Tour De Kale 5k 6.19.09
Oh, the joys of running evening races in the summer. Friday evening I traveled to Denton, NC for their Tour De Kale 5k.
Getting outside of Charlotte, you would think the temperatures would not be as bad. As I drove into Denton, the temps were in the 90s and the humidity left me feeling sticky.
Warming up for race confirmed all thoughts. It was too hot for racing. Maybe it was even too hot for running. Usually my heart range is between a 100 and 120 during my warmup. This night it was pushing 140 and I felt like I was barely moving.
Heading for the starting line, I settled on my game plan. I was going out hard and hang one. Definitely, it was one of my dumber ideas.
I hit the 1st mile in 5:16 and was in 4th place. Sweat was rolling off me so I grabbed a cup of water at the drink station. I missed the memo about the water being chilled. I dumped it over my head and was like “wow” that was cold.
I was probably 15 or 20 seconds behind Bob and Alejandro nearing the turnaround. Bob reached the turnaround first, but maybe the heat affected him because he ran several yards passed it. This allowed Alejandro to close the gap. Through 2 miles, I was 10:46 having covered the 2nd mile in 5:40.
Then, there was the monster 3rd mile. And, I am not saying monster because the 3rd mile tougher because it has only a slight hill in this mile. No, this mile was monster because I swapped out carrying the 50 pound bag of rocks for a massive dump truck. My legs took on a thick and heavy feeling that I couldn’t shake. No matter how hard I tried, they would not turn over any faster. It was one of those times where the mind was very willing but the body was in survival mode. My Garmin popped up the alert - 6:15 and I crossed the finish line 39 seconds later in 17:50. This was still good enough for 3rd place. Checking my splits, I saw at one point my heart rate hit 204. This was just lovely. No wonder my legs felt so heavy.
I suspect everyone was experiencing the same problem. Between the heat and humidity, there wasn’t any way to keep the core body temperatures down.
After the race, my strength felt zapped. I really don’t like making excuses other than to say that I just didn’t get it down.
I still enjoyed the race and the people of Denton do a wonderful job with this 5k. This is pretty much the reason why I am willing to drive 1 ½ hours to run it. Most likely, I will be back for the 5k next year and I am hoping to add their Tour De Kale bike ride to my list of activities in Denton. I might not shoot for the 100 miles, but I believe they have something like a 30 and 50 miles. Either one sounds like fun.
Getting outside of Charlotte, you would think the temperatures would not be as bad. As I drove into Denton, the temps were in the 90s and the humidity left me feeling sticky.
Warming up for race confirmed all thoughts. It was too hot for racing. Maybe it was even too hot for running. Usually my heart range is between a 100 and 120 during my warmup. This night it was pushing 140 and I felt like I was barely moving.
Heading for the starting line, I settled on my game plan. I was going out hard and hang one. Definitely, it was one of my dumber ideas.
I hit the 1st mile in 5:16 and was in 4th place. Sweat was rolling off me so I grabbed a cup of water at the drink station. I missed the memo about the water being chilled. I dumped it over my head and was like “wow” that was cold.
I was probably 15 or 20 seconds behind Bob and Alejandro nearing the turnaround. Bob reached the turnaround first, but maybe the heat affected him because he ran several yards passed it. This allowed Alejandro to close the gap. Through 2 miles, I was 10:46 having covered the 2nd mile in 5:40.
Then, there was the monster 3rd mile. And, I am not saying monster because the 3rd mile tougher because it has only a slight hill in this mile. No, this mile was monster because I swapped out carrying the 50 pound bag of rocks for a massive dump truck. My legs took on a thick and heavy feeling that I couldn’t shake. No matter how hard I tried, they would not turn over any faster. It was one of those times where the mind was very willing but the body was in survival mode. My Garmin popped up the alert - 6:15 and I crossed the finish line 39 seconds later in 17:50. This was still good enough for 3rd place. Checking my splits, I saw at one point my heart rate hit 204. This was just lovely. No wonder my legs felt so heavy.
I suspect everyone was experiencing the same problem. Between the heat and humidity, there wasn’t any way to keep the core body temperatures down.
After the race, my strength felt zapped. I really don’t like making excuses other than to say that I just didn’t get it down.
I still enjoyed the race and the people of Denton do a wonderful job with this 5k. This is pretty much the reason why I am willing to drive 1 ½ hours to run it. Most likely, I will be back for the 5k next year and I am hoping to add their Tour De Kale bike ride to my list of activities in Denton. I might not shoot for the 100 miles, but I believe they have something like a 30 and 50 miles. Either one sounds like fun.
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