Short Story:

The weather was incredible (40*F at the start, 43*F at the finish, low humidity, and overall downhill course (300ft drop). I finished in 1:46:16, securing an 8-minute PR from the same course a year ago (when I was just hoping to break the 2-hr HM)!

Long Story

Training:

My training for this half marathon was actually part of my training for my upcoming May marathon. Coach suggested we focus on a speed block first, starting in December of 2018, and then as May draws nearer, transition to marathon specific training.

It went well! I logged 361 miles in December & January, averaging 45mpw (starting lower, ending higher--too lazy to look at specifics right now), with one day of intervals, and usually another day with cruise intervals or some goal paced workouts incorporated into a long run.

Race Week & Day:

The Tuesday before the Saturday race, coach had me do a short fartlek workout, which left me feeling super sore for 3 days afterwards (!!) and sluggish. WTF? Even after super tough workouts I’m usually not that sore. Anyway, insert slight freak out and panic mode, and then wannabe zen mode. Only I’m not sure I actually achieved that status. Yet.

We flew into AZ on Thursday, in the midst of a massive snowstorm while we left MN, and I counted my lucky stars that a) we arrived there safely, and b) that we arrived at all. We were only delayed a couple hours, thankfully.

I did my shakeout run on Friday morning of an easy 4.5’ish miles. Was thinking that I should go back and spend the day foam rolling and stretching, but after about 10 minutes of that I said FTS and we went to the Expo instead.

The Expo is pretty small, as far as bigger marathon expos go, but it was really easy to get in and out of, it’s in tents in a parking lot in a shopping area of Mesa, and my husband succeeded with his annual purchase of Altras (his only pair of athletic shoes he buys for an entire year  .

I had Chipotle for lunch (this is turning into one of my weirdo superstitions), and had sushi for dinner (another one of my superstitions/traditions). I belatedly remembered that I was supposed to be guzzling water so I didn’t start racing dehydrated in the morning, but again, said FTS and went to bed, with the alarm set for 4:15am. (The nice thing about this year’s HM, is that they allowed runners to be dropped off at the start line (last year and previous years they made us meet at the finish area, to be bussed). This allowed me to get an hour more of sleep! Sleep, glorious sleep.)

I woke up the next morning, had my breakfast (coffee w/cream, bagel w/pb & honey, a few sips of water), did my “business” (which I was thrilled about), and then got dressed so we could leave. My husband was driving me, and due to us taking some back roads (to hopefully avoid traffic upon arrival), we ended up leaving like 20 minutes late, but not to fret--we still arrived at 5:45am (start time is 6:30am).

He dropped me off, I immediately went to stand in line for the PoP’s, and after awhile kinda struck up a conversation with the people behind me. After more time had passed, we’d realized we hadn’t moved at all. No one really had. And then those people left the line to go pee in some bushes, and the rest of us stood there, wondering what to do.

I finally got to the front of the line at 6:27. As I was using the facilities, they were singing the National Anthem.  I made my way to the bag drop, which was a total zoo, and stood in line for that. I gave the lady my bag as the gun was being fired for the start. I gagged down my GU and nearly puked, but tried to think happy thoughts so I wouldn’t lose it on peoples’ shoes as we were shoving our way to the starting area so we could all start running. It worked.

I didn’t get a chance to warm up so I figured I’d just be slower. I also realized this would probably negatively impact my overall time, but decided to not freak out because there was nothing I could do about it.

Miles 1-6 (8:35, 8:18, 8:08, 8:06, 8:14, 8:08)

There was nothing super noteworthy here. I distracted myself by trying to do the math in my head about my overall splits (as, I realized while I was running, that I never programmed my Fenix to have the average pace on my watch screen  . I was hoping to run between an 8:15-8:25mm pace, but since my muscles were so sore in the days prior, I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. So I just had 8:25mm as my comparison pace, and hoped I could go faster (partly due to the downhill nature of the course, and also b/c of my rockin’ Nike Vaporfly 4%s).

Around mile 3 I saw my husband and threw him my arm warmers, gloves and hat. I also decided to totally play it safe and do lots of GUs. I decided to have one every 4 miles, so around mile 4 I choked one down. It worked out well since I took water at every aid station, every 2 miles.

The 5th mile's pace was in response to the 4th mile's pace, which was an “oh shit I may be going too fast--slow down!” But then by the 6th mile I realized I was properly warmed up, and I heard the B&B’s voices in my head to run comfortably hard, and then I decided to see if I could hold a pace under 8:10mm. I also saw my husband at mile 6, which was a great mental boost.

Miles 7-13.16 (8:09, 8:03, 7:56, 8:05, 8:01, 7:53, 7:38, and then 6:48mm pace for the 0.16)

Again, nothing super noteworthy going on (except for when I was taking my GU at mile 8, when I ripped off the top of the packet with my teeth, I mistakenly spit it out onto the guy next to me/behind me. I was totally embarrassed, but he laughed and hopefully wasn’t too bothered by it. I also figured I was right on track for a 1:47, and that felt good. My A goal (kind of pie in the sky) was anything sub 1:47, my B goal was anything under 1:50, and my C goal was just to get a PR (anything under 1:54).

