Race Day

Had my little paddling race today. Boy that hurt.

Actually the race was a good lesson in the value of pacing. Also a good lesson on how not to do it.

The race was about 80 minutes and I led for about 65 minutes of that. Unfortunately I was not in front at the moment it matters, the finish line.

Given the length of the race I knew pacing was going to be important. I also knew that the second half of the race was going to be into a headwind, making the pacing even more important. I knew all those things and to be honest I think I paced the race okay, but just not quite as well as others.

It was the headwind section that got me. I felt that I raced the first half well, I had a lead at the far turn, it wasn't enough to be comfortable, but I thought it would be enough to get me home. Hitting the headwind really slowed me down though and as it turned out it was enough for a mate of mine to close the gap. Once he closed the gap we both made a couple of mistakes, but I made some bigger ones and he pulled away, we were still close at the finish, but the order wasn't the I was after.

Over all I am pretty happy with how I executed the race, for most of the race I felt like I was getting it right, but that headwind section really made me pay. It is those arduous sections that highlight any pacing mistakes you might make, the time they cost you usually outweigh any gains you might have made earlier and that was my experience today. Perhaps I could have gone a bit easier in the first half and maintained speed more consistently in the second, it is hard to know, but it is a lesson I can take away from the event.

Sometimes you get races right and sometimes you get them a little bit wrong. Today I don't think I got it wrong by much, but it was just enough to make the difference.