Race Report: New Haven 20K / US Champs

Photo courtesy of John Tolbert

To start things off, I apologize to those of you who were worried about my finish in the New Haven 20k road race this past Monday. The preliminary results were inaccurate and did not have me listed correctly. I did indeed complete the race and it did not take me 3 1/2 hours to do so! The most recent results have been updated appropriately and are posted.  The result itself was very disappointing for me as I believed my fitness was further along than the time showed. But before I go into it, let's first take a look at the numbers.

Stratton Faxon New Haven 20k - USA Road Championships - 34th - 71:15
Mile splits: 5:18, 5:25, 5:28, 5:31, 5:44, 5:49, 5:39, 5:56, 5:54, 6:08, 5:55, 5:51, 2:25 (.44)
5K splits: 16:48, 34:32 (17:44), 52:28 (17:56), 71:15 (18:47)

With temperatures reaching over 80 degrees during the race and humidity at 93%, it wasn't too far into the race that I realized it was going to be a rough day. I knew I was not very well prepared for this race distance, but I was even less prepared for the weather conditions we had to face that day.  This resulted in one of my most uncomfortable racing experiences to date.

I began the race keying off of my friends from Maine, Josh Trevino and Josh Zolla.  Trevino was aiming for a 5:10 average and Zolla was aiming for a 5:15 average.  The first mile felt very comfortable and left us coasting behind the lead pack of women at about 5:18.  I continued the same approximate effort through the 2nd and 3rd miles, hitting the 5k right where I expected to be in 16:48. At this point, I was already starting to feel the conditions, but was trying to ignore it.  The women's pack had already spread out rapidly and I was running along side Meghan (Armstrong) Peyton at the time.  I was trying to help her out a little, but was also utilizing her as someone to key off of, knowing that she was a smart racer and would most likely maintain good race composure.  By the time we reached 5 miles, the discomfort of the conditions was very evident and I knew I wasn't helping anyone at that point.  I intentionally dropped back from Meghan and spent the 6th mile really trying to relax and try to prevent immediate disaster.  After a much slower mile, I hit the 10k at about 34:30, already about a minute off where I wanted to be at that point.  I then made an effort to recommit to a race mentality in the 7th mile.  It was a faster split, but not by much.  At this point I knew the race was pretty much over for me.

The following miles were more of a survival than a race.  Instead of a focus on racing, I was just focusing on breathing and putting one foot in front of the other.  Fortunately the race was very well organized and there were plenty of water and fueling stations.  I utilized every one of them and ran through every sprinkler and hose I saw.  I couldn't believe how uncomfortable I'd become, especially after feeling so relaxed in the early miles.  I'm sure a lot of it comes from my lack of hot weather races or workouts this summer, but even without that, I never considered this kind of an experience.  In that 7th mile, I saw several elite runners walking alongside the road, already throwing in the towel for the day.  Knowing I still had a ways to go, I continued to focus on keeping a sustainable effort and not succumb to just jogging.  This shouldn't be that difficult of a task, but the 7th, 8th, and 9th miles were the most difficult of the entire race for me.

It wasn't until I hit mile 10 that I started to feel a little bit of life again.  It may have been the shaded park that gave me some hope, it may have been the passing of BAA member Jeanette Faber, or it may have been seeing a 6:08 mile split and realizing that I was running very close to the pace of an everyday training run. I realized that I had let the extreme discomfort of those previous miles dictate my mental attitude.  The mentality and idea of discomfort can often last much longer than the actual physical discomfort.  I had zoned out into this slog of run and needed to snap out of it. I tried to mentally prepare myself for one last push to the finish which was just a couple miles away now.  As I hit the next mile in 5:55, I was crushed by the fact that I had accomplished so little.  I knew the possibility of salvaging a good race was long gone, but I was still hoping to regain some confidence in those last couple miles. Instead, it was just a matter of getting to the finish line and accepting the embarrassment of a slow time.

After finishing, I dumped a couple more bottles of water over my head and tried my best to regain composure.  In doing so, I found my friend Josh Trevino who despite being in the best shape of his life, had also faded drastically and was several minutes away from his goal performance.  I quickly realized that though disappointing, my race experience was not far off what others had experienced.  Now several days later, I am still unimpressed with the time that sits there next to my name, but feel better about my overall efforts and my ability to push through an extremely difficult day.  At the very least, I got a decent training run out of the day and worked a little bit more on mental and physical toughness.  I've been away from hard racing for a while and need all the practice I can get with regards to racing tough.  The biggest positive was being able to see the course and experience this event for future years.  I was very glad to be a part of this event and am very thankful for John Tolbert and the rest of the staff for providing such a great opportunity. I will certainly be back and plan on taking several minutes off this years performance.

Furthermore, I want to thank Chris and Kevin of Runnerspace for covering the event.  Be sure to check out all the great coverage on their US Running Circuit website. You won't see much of me in the Men's Race video, but Josh and I get some good camera time in the early stages of the Women's Race video.

Photo courtesy of Runnerspace.com

Next up, I'll be participating in another USA Road Championship, but will drop back down to a distance that I have a little more experience with.  Next weekend, I'll be in Providence, RI for the CVS Caremark Downtown 5K, where I hope to place higher and hopefully avoid trailing the women leaders as I did last week.

There are no immediate race plans after that, but I plan on getting into some heavy training and with that, will start posting more training information here on the blog.  I continue to be excited for the months ahead and look forward to sharing those experiences with so many of my connections within the sport.