10K This Weekend: Not as Expected...

I never really set an official time goal for this race as I was unsure about the exact elevation profile, but that wasn't the main factor in my running a 44:49 time and my watch registered a 7:10 pace per mile. Official results were 7:14 per mile but my distance was a tiny bit farther than an exact 10k which is part of the discrepancy in the watch result and the reported race result.

I was kind of wanting a finish in the 23's as there's some hills on this course and the humidity of course. But I didn't want to make myself sick and get an even worse time.

Here's my watch data from the race. It started on downhill and flat and it didn't seem hot (I don't like running in more than 60 degree F weather) so I felt good running the firs 2 miles at about 6:45 each, knowing I'd pay the piper coming back up those hills near the start / finish line.

What happened at about mile 3 was I noticed my body getting overheated very quickly and the sweat was not evaporating off my skin at all. The dew point was 70 degrees and the temp a mere 3 degrees away from the dew point. So the mechanism of sweating to cool the body via sweat evaporation to divert heat away efficiently is ineffective in these conditions and once your body hits a certain temp, even in room temp weather, the humidity makes it so it takes 10-15 minutes to cool down ANY even after one stops running. It took me 15 minutes to get to where my body wasn't feeling like a furnace after I finished this race.

I noticed other seasoned runners slowing down at this point. Honestly I expected when I dropped back above 7 minutes per mile I'd get passed a lot but everyone around me seemed to be suffering from the humidity. Everyone seemed to run their 3rd miles and beyond about 30 seconds slower than the first two, so no getting passed for me. I managed to pass a couple of people the second half of the race actually.

The weather here has been unseasonable warm but the humidity was the killer. 88% relative humidity during a race is a recipe for bad things to happen if you don' know the dangers and the temp is room temperature or higher. At least a dozen who got sick or didn't finish learned the hard way.

I saw people throwing up and dry heaving on the side of the race course...again, seasoned runners taken by surprise as well as less experienced runner. The temp was misleading and the humidity lay in wait for its victims after about 15 minutes of running a fast (approx anaerobic threshold) pace. At that point, there was no cooling down, only trying to maintain whatever slower pace possible without hurling or even worse collapsing from overheating.

So without further rambling...here's the official results.

I got the #48 spot out of 283 runners which puts me in a worse percentile than my normal top 5-10%....top 18% or so, not my best day. The field is usually much larger, I've seen years when the 10k turning out over 700 people but this year the 5k and 10k participants combined were less than 600. The race date is usually about a week earlier and I suspect people had plans this holiday weekend. And there were more of the faster runners participating and less hobbyists.

For my age group, I got 4th place out of 17 in the Male 35-39 group which wasn't bad.

Wish I could've go that #3 spot for a medal but the guy in 3rd was over 1/2 mile / almost 5 minutesahead of me so...I'll take my results and chock it up to the several factors that sapped my performance. I ran a 5k in just over 20 minutes recently and thought that would indicate a faster 10k time but I must admit I missed some training runs for this race which also affected me. That and the hills...ohhhhh the hills that last mile and a half plus the humidity put the nail in the coffin for my time. I honestly have felts just as dry stepping out of a pool before dryingl

So there it is folks, I didn't expect a personal best by any means but I wish i could have broke the 44 minute mark. My first half of the race indicated I might make the 44 minute mark but the hills past mile 4 and the overheat killed it. But this is summer racing and I must scale back my expectations due to the heat and personal safety.

If there's any lesson to take away here, it is this--LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. If you feel you're getting light headed, dehydrated, or way overheated, slow down a bit. It's better to sacrifice a minute or so of your race time than it is to end up at medical tent or on the side of the road with your stomach trying to reject whatever might be there or even worse dry heaving (very painful).

So I'll take it. There's a series of short races like 5 and 8k's this summer and I think I'm gonna focus on getting my 5k time under 20 minutes like it used to be. I can endure the heat for 5k if I must but that's close to a dangerous threshold. My next race will be a 5k the first week of July in the evening...I've run a 20:20 time in this race (personal best for 5k is 19:15 set in 2011) and I'd like to break the 20 minute mark despite whatever my happen as I cross the finish line.

It's getting hot out there runners--be advised and run smart! Dehydration, heat stroke, the stomach stuff, etc are bad bad things! Take care out there and remember the limits of your speed are based on many factors beyond your controol.