100th Dipsea Race Report
OK, it went very badly for me. But I'm kind of all right with it. I'm not injured, life is still good, and I am going to take June to get back to running for fun rather than to put pressure on myself for PRs and the like.
The quick and dirty details: 6.8 miles (yay for shortcuts!), 1:26:27, 643rd place.
I last ran ten days ago. I had a nasty cold plus a busy week and the layoff took my legs away, although I didn't know it until 2 miles in. I'm still dealing with a cough, but my energy felt good waking up this morning. I did all the morning ritual according to plan: cereal, coffee, allowing lots of time to empty out before the race. Did some strides to warm up and felt pretty strong. So I had my goals going in, and was off at 8:53 in the Invitational section Y.
The first hill starts .33 miles in, and the steps start .05 after that. Running the first long flight was easier than walking because the stairs are a little flat and wide. At the top of the first flight of steps I noticed a few men heading right up the hill through the ivy rather than taking the road to the right. That was a shortcut I had never considered and I can't imagine trying it without being a beast on hills. Everyone kept a pretty good pace on the steps, and after the third and final flight I stuck to my plan of running 100 steps before even thinking about trying to catch my breath. Entering the gates to the single-track I had the first inkling my legs weren't going to respond the way I wanted them to.
My goal was to hit Windy Gap, the top of the first hill, in 14:00, and indeed I hit the lap button at 13:52. Sadly, it was all figuratively downhill from there. I couldn't open up on the downhill because the strength wasn't there for me to handle the hills. I did try to skip the steps when possible, and I think that's a strategy that would have saved me time had I been able to cope with the hills. In the future I'll keep trying.
My next goal was to hit the creek at the bottom in Muir Woods in 20:00, and I wasn't really close. 21:24, which was slower than last year's Dipsea, and I felt far less strong hitting Dynamite.
STARTING on Dynamite (the beginning of the BIG hill) my pulse was around 180, which is about as high as it gets at the end of a 5K, so I took a walk break. That turned into the beginning of a whole lot of walking. About a quarter-mile up I stopped for a moment to send a quick text to my wife to let her know I wasn't going to be coming through as early as I had hoped.
Most of the way up Dynamite and the Hogsback and Cardiac I walked. I was still averaging a pulse of 177, which meant I didn't have much left to try to punch into a run. I watched my time slipping away, and started working on accepting that today wasn't my day. The Invitational division is far less crowded than the Runner division, so there were times when I couldn't see anyone in front or behind me. I had hoped to get to the top of Cardiac in 47:00, and it ended up taking 57:22. I did manage to get my water and keep walking, using my 100 steps plan again. At the top I did start running, and kept running for the rest of the race minus a couple short walk breaks and the walk up Insult. Too little, too late!
On the top I did see one young runner being escorted back to the top of Cardiac by a race official; my guess is that he tried an illegal shortcut and got busted for it. There were a lot of volunteers watching odd spots in the trail where it looks like someone might be able to try a shortcut.
On the downhills it was all about trying to hold some kind of form together. My legs were noodles and my heartrate was so much higher than I had expected, and I think the heat may have had something to do with it. I thought about not taking the Swoop, but it seems like such a distance-saver that I took it anyway. I couldn't go fast, and my calves and quads were complaining. I remembered three weeks ago when I did the practice race and it seemed so much easier. I even took one walk break across a really rooty patch. But I leapt down the drop back onto the trail and started in on the steps.
Ah, the steps into Steep Ravine. At this point I actually had a little company -- one woman and a couple of guys and I kept trading off the lead, as we started hurting less or more and found somewhere to dig deep into. I remember looking at my Garmin at the Mile 6 marker, to figure out how much distance I'd cut out already, but for the life of me I can't remember what I saw. I think at this point I wasn't thinking terribly clearly.
There was a little breeze off the ocean, I remember that. On the whole downhill I averaged a pulse of 182, which is still crazy high. In the practice race I averaged 174 over the same stretch, and was doing it two minutes per mile faster, 10:30 vs. 8:30/mile. Frustrating.
After the stretches of shortcut on Panoramic Highway the Runner division hotshots started to catch me. At least I held them off that long! Coming over the Stile and dropping onto Shoreline Highway I was SO glad to be nearing the end. My average pulse from there to the finish line was 192. That's just not right for my body, so now I don't know what I should be considering my heart rate max! Any ideas? I was averaging 8:16/mile pace for that home stretch, which is slower than my half-marathon pace.
So I didn't qualify for Invitational next year. Back to the lottery. I feel like I know the course now pretty darn well, and with a full tank and not having to pull off the training I could have done it. My practice Dipsea run was 1:08, and is .36 miles shorter than the actual course. All that .36 is flat pavement, too.
I truly am not beating myself up about it. It was a rough day, and I know I wasn't setting myself up for success. But it's certainly not the end of the world, and other than a toenail that's bruised and a sore calf, I made it through in one piece. Back to running for the joy of running! My dog will certainly be happier that I can take him out a lot in June, that's for sure.
