Here are our ambient conditions for race day, with the race starting at 7:05AM. On the way to the race I drove through several patches of fog so intense that I nearly had to stop. Notice the temperature and dew point going up in lockstep until 8:30? And hardly any breeze at all?
Here is the sad tale - heart rate in red, pace in blue. Heart rate climbing up past 175, despite my repeated and frequent attempts to bring it down, resulting in an ever-slower pace on the run course. That wouldn't have been a problem if I had been finished after the run - but there were still 45 miles to go in the event!
My heart rate while running during long-course events needs to look a lot more like this day, in the 150s and 160s. Going over 170 before the first mile was even finished was Bad News for Nancy.
Laika the Space Dog died from overheating and stress. Yes, that could have been me -- I think I could have put myself into some trouble if the weather had stayed the same and I had continued at a high effort level. My core temperature was probably rising throughout the run and with my surface-to-volume issues, I just don't dissipate heat as well as those skinnier folks.
Fortunately the humidity did start dropping just as soon as I stopped, but that temperature kept climbing. Only 2 women out of 46 starters (4%) had paces well above 10 min/mile on the first run leg of the duathlon. On the second run leg, 15 women of 43 finishers (35%) had paces above 10 min/mile. I'm surprised it wasn't more of them.
