DNS… Three nasty letters that I’ve never had to use before (at least in the running sense). Did Not Start… DNS… In my mind I know that a lot can happen between signing up for a race and actually reaching the starting line. A percentage of people get hurt during training, travel snafus, etc… In my 20 some years of running I can’t recall ever having a DNS next to my name. I can definitively say that I’ve never had one in my post-collegiate career.
So why after 20 years did it occur? That’s a good question and not really an easy one to answer. It was a combination of things that really culminated in one simple answer. It wouldn’t be a wise decision.
I felt some reluctance to not start and even though my wife and I talked about it over a week before the race I couldn’t bring myself to announce it to anyone beforehand. I felt bad for my 1st Covenant – Team World Vision teammates, I was their captain and I wasn’t going to be racing alongside them. I felt bad for my 2015 donors who had given to support me and brought clean water to people in need. Honestly, I did feel a little bad for myself too – was I a quitter?
But it was the right decision and being at the race actually confirmed my decision. They day was significantly better than last year, but still warm, humid, and sunny. Those conditions plus the shadeless, rolling hilly course wouldn’t have been ideal for me.
So why didn’t I run? Simply put I wasn’t in shape to run a half marathon on August 1. That’s the easy answer. But why wasn’t I in shape? I’ve been doing Cross-fit, running, biking, hiking, etc. The fitness should have been there. But it wasn’t. Why not? I wasn’t being super-consistent with my training but I did the long runs, pushing my kids even.
Ok, let’s roll back the clock. For a period of time now while running I’ve gotten these weird sensations in my chest and my heart has been beating like crazy. Don’t freak out. My wife, a nurse, and my doctor have both already grilled me. I wasn’t having a stroke or heart attack. When this happened I would back off the throttle and let my heart rate come down a bit and be fine. Sometimes this would take awhile and it would usually come with a loss of power for a bit. Some of you who have ridden or run with me might remember some of these random instances. I didn’t really think anything of it.
Looking back it has never occurred during a WOD at Cross-Fit or while taking a spin class at the YMCA. It seems to happen when I pick up my pace while running or biking, or after a long period of exertion. I haven’t consistently worn a heart rate monitor over time but when I have nothing seemed out of the ordinary. In April I rode the Dickie’s Scramble 75 mile gravel (and hill) grinder. It was a brutal ride and I had some trouble with some of the hills, when I pushed hard my heart rate went up. I wasn’t watching my heart rate monitor but after the ride I remember that it said I had a Max HR of 238. I mentioned it to the guys at dinner and we all agreed it had to be an equipment mistake.
So why did I sign up for a race? Remember, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Something that would improve with conditioning. I trained, doing long runs and as long as I controlled the pace or maintained a steady, comfortable pace I was fine. Ok, let’s come back closer to the present time. On my July 11 long run several odd things happened that kind of messed up the routine. That was the day of the Lifetime Triathlon which makes it really hard to get to where the Team World Vision group runs meet. No worries, I parked nearby and was going to wait for them to come down. I even got to cheer a few people I knew racing the triathlon. As I waited and waited I decided they might actually have gone a different way, so I took off. After stopping at the porta-pot for Nadia they actually caught up to me.
My usual running partner was racing but I’ve run with some of the others so I fell in with them. Chatting along the pace got a little faster and I felt my heart speed up, so I slowed down. I was pretty confident I knew the 10 mile route and wasn’t too concerned. I don’t remember the whole run, but I do remember it was warming up and I was getting tired. Sure mental games that we all must endure, so I endured. Some of the group in front of me turned around and passed me heading the opposite direction. Odd, but they are training for the marathon, I kept going. Somewhere in there I had another “episode” or two, but kept trudging along. My run took forever… And I screwed up the 10 mile route and only ran 8.5 miles (probably a good thing). I ended up running an average of 10 minute pace which is pretty slow for me, even pushing the kids. My last run with the kids was 7 miles at 8:49 pace.
Ok, so I had a bad run. Chalk it up to a crappy day. I had actually remembered to wear my heart rate monitor for the run and when I looked at the data it said Max HR 238 and average HR was in the 170’s. Possibly, still an equipment error, but I felt horrible. It took over an hour for my HR to come back down into the resting zone and by the afternoon I felt like I’d run a marathon. The next morning, I still felt horrible like post-race horrible. Not an easy 8.5 mile at 10 minute pace should feel. That’s when I decided something might be up. The culmination of all of those things happening at one time made it clear to me that I needed to go find a doctor to check me out.