The quick and dirty details: 6.8 miles (yay for shortcuts!), 1:26:27, 643rd place.
I last ran ten days ago. I had a nasty cold plus a busy week and the layoff took my legs away, although I didn't know it until 2 miles in. I'm still dealing with a cough, but my energy felt good waking up this morning. I did all the morning ritual according to plan: cereal, coffee, allowing lots of time to empty out before the race. Did some strides to warm up and felt pretty strong. So I had my goals going in, and was off at 8:53 in the Invitational section Y.
The first hill starts .33 miles in, and the steps start .05 after that. Running the first long flight was easier than walking because the stairs are a little flat and wide. At the top of the first flight of steps I noticed a few men heading right up the hill through the ivy rather than taking the road to the right. That was a shortcut I had never considered and I can't imagine trying it without being a beast on hills. Everyone kept a pretty good pace on the steps, and after the third and final flight I stuck to my plan of running 100 steps before even thinking about trying to catch my breath. Entering the gates to the single-track I had the first inkling my legs weren't going to respond the way I wanted them to.
My goal was to hit Windy Gap, the top of the first hill, in 14:00, and indeed I hit the lap button at 13:52. Sadly, it was all figuratively downhill from there. I couldn't open up on the downhill because the strength wasn't there for me to handle the hills. I did try to skip the steps when possible, and I think that's a strategy that would have saved me time had I been able to cope with the hills. In the future I'll keep trying.
My next goal was to hit the creek at the bottom in Muir Woods in 20:00, and I wasn't really close. 21:24, which was slower than last year's Dipsea, and I felt far less strong hitting Dynamite.
STARTING on Dynamite (the beginning of the BIG hill) my pulse was around 180, which is about as high as it gets at the end of a 5K, so I took a walk break. That turned into the beginning of a whole lot of walking. About a quarter-mile up I stopped for a moment to send a quick text to my wife to let her know I wasn't going to be coming through as early as I had hoped.
Most of the way up Dynamite and the Hogsback and Cardiac I walked. I was still averaging a pulse of 177, which meant I didn't have much left to try to punch into a run. I watched my time slipping away, and started working on accepting that today wasn't my day. The Invitational division is far less crowded than the Runner division, so there were times when I couldn't see anyone in front or behind me. I had hoped to get to the top of Cardiac in 47:00, and it ended up taking 57:22. I did manage to get my water and keep walking, using my 100 steps plan again. At the top I did start running, and kept running for the rest of the race minus a couple short walk breaks and the walk up Insult. Too little, too late!
On the top I did see one young runner being escorted back to the top of Cardiac by a race official; my guess is that he tried an illegal shortcut and got busted for it. There were a lot of volunteers watching odd spots in the trail where it looks like someone might be able to try a shortcut.
On the downhills it was all about trying to hold some kind of form together. My legs were noodles and my heartrate was so much higher than I had expected, and I think the heat may have had something to do with it. I thought about not taking the Swoop, but it seems like such a distance-saver that I took it anyway. I couldn't go fast, and my calves and quads were complaining. I remembered three weeks ago when I did the practice race and it seemed so much easier. I even took one walk break across a really rooty patch. But I leapt down the drop back onto the trail and started in on the steps.
Ah, the steps into Steep Ravine. At this point I actually had a little company -- one woman and a couple of guys and I kept trading off the lead, as we started hurting less or more and found somewhere to dig deep into. I remember looking at my Garmin at the Mile 6 marker, to figure out how much distance I'd cut out already, but for the life of me I can't remember what I saw. I think at this point I wasn't thinking terribly clearly.
There was a little breeze off the ocean, I remember that. On the whole downhill I averaged a pulse of 182, which is still crazy high. In the practice race I averaged 174 over the same stretch, and was doing it two minutes per mile faster, 10:30 vs. 8:30/mile. Frustrating.
After the stretches of shortcut on Panoramic Highway the Runner division hotshots started to catch me. At least I held them off that long! Coming over the Stile and dropping onto Shoreline Highway I was SO glad to be nearing the end. My average pulse from there to the finish line was 192. That's just not right for my body, so now I don't know what I should be considering my heart rate max! Any ideas? I was averaging 8:16/mile pace for that home stretch, which is slower than my half-marathon pace.
So I didn't qualify for Invitational next year. Back to the lottery. I feel like I know the course now pretty darn well, and with a full tank and not having to pull off the training I could have done it. My practice Dipsea run was 1:08, and is .36 miles shorter than the actual course. All that .36 is flat pavement, too.
I truly am not beating myself up about it. It was a rough day, and I know I wasn't setting myself up for success. But it's certainly not the end of the world, and other than a toenail that's bruised and a sore calf, I made it through in one piece. Back to running for the joy of running! My dog will certainly be happier that I can take him out a lot in June, that's for sure.