Jesse Owens 10K - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good - 1st place in my age group and 16th overall out of 124.

The bad – running slower than my longer tempo runs. I came out to fast and with the humidity I was sapped by the 3rd mile. 1st mile was 6:20, 2nd 6:41, 3rd 6:58, 4th 7:03, 5th 7:19, 6th 7:16, last .26 at a 7:05 pace. I really had to work hard to maintain the pace on the last half. I was pushing my limits when I reached the running track at the finish. Usually I have something at the end, but I pushed and my body pushed back. As I rounded the track for the finish all I could focus on was the finishing line. It was some of the hardest running I have ever done. I had reached the end of my envelope and it was not even a PR.

The Ugly – the last thing I remember was stopping to let them pull the tag off my bib and hit the stop on the Garmin. I had passed out and I did not regain consciousness until I felt myself being guided/carried to the track infield. When I fell the race director and a friend caught me and kept me upright. When I got to the infield a doctor/medic helped me to keep walking. He kept telling me to walk and to keep my eyes open. He also explained what happened. As he explained it, when I stopped at the finish my blood pressure had dropped very low and the brain just shut down. It seems that the legs in motion produce a pumping action and when you stop you lose that. This is why he insisted I keep walking. He said if I had been allowed to lay down I would be down a long time and would not feel well the rest of the day. He got me some glucose and told me to hold it under my tongue. Looks like I just ran out of juice. I did feel better within a short time. I drove home and even mowed grass that afternoon.

I believe weight loss caused me to run out of glycogen and bonk. Until my weight hits bottom and stabilizes I will have to be careful. My weight had dropped all week and reached its lowest point on race day.

The race was great and they do a wonderful job with it. Trophies are usually 5 deep. I try to run it every other year. It was a great race and I learned a great deal about the limits of my body.

Done and Done In (Bonk the Sequel)

I chose to run Saturday on an ice rutted trail in Decatur. It had been packed and refrozen and rutted by 4 wheelers. I was due a long run so I chose to run. At 5:30 AM it was hard frozen (low 20s) and it was not to hard to traverse. (3 mile out and back 3 miles). As we ran several circuits it began to become slicker. The pace averaged 8:54 and it was draining. I can run 8:20 pace usually at distance and a 10:00 plus pace is OK and easy, but an 8:54 is just draining. Kind of a dead zone pace. Last time I ran that pace I bonked and that is what happened Saturday. It was draining and I settled for 17 miles instead of closer to 20.

There was a physical price for the choices I made. Bad choices have consequences and I now have a very sore knee. I think trying to run within the rutted ridges changed my gate and forced a normally slew footed runner to run with my feet turned in. Around 15 miles the right knee was starting to ache. We took the road back and I was done at 17 miles. Between the pain and the grueling pace I had to call it in and that spells "bonk" to me.

The knee has been sore ever since and the motion of walking has gotten easier with very little soreness. I tried to run this AM and was only able to run .28th of a mile. It seems that the bending motion of running is what brings on the pain. I will now have to back off and lose some valuable training time. I hope to get back to running soon. With Black Warrior and McKay Hollow coming up I cannot afford not to be running.

At least with a triathlon training routine I can swim and ride the stationary bike to keep from losing fitness. This situation would be very frustrating without the other forms of exercise.

No Bonk and a Good Long Run

Ran a good pace and felt ready for more. The difference was I weighed 4 pounds more then last Saturday. I will definitely watch my weight the day before long runs. I have always theorized that hydration begins the day before a run. In the future will not neglect my nutrition the day before a long run. My daily weigh-ins will help me to verify it.

Bonk!

My first bonk. My usual 15 mile long run ended in me almost falling out.
It was a hard 12 miles and I was determined to get 15 like last week. I had to really gut out the last 3 miles. I may of found my dead-zone pace. I have run faster and much slower would have been pleasant, but the pace just left me sapped. It was hot, but I had cooled down and drank water. During post run stretches I stood up and walked over to talk to another runner. I got dizzy and woozy and nearly fell out. Luckily I was among friends and I downed a sports drink. I had been a little woozy when I finished the run, but had felt pretty good sitting there. I had Gatorade in the truck, but was trying to finish up the stretches before drinking it.

What I think happened was I had depleted my energy reserves. I had not eaten my usually large meal on Friday and I was at a calorie deficit. I was 2.5 pounds lighter before the run than I was on Friday.

So I will make sure to carb and calorie load before long runs from now on.