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Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Run! (My First Running Race - TC10K) -- Log

So, i did it! I trained for about two months (note: i've never run before)...didn't really run much the last two weeks..ooops! (What can i say..i prefer to ride my bike!)

I thought i'd come in at 48-49mins, but turns out i'm actually recorded at 46:46! Much closer to the sub-45min time i was hoping for...sticks me around 792 overall, the 642nd male, and 103rd in the Male 25-29 Division. My buddy Brandon ran a blistering 39:02 for 136th. Although he hasn't trained much, and had a bum knee for the last three months, shows the difference a history of running can do! (I'm not sure if any other the other pro's are vegan...so that would make him the fastest vegan there...) Luckily i can still whoop him on two wheels. ;)

Wee - still passing people!
So...the run itself. Got up at an ungodly hour...some time after 6am. Bleh. Made a nice smoothie (1c soy milk, three bananas, few strawberries, glop of maple syrup, pineapple chunks, and some Progressive Vege Greens powder) - lotsa liquid there..almost four cups!

Then noodled over to Sarah and Brandon's and we geared up and hoofed it over to the starting line.

Holy crap there were a lot of people. (~11 thousand i guess!) A sea of bodies in shorts and sneakers...pretty funny. I worked my way into the 45-50min section, and huddled there. I wasn't very nervous..it was just a stupid run. haha

Countdown came and went, and we were all still standing there - takes a while for all the bodies to get moving. Brandon recommended moving up one category, i now see why.

We started moving, slowly, and this was probably the most fun part of the race for me. I quite liked passing people! It was fun running around, weaving my way forward. I did this for about the first 5km i'd guess...then it started to thin out a little. Pretty crazy. (Also, i prefer sprinting to running..)

Other than that, it wasn't very eventful... The course was mostly uphill, or at least seemed that way...not many places to recover, which made it a bit more tough. I also got a little warm...i was wearing shorts, plus a base-layer tshirt, and my Organic Athlete biking jersey. Could have done without the base-layer.

I felt pretty good, and was maintaining a sub-45min pace come the 8km marker, but that was when i really started to 'feel it'. Lungs weren't so happy any more... Legs felt alright, overall. No knee problems. Same with the hip flexors, which bugged me for the first month and a half of training.

Around there i found myself near three women in a column, one was running hard like me, the other two were chatting...keeping up this pace like they were out for a walk. WTF?? Here i am, HR ~185/94% max, and they were barely outta breath!! Good grief. (Good for them tho!)

We hit another hill, coming up near Fisherman's Wharf, and i had to slow down..and that was the end of me doing the passing, and began the last 1.5km of people passing me. =)

I just hung on, maintained a slower pace, and tried to stay out of the way of everyone else. There was this one kid who must have been half my age galloping along like it was nothing..i'm sure he beat me.
Not so fun any more..
Note how both my feet are off the ground!
Turned the corner onto Gov't St, the last hundred meters, and crossed the line. It was OVER!

Saw Brandon there, looking fresh as a daisy..we hung out for a bit, waiting for familiar faces..then went down to the Inner Harbour, where there was some food and drink. Had a few orange and banana sections, and water. I can't believe it, but they were handing out yogurt and milk. How disgusting!!! Besides all the horrid things with milk, it's got almost no carbs...what good is that for recovery after an event like this? Sheesh.. (They should have been giving it out at the beginning of the race...that would have narrowed my competition down a bit!)

I'm told my time is pretty good for a first-timer, esp. who's trained for only two months. My HR average was 183bpm, and went as high as 190 (didn't sprint at the end...too many people.)

I gotta say, running KILLS my cycling. And i've still yet to hit a point where i actually *enjoy* it. I'm at the point where the discomfort is minimal...but it's nothing like biking to me. I *love* being on the bike. I could do without the running...

I'm gonna keep at it tho... Run at least once a week through the summer..come the fall i'll pick it up, run a few times a week, and see how it goes. If it's any more enjoyable by then, i'll maintain that through the spring, and give the TC10K another serious go.. If not, i'll prolly just run for fun.

The main thing that'll benefit me for next time is the worst - i just need to run for longer amounts of time. I ran outta juice at the 8km marker mainly because my body just wasn't used to maintaining this type of effort that long...

That concludes my first running race experience! Thanks to Andy for the pics, and to D'Ambrosio Architecture and Urbanism for having me be on their team, i think Brandon and i showed them we vegans are winners. =)

3 Comments:

At Thursday, April 28, 2005 11:47:00 PM, Blogger Jonathan said...

Hi Dave - I am tracking 109 Victoria blogs and you might be interested to know about another Victoria cyclist-blogger: Jeff Werner. You guys might want to get to know each other.

 
At Friday, April 29, 2005 3:27:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats on running your first race. I'm actually doing my first race in about 3 years tomorrow (University City 5K in Philly). Last couple of years I have been bothered by knee problems but I had surgery and I'm back at 100%.

You are just the opposite of me. I have been running for a while (and love it) but just recently started cycling.

 
At Monday, May 09, 2005 7:20:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for wearing the OA kit Dave. You represent well!

 

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Name:
Dave Shishkoff
aka Dave Noisy
Location:
Victoria, BC
Canada

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