Tuesday, August 28, 2007

my little science project...



Mmmmmm...


well it has been fun reading about everybodies races and such. i have been out running a bit. not as much lately. it shows in racing. crashed and burned at mt. hood pct 50 mile race. oh, still got a 2 minute PR. but it was quite ugly.


did a little experiment... see if i can run as hard as possible and hold on to the finish. well, for me it doesn't work. got to the lodge, (half way) 40 minutes faster than ever before. ran through every other aid station. that was fine. but obviously went out way too fast for my ability. started cramping at about 30 miles. how fun it is to run 20 miles cramping all the way.


i remember craig saying when he feels a cramp coming on he pops two S-caps. that usually works for me but not this day. went out way too "hot". no amount of salt could have stopped the cramping on this day. just tried to run way faster than my ability.


you see, one should do negative splits on this course. you do all the climbing in the first half (and there isn't much climbing mind you) this is a fast course. only a little over 5000 ft of gain!!! i didn't even come close to negative splits. last year i ran the second half 41 minutes faster than the first!!! that shows you how pathetic i was during the race this year.


will i run it next year??? dunno, maybe white river 50. maybe train for it too???


note to self... there is a reason why one should pace one's self in a race... one wants to finish in the upright postition!!!

6 comments:

Stephanie said...

Hey Tom-

glad you are back and well.

Sarah said...

I was wondering when you were going to blog again! You didn't look too bad at Timberline, but I guess a lot can happen in 25 miles. Sorry I wasn't more socialable at the finish. I was really out of it! See you at McKenzie. I'm not running, but Marc is.

GB said...

"Pathetic" yet sets a PR anyway! I don't know how you do it, but you do! Great to see you blogging again.

Journey to a Centum said...

Hey Einstein, what did our JR. High track coach say about pacing yourself? Sounds like you are a slow learner like me;-)

Hey if you don't push it every now and then you won't discover your true potential. Nice try!

Adelyn said...

yay, glad to see you're posting again :). Sometimes we have to experiment just to see what we're capable of, even if the experiment doesn't go the way we want! These are all learning experiences though, I guess, and you know what'll work better next time :)

Congrats on the PR, still. Obviously with the right strategy, you have much faster times in you!

Olga said...

Tom, you're back! Oh, please, a little experimenting never hurts...well, it does for a while, but then you know what to do (or not to) next time. How 'bout go out fast yet still fuel well? Thouhg lots of people cramped that day at Hood 50...even BW suffered, so you're in a good company.
Welcome back, don't go away again.