Race report: Gloucester 8K, February 23, 2019

I ran the Gloucester 8K in Gloucester, Virginia this morning, finishing in 31:27, which was good enough for the female win and a PR, so I guess this morning could be categorized as a success.

I had originally planned on racing the Gasparilla 8K in Tampa, Florida this weekend - it's a very fast 8K course, and every time I've been to Tampa in February, it's been perfect running weather in the morning.

However, not this weekend.  The forecast looked awful - 70 degrees with a dew point of 68 at race start.  Tough weather for racing in general, and really challenging for someone who has been training in sub-freezing temperatures.  Since my hotel could be cancelled and my flight was on Southwest (and so reusable), it was an easy decision to cancel the trip and eat the race registration.

(not to mention that I had a concert to go to on Sunday night, and it was going to be a hard turn around to race in Tampa Sunday morning, go to a concert in DC Sunday night, and then hop on a train to NYC Monday morning for work...)

But, I still wanted to race, and I wanted to do an 8K-5 miler if possible.  Both because my PR was ridiculously weak at that distance (my former 8K and current 10 miler PRs were at the same pace....) and because I'm trying to focus on the 5k-10K distances right now because I'm weakest there.  So....some digging revealed the Gloucester 8K on the same weekend in Southeastern Virginia, about 2.5 hours drive away.    A teammate who had run the race previously confirmed that the course was flat and fast, and my coach was on board with the idea, so I registered.


The race started at 9:30 am on Saturday, and so I debated driving down the morning of the race.  After giving some thought, I drove down Friday morning instead.  Hotels near Colonial Williamsburg were very very cheap since it's the off season, and since I telecommute, it was easy to check in early, and then just get a late start on an otherwise normal work day.    An additional consideration was that the forecast was for a steady rain - the type of weather that results in early morning accidents that snarl interstates - I didn't want to risk getting stuck in that on race morning.

So I drove down, checked in, grabbed Chipotle, and worked.  Then enjoyed a leisurely sleep-in (no cats to wake me) before driving to the race.

***

I had been crossing my fingers for the last few days, hoping that the forecast rain would hold off until after the race, but no such luck.  I woke to a cold steady rain.  Oh well.  After the gifts of weather that we had at Richmond and CIM last year, I had a balance due to the weather gods.

After parking and picking up my number, I went for a jog to warm-up and check out the start/finish area.  I noted that immediately after the start, we'd be running through a school parking lot with raised speed bumps.  Fortunately, one could avoid those by staying to the right - I made a mental note.  We'd return the same way (stay all the way to the left) and then would run through a narrow opening across a short grass section and up on to the high school track to finish at the 50 yard line.  

I wouldn't have been crazy about running on a short grass section (it was only about 10-15 meters) in dry weather, so I really wasn't happy about it given the current conditions - it was already soggy and muddy.  Additionally, I was sure it was going to be in much worse shape by the time the race was over, and I felt a preliminary twinge of guilt at contributing to the damage of school property.  Oh well, it was what it was - I wasn't going to skip the race over it.

***

I did two longer surges (about 50 seconds each), 4 short strides, and then lined up.  Some final instructions, including the location of the water stop that absolutely nobody was going to use today, and then we were off.

I knew no one in this race, and so I had no idea how the first few minutes would play out.    At the start, a few small kids surged past me (they came back within about 100m) and a pack of "looks like they're fast guys" in their teens and 20s pulled ahead with an authority that confirmed they were in another league.  I could hear one person steadily running and breathing behind me, but other than that I was alone.

Somewhere within the first mile, other-person caught up to me and then took the lead.  Cool.  I'd have someone to race.   We ran more or less together through the first turnaround.  After that 180, I looked for the second place woman, but saw none for at least 60 seconds, at which point I realized that I had the female win unless something disastrous happened.

A bit after that, I eased ahead of other-guy.  I hoped he'd come with me and fight, but 
he didn't follow.  I listened for his breathing and his footfalls, but eventually they faded away, and I felt alone again.  

The third mile of this race was a long straightway (nearly the full mile) into a slight headwind.  I would have loved to have had someone to chase, but I didn't, so I just focused on my steady hard effort.  And trying not to think about how soaked I was and how I felt like I was slipping a bit with each step.    

For shorter races - 10K and under, I find that I really need someone to chase or fight with to give my best effort.  This is for the very same reason that I prefer to do tempo workouts independent of others.  Having others with me tends to push/pull me to a harder effort - that's bad for tempo or marathon pace workouts, where too hard is counter-productive, but good for races, where it gives me that bit of extra oomph.  Without that benefit of someone to pull me, it was hard work to keep reaching beyond tempo effort.

The fourth mile brought the second turnaround - somewhere around there, other-guy caught back up.  The racer in me was disappointed, but another part of me was thrilled.  He pulled ahead, and I gave chase.  About this time, we were both passed by another guy who appeared to have started the race late and was now playing catch-up - ooops.

Back and forth we went, and then we made the final turn into the school parking lot.  He and I went back and forth, and then I pulled ahead (making sure to stay to the far left to avoid the speedbumps).  

Then I hit the grass patch.  I told myself not to worry about slipping, and just kept hammering.  And....I slipped and slid for the entire 15 meters of grass, my legs turning over like Fred Flintstone in his car.

I made it up onto the track and KEPT slipping - I'm guessing my shoe soles were still greased up from the mud - but got myself to the 50 yard line and the finish.  I was disappointed to see the clock counting 31:2x as I approached, but oh well - it was still a PR.  I had just hoped to be closer to 31:00 flat.

Splits were:
Mile 1: 6:19
Mile 2: 6:26 (Garmin says this was long, and my pace was 6:12)
Mile 3: 6:27 (Garmin says this was long, and my pace was 6:17)
Mile 4: 6:14 (Garmin says this was short, and my pace was 6:18)
last .97: 6:02 (Garmin says pace of 6:12)

I put the Garmin paces because I suspect that some of the middle mile markers were a bit off - I don't think I paced this race as unevenly as my manual splits indicate. Of course, my Garmin also claims the race was 5.03 miles instead of 4.97, and I'm sure that's wrong, so who knows.  The real answer is somewhere in the middle.

Oh well.  I can't say I'm totally happy with this morning's performance.   Part of my disappointment is the time, but more is that I feel like I could have run faster, but just didn't go as deep into the well as I have in other races.  I feel a bit unfulfilled.   But, a win is a win, and a PR is a PR, so I'll just have to run better and faster next time.  They can't all be great performances.

Other notes:

• The weather ended up being 41 degrees and steady rain, with gusts of wind.  And yes, I'm much happier I did this race than the one in Tampa - much better weather.  Runners will understand; others will not.
• I wore a longsleeve and shorts, plus a running hat and mittens over latex gloves with handwarmers.  This worked pretty well - I can't say I was truly comfortable, but it wasn't too bad.
• I wore my "second life" Vaporflies for this - the ones that have lost their bounce and so work much better at shorter distances.  They handled the two 180 degree turns on course just fine, but were definitely slick.  I felt like I was hydroplaning at times with the lack of traction on the wet roads and puddles.  I wish I had brought my Adios 2s - I think that shoe might have worked better for today.
• Traffic of course was awful on I-95 coming back.  However, I decided to experiment and take Route 17 to 301 in MD before picking up the Beltway.  That worked extremely well, and is probably going to be my default route for driving home from the Virginia Beach area from now on.