The limits of a virtual race, report
Sunday was the day I was supposed to run a Marathon but it was canceled two weeks before. I had thought of going run there anyway but our region has been declared a red zone so we were asked to stay in our region.
I decided to drive to my mom, leave the car and run home. That route is a mix of roads, bike paths, and gravel walking trails in city parks. It was my first time running it in that direction and using alternative routes to avoid traffic. The temperature that morning was perfect, sunny and going from 8C to 12C. My goal was to run a half-marathon virtual race.
I did my usual pre-race routine, breakfast and warm up.
I was carrying my phone, three bottles (8oz, 8oz, 5oz) filled with one diluted Maurten 320, one Gu Expresso Love, one Xact Fruit2 orange, some wipes and a mask.
When ready, I started two applications on my phone: NRC and JustMove. I have been using NRC forever so that is where my history and my shoe usage are held. The JustMove app has an option for some virtual racing, giving your stats and some encouragements every 500m. I admit, I was surprised that being told that I was third or fourth place and where the closest runner was (virtually) helped slightly.
I was trained to run a marathon and translating that training into pushing a half was not super obvious. So I settled closer to marathon pace.
Around the 9th km, I entered a park and ended up on a weird trail that brought me back where I had started. I lost a bit of time wondering where I was going and asking for directions.
At 14-15-16km I was getting stressed because I realized that there was no water fountain ahead and that meant that I was not going to be able to drink nor take my gels/chews. It threw me off and at that point I was thinking that I really hated to push for speed on long distances. I only accelerated once I accepted that I would have to do with what was left in my bottles, after all there was only 5k to go.
When I stopped my apps at 21.1k, it was bitter sweet. I was 49sec over my official race PR (2018). Not bad considering:
- Marathon tempo training vs Half
- Virtual vs real race (I cannot fool my mind that it is real so maybe 95% effort) although the JustMove app helped
- Almost no fuelling, 21oz of water with one Maurten 320 total
- Getting lost on a trail
- Being two years older than when I PRed
But also not great, I would not have been in shape to keep going at that speed for another 21.1k.
So, I want a revenge and beat that PR. Same route without the detour, assume no water stop. I am planning it on the date when my next Marathon (NYC) was supposed to be: November 1st. Motivation: A themed medal. DH has ordered it and he is the keeper (he is also a keeper but that is another story).
In the end, a virtual race doesn’t replace a real race but with a clear objective (time goal in my case) and some virtual support, it can be better than some training run.
How are your virtual run helping you? What challenges do you face with them?