November 26, 2020: The Peachtree Road Race 10K, virtual edition

Coach Carl asked us a few days ago to share with the training group what we were thankful for this year. Here was my response: 

I'm thankful for: 

• Bonnie, whose kindness and gentle humor cheers the most difficult days. 
• My friends, family, co-workers and students, who have all survived the pandemic, so far. 
• My employment, which is stable and where I can work safely. 
• Running outdoors, calming my mood and maintaining my mental and physical strength.   
• And I’m looking forward to the arrival of year 2021.  

• Frank McDonald, Nov 25 2020

All smiles as we left the house

Atlanta Track Club originally postponed the Peachtree Road Race from Independence Day to Thanksgiving, hoping that the COVID pandemic might be under control by now. I was skeptical, but as with most of my concerns about this pandemic, I was hoping to be proven wrong. When the track club announced a few months ago that the race would be virtual, I wasn't at all surprised. However, the track club mailed out the commemorative shirts in October, along with bibs with the number "2020". Originally, I wasn't planning to wear the bib, but Bonnie encouraged me to do so. 

Between the two of us, we're ready for more than 20 miles today! 

It began raining yesterday, and the weather forecast was for rain through this morning, so we didn't set an alarm. When I awoke around 6:30 am, the rain had stopped, the weather radar confirmed that the front was to our east and moving away, and so I woke Bonnie up around 7 am, and eventually we made our way across town to the northern terminus of the Westside Beltline, where we had both decided to run our virtual Peachtree Road Races. 

Easy dynamic stretching before beginning

As part of my marathon training program, today I was scheduled to run 14 miles. Coach Carl emphasized that mileage was more important than pace, so I decided that I had better do at least half of the 14 miles before I actually started the virtual race. Shortly before 9:00 am, I started off on a 7.55 mile easy run. The temperature was 64 degrees F with 93% humidity, unusually warm for November. My watch was set to kilometers in anticipation of the 10K race to come, so I maintained a steady pace between 6 - 7 min / km, taking plenty of walk breaks every 5 - 10 minutes, especially if I found that I was moving a little too fast. The Beltline wasn't too crowded today, but most runners were wishing each other "Happy Thanksgiving" as we passed, and many were wearing either the Peachtree Road Race or the "2020" bib. That was a real highlight today, feeling a sense of community with the other runners who all would have normally lined up with me on July 4, on Peachtree Road near Lenox Mall. I ran the entire paved length of the Westside Beltline, nearly 6 kilometers to its current southern terminus at University Avenue, and then retraced my steps, adding a little loop through a park at the northern terminus to get 7.55 miles upon returning to the car, averaging a 10:17 min / mile pace. I had not brought water with me, but my plan was to stop at the car, hydrate and take a gel, and change into a fresh singlet for the 10K "race". That took about 10 minutes, but I was moving so I figured that was OK. However, I never stopped sweating during my short break. 

I passed Bonnie on my return, nearly 5 miles in

By the time I was ready to start the 10K, it was after 10:20 am, and the temperature was 70 degrees F. I felt a little soreness in my legs, but I figured it was nothing to worry about. My plan was to run this pretty easily, no faster than half-marathon pace (ca. 9:00 min / mile). With the watch set at metric units, the plan was to run between 5:30 min / km and 6:00 min / km (8:51 - 9:39 min / mi), hoping to save enough energy for a strong final kilometer. My only time goal was to finish in less than 60 minutes, which is usually not too difficult for me.  

Today's 10K route

The first two kilometers went pretty smoothly, at 5:55 and 5:52. As I finished the first stretch of the Beltline and crossed the street to run the wide sidewalk on White Street, I saw Bonnie on her way back. I was only 3 kilometers into my route, she had only 3 kilometers to finish. Turning up the small uphill path to the Lawton Street overpass, then crossing over the Beltline and heading back down the ramp to resume on the actual Beltline, the 4 kilometer alert sounded. Both kilometers 3 and 4 were at 5:47 pace. 

