Grenoble: Race Report: Waldperlachlauf 20km

Two Sundays ago we participated in the fifth annual Waldperlachlauf (Perlach Forest Run) 20km edition. We signed up a few days before to get some racing experience in the legs as we continue to prepare for the upcoming Florence Marathon at the end of November. Both of us have only ever run a 20km running race once before and it was a part of the Roanne-Villerest Aquathlon Longue Distance (see this classic GrenobleWMD post for a reminder). That 20km was only the second part of the competition which in total consisted of first a 4km open water swim, followed by a quick bite of high-fructose corn syrup in the transition area, and then, finally, the 20km run. In that event, after spending around an hour and a quarter swimming the equivalent of 10 times around a quarter-mile track, I ran the 20km in a time of one hour, 30 minutes. Nothing that's going to get me on any track teams, but respectable nonetheless.

Two years later, one Ironman later, one marathon later, quite a bit of running later, and no 4km swim to tire us out beforehand, you'd think one might improve on said time. Nope. All you have to do is cruise along at a hair under 4:30's for an hour and a half and you've got it. Nope. Now, there were of course some extenuating circumstances that we can turn to: (1) the weather in Munich is generally fairly miserable but then lo and behold we woke up on that fateful Sunday morning to a forecast of 25 degrees celsius and not a cloud in the sky when we'd been used to running in 10 degree drizzle; (2) this was a small race with only a few hundred participants and the community volunteers have not quite figured out that you should probably be offering water on a 20km course, especially on the hottest day in Munich's autumnal history; (3) it was a mentally difficult course in that the 20km route actually consisted of completing a 5km loop 4 times -- ouch!; and (4) we're older now and not currently as in good shape.

The race started off well. We hit km mark 1 in just under 4 minutes, 22 seconds. Feeling good. And 8 seconds banked for later on. But the sun was just beaming. Though they called this the Perlach Forest, there was no tree cover, and somehow it seemed that no matter where you looked you were staring at the angry burning sun. Kilometer mark 2 came 4 minutes and 35 seconds later. "Oops" we joked, knowing that going slower than the planned 4:30 was simply a comical calculation error, and nothing to do with being out of shape, tired, or slow. No matter, though. We would re-assess our current speed, re-direct it upwards, and check on things in 1 kilometer time. Plus we had only lost 5 seconds, and therefore still had 3 seconds of the original 8 safely tucked away to be drawn on only if and when they might be needed. Unfortunately, like most Canadians, we would soon find ourselves with a sorely overdrawn account.

Kilometer 3 passed in the same amount of time as its previous marked distance: 4 minutes, 35 seconds. That brought us on to the side of 2 seconds overdrawn. And things didn't get much better after that. The worst would prove to be a disastrous 4:50 on kilometer 19, and we ended up with an average pace of 4:41 for a total time of 1h33m45s, a full 3 minutes, 45 seconds above our "safe" goal time. So what happened? Well, we've already discussed the excuses above, and they are each probably somewhat involved, especially the one about not being in as good shape.

In any case, it was tough, but Sandi did get on the podium as she tends to do these days. She even won a 30 euro gift card at a running store, more than paying for our entry fees. So I guess it wasn't all bad!