Mile 11 and 13 have a great downhill section, so I gunned it on both of those. My breathing was pretty labored by this point, but it felt doable. Not like I was dying, how I usually feel. My legs felt great the whole time, too, which, I really attribute to the Nike Vaporflys! In every workout I’ve done in them (granted, it’s only been 3 other workouts) my legs do not feel trashed, in contrast to what I usually do my workouts and races in (the NB 1400s, which I LOOOOOOVE, but I might love the Nikes more). Also around this point I realized I might have a shot at running close to a 1:46 race, so I gave it all I had.

Entering the finishing chute...it was way shorter than the IMM one, and for that I was grateful. I saw my husband cheering for me, and finished in 1:46:16. I lovingly ate my delicious French toast, thought about waiting in line for the PR Bell, but said fuckit again, and exited. I looooove this course and will do this every year that I can.

(when I was just hoping to break the 2-hr HM)!

 

The Tuesday before the Saturday race, coach had me do a short fartlek workout, which left me feeling super sore for 3 days afterwards (!!) and sluggish. WTF?

 

but after about 10 minutes of that I said FTS and we went to the Expo instead.

 

my husband succeeded with his annual purchase of Altras (his only pair of athletic shoes he buys for an entire year  .

 

I had Chipotle for lunch

 

As I was using the facilities, they were singing the National Anthem.

 

my rockin’ Nike Vaporfly 4%s).

 

but said fuckit again

Good stuff. All of it.

 

 you did good. Gauge how you're feeling and trust that and go with it! I suspect you could have pushed a little bit more from the beginning (and a prerace warm up would have helped with that too). But this is all good racing experience that will help you judge the effort in future races. Great execution. Great PR. What is your BQ time again?

Thank you.  I am with you on all counts--a prerace warmup would have helped, and also I'm thinking I could have pushed a bit more. Next time.

3:40. So I should shoot for like a 3:37?

According to McMillan I'm at a 3:43 marathon time with my current fitness. Daniels is a bit more optimistic at 3:40.

Great job! A 45 minute POP line? Yikes, that's even worse than the hell line I was in at Salisbury.

 

Seriously. And there were probably 50 PoP's? 100? I'm a horrible judge of how many, but there were plenty. And yes, 45 minutes. It was terrible. I was about to start to yell at the people to hurry up with their shits. LOL.

Was it the type of thing where people start forming multiple lines? I've seen that at Baltimore where people start a second line to try to beat the system. Or it can be like Salisbury where they had 5 for 500+ runners. Which was bad enough, but people were cutting the line.

 

Miles 1-6 (8:35, 8:18, 8:08, 8:06, 8:14, 8:08)

Miles 7-13.16 (8:09, 8:03, 7:56, 8:05, 8:01, 7:53, 7:38, and then 6:48mm pace for the 0.16)

 

That is just plain great. If that were my race, I'd be delighted by those splits. Yes, your first mile was a little slow, but you eased into the race, and that has advantages too. A strong second half like that is the best feeling.

Huge congrats. To me, that is excellent racing!

Waiting for the PoP irritates me very much. Keep your t-shirts and medals, but put enough PoP!!!

 

Thank you.  I am with you on all counts--a prerace warmup would have helped, and also I'm thinking I could have pushed a bit more. Next time.

 

3:40. So I should shoot for like a 3:37?

According to McMillan I'm at a 3:43 marathon time with my current fitness. Daniels is a bit more optimistic at 3:40.

Awesome race!! You destroyed that MF!

That is way too much stress to get to the starting line. I had one 5k which for a variety of reasons, I had to literally sprint to the starting line to get there in time for the gun. And then because of the adrenaline I started out way too fast. Anyway for a 5k you can deal with it, for a half it would be intense. But clearly you were able to put that out of your head.

Yes that first mile was your warmup. All I ever do for an HM warmup (for better or worse) is a 1-mile easy jog. So NBD - maybe you lost 30 seconds. But I guess that sort of made it a 12-mile race for you, right? Yes maybe you could have pushed it a bit, but it feels so awesome to have some energy left to be able to turn on the jets the last couple miles, and pass people like crazy. Which I'm sure you did.

I would be reluctant to project a 1:46 half to a 3:40 marathon. I think McMillan & Daniels are typically pretty optimistic unless you've been running 50-70mpw cycles for a few years. However, looking back in the archives, this was my 2014: April - 3:52 marathon, May - 1:45 half, Sept - 1:40 half, Oct - 3:40 marathon. So you're on the progression and could get pretty close, if not this cycle with the next one.

   The following fall I went 1:37 / 3:