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FrogMan · 05-07-2014, 09:55 PM

disclaimer, this might run long. I can get wordy, sorry but it'll help me exorcise the whole thing

**also, some things are left unexplained now and will become clearer as I post some background info how my Summer of 2014 is shaping up running and racing wise...
======================
Race Report Demi marathon Internation Oasis Lévis, May 4th 2014

Weather was pretty rainy when I got up on Saturday, with gusts of winds swirling around our house. According to the local weather website, some northeast wind was to be expected. Northeast meant we'd have a headwind on the long downhill and some tailwind on our way back when the course would be flatter. Temperature was around 5C with a windchill around 2C which is kinda weird for a May 4th... It was cold to warm up but once we had about 8 or 9 km done, the skies kinda cleared and while there wasn't much sun, there was never any rain until much later in the day.

I picked up my bib on Saturday and with it came a nice long sleeve tech shirt.

Later on in the day, I devised some sort of pacing strategy that I thought would be sustainable given the elevation of the course. To do that, I sorta split the 21.1 km in 5 sections.

Section one, start with climb, 2 km, projected pace: 4:30/km (7:14/mile)
This was the start section. I expected to see pacers but never could find any. I was kind of overwhelmed in the middle of the crowd knowing absolutely nobody but looking around and seeing everybody in mini crowds. I positioned myself in a spot where I thought I'd be around the top 25% of racers but found myself kinda jammed there and realized that many out of shape, or simply slower runners, had placed themselves close to just behind the elite.

The first 250m were very slow and with an awkward gait trying to maneuver behind people. I found myself working up to my projected pace and passing people all the time until we headed East, then facing a good headwind but still climbing a little.

I thought I did ok in that section, especially with the crowded start, averaging 4:33/km over the first 2 km.

Section two, going downhill, 6 km, projected pace: 4:10/km (6:42/mile)
I had planned a kind of aggressive pace for that section based on my long run done a couple weeks ago. I that run, I was hitting about 4:20 without pushing too hard and I figured that until we start heading back, I could push it harder and be ok the rest of the way. Maybe that was the start of my mistakes but I don't think that was the worst. My HR stayed in check there and I was hitting my pace splits quite well or at least within range.

KM#3: 4:14
KM#4: 3:58 (!)
KM#5: 4:15
KM#6: 4:13
KM#7: 4:15
KM#8: 4:05

Not everything was bad in that race. Here's a pic my 17yo son took of me from the parking lot of our dojo. I even saw a young girl student of mine who stood there in the windy cold weather with nher mother to cheer us runners on.

I tried chewing a Powerbar raspberry smart blast around km #8 but ended up chewing on it for maybe a minute and had trouble swallowing it. Took some water from my belt.

Section three, flatter on the way back, 7 km, projected pace: 4:22/km (7:02/mile)
I thought this section would be flat, thinking back to my last long run that had gone through the downhill but when I did that run, I circled back earlier and didn't really do the same route. The pace I had projected for this section was based on my 15K pace test in which I averaged 4:24 over 15km on a flat course. I figured that if I pushed a tiny bit more, I'd be able to hit 4:22. I crushed the split time for the first 5 km of that section of the course mostly because it kept going downhill along the river. Not always by much, but always a bit of a negative elevation and we got hit in the back by a sometimes steady tailwind.

KM#9: 4:03
KM#10: 4:09
KM#11: 4:11
KM#12: 4:16
KM#13: 4:18
KM#14: 4:25
KM#15: 4:25

Time after 15km: 1:03:55, pace 4:15/km (6:51/mile)

Around km 13 or 14, I tried my luck with a Clif Shot bloks this time and seriously almost gagged when I choked on it. That was the end of my trying to swallow these things when going at those paces. I did take some water but apparently not enough. Heart rate was still quite in check, steadily averaging 160 or so which is about what I'd expect for me on long hard runs.