Still smiling at 3 km

The fifth kilometer was gently but inexorably uphill. I couldn't see it but I knew about the elevation increase from previous runs, and my body could feel it. After passing through the tunnel under Lee Street and the north-south MARTA line, the kilometer 5 alert sounded, with 6:00 min for that kilometer, 29:21 elapsed at the halfway point. 

I ran just a little further to what I had previously identified as my 5K landmark, then slowed to turn around, and decided that I really needed a walk break. Just 30 seconds. I looked at my heartrate for the first time near the end of 30 seconds, and was surprised to see it was in the high-160s. So I extended the walk break to a full minute. And then two minutes, which turned into ... 10 minutes. 

I walked the entire sixth kilometer, in 10:24. 

Somehow I had completely lost interest in the "project", no longer cared much about a 60 minute finish. 11 miles into the day, and I was ready to quit. "Fortunately" the car was at least 2.5 miles away. I'm sufficiently germophobic so that I wasn't going to take an Uber or Lyft. It would be nice to just walk back. My legs were really sore, but I wasn't injured, just tired. How am I going to manage a half-marathon in two weeks? 

The 6 kilometer alert snapped me out of my deep thoughts, and I began to run again, but not very fast. Kilometer 7 was at a 6:45 min / km pace, slower than I had done most of my "easy" miles earlier this morning. Then I had to take another walk break, and couple of minutes later, yet another, and then another pretty long break. 7:47 for kilometer 8, equal to mile 5, in 54:17 elapsed. And then I went even slower, walking most of kilometer 9, in 9:29. 

With just 1 kilometer to go, I willed myself to run straight through to the finish. But I wasn't going very fast, even though the route was now mostly downhill, except for a couple of overpasses. I knew that after I crossed the Martin Luther King Drive overpass, it would be downhill to the finish line. But at the top of the overpass, the 10 kilometer alert sounded, 6:17 for that last kilometer and 1:10:03 elapsed. After a few more steps, I stopped the watch to ensure that I had 6.22 miles, 1:10:08 elapsed. 

Look at the Max HR numbers in the far right column.

Knowing that I was about a quarter of a mile short of 14 miles, I restarted the watch, and restarted running. Somehow I didn't feel so bad for that last little jaunt, running past the car for half a block to make sure that the total for the day would show up on Strava as >14.00 miles (14.03 miles recorded). 

What went wrong today? I felt as beaten up as I had after my very first half marathon nearly 6 years ago. I took a shower, and napped for much of the afternoon. It wasn't until we were nearly ready to go to Bonnie's parents' home for an outdoor Thanksgiving dinner on their deck, and I went to the bathroom before leaving. And then I realized that was the first time that I had urinated since before we left the house for this morning's run, 8 hours earlier. I had even rehydrated fairly well on the drive home, and during lunch between two naps. 

Anyway I hope that is what went wrong. I realized that I had no recollection of deliberately hydrating yesterday, and had been cautious not to drink much water at home this morning. I didn't want to make a bathroom stop mid-run, especially since there are no public restrooms on the Westside Beltline. I also didn't carry any water with me during either run today, as I figured drinking some water after the first 7-1/2 miles and before the 10K race would be enough. 

Pace in grey, heartrate in red. That's the story of today's race. 

When I checked my Garmin stats this evening, I saw that my heartrate had been pretty high throughout the 10K "race". During the earlier 7.55 mile run, it had averaged 150 bpm and was never higher than 162 beats per minute, with the exception of one short 170 bpm spike about 6 miles in. But in the 10K race, I was running at 160 bpm before the end of the first kilometer, and it kept going up from there, hitting 180 bpm for several minutes around the 4 kilometer mark. No wonder I needed to take a walk break at the halfway point. And it was undoubtably a good thing that I did so. Interestingly, I never felt acutely thirsty at any time. 

I found an interesting article on the connection between elevated heartrate and dehydration in Runner's World, titled "The Tell-Tale Heart." So before my next long run, I need to remember to hydrate thoroughly the day before, and carry water with me during the run! I know this and I typically do this, but somehow the pre-race preparation slipped my mind this week. Coupled with my poor decision not to carry water with me on either stage of today's run, I had set myself up for a poor outcome. At least I hope that's what went wrong.