The Rundle mistake

On reflection, I really shouldn’t have done that. After the flat out exertion of the parkrun yesterday, a race pace 9.5 miles in 70 degree heat was a mistake.

It was a decision that was on my mind through breakfast as I got ready. Should I stick to the tree lined streets around town that afford a great deal of shelter for almost every step of my run. Or do I go out onto the Dakota Rail Trail, which though not tree covered all the way, has a great deal of shelter between Lester Prairie and New Germany. 

I opted for the trail, as the roads get pretty busy in town on a Sunday morn, with folks rushing to church, and our small town is short of sidewalks in places. It can get quite unnerving sharing the road with people intent on getting to Sunday worship. As I stepped into the street and started running in the shade, I thought to myself that this was the right decision. 

Now, I’ve not run at Sub 4 hour marathon pace for many years, I wasn’t sure what pace I should be running at (it turns out that 9:09 miles is correct) I aimed for 9 minute miles. I found it quite difficult to get there and was consistently running faster than that for the first 5 miles. When I got to the turnaround point in New Germany I was really feeling it. I was dripping with sweat and in a hydration deficit. I took a few moments to recover before heading back home. 

Some very welcome shade.

It’s mostly a very easy downhill on the return leg. Still, it was impossible to get back up to the high eight, low nine minute miles of the way out.  Once I got out of the shade and into fuller sun, I really wilted. I called it a day.

The data hides how tough this was

Initially, I was pretty disappointed with this. But I got five very strong miles out of this run, and two more that were pretty good, even though I had to really gut them out. I was certainly in hydration debt by the time I got home, drinking two pints of water straight down. 

On reflection, the better plan would have been to do a couple of four to five mile laps around town so that I could have had more shade and been able to pick up more hydration as I needed it. I could have also got out of the house 30 minutes earlier and that would have helped too. Hindsight is 20/20. 

I’m wise enough to know that not every run in the next 16 weeks is going to go my way. So it’s all good.