There are certain things in life you will never be able to out run.  Some would cite death and taxes as the inevitable, but to add to this short list I would also say you cannot outrun time, police radio and the heat during any length marathon as many discovered on Cinco de Mayo this past Saturday for the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon.

The Stats

According to the local paper the men’s top finisher this year had the slowest time in two decades due to the heat at 01:05:08.  The women’s top finisher came in about 10 minutes later at 01:15:22 and then was removed from the finish area by stretcher due to heat exhaustion. My own experience also saw the effects of the heat. I was feeling fine 5-6 miles into the run and then realized my pace had slowed drastically around mile seven on the Indy 500 Motor Speedway 2.5 Mile Track. Overall, I am happy with my time of 02:19:52 which was still good enough to get seeded for next year’s race. The heat slowed me down by 14 minutes as compared to my 2011 PR.

This year I started in Corral D.  To give you some perspective the Indianapolis Mini Marathon is the largest half marathon in the United States selling out the last 11 years. The 35,000 runners come from all 50 states and quite a few other countries to run the flat and fast Indy course. I started the run at a good pace hoping the heat wouldn’t bother me as much as I actually like running in the heat, but while the heat wasn’t so bad for me ranging from the upper 60s to upper 70s the humidity was over 90% with a dew point of 68 making it difficult to dissipate heat from your body. Otherwise the day was very nice and I even felt comfortable on the run once I slowed my pace to a speed that was more manageable for the day’s weather.

Recovery

After the race I continued drinking Gatorade and water, ate a banana, a cookie, and two fruit snacks offered at the finish. I knew I needed to keep nutrients and fluids flowing to my system to combat the effects of the heat.  Once I got back to my car I had my traditional EAS Chocolate Myoplex Shake. My family had a BBQ that afternoon and I indulged a little for a race well run and to kick off the summer right!  I kept drinking fluids the entire afternoon to work on rehydrating my body.  Many people stop because they already have had a bottle of water after the race.  Please don’t make this mistake.  The best indicator that you are rehydrated is when you finally urinate a light yellow to clear color after the race.  For me that didn’t happen until over 11 hours after the end of the race. This tells me that I was very dehydrated after the race.  It took over 11 hours to even feel the urge to go!  Once I got home I wore my Zoot Compression Socks to help the blood flow back to my heart and to assist in vacating any lactic acid build up in my lower legs. Planned recovery efforts can make a big difference between enjoying the days after a race and suffering for several days. I’ll take Sunday off and then do a light workout on Monday most likely hitting a short 2-3 mile run and a light full body weights workout.

Next Race

My next run is the Hendrick’s County Park 2 Park Relay where I will join five other teammates to run 60-miles to raise money for the local Hendrick’s County Park system.

Moving Forward

This coming week starts a ramp up to my ultra marathon training which will officially begin in two weeks. I’m excited to start training for this new challenge!

Happy Training!

Brian