Race Report: Richmond 8k, November 11, 2017

I ran the Richmond 8K today, finishing in 31:48 - nicely a PR (with an asterisk) by a few seconds, and also good enough for third master female.

I've wanted to run this race for a while now, but the timing has never seemed to work out.  This year, it fit in nicely as a post-marathon rust-buster.  Admittedly an expensive rust-buster, since I'd have to drive down a day before and get a hotel (I prefer my rust-busters cheap and local).  But what the heck - it would be fun to finally get to race it and then stay to cheer my teammates on as they ran the half and full marathons.  And the Richmond 8K is a very fast course.

I ran the Richmond half-marathon several years ago, and one of my takeaways from that year was to leave early on Friday, lest I be caught in traffic.  So I left DC around 9:30 am, which meant that I only hit two stop-and-go patches on I-95.  I ended up in Richmond about 11:45.  Longer than it should have taken in a perfect non-existent world, but not bad for the Friday of a long weekend.

I stayed at the Richmond Marriott downtown, right by the start line.  I had reserved this hotel back in March of this year, when I had been considering running the Richmond Half.  The Marriott was expensive, and so I debated switching to a cheaper hotel further out - the shorter the race, the less I care about being very close to the start.  But I decided to stay with my hotel - the forecast was for frigid temperatures, and having the option of running back into my room to adjust clothing choices on race day would be nice.

***

Race morning dawned in the mid-20s, about 40 degrees colder than the finish of my last race.  And it had been long enough since I had been faced with cold weather that I wasn't quite sure what to wear.  After reading through my race reports from this past March, I decided to go with a long-sleeved t-shirt and tights, plus my running mittens with hand-warmers.

Though my race didn't start until 7 am, I stepped out at 6 am to start warming up - this would give me a chance to run back to my room and change my clothes if necessary.  Which I did - about a mile into my warm-up I started feeling a little too comfortable in my longsleeve.  So up I went to change into my singlet plus arm-warmers (being very careful to transfer my number, lest I leave it in my room).   Then I placed my longsleeve in a bag for bag check, and also quickly customized a trash bag into a temporary throw-away shirt.  Then back down to finish my warm-up.

After "warm"-ing up, I lined up in my corral.  My trashbag was accomplishing very little, but another woman generously handed me the jacket she had been about to toss away.  I gratefully took it, hanging onto it until 2 minutes before the start.

***

The Richmond 8K is a out-and back course, heading west for the first 2+ miles, and then rounding a block before heading back, with a major drop in the last half-mile.  I knew that we'd be running into a slight headwind on the way out, and then a tailwind on the way back, so my plan was to stay controlled until the turnaround, and then chase people down.  I also wanted to push as if the finish was at 4.5 miles, because with that steep a drop, there was no point saving anything for the end.

When the gun went off, I eased into my pace and then started building into what felt like a controlled effort, while looking for people to use as windblocks.  Unfortunately, I picked the wrong group, because after a mile they started fading, and I had to duck out and run on my own.  Fortunately, I only had another mile or so before the turnaround, so not a huge deal.

We hit the turnaround, and I started chasing.  The road here was a bit odd - bricks with the occasional gap instead of asphalt.  We were running east, facing the sun, and so I pulled my sunglasses down only to push them right back up.  I couldn't see the road well with my glasses down, and I was fearful I'd trip on one of the gaps in the bricks.  Squinting beats tripping and falling.

I kept pushing, and then my legs crapped out on me just after the 3 mile marker.  This was not unexpected - the same thing had happened in my workout on Tuesday, and is normal for me when coming back (my leg-speed/bounce always comes back first, with my stamina following).

And the good news was that I could still run pretty fast on crapped-out-legs (especially with a tailwind assist).  I just didn't have the next gear I had been saving.

So I hung on, reminding myself it was only two miles (actually a bit less).

Somewhere after the 4th mile marker, I passed another woman who looked like she might be my age.  I used that thought as strength to keep going, even as I really wanted to back off.   We took a few turns and then we were at the glorious downhill to the finish.

The downhill was really steep - had I had a kick left in me, I wouldn't have been able to use it.  I found myself braking a bit, and then I put a stop to that.  The other woman was possibly right behind me.  If I kept pushing, I might trip and fall.  But tripping and falling beats being passed.

I was pretty trashed when I crossed the finish line.  Definitely not an easy race for me.  But that's the point of getting out there - getting familiar again with race discomfort.  It's like pulling a band-aid off.

***

Splits were:
Mile 1: 6:33
Mile 2: 6:39
Mile 3: 6:31
Mile 4: 6:15
last bit: 5:50 for .97 miles

So it looks like a hard negative split, but I think that speaks more to the course than to good pacing on my part.  This is a course that rewards someone who likes to go out hard and hang on (not my preferred way of pacing).  It's also a course that can save you if you're falling apart.

***

I ended up as third master overall and with a very small PR (my previous 8K PR was 31:51).  (PR is asterisky since this course has so much drop - my blog, my rules.)  Of course, I also split the second half of the Broad Street 10 Miler in this exact same time - 31:48 - this spring, so I should be able to lop more time off when I'm in better shape.  But I'm pretty happy with this for where I am in my training right now.    And I got that whole first-race-back monkey off my back.

Other notes:

• Staying at the Marriott was definitely the right call - it was so very nice to be able to run back to my room after for a hot shower.
• Checking my shirt for post-race was a mistake.  In the time it took me to find bag check and get my bag, I could have been back in my hotel.  Note for next time.
• I'm still not sure the arm-warmers were the right call - in these temps I think the longsleeve would have been better.  (had I run in the longsleeve, I'd be commenting right now that I thought it was too hot.)
• After seeing the forecast, I debated swapping into the half-marathon.  I'm glad I didn't.  The way I fatigued in the 8K tells me I would have imploded in the half, perfect weather or not.  
• No cool-down post race, except for shuffling back to my hotel.  I just didn't see the point - I was trashed, and there's no need to be piling on mileage right now.
• I definitely need to get a few more races in between now and Houston.  It always seems to take me a few races to find my groove, and then I start racing well (see this past spring for an example). Fortunately, there are plenty of races between now and then.
• Weather at race start: Temp 26, DP 15.  The air was pretty dry, and a few people noted it, including me.  I don't think it affected my time very much, though.  I'll take that weather over 60s and humid any day.
• Debated whether to wear my flats (Takumi Sen) or the Adios 2 Boost for this race.  I wear the Takumi Sens for 5K and under, and the Adios for 10K and longer.  I went with the Adios partially because of the distance, and partially because of the cold.  When it's this cold, I worry about the additional strain on my tendons from racing in a low drop shoe.  If this had been an end of season goal race, I would have gone with the Takumi Sen.  But better to play it safe here.