Hatley Castle 8km

Sunday, February 19, 2012

You Never Know....

It's amazing how sometimes you go into a race feeling only so-so, and thinking it will be a disaster, and it turning out the complete opposite - while other times, you can think you'll have a decent race and end up with a so-so performance.  I've found that until I actually start the race and get past the first kilometer, I can't tell for sure how I am going to do. 

Case in point - this past Sunday was the 3rd Island Race Series race this year - Hatley Castle 8km out at Royal Roads. I hadn't raced this event since 2009, so was somewhat looking forward to this challenging course.  Plus, I knew that unless I totally bombed, I would get a PB on this course.  However, I say 'somewhat' because I haven't really been in race mode this year.  I've been going through the motions of doing the races, without really putting my heart and body into the experience.

My main difficulty for these races is just having enough sleep before hand.  My body has high sleep needs, much higher than most people, and getting my required 9-10 hours of sleep every night is extremely challenging.  As such, I am often tired, and feeling sleep deprived is my largest challenge in terms of my race performance.  During the warm-up for Hatley, I could not stop yawning, and my body felt like it was dragging.  'Oh no' I thought 'it's going to be one of those races...' I line up on the start line, wait for the countdown and take off down the hill.  'Ugh' my body felt like it had no juice.  A number of people pass me, whom I've beat in races before, but I couldn't get my legs to fire any faster.  Then, as we turn the corner away from the ocean, I somehow find my gears.  I slowly start inching my way forward and passing people.  Hayden Earle is just ahead of me, and I follow him as we move forward through the pack of racers.  Soon, I see Yuki Otsubo just in front of me. He's always beaten me by a good margin, so I try to stick near him, wondering how long I can hang on.  I don't know where my energy is coming from, but I'm feeling good and it feels great to be able to push up the small inclines.

Yuki and I continue to pass other racers, and I know that Julie Van Veelan is just behind me, as I hear onlookers cheering her on. At this point, early in the race I hope that I can stick to this pace and not loose my umph near the end.  We round a corner, and head down a slight downhill towards the 3km marker.  Up ahead, I see Larry Nylen, another strong Masters runner, who has been running strong this year and who also is faster than me.  'Wow,' I think 'I can't believe my placing.'  I pick up a few more places as I push down the downhill slope.  Next, we round a corner and are faced with the largest hill in all of the Island Series races. This one definitely takes some energy and is perhaps 300-400 meters long.  I hear Bob Reid remind me to relax my shoulders as I start the climb.  At this point, my body starts to hurt somewhat, and my pace slows. Several racers pass me, including Julie, as she bounds up the hill as though she was running on a flat road.  Meanwhile, I'm trying to preserve to get to the top and not lose too much time to her.  Just as I crest the top of the hill, I pass Larry.  I urge him to come along and keep up - but he tells me to go on ahead. 

I start to pick it up a bit, to try and close the gap with Julie. Somewhere around kilometer 5, another turn-around point, I manage to pass Julie, unexpectedly.  However, being a fierce competitor, I know that she'll stay close behind me. Yuki is still just ahead of me - I'm surprised I've been able to keep contact with him this long.  Now, comes the fun part of the race, as we make our way into the trails of Royal Roads.  This is a fun course as it incorporates a few different elements with some undulating territory, some road and some trail. 

The trail portion is fun, but also includes a few more undulations - both up and down.  The last 2 kilometers of this race are pretty fast, as they include a pretty decent downhill and then the last kilometer is flat, flat, flat.  As I pass the 7 km marker, a bystander calls out to me 'way to go, 2nd place'.  'Really' I can't believe it, is there really only one other woman in front of me?  I didn't dare look back, but all I could think was that Julie was right there behind me.  Ahh.. the last km can often feel so long, as you search for that finish line. First, I hear the cheering, and then next I see the 100 meter sprint mat up ahead.  Then, I heard the footsteps. Here comes Julie and she passes me just as we cross the 100 meter mat.  I don't always trust my sprint abilities, and almost let Julie just whip past me.  Then, my better sense kicked in and I thought 'what am I doing, why am I just letting her pass me?'  So, I kicked it up and stuck on her like a leech.  I left it go a bit too long, and wasn't able to catch her, but we ended up less than 1 second apart.

Despite the fact that I was beat at the line, I'm happy with my performance - definitely my best race of this year.  It was great to feel so good throughout the race, and feel like I was really racing to my potential.  It was also great to have good tough battle with Julie.  

My final time: 32:49; splits: 8:22 (km1-2); 3:52; 4:28; 4:16; 4:13; 3:50; 3:47.