Training for This Race
As I just mentioned, I was racing the Badger State 10k as a practice race for my upcoming marathon. Realistically, I would have preferred the distance to be a half marathon, but this time of year, my choices in race distances are limited to say the least. Leading up to the race, my training had been going really well. I've been working hard and running in some pretty shitty weather. This winter has been tough, its been cold, windy, and just unpredictable.
Knowing how my past few marathon attempts have gone, I have really focused my training on distance. I've boosted my weekly mileage compared to previous years which in turn, has increased my mileage for my higher intensity runs, such as 800's, tempos, and mile repeats. With the weather and a change in my work schedule, I've been hitting my mileage goals, but the pace goals have been off but due to weather more times than not...at least that's what I'm telling myself.
Prerace
I notoriously like getting to races as early as possible. It gives me a chance to relax, find a good parking spot, hit the restrooms, and get a good warm up in. However, when we woke up, the weather was a major issue. The Fox Valley was right on the line of snow and rain. So, my house was getting a light drizzle when we left, with temperatures just over freezing. But as we made the 20 mile drive north, the rain became harder, and more and more of a slushly, sleety mix and the temperatures continued to drop. We kept our fingers crossed hoping for a break in the precipitation for the race. But the closer we got to the race starting the more and more it looked like we were going to get cold and wet. After getting to the brewery, we took care of our ID checks and got our wristbands to drink after the race. When we did this there was a steady drizzle of sleet and slush. The roads were soaked and covered in slush and puddles everywhere. After hanging out for a little bit, we made our way back to the car to stay warm and kill some time. Around 8:30 (30 minutes before the race), I sucked it up and decided to get out for some sort of a warm up. I normally like to get in a good 2 mile warm up, but I ended up only getting in a little over a mile, but it was enough. The roads were covered in about 1-2" of pure slush and slush was literally falling from the sky. On top of that it was windy... A perfect day for a race!
Nutrition Plan
An hour before the race, I took my usual Anti-Fatigue Caps, Endurance Aminos, and then took my Fully Charged about 10 minutes before the start of the race.Miles 0-6.2
By the time the race started, my shoes, socks, feet...well, just about everything was soaked from my warm up. I was warm though, so that was the one positive. As you can imagine, the field of participants was significantly depleted due to the weather. But I can't control who I have to race against. I can only control how well I race and by scoping out the possible competition at the start line, I didn't recognize anyone from prior races who I thought could possibly challenge me. But as the race started, I just focused on running my own race and seeing what I could do in the slush. I started out leading the race right off the bat. I trudged through the slush and just focused on myself. As I knocked the miles off, I realized that no one was anywhere around me. By the time I got to the half way point (mile 3.1), I couldn't see anyone behind me. I thought to myself, bummer, just because I wouldn't have anyone pushing my ass to run faster, but I continued to run the best race I could knowing that I wanted to see how well my training has been going. As I got to mile 5, I knew that I had 1 mile left and I would have to seriously implode to not win this race. I continued to push and just thought that the sooner I finish, the sooner I get to get inside and out of the wet, cold, miserable weather conditions outside. I ended up finishing in 37:01, 1st overall.
Post Race
As I was saying, I had built a pretty good cushion between the second place runner, turns out I had built a 3+ minute lead over the 6 miles. The second runner finished in 40:08. Last year, I finished the race in 37:59 and the weather conditions were damn near perfect. My 10k PR (from the Bellin 10k in 2017) was 37:33. So taking that all into consideration, on top of the miserable weather conditions, I am ecstatic with my race time. Sure, I'd take a sub 37 minute 10k, but I have no doubt that will come later this year whenever the weather decides to act normal. But, with the race now over, it was time to enjoy the successes. I stuck around for a bit, while I waiting for Sarah, my dad, and our friend Tina to finish. As soon as everyone finished we ducked inside the post race tent and grabbed our free beer and sandwich and reminisced about how shitty that race was.
What's On Tap
With the race now in the rear view, I had about a month to focus solely on the marathon. I am aiming my sights on the Oshkosh Marathon on April 29th. Since the Badger State 10k, we have had some of the shittiest weather I can ever recall...and that's including typical Wisconsin winter weather. But it is the middle of April, normally we are just transitioning to our t-shirts and maybe even shorts. But this past weekend we had nearly 30" of snow dumped on us in the matter of just a couple days. I am starting to seriously question if the marathon will even happen. Majority of the marathon is run on a trail system, and now there is 20-30" of snow that needs to melt and dry up in just a mere two weeks. I would be surprised of the race is cancelled at this point, but I also think its a realistic concern.
