I ran the mile and the 800 at the Run Unbridled Track Fest this past weekend, running 6:53.5 for the mile and 3:27.07 for 800.
The Light Horse Track Club puts on two great summer track meets - Down the Stretch on Memorial Day weekend and Run Unbridled in June. I missed Down the Stretch because it conflicted with the Tri-State Games in New Jersey that same weekend. Watching the meet (live-streamed on YouTube) from a Holiday Inn in Newark sealed my decision to register for Run Unbridled.
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The meet started at 5 pm, and I was in the first heat of the first race, so I left around 3 pm to drive out to Fairfax. It's about a 25 minute drive with no traffic, but there's always traffic in Northern Virginia, and 3 pm is essentially the start of rush hour. Fortunately, the drive wasn't too bad and I arrived around 3:40 pm - enough time to grab my number, do some mobilizations, and warm up. And take my meds.
On that last point…as a brief recap of a complex topic, having Parkinson's is somewhat like having diabetes. Except that it's not insulin that you are having to replace, but a neurotransmitter (dopamine).
Similar to a diabetic, I manage and time my meds so that my dopamine levels stay within a window. Above that window means lots of involuntary muscle movements (as if you drank way too much coffee). Below that window means that one is really stiff and slow (as if you ran a marathon the previous day). Within the window means a little bit of each.
My experience has been that the window of optimal dopamine levels for fast running is narrower than that for normal life, which makes sense - fast running is neurologically complex. Interestingly enough, the window for fast running is at the bottom of the "normal" window - basically it's easier to run fast with a) low power but muscles that mostly do what you want than with b) lots of energy but not great control.
The pills that I take (Rytary) generally last for four hours, with the dose trailing off after. This means that if I take a dose every four hours, each dose is a bit stronger than the last, since I've still got the residual tail of the previous dose in me. All of this means that timing my medications for racing is a mix of careful scheduling and assessing how I feel.
For this evening’s races, I decided to time my meds throughout the day so that I would take my next Rytary at 4 pm - resulting in a “good running” window of just after 4 pm to 8 pm. With one race at 5 pm and the other at 6:50 pm, that window would cover both races plus my warm-up, with an hour margin of error.
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I need a long warm up before I race, with more time if the distance is shorter, so I started warming up around 4:15 pm for my 5 pm race.
Usually, I warm up in the shoes that I intend to race in, because it’s very hard for me to transition between different shoes. Essentially, I have to relearn how to run in each pair of shoes, and it takes me some time (it’s a neuro thing). However, I figured out earlier this week that the Topo Spectre (plated shoe but relatively low stack and low heel drop) feels a lot like my spikes, so I warmed up in that shoe and then swapped fairly easily to my spikes (the Hoka Cielo FLyX Lite*) for some final strides before lining up.
*[I am nostalgic for a simpler time, when running shoe model names were one word and then a number.]
Just as the mile was about to start, lightning flashed in the distance. That triggered a 30 minute delay and relocation of all runners and spectators to the indoor track (conveniently about 200 yards away).
This was a problem for me - it takes me about half an hour to warm up (mostly an age thing), and I stiffen up and lose the benefit of that warm-up within minutes after I stop (I suspect a mix of age and Parkinsons). So, with a half-hour delay, when should I start warming up again?
I decided to wait until 5:10 and then do a shortened warm-up on the indoor track. I was about 10 minutes into this warm-up when the meet was delayed again another half-hour by yet another bolt of lightning in the distance.
The evening continued on like this, with a storm rolling through. Finally, a bit after 6 pm, it was confirmed that the meet would be starting at 6:30. So, I warmed up a third time, swapped into my spikes again for more strides, and headed to the start line.
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The storm’s passing had not cooled things down - it was still oppressively hot and humid (85 with a dew point of 80 when I checked the weather later). Fortunately, I was just racing a mile (and not a 1500, as I repeatedly reminded myself).
We lined up at the waterfall line and the gun fired. My first few steps off of the line were slow. This wasn’t directly because of Parkinsons (I can move faster than that) but indirectly from Parkinsons. Even for short races, I run much better if I spend the first few steps getting my gait organized - shoulders and feet relaxed, torso rotating, etc - and then start running fast. Rushing my start results in an ugly race and a slower time.
