(Slightly delayed) 2012 Winterman race report
February 22nd, 2012The day before the Winterman half, I tried a new diet strategy. Go ahead and laugh. I know you’re not supposed to do anything different on or near race day. I blame Alex Hutchinson: I was seduced by the carb-loading infographic that accompanied his article on the subject at the Globe and Mail. Apparently, a recent study on London marathon finishers showed the best outcome for runners who had consumed 10g carbohydrates/kg of body weight before the race with good outcomes for those who reached the 7g/kg threshold. I thought I could at least hit that watermark. I had pancakes for breakfast, crackers, a few bottles of Gatorade. By 4pm on Saturday, I calculated that I had hit only 2g/kg. We headed out for dinner at an Italian restaurant where I had some calamari, two slices of bread and a bowl of pasta. We waddled home and I had another bottle of Gatorade. As I lay awake at 1:30am that night, stomach churning, I realized that empirically-based or not, making last-minute changes is a bad idea. I contemplated my first DNS – Did Not Start. (It is also possible that my stomach trouble was due to recent stressful life events, not least of which is the upcoming announcement of where I will be completing my residency next year.) I eventually fell asleep and stumbled out of bed approximately five hours later in my usual pre-race stupor. Mr. Shuffler, visiting from Thorold, elected to sleep until 15 minutes before our ride showed up.
Note: this gun is very loud
We headed off to the War Museum where the event was being staged. Race kit pick-up was a total breeze; I just wish the timing chip pick-up was inside (apparently the organizers are working on improving this.) Having spotted Karen’s brother David in the crowd, the Shuffling clan joined up with Endorphin Junkie and her posse. We also spent a few minutes hanging with Lisa, iRun’s energetic (and speedy!) publisher. Karen and I lined up at the back of the crowd with Mr. Endorphin Junkie so that we wouldn’t be trampled by enthusiastic 3km, 5km and 10km runners. Papa Shuffler reminded us that this event kicks off with a Howitzer shot but it was still pretty startling. Karen and I walked to the start line at a sedate pace, poking fun at those keeners who run to the start line. This was a split second before we realized that there were no timing mats at the start line and the gun signalled the start for everyone. Whoops. We kicked up the pace immediately.
Winterlude mascots demonstrated proper POST-race stretching
The half-marathon and marathon runners did a longer loop on the first lap, which is much better than the previous system of tacking on the distance to the last lap. At the point on the course where the longer-distance racers diverged, there was a volunteer with a red hand on a stick pointing the way. Karen observed that this might come in “handy” for a variety of uses (oh, she went there!) Over the next 2 hours and 36 minutes, this volunteer came to occupy a special place in my heart. For a start, he had his face painted with a big maple leaf. He shouted advice to runners continuously through a bullhorn, first in English, then in French. On the third lap, we heard the theme song from Chariots of Fire: Mr. Awesome Volunteer Man was holding his mp3 player up to the bullhorn. On the fourth lap, Karen and I both stopped to give him a hug.
The first couple of laps went well but my system started breaking down on lap 3. My legs were sore, my stomach was iffy, my heart/lungs were working overtime. It didn’t help that the brain wasn’t cooperating. Instead of contributing useful ideas like, “Run the mile you’re in”, it kept dwelling on unhelpful ideas like, “Crap, this hill is killing me. And I have to do two more times?! God, my legs hurt.” Karen characterized the third lap of the race as the “Wednesday” of lap-based race courses but the fourth lap was probably the toughest for me. I did manage a good finishing kick though so I’m happy with that. We finished in 2:36, which falls neatly between my personal best (2:29:37) and my personal worst (2:50). At the finish line, a volunteer extended a hand to me. I thought she was giving me a high five until I realized that she was steadying me so she could remove my timing chip. A second volunteer actually put the medal around my neck, which I really appreciated.
Enormous thank yous to the selfless, enthusiastic volunteers who got up at the crack of dawn to stand outside in February for a few hours. I can run for 2.5 hours on a Sunday morning but I don’t think I could stand around for that time handing out warm E-load (yum!). Big thank yous also to my wonderful family, who cheered us on at every lap, and my friend Chelsea. Spectators can really make a race and there were some great ones at this event.
Triumphant finishers!
Here’s what I learned from this race/training cycle:
- Planning a training plan that goes over the Xmas season is silly. Just silly.
- If you have the thought the night before the race, “I should remember to trim my toenails tomorrow morning”, get out of bed, find the nail clippers and just do it. You won’t remember the morning of.
- Training plans should probably include a mental component to make sure that the brain is cooperating on race day. Practice mantras on long runs.
- Hills are the devil. Lap-based courses with hills are even worse.
- Good race partners are worth their weight in gold. Thanks, Karen!
At the conclusion of the race, I had the fleeting thought that in just 14 short weeks, I will be running exactly twice as far on race day. Thankfully, the brain finally started cooperating and the thought was quickly banished. One run at a time!
