high school, not counting that one in 2007 because I didn't approach it like a race. The 40-minute finish, and getting smoked by a girl on a climb, was this one. Sorry for the confusion.

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

I thought hills were speed work in disguise?

Al Dimond said...

They are when you run them like speedwork. I have not really been doing that.

We just had a week of snow and freezing weather, and then it's supposed to get up around 60 next weekend. I can't decide whether to hit the track and try to find races or consider this the winter and work on swimming.