Section four, cruise back, 4.5 km, projected pace: 4:30/km (7:14/mile)
When I started the training cycle leading to this half, 4:30/km was the pace I had as a goal. It evolved over the course of the 12 weeks to a point that I thought I could push more and do better. I still think I had it in me to do better than that pace for the early part of the race. I'd want to say that I got greedy here but I don't think the pace I was doing were that much faster than what I wanted to do...

KM#16: 4:26
KM#17: 4:28
KM#18: 4:33
KM#19: 4:45

around the middle of km #19 was supposed to start my last kick push. I wanted or stupidly thought I'd be able to will my legs to go for 1.5 km at 4:10 but as you can see the beginning of the end was coming in that 19th km. I just didn't see it coming, then boom...

KM#20: 6:06

Now that one is a blur. I remember seeing 6:00 as an average pace for the first 500m of that kilometer (I set my watch to give me splits every half km) but not too sure about the second half, then I remember not so much running anymore but walking wobly and having someone grab me by my right arm and then it kinda blacked out... Next thing I knew, I was on a stretcher with two EMTs asking me questions but within minutes I was back to myself and fairly conscious, not stupid enough to say "hey coach, let me back in the game, I'm all right!" but pretty conscious. They asked me my birthdate, address and such and I was able to coherently answer.

They pricked me on the finger to take my blood glucose level and told me I was at 3.9 and that under 4, I was getting hypoglycemic. They gave me a gel type thing, similar to those runners take. After taking it, they tested me again but now I was even lower, 2.4. They gave me another gel. Glucose level would eventually level up at about 4.4 by the time we got to the ER.

Before we left, they asked me if I had anybody waiting for me by the finishing line and I went "oh crap, yes, my wife and oldest son are waiting there, and I told them when to expect me, they'll get worried!" One EMT asked me if my wife had a cell phone and if they could call her. I said yeah, dial this number but let me talk to her. Later on, she told me it was a good thing she got to talk to me or else she would have seriously freaked out to simply talk to an EMT.

Funny thing #1 happened when we got to the ER. I'm a stretcher, all sweaty, still wearing my running shoes and the nurse is entering my data, barely looking at me and she goes "were you doing any kind of physical activity when the incident happened?" I'm like huhuh, pointing my bib, "err, it's the half marathon today, I did 20 of the 21 km" She simply went "oh"...

Funny thing #2 happened when talking with the ER doc. She wanted me to see the cardiologist to rule out anything bad that could do with my heart. She said he might want to test me out on what of those cardiac stress test they do on a treadmil later on in the day. I went "huh? today? Can't that wait a day or two?"

They ended up not testing anything other that drawing blood twice. They said nothing looked wrong with my heart and the blood tests revealed mostly stuff that dehydrated people go through which was a relief.

That was a long day sitting idly around with too little to eat. I got to the ER at about 11:45 and they didn't have me on their list for a lunch. They got me some small chicken sandwich with some cheese, some apple juice.

I did many little things wrong in that race. Not the least of which was not drinking enough, but also not fuelling properly, and especially not testing fuelling under race conditions. Another thing I probably did wrong was put my watch with race time as the principal number instead of the HR. My HR spiked to 168 around km 17. Maybe it'd have been too late but maybe I could have been reasonable then and walk some of drink some. But it wasn't that big a spike, nothing like 190 or something that out of the ordinary.

Still, that's a good old DNF but one I can learn from I think.

After 19km, I had a time of 1:22:08 or an average pace of 4:19 per km (6:57 per mile). That was quite a run...

And to end this report, here's that ER selfie that I posted on FB. Yeah, I know, but I still smiled!

I also have a bruised left thumb, just on the inside and some scratches on my left knee, indicating that I was grabbed on my right and tried to brace myself to the ground on my left but then bounced back to the right and hit my chin to the ground, rubbing it on the pavement.

This was a humility lesson. Respect your body man, respect the distance. Train hard but know your limits.

The season ticket I have signed up for allows me to change future events if I want to. I have decided to opt out of the full marathon I was supposed to do in August and will do a half then. I will not try a full until I have succesfully done a half. If it only happens next Summer, then so be it. I will also change the staircase challenge I'm signed up for on June 15 from a 19km to a 13km.

