Michael: Mixed Results

The ravenous night
Gorges on the dying hues
That were once so bright.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

There are always times when one should buck the rules. Today was one of those days, but I didn’t buck and I paid for it.

Today Kimme and participated in a 12k road race. Two years ago this was the first race we did here in Panama. This race separates into two challenges. It started on a gradual straight slight uphill for the first 7k into 40 mph headwinds.  The last 5k lazily snakes toward the finish at a slightly steeper grade but with significantly diminished winds.

I knew this from two years ago. Today the conditions were fairly similar though, if it were possible, the wind may have been even a bit stronger. Under these conditions the rule I should’ve broken is: Don’t go out too fast. If anything go out a little conservatively. That’s been put out there for years now but, today for instance, there are times when I should’ve be wise enough to reconsider that sage advice.

Why? Because if you’re not in a decent group upfront working that wind, it becomes virtually impossible to make up any ground. I started off conservatively. There was one guy working with me for the first 7k. We were good. We were strong. But there was no way the two of us were a match for the good runners who were in larger groups ahead of us. We were fighting the numbers. We were fighting a wind that almost had us at a standstill at times. We weren’t going to make up ground under those conditions and that became clear even before we had reached the 2nd k mark.

If I had been wiser I would’ve recognized that I should’ve hurled my race plan, based on that old sage advice, into that hurricane like wind. I would’ve been far better off starting out like it was a mile race and stuck like glue to a larger group that was moving with much more efficiency than my unknown partner and I.

The sage advice worked as far it goes. After the first 6k I felt I was able to pick it up and felt very strong over the second half of the race. I passed a decent number of people and was able to keep good form.

But lesson learned. Next year, and from every race from here on out, I’ve got to take the time to take race day circumstances into consideration and be flexible enough to adapt to those, even if that means breaking some of those age old running rules.