Running Bold in Boulder

The Bolder Boulder race officially kicks off summer on Memorial Day in our fair city. The spectacle of over 50,000 runners and walkers making their way through town, entertained by local musicians, costumed dancers, patriotic decorations and lots of enthusiastic spectators is extremely cool! Runners finish inside of the University of Colorado stadium, which is fun, but I must say that I was happy to see some random Colorado State University tshirts and caps out there....gotta “defend the Fort!”...I gave them a high-five “go Rams” salute!  

The Bolder Boulder yesterday had a different focus for me as it was the first concrete assessment of my fitness since starting training for several long distance triathlons coming up this summer.  I’m trying to take my performance up a notch and see where I can go with it.  This year, someone besides me was actually going to take notice of my finish time.  Holy Accountability, Batman! My coaches are so supportive and I didn’t want to disappoint them .... or myself.

In 1992 at the age of 37, I ran my 10K PR of 46:06. That was also the day of my 20th high school reunion, and I’d been running a lot because of course you want to look good for people you’ve not seen in 20 years, right? 1992 was also the year before I did my first sprint triathlon.  After that I didn’t run as much as I was spending time on my bike and trying to learn to swim well enough not to drown in open water. Whatever running speed I might have had back in the early 90’s went dormant soon after. I haven’t been tracking racing times over the years, but the fastest time I can find online looking back at my 10K run results is 52 minutes back in 98.  I’ve gotten close to that in triathlons in recent years (yes, I seem to be faster in a triathlon than a standalone running race...wierd), but certainly never close to that ’92 PR.  

So for the past 10 years or so I’ve become Queen of Long Slow training.  It was just so darn pleasant and easy to be out there for hours on my bike or running, enjoying the sunshine and daydreaming, while my mind and body drift into that auto-pilot mode and time just floats by. It’s a great way to become a slow runner - DUH - and that’s exactly what I taught my body to do.

Back to yesterday’s race...The plan was to start at a moderate pace, gradually increase and then pick it up to achieve negative splits, which is usually not that hard to do as I typically am out for 30-60 minutes before I’m feeling warmed up and happy.  I was hoping to average an 8 minute mile & go sub-50 minutes, which would have been 2-3 minutes faster than any 10K I’ve run in the past 10-12 years.  I have started paying attention to hydration as I'm not very good about drinking water.  I have been having some achey pain in my left foot for a day or two, and still have a weird hip flexor pain on the left side that won’t seem to go away and I feel like it’s inhibiting movement running & cycling.  But besides THOSE things, I was feel good.  Warren and I had planned to run together but I lost him in the crowd when he went to the porta-potty before the race - couldn’t find him again til afterward - so I was on my own, and that was fine.  Sometimes it’s a good thing to only have your own energy to deal with and manage.

Off we went at 7:09, the CC wave.  In previous years I would take in all the sights along the course and try to enjoy the race while running a "decent" time - but this year it was strictly business.  My focus was on finding the best line through the crowd of runners, hitting the splits button on my Garmin at the mile markers, trying to keep a steady pace, letting negative thoughts go & getting the job done.

I would love to report that it was fun.  It was not.  It felt hard at the time but looking back and comparing this effort to other hard efforts, it was probably an  8 or 8.5 on a scale of 10 so  certainly not a red-line situation the whole time.  My heart rate average was 165, which is in zone 4 (max is 5) but I went as high as 178 near the end.  There was a good bit of negotiation going on between my body and head.  My head finally won, keeping the mantra “calm, steady, strong” over and over for 6.2 miles. 

I have also realized that I have so much to learn to develop a strong race mentality.  I really don’t do it well, both in the moment and in preparation. I’m learning to accept discomfort and outright pain as OK & normal & even that I should seek it out when training and racing. I’ve read interviews with professional and elite endurance athletes - when they are asked what emotions they use to motivate them to push thru when it gets hard, some say fear(of losing or of their competition); some say anger(toward their competition or to otherwise prove something to themselves or others) but others say they use the motivation of things they care about(family, a cause they support, etc)- and still others say that they try to quiet their mind of all that negative mental noise and find the flow and the place of ease.  In the past I’ve been all over the place in terms of motivation and mental management, but I do see that conquering one’s negative thoughts can make all the difference when the going gets tough.

Some triathletes do a lot of pre-race reconnaissance work.  They know exactly who their competition will be and those key players strengths and weaknesses.  They know the nuances of the course, how their own abilities can be best maximized by the conditions of the course and weather.  They have a detailed race plan that may indeed fall apart, but yet they are prepared with a best case scenario for strategically striking with surges or patience as the day unfolds - and contingency plans for pulling out the best outcome no matter what happens.  They have specific nutrition and hydration plans and everything about their bike setup is meticulously adjusted to get the most power from every pedal stroke.  I do none of these things.  I’ll never be a professional athlete, but I could certainly take a page or two from the playbooks of the best athletes around - many of whom are right here in Boulder.  

So here’s how it came out...My official 10K finish time was 49:47.  Big happy face here!  I looked at the results online when I got back home and was surprised to see that I ws the fastest 55 year old female in the race.  Holy cow, did I really win my age group at Bolder Boulder?  (Yep)  Bigger happy face!  This was a beautiful gift that I think I earned but I’m nevertheless totally grateful to have been able to do.  My neighbor Sue is very fast and is also 55.  She runs Bolder Boulder most years, but lucky for me she was out of town (and injured) and wasn’t able to race this year.  It was the Perfect Storm for me.  

So last night I was having a glass of celebratory Merlot and thinking, “ok, so, now, how can I learn to be faster?”  Cuz, this is getting kinda fun, seeing where I can take it.  Like childbirth, how fast you forget the pain and remember the happy.

Cheers!

PS...

Things that went well:

• Good hydration in days before the race
• Peanut butter toast is a good pre-race meal
• H2O at 4 aid stations, just a swallow or two
• Steady pace, fairly even splits, slightly negative splits in last 2 miles

Opportunity for improvement:

• Don’t walk thru the aid stations; learn to drink while running
• Don’t carry my phone with me in my hand (didn’t mean to...long story)
• Learn to get through the crowds better while running
• Address my two injury issues before they become a problem