If you're still reading, thanks. Now go run, run happy!

05-07-2014, 09:55 PM	#2
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	disclaimer, this might run long. I can get wordy, sorry but it'll help me exorcise the whole thing also, some things are left unexplained now and will become clearer as I post some background info how my Summer of 2014 is shaping up running and racing wise... ====================== Race Report Demi marathon Internation Oasis Lévis, May 4th 2014 Weather was pretty rainy when I got up on Saturday, with gusts of winds swirling around our house. According to the local weather website, some northeast wind was to be expected. Northeast meant we'd have a headwind on the long downhill and some tailwind on our way back when the course would be flatter. Temperature was around 5C with a windchill around 2C which is kinda weird for a May 4th... It was cold to warm up but once we had about 8 or 9 km done, the skies kinda cleared and while there wasn't much sun, there was never any rain until much later in the day. I picked up my bib on Saturday and with it came a nice long sleeve tech shirt. Later on in the day, I devised some sort of pacing strategy that I thought would be sustainable given the elevation of the course. To do that, I sorta split the 21.1 km in 5 sections. Section one, start with climb, 2 km, projected pace: 4:30/km (7:14/mile) This was the start section. I expected to see pacers but never could find any. I was kind of overwhelmed in the middle of the crowd knowing absolutely nobody but looking around and seeing everybody in mini crowds. I positioned myself in a spot where I thought I'd be around the top 25% of racers but found myself kinda jammed there and realized that many out of shape, or simply slower runners, had placed themselves close to just behind the elite. The first 250m were very slow and with an awkward gait trying to maneuver behind people. I found myself working up to my projected pace and passing people all the time until we headed East, then facing a good headwind but still climbing a little. I thought I did ok in that section, especially with the crowded start, averaging 4:33/km over the first 2 km. Section two, going downhill, 6 km, projected pace: 4:10/km (6:42/mile) I had planned a kind of aggressive pace for that section based on my long run done a couple weeks ago. I that run, I was hitting about 4:20 without pushing too hard and I figured that until we start heading back, I could push it harder and be ok the rest of the way. Maybe that was the start of my mistakes but I don't think that was the worst. My HR stayed in check there and I was hitting my pace splits quite well or at least within range. KM#3: 4:14 KM#4: 3:58 (!) KM#5: 4:15 KM#6: 4:13 KM#7: 4:15 KM#8: 4:05 Not everything was bad in that race. Here's a pic my 17yo son took of me from the parking lot of our dojo. I even saw a young girl student of mine who stood there in the windy cold weather with nher mother to cheer us runners on. I tried chewing a Powerbar raspberry smart blast around km #8 but ended up chewing on it for maybe a minute and had trouble swallowing it. Took some water from my belt. Section three, flatter on the way back, 7 km, projected pace: 4:22/km (7:02/mile) I thought this section would be flat, thinking back to my last long run that had gone through the downhill but when I did that run, I circled back earlier and didn't really do the same route. The pace I had projected for this section was based on my 15K pace test in which I averaged 4:24 over 15km on a flat course. I figured that if I pushed a tiny bit more, I'd be able to hit 4:22. I crushed the split time for the first 5 km of that section of the course mostly because it kept going downhill along the river. Not always by much, but always a bit of a negative elevation and we got hit in the back by a sometimes steady tailwind. KM#9: 4:03 KM#10: 4:09 KM#11: 4:11 KM#12: 4:16 KM#13: 4:18 KM#14: 4:25 KM#15: 4:25 Time after 15km: 1:03:55, pace 4:15/km (6:51/mile) Around km 13 or 14, I tried my luck with a Clif Shot bloks this time and seriously almost gagged when I choked on it. That was the end of my trying to swallow these things when going at those paces. I did take some water but apparently not enough. Heart rate was still quite in check, steadily averaging 160 or so which is about what I'd expect for me on long hard runs. Section four, cruise back, 4.5 km, projected pace: 4:30/km (7:14/mile)** When I started the training cycle leading to this half, 4:30/km was the pace I had as a goal. It evolved over the course of the 12 weeks to a point that I thought I could push more and do better. I still think I had it in me to do better than that pace for the early part of