Crisis management

Good, but could've been great.

That's what I told my training partner about this past weekend's 30k. The difference between good and great? About 8 minutes. Disappointed? Nah, not really. Even though a careless mistake prevented me from doing my absolute best, I still made the best of what I was dealt with and figured out a way to get myself out of a bad situation. I think that's 8 minutes well spent. Besides, better to get the bad race out of the way now and save the great race for the marathon. Here's my race report:

I felt pretty confident and well rested going into this race, taking two complete days of rest prior to toeing the start line. Earlier in the week, I definitely felt the accumulated fatigue from stacking a 18 mile run and a 4 and a half hour hike over the weekend so I made sure to give my legs the break it deserved. With a 5am start, I wasn't too concerned about radiant heat from the sun but with the forecast calling for light variable winds and humid weather, I came prepared.

Here's me sporting what you'll likely see me run the marathon in. From head-to-toe, SweatVac headband, Louis Garneau Pro sleeveless tri top, Zoot Endurance tri shorts, and of course, my new favorite shoe of all time, Inov-8 Road-x Lite 155. I've gone through several running singlets from Zoot and DeSoto in previous races, but in the end I've found that suiting up in my tri gear addresses all my needs for compression, ventilation, cooling, and pockets to stash my gels and liquids. I've read that it's somewhat of a faux pas to wear tri gear for running races but to hell with those people! It's the only apparel that can keep my core temperature in check so if I'm breaking an unspoken rule, then so be it.

Okay, on to the race. My goal for this race was to run a 2:10 (6:58/mi. pace) which would smash my PR from 2 years ago by 10 minutes. Out of the gate, I clocked a 7:02 in the first mile which made me think I may have been going out too fast but fortunately, the hill up Diamond Head forced me to slow down. Usually it takes me about 2 miles or so to warm up to a comfortable pace but for some reason as soon as I got to the lookout, I was hitting my stride. Nothing crazy or anything, I basically settled into a pace that I felt I could sustain comfortably until I got to the turnaround point at Maunala Bay. On the way out, I slowly chipped away at the leaders ahead of me just as a couple runners behind made a pass. For the most part, I ran this race by myself meaning that I didn't latch on to anyone to act as a pacesetter nor did I surge to leapfrog from one pack to the next.

So then one little hiccup takes place- my iPod goes silent. No big deal, I've done many triathlons where music devices aren't allowed so there was no reason to panic. With nothing to listen to, I was forced to pay attention to my breathing, heart rate, and cadence. At that point I was about 11 miles in, clocking in sub 7-minute miles and was amazed at how calm my body was. It was definitely a confidence booster. But then minutes later, I feel the laces on my right shoe come undone. I was a little hesitant to bend down to tie it because of what happened at Honu two years ago when my back seized up from sitting on the grass to put my shoes on. But then I thought, no big deal, take care of it now before it becomes a bigger problem. This happened right around mile 14 so with 4.6 miles to go, I decided to push the pace to make up the 10 or so seconds I lost from retying my shoes. Ha! At this point, it was deja vu all over again. It was me, Shawn, and the older guy Mike, at it again just like we did at the 25k a few weeks ago. Except this time, Shawn and I lead the charge after reeling Mike in.

As we turned onto Kahala Avenue, we were about 5k from home but decided to save some for the last ascend up to Triangle Park. As Shawn and I were shoulder-to-shoulder with Mike directly in front of us, I did this little side step and a hop kind of thing to get around Mike, when all of a sudden my lower back muscles spassed (sp?) and stopped me dead in my tracks. Any further movement brought on a pinched nerve-like pain so I literally went from running to a stand still in 2 seconds flat. So there I was, just before mile 16, laying on the grass/sand to the side of the road going to work doing any and every lower back stretch I know. Surprisingly I remained pretty calm throughout this whole ordeal knowing that I've been here before and was able to continue and finish the run after my back warmed up. And sure enough, after 5 or so minutes of dynamic and static stretching, I got back up on my feet and continued the race. When I passed mile marker 16, my Garmin read 10:54 for that mile but never bothered to look at my elapsed time thinking 2:10 was out of the question. Even though I was less than 2 miles away from the finish line, I didn't want to aggravate my lower back so I "cruised in" at around a 7:15/mi. pace which blew me away because it honestly felt like I was going at an easy pace. As soon as I was close enough to see the clock at the finish line, I see 2:13 tick by just as I see my parents on the side of the finisher's chute cheer me home. Here's the official numbers–

Official time: 2:13:25 (PR by 7 minutes)
Average pace: 7:09/mi.
Place: 4th AG/29th OA

All things considered, I'll take a sub par race in exchange for yet another lesson in crisis management. The likely culprit for my back spasm? This is just my guess, but I think bending down to tie my shoes may have started it and the little sidestep/hop move finished it off. I think it goes without saying that I'll be picking up a pair of Squeezums to make sure my laces never come undone and no more fancy footwork when making a pass. Overall, I feel very good about where I'm at with my fitness despite the recent mishap. On schedule for this weekend is supposed to be a 17-miler but I think I'm gonna change it up to a 20 mile "do-over" instead. Here's hoping you don't see me do yoga stretches on the side of the road!