Brading 10k

There I was standing on the start line in a speedway stadium on the Isle of Wight, and all I could think about was "Man it's hot!". No thoughts on pacing or race strategy, just how to keep cool. With hindsight, having seen 2 people being treated for heat stroke by the Red Cross people at the finish, a team-mate included, giving some thought to cooling was a wise move. I was wearing next to nothing - always a good start - not quite Paula standards, but not far off - I draw the line at those racing briefs she wears, but I like my crop tops. I had already covered myself in sunblock - apart from being a good thing health-wise, this also has the effect of reflecting the sun's energy and keeping you cool. Finally I'd already emptied half a bottle of Evian over myself, and had the other half of the bottle ready to tip over myself just before the start. No point in drinking it, as I was already well hydrated and tend to get stitch if I drink before a race - in fact as a result of the extra fluid I'd taken on half an hour earlier, I got stitch during the race anyway!

I had of course given some thought to pacing. Unlike Purbrook the previous week, I was wearing my Garmin GPS, although more so that I'd have the route on my computer afterwards, rather than as a pacing device - the hills would make pacing by GPS a bit tricky. (As an aside, I have this really cool, and cheap, Trailgauge program http://www.trailgauge.co.uk/ which does 3D fly-throughs of the data you load from your Garmin. Great for course visualisation - next year I'll be able to replay the route in 3D to remind me where all those nasty hills are. )

I was also wearing my heart rate monitor, which, unlike Purbrook where I'd masked the readout, I would definitely be watching. With the heat, it is especially important to keep heart rate down to sensible levels - in fact the same levels I would normally run a 10k at. After the hot weather, 2 years ago, I'm well used to the effects of heat on heart rate. For a given pace I was seeing as much as a 10bpm increase in heart rate. This is because blood is being diverted from the muscles to the skin in order to cool you. To get the same pace you have to run a higher heart rate as the heart is working harder to pump more blood around. Of course, at race pace, where you are already working at maximum, slowing down is the only option. Going off at a higher heart rate will result in exactly the same result as in cooler weather - you will fade badly at the end of the race. A note to those using heart rate monitors to train with: in hot weather you must maintain the same heart rates you would train at in cool weather - your muscles are having to operate on a reduced blood supply and you must slow to compensate, or you won't recover properly - it's still heart rate that measures intensity, not pace.

So, back at the race, let me describe my final piece of pacing equipment. Last week I had the useful Bety device (see my Purbrook blog entry), this week I had a Malcolm - a most useful piece of equipment. Malcolm is our club chairman. I've noticed in recent months, as my training progresses, that I've caught him up in pace terms. I managed to post a marathon time in London 10 minutes quicker than he managed in the Shakespeare marathon. I know we are more closely matched over 10k, so figured I could maybe use him for pacing, perhaps even beat him, for the first time in a head-to-head race?

So there we were on the start line, with me just behind Malcolm, and we were off round the speedway track and out onto the country lanes of the Isle of Wight for a hellish cauldron of a run.

I felt fine at first, running comfortably at quite a brisk pace, but after 1km of gentle uphill I started to heat up and knew I was going to have to drop my pace a bit. I think this is a different situation to going off too quickly. Normally haring off and having to slow would be bad pacing, from an oxygen debt point of view, but in these circumstances of being cool at the start and quickly heating up, I think starting a little quicker is OK. (Maybe someone can confirm this?) Anyway I decided it would be prudent to let Malcolm go on a little way and pay attention to what my HRM was telling me.

Despite the heat, the first few kilometres didn't seem too bad, particularly as I knew it was a net downhill to the drinks station. In fact the half way point came up quite soon, and I made sure I got a full cup of water down me and another cup over me, before the dreaded climb. I knew about the 2km drag uphill from the drinks station, having studied the course profile, and talked the race through with others. Malcolm had suggested that we would probably be fairly close together at half way, but as I was no good with hills, then he'd power away from me up the hill. I was inclined (pun!) to agree with him. At half way he was about 100m ahead of me and I prepared to watch him pull away as we started the climb.

At the start of the climb I passed John, who was to suffer badly with the heat later on and need attention from the medical people - little did I know as I passed him. I was overtaken by a couple of runners 'attacking' the hill. You really can't attack something 2km long! I soon passed them as they ran out of steam (or maybe they were actually generating too much steam, given the heat?). Malcolm was still there just ahead of me - he wasn't getting away. Maybe I'm not as bad at hills as he reckons?

At the top of the climb, I had definitely closed on Malcolm. Could I catch him? It was becoming quite a mental battle now in the final 3km - boy I was hot! At least it was mostly downhill from now on - terrain, rather than physical condition I hoped! I'd been practising downhill technique so I hoped I might have the edge. (Competitive moi?) Lean forward. Increase cadence. Keep light on the feet - don't dig your heels in.

It worked! I caught Malcolm, stayed with him a moment to check how I felt, and then pressed on downhill past him.

There was now just a nasty little uphill bit before re-entering the stadium for a lap of the track and the finish line. I pushed hard up the hill, vaguely aware of Malcolm behind me, and desperate to stay ahead. As I rounded the corner into the stadium, it felt like my head was going to explode. It was now just down to force of will to keep going and not give in to either the heat or Malcolm. There was the line, but there was still a lap of the track to go. I summoned every last drop of energy, but still I could hear Malcolm just over my shoulder. As I rounded the last bend towards the final straight, I could hear him getting closer and closer. I was running strongly, but couldn't keep him off. His finishing speed was just too good for me. As we joined the finish straight, with only 100m to go, he passed me!

I watched as the red vest powered down the straight. Red vest? Our team is pale blue! Where's Malcolm?

I crossed the line 15 seconds ahead of Malcolm. I'd beaten him! All Malcolm had been able to do was watch me power away, racing another runner round the track. I love this running stuff!

It took me lots of cups of water, plenty of sponging, and a spell lying on my back being hosed by a team mate, but eventually I felt well enough to pace Margaret around the track for her run in - possibly an illegal move, but no one seemed to mind. We got 2 men's teams in and a women's team, to keep the league scoring going. Job done!

I came in at 48:52, 6 seconds outside a PB. Considering the conditions, I'm quite pleased with that.

Now let's get down to some serious marathon training!