the race. I'd want to say that I got greedy here but I don't think the pace I was doing were that much faster than what I wanted to do... KM#16: 4:26 KM#17: 4:28 KM#18: 4:33 KM#19: 4:45 around the middle of km #19 was supposed to start my last kick push. I wanted or stupidly thought I'd be able to will my legs to go for 1.5 km at 4:10 but as you can see the beginning of the end was coming in that 19th km. I just didn't see it coming, then boom... KM#20: 6:06 Now that one is a blur. I remember seeing 6:00 as an average pace for the first 500m of that kilometer (I set my watch to give me splits every half km) but not too sure about the second half, then I remember not so much running anymore but walking wobly and having someone grab me by my right arm and then it kinda blacked out... Next thing I knew, I was on a stretcher with two EMTs asking me questions but within minutes I was back to myself and fairly conscious, not stupid enough to say "hey coach, let me back in the game, I'm all right!" but pretty conscious. They asked me my birthdate, address and such and I was able to coherently answer. They pricked me on the finger to take my blood glucose level and told me I was at 3.9 and that under 4, I was getting hypoglycemic. They gave me a gel type thing, similar to those runners take. After taking it, they tested me again but now I was even lower, 2.4. They gave me another gel. Glucose level would eventually level up at about 4.4 by the time we got to the ER. Before we left, they asked me if I had anybody waiting for me by the finishing line and I went "oh crap, yes, my wife and oldest son are waiting there, and I told them when to expect me, they'll get worried!" One EMT asked me if my wife had a cell phone and if they could call her. I said yeah, dial this number but let me talk to her. Later on, she told me it was a good thing she got to talk to me or else she would have seriously freaked out to simply talk to an EMT. Funny thing #1 happened when we got to the ER. I'm a stretcher, all sweaty, still wearing my running shoes and the nurse is entering my data, barely looking at me and she goes "were you doing any kind of physical activity when the incident happened?" I'm like huhuh, pointing my bib, "err, it's the half marathon today, I did 20 of the 21 km" She simply went "oh"... Funny thing #2 happened when talking with the ER doc. She wanted me to see the cardiologist to rule out anything bad that could do with my heart. She said he might want to test me out on what of those cardiac stress test they do on a treadmil later on in the day. I went "huh? today? Can't that wait a day or two?" They ended up not testing anything other that drawing blood twice. They said nothing looked wrong with my heart and the blood tests revealed mostly stuff that dehydrated people go through which was a relief. That was a long day sitting idly around with too little to eat. I got to the ER at about 11:45 and they didn't have me on their list for a lunch. They got me some small chicken sandwich with some cheese, some apple juice. I did many little things wrong in that race. Not the least of which was not drinking enough, but also not fuelling properly, and especially not testing fuelling under race conditions. Another thing I probably did wrong was put my watch with race time as the principal number instead of the HR. My HR spiked to 168 around km 17. Maybe it'd have been too late but maybe I could have been reasonable then and walk some of drink some. But it wasn't that big a spike, nothing like 190 or something that out of the ordinary. Still, that's a good old DNF but one I can learn from I think. After 19km, I had a time of 1:22:08 or an average pace of 4:19 per km (6:57 per mile). That was quite a run... And to end this report, here's that ER selfie that I posted on FB. Yeah, I know, but I still smiled! I also have a bruised left thumb, just on the inside and some scratches on my left knee, indicating that I was grabbed on my right and tried to brace myself to the ground on my left but then bounced back to the right and hit my chin to the ground, rubbing it on the pavement. This was a humility lesson. Respect your body man, respect the distance. Train hard but know your limits. The season ticket I have signed up for allows me to change future events if I want to. I have decided to opt out of the full marathon I was supposed to do in August and will do a half then. I will not try a full until I have succesfully done a half. If it only happens next Summer, then so be it. I will also change the staircase challenge I'm signed up for on June 15 from a 19km to a 13km. If you're still reading, thanks. Now go run, run happy! __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...