I made my return to the racing scene at the Rotary Mission Ten 5k run in San Juan Bautista and surprisingly had a decent run!
After being retired from official racing for about 10 years, I finally made my way back into competitive racing; this excludes the 2019 Spartan Stadion Sprint when I raced with the elites for the first time. This past weekend, I ran the Rotary Mission Ten 5k run and it felt both stressful and exhilarating at the same time. Here's how the race went and my experience returning to competition.
Overview:
Rotary Mission 10 Event Details
Prepping and Training
Day Before the Race: I Screwed Up
Morning of the Race: To Race or Not
Arriving at the Race: Here I Go
Race Experience
Final Thoughts
Rotary Mission 10 Event Details:
I found the Rotary Mission 10 Run event through a Google search. The race is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Hollister and all proceeds go to benefit local scholarships and charities. This family, friendly race that allows strollers and dogs is located in the rural town San Juan Bautista which is centered around Gilroy, Watsonville, Hollister and Prunedale. This race starts and ends at the historic San Juan Mission where runners run through San Juan Bautista's beautiful neighborhoods and farm land.
Events Offered and Race Day Prices
Half Marathon - $70
Ten Mile - $60
5k - $45
1 Mile Fun Run - $15
Prepping and Training
Because I discovered this run last minute and thought it would be a great idea to level-check myself at an official race to start off my year, I only had six weeks to prepare. To keep things simple, my training included three days of steady state running, one day of speed work, two days of cross-training and attempted to complete a yoga routine 3-5 days a week. Did I complete every single training session I had planned? Nope. Did I do my best to balance my training and life? Absolutely.
Day Before the Race: I Screwed Up
After dedicating my time to prep myself to achieve my peak fitness for this race, I screwed everything up the day before; here is what had happened. The weekend before the race, I emptied out my above-the-ground pool and left it out to dry for the week. Unfortunately, rain was forecasted on race day, so I decided to disassemble the pool to prevent it from collecting water. Everything was going well until one of the base poles to the pool got stuck. Me being me, I muscled it through and successfully pulled the pole out but as a result, I also pulled a rhomboid (upper back) muscle on my right side. DAMMIT!
I shrugged it off and did my best to mend it for the remaining of the day but unfortunately, it started to get worse to a point where I couldn't even turn my neck; I've never had whiplash before but I could only imagine that this was similar pain. For the remaining of the day, I went on an emotional rollercoaster ride and started to mentally beat myself up.
Morning of the Race: To Race or Not
Early race morning at about 2:30 a.m. I woke up in agony. I couldn't roll over to my left or right side, couldn't sit up in bed and couldn't even get out of bed without experiencing excruciating pain. The only position I could lay was on my back. Luckily my wife found our heat pack! The pain was so bad that my wife had to lift my head and upper back to place the heat pack underneath me. This felt so soothing to a point that I went back to sleep instantly. After about another 3 hours of sleep, I woke up with less pain however, I still couldn't stand with out feeling pain or turn my neck to look left or right; my entire body just felt achey and stiff. The odd thing was that I could still run forward and backwards without any issues! This had me feeling so confused on whether I should race or not...obviously, I still did. Before heading out, I did a few mobility movements to give myself some reassurance, grabbed a GU pack and chugged my "power-up" shake.
Arriving to the Race: Here I Go!
After deciding to still take my chances, I arrived at the event venue about 40 minutes before the race start. After getting lucky with parking, I walked over to the check-in to pick up my bib number and find the start line; thankfully bib pick up and the start line were right next to each other so not much exploring was required. After getting settled in, I ate my GU pack and started my warm-up run about 15 minutes before the race. My warm-up included five short laps around what I believe was a shopping alley, skipping, lateral running, 10 sprints, leg swings and a few total body mobility movements. After my warm-up it was time to head to the start line.
