Race Report: Salt Lake ½ Marathon 2013

By Dr. Michael Cerami 

Well that was a surprise! How about all that rain!!! I have never run in Utah when the rain has been so consistently heavy for so long. Whew, soaked!

OK, on to the report. There were some good things and some dumb moments during this race. So yes, I’m human and “born to make mistakes”. My plan was to keep my heart rate down significantly and see what extra energy I would have at the end of the run. 

I started the run by taking an easy 2 mile run to the start line so I actually ran 15 miles that day. By the time I arrived all the festivities were over and since the timer doesn’t start until I actually cross the timer/chip line, I stopped for a second, looked out over the valley and enjoyed the view. “OK, let’s do this”, I said. Of course at this moment there was just a slight mist in the air. The downhill first 4 miles are always pretty easy and not a good gauge of effort. Things were looking good even though it started raining heavier.  My heart rate was right where I wanted it to be. 

At mile 6 to 7, my heart rate started to rise and by mile 8 I began to cramp in my right thigh. This was strange because I never have that problem. It didn’t hit me until the race finished that I didn’t hydrate at all. Dumb, dumb, dumb! Lesson learned. 

Miles 7-11 were a struggle with the rain and cramping. I did my best and pushed through even though I was hurting. Finally I told myself I had enough left over to push through and ran a really good final 1.5 miles.  

I was happy with my mental tenacity and it’s always good to get another challenging race over with and deal with the adversity. In my opinion racing is always about learning who you are and what you’re made of so in that sense it was an awesome day.

Take home points:

·         Hydrate even when it’s pouring rain. I just literally forgot as I had my head down the final 5 miles. I believe this is what caused my cramping and held me back at the end.

·         Be prepared to make a choice in the middle of the race. When my cramping started and my form dropped, I considered abandoning the race. I went through a few thoughts comparing how good it would feel to stop versus how I would feel the next week knowing I hadn’t completed the race. My final decision was based on the fact that I needed a completed distance event to mentally prepare for the 70.3 Ironman in St. George. I couldn’t go into that race without the confidence of having this race finished. Your decisions may differ of course and remember it’s always best to have this conversation prior to the race.   

·         Even though my time was 20 minutes slower than last year, I’m ok with it. But I do admit it was difficult knowing I might have finished top 5 in my age group if I ran it with my usual effort (instead of finishing 62^nd.) 

My next recap will be following the 70.3 St. George race. Have fun and race strong.

Dr. Mike

Dr. Michael Cerami owns Utah Sports and Wellness and has been a competitive triathlete for over 18 years. He is available for a no charge consultation one Saturday per month at The Salt Lake Running Company (700 East store) by appointment. He can be reached at 801-486-1818 or online at www.utahsportsandwellness.com

Change in Plans

By Dr. Michael Cerami

As most of you know, I have a pretty full schedule of races this year and the training is going well. My first big event is St. George 70.3 Ironman on May 4^th and I’ve decided to make a few changes to my run plan after some interesting evaluation and experimenting last month.

As a reference, last year I noticed during most of my longer events that I ran “out of gas” at the 10-11 mile mark. I tried a variety of different tactics from fueling changes to better hydration all with negligible results. 

After listening to an interview with Mark Allen on “The Fit, Fat, Fast” Podcast I tried going for my long run with a little change that made a big difference. I had one of the best runs of my life by slowing down just a bit by limiting my max heart rate. Of course I was running at a slower pace but my energy at the end was dramatically better. Since then I’ve done 3 more long runs with the same result.

My theory is that “saving” more energy in the early part of the run will allow me to push it more during the last 3 miles of the race and finish strong. Overall this year I’m going to try and keep the rate down with the intent of eventually get back to my old pace per mile. If I can achieve these outcomes I feel I can really set myself up for much better long term (5 year) racing plans that will be achievable and more importantly FUN.

My first chance to test this new approach will be in 2 weeks at the Salt Lake ½ Marathon. Instead of going for a PR on time, my goal will be to keep my heart rate down below a specific number and then try and pick the speed up for the last 2 miles. The next test will be the 70.3 race in May where I’m really looking forward to the new plan.

Here’s wishing you a great start to your season.

Dr. Mike

Dr. Michael Cerami is a local Utah sports chiropractor and triathlete who has been treating patients for over 25 years. He writes a weekly patient blog and monthly athlete article for community education on a wide variety of topics including treating sports injuries, nutrition, exercise, motivation and wellness.