Sun Spots at 200bpm

Part I - The Run.

Today was the Little Falls 10k, part of a two-day, two-event effort to take home the Canal Cup.

[Again - the Canal Cup is the award given to the athlete with the fastest combined time between today's 10k and tomorrow's bicycle road race.]

Heading out to the race site this morning, I knew it was going to be another tough one, with temperatures near 90, and humidity to match. The run course consisted of several loops through the city streets before heading out into the rolling country surrounding the town center. This was not a flat course.

At the gun, I went out firing on all cylinders, immediately forcing the group to string out. Within the first 1/2 mile, the race leader was already a good 20 seconds up the road, and all I could do was watch him run away. "Okaaaaaay," I thought, "Battling for second place today, I see." At the mile mark, my split was 6:12, meaning he was easily running sub-6. Begin mental dialogue:

"Okay. You're not going to win or lose the Canal Cup today. Focus, turn'em over, and let's aim for a podium finish in today's race."

Out of the city, the roads were on fire - the sun was coming down, the heat was reflecting off the open road and the humidity was squeezing my chest like an aircast. At mile 3, things got a bit ugly. The road turned up, and continued to do so for the next mile. Nothing that I'd call a leg-breaker, but a long, grinding, open expanse of pavement, hot as the devil's sauna itself. At mile 4, I thought about walking... Just for a few seconds, as I wasn't even sure I could make it to mile 5, let alone post a good time in the overall. But I knew the moment I broke cadence, I'd never start up again. So on I pushed.

At mile 5, my HR was soaring, but I was still keeping distance on my closest competitor. I could hear his foot strikes, but could not hear his breathing. He was close, but not that close - and I was completely hell-bent on keeping my position, and preventing him from catching me.

I upped it yet another notch - recovered now from my lull at miles 3 and 4 - I would leave it all out there from this point on. For the rest of the race, I was at (and actually above) my max HR (yes, indicating that I've actually seen a "new" max HR today, likely due to the heat). I came across the line, my legs virtually detached from my body, with the discomfort no longer even registering in my brain and my vision but a tunnel. This effort earned me 2nd place, with first going to the wildfire whom annihilated the field from the gun.

My time was far from goal, but given the course and the heat, I was extremely pleased with the result. There wasn't a single moment on the course where I thought I could've gone harder. And, at the end of the day, I landed on the podium and took home some hardware. Going into the race tomorrow with this kind of performance is nothing but good.

To be concluded...