Understandably my wife got a little freaked out. Asking lots of questions, getting out her stethoscope. I do have a low-grade heart murmur and she says I have an occasional arrhythmia. The doctor did his work… And of course everything was fine and normal while at the clinic. He had to listen carefully to hear the murmur and I didn’t have any irregular heart patterns while he was listening. He did do an EKG on me and had some blood work drawn. He said the EKG looked perfect and my blood work was all in the normal ranges. So next step is to see a Cardiologist. He wants me to see a specific guy who doescardiac electrophysiology, or studies how the heart’s electrical system (rhythm) works. Unfortunately, I can’t see him until mid-September. The doctor who did the exam said that I would be fine to continue working out – running, biking, and Cross-fitting. But to be careful.
So a DNS, being careful. Knowing a hilly course and that I’d want to push the pace and “race” or at least PR the course. Knowing me, a DNS was the right choice. Yes, I’m a little more concerned now than I was over the past few months. I’m being more careful about pushing the pace, running hills, etc. And I’ve started to pay more attention to what is going on with my ticker.
I’ve started wearing my heart rate monitor on more workouts and wearing my RoadID bracelet more often. I definitely don’t like talking about this kind of stuff, but it has been good to talk about it. I’ll keep you updated as I learn more.
My biggest disappointment was the rope climb. We do rope climbs somewhat regularly at Crossfit and I’m able to climb the rope and touch the top of the rig. I’m usually good for a few climbs in any given WOD. Granted the Spartan rope climb was way harder than anything I’d done I figured I’d be ok with it. I couldn’t get out of the 4 foot deep water pit and even try to climb the rope. I think I just wasn’t able to get a good latch with my foot (slippery shoes) and the exhaustion by that point (Obstacle 19) just made it impossible.
My sister and I ended up with same number of penalties throughout the course. We each failed 3 events (though we realize now the errors of our ways) and yes we each did 30 burpees for each failure (sure). She failed the spear throw, while I failed the Z walls. We both then failed the rope climb and Multi-bars. Our error was in not helping each other more. Obviously we couldn’t have done much for each other on the spear throw (I got lucky) or the rope climb (maybe climb up each other to start?). But on the Z walls, she probably could have helped hold me on the wall and to make some of the harder stretches. When we did the monkey bars the volunteer was telling us to help each other, so we could have done that for the multi-bar as well.
Probably the hardest obstacle I completed successfully which didn’t require a little bit of luck was the atlas lift (obstacle 12). We had to pick up a huge (70 – 100 lbs) stone, carry it 10 yards (under a 3 or 4 ft rope), do 5 burpees, and return the stone to its place. I seriously almost couldn’t lift the ball off the ground the first time.
I’m not going to write about all the obstacles, but I think 2 that required a little bit of thinking or knowledge to be successful involved moving heavy weights around. Both involved moving weights by pulling a rope. I think some people were trying to pull them hand over hand (like belaying) which actually requires a lot from your upper body. Both easily allowed for use of your whole body to help move the weight. The plate drag (obstacle 3) had a sled with 80 pounds on it that needed to be drug about 10 yards by a rope and the pulled back using a short chain loop until the rope was taunt against the stake. I had to pull hand over hand for the first few to get enough rope length on the slack side, but then once you get a good grip you can just pull and walk it back until it hits the stake. The other is the herculian hoist (obstacle 10) involved pulling a 150 pound bag up about 20-25 feet using a rope and pulley, you also had to lower it to the ground carefully. Some people were also trying to pull hand over hand on this. It is easier to get a good grip, pull and lower your body to the ground, climb the rope and repeat. This required using the leverage of the log on the ground, but worked pretty well. Lowering it was a little harder, but required pretty much the same technique.
A lot of the obstacles involved climbing up and over a variety of things and those vary in difficulty but really come down to more about being comfortable on the various nets or walls. I think most people can climb a cargo net, but the fear of heights and the tension of turning yourself around and over the top can be a challenge. Pulling up and over the walls can be a tough challenge and I don’t have any good thoughts on that. I slammed my toe really hard on the 8ft wall and it still hurts over a week later. For awhile I thought I might have actually broken it.
I guess I should make a note of what I wore. It was a tough decision… I ended up wearing a Under Armour compression shirt (wouldn’t snag on barbed wire as easily), with a pair of triathlon shorts (same thing wouldn’t snag). Both also would dry out and not require me to carry a bunch of extra weight. I ended up wearing a pair of triathlon socks (I think they are actually Ironman brand, but not sure) and a pair of North Face trail running shoes that I’ve had for awhile – they don’t have any style marking so I’m not sure what they are, but I think the Cardiac.
I wanted a shoe with the traction of a trail shoe, but not one that would retain a lot of water and mud. Gore-tex shoes would repel the water off the wet grass or small amounts of mud, but would retain it when submerged into a moat. A full on mesh shoe would retain the least water but probably wouldn’t be sturdy enough for the trails and definitely would make rope climb hard.