The nice thing about starting slow was that the chaos of the first meters of a track race all played out ahead of me, leaving me a clear track to run. Once my gait was set, I picked up the pace and promptly reeled in one woman. That left me with about 1550 meters to go and a pack of people pulling away ahead of me.
I used the next laps to just focus on running smoothly and keeping my legs floppy - reminding myself that I run my fastest that way. It’s always a leap of faith because my perception is off and I don’t feel the base level of tension that my muscles always have now. Because of that tension, when I try to run hard everything over-contracts and I end up working against myself and running tensely and slowly. OTOH, relaxed loose running feels like I am not giving it my best but is in actuality significantly faster.
Fortunately, some of the runners ahead of me were starting to slow and come back to me, which provided reassurance and feedback that I was running well, even if it didn’t feel like it. My coach also yelled at me that I was running really well and on pace to break 7 minutes - a very good run for me right now. This was helpful but also tempted me to start running harder and lock my muscles up - a temptation that I more or less resisted.
By the middle of lap 3, I was really feeling the heat and the humidity. The last 600m of the race were all about holding my rhythm and keeping my body loose. I managed to more or less accomplish this and cross the finish in 6:53 - well under 7 minutes. I was tired, but also extremely happy. Three weeks ago an 800m race at sub-7 minute pace had been a big step forward, and now I had just run that pace for twice the distance (plus 9m).
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After my heat of the mile, two more heats went and then another storm rolled in, prompting more delays. By this point, it was clear that my 800m race, originally scheduled for 6:50 pm, was going to start well after 8 pm and outside of my “good running” window. A revision of the meet schedule to move the elite races up shifted my 800m heat even later, to some time after 10 pm.
I honestly wasn’t quite sure of how to handle this medication-wise. When I go out late with friends, I just take another dose. However, the window of optimal dopamine levels is much wider when I’m chatting and bouncing around at a show than when I’m trying to run my best, so there’s more room for error.
After some debate, I took another dose of Rytary at 8 pm, hoping for the best. About 10 minutes later, I realized this wasn’t the right decision. Rytary has that long tail off after the 4 hour window, and I was now a bit overmedicated for running well (though still good for everything else). My walking was just a little too bouncy and jerky.
Digesting protein can reduce the effectiveness of Parkinson’s medication, and so I took a few bites of a protein bar in hopes of toning things down. Unfortunately, it didn’t work (I guess that interference only happens when you don’t want it to). Oh well, this wouldn’t be the first or last time I raced on sub-optimal medication. And with 2 hours to go until my next race, perhaps things would calm down.
***
Around 10 pm I began warming up for the fourth time, for my second race of the evening. I could tell that I was still a bit over medicated so I’d just have to do the best I could.
We lined up for the 800m around 10:30 pm. Once again, I was dropped immediately after the gun. I wasn’t quite as good at patiently establishing my gait this time, instead rushing my start and accelerating too quickly. Some of this may have been too much medication, some might have been the increased urgency of two laps versus four, and some might have been mental fatigue from a very long evening.
The result was two rough laps - I did my best with what I had, but I didn’t feel as smooth as the mile. I finished the 800m in 3:27 - almost exactly what I had split for the first 809m of the mile.
As bummed as I was about that, it was still a great run for other reasons. A number of my friends who were cooling down from their races on the infield were cheering for me, and it seemed like every corner of the track had a friend from a different DC area running team urging me on. While it wasn’t my best run, experiencing that much support and encouragement was something very special that’s hard to express in words even a few days later.
It was a good meet for me, with two races that were both great for completely different reasons.
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Splits were:
Mile: 1:44.89/1:42.26/1:43.01/1:43.34
800m: 1:42.64/1:44.43
Consistent, if nothing else.
Other notes:
The other consequence of taking Rytary so late was that my sleep was completely screwed up. Of course, I suspect that running so late would have screwed it up anyway.
Despite the delays, this was still a great meet and I had a fantastic time, both running and hanging out. I am so grateful that Light Horse Track Club holds these meets for the community. And I really appreciate the efforts they made to maintain a quality event despite the weather issues.
There were a lot of great races at the meet, including my Capital Area Runners teammates winning one heat of the mile and one heat of the 800m.
I'm amused that my calves weren't sore at all after this meet, given that I raced twice in spikes. I generally don't use my calves much when I run, and I guess this is evidence of that.
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