Race Experience
About 10 minutes before my race, I removed all my warm up clothing and made my way to the start line. Years ago, I would typically make my way to the front; you know, the area where all the super duper fast people go, but this time I had to be real with myself... I'm no longer that 21 year old me with all that young blood trying to win every single race. This time around, I'm the guy simply trying to be the best I can be with what I now have going for me. With that said, I placed myself somewhat toward the front a few rows behind the super duper fast people. Another change I made heading back into the race world was actually listening to music during this race. Again, back in the day, I was never one of those racers to listen to music only because it could cause a safety hazard and I didn't want to rely on the "external motivation". Being real with myself once again...I needed all the help I could get, so music it was!
When the announcer released all the runners, I took off to break away from the crowd and find my space. As the song "Big Dawgs" from Hanumankind blasted through my headphones, I started to find my pace, control my breathing and simply stepped one foot in front of the other to progress forward. Running down the course, I did my best to keep up with three specific runners but that didn't last so long. Once we all hit the 1 mile marker, it seemed like they had some type of rocket boosters because all three of them took off; I just couldn't keep up and unfortunately, I already started to slow down which allowed five other runners to pass me before even hitting the halfway mark.
Continuing on, I already knew I was "redlining" this entire race and I knew my body wasn't prepared for this stress; my heart rate was fluctuating between 202bpm and 206bpm. Low and behold, right when I approached the halfway point, a cramp settled in as if someone just struck me with Goku's Kamehameha! Luckily at that point, there was a water station. I grabbed a water cup but instead of drinking it, I attempted to pour it on my cramp area; this was my former strategy to relieve cramps which always worked...womp....womp....my shirt was too thick and soaked in all the water. SON OF A B*TCH. No relief.
After passing the halfway mark, I trudged along with a heavy cadence while simultaneously trying to focus on my breathing to help relieve the cramp. As I got past the halfway mark, myself and another runner consistently crossed paths. He would stop to walk and when he did, I would pass him. However, he would alternate that with sprints which allowed him to pass me. I reached out to give him a fist bump for the effort he was putting in because I knew both of us were exhausted. Not going to lie, I considered doing the exact same thing, but I truly believe, if I stopped running, I would not start running again. This happened about three times before I passed him and hit the 2.5 mile mark where I didn't see him again.
Finally getting passed the 2.5 mile mark, about seven more runners passed me and I knew all my energy was depleted. At this point, all I could do was keep whatever pace I was running at and get to the finish line. I finally made the last turn where I could see barely see the finish line and my goal was to not let anyone else pass me...one more runner passed me...oh well. I continued at my own pace until I saw my baby boy from afar cheering me on, yelling so loud and ringing the cowbell! As cliche as it sounds, seeing his energy and joy gave me a tremendous boost of energy that made me transform into a Super Saiyan and got me across the finish line with a final sprint.
Final Thoughts and Moving Forward
Going into this race, I thought I would be averaging 9 minute miles considering that I've ran most of my training runs in that range however, I surprised myself with 7:30 minute miles even with my neck and shoulder debacle; I'm sure it was the competition that played a major role and gave me that push to step out of my comfort zone.
So what happened with my neck and shoulder? I'm happy to say that it didn't affect me during the race and the neck and shoulder pain subsided after crossing the finish line. I spent the rest of the day joking that It was now the pain in my legs and adrenaline that masked the pain radiating from my neck and shoulders, but since then, I actually haven't been effected by it.
After pondering over my race performance and experience, here are five training factors I will modify moving forward:
Decrease the amount of red meat I eat to one day per week and consuming chicken and tofu throughout the rest of the week.
Include longer, steady state runs to increase the number of capillaries in my body which in result can support more efficient oxygen delivery.
Make my speed work and high intense training, more "intense" to help me getting comfortable to step out of my comfort zone.
Simply consume more fruits and veggies. Specifically, I'll drink more of my special refresher drink that includes, lemon, ginger, garlic, kale, spinach and chia seeds.
Practice more controlled breathing such as box breathing throughout the day which can transfer over to race day.
So, what's next for me? My next race will be at the end of March which leaves me with 8-weeks of training! Time to make some modifications to my training and overall lifestyle habits. Hopefully I'll surprise myself once again at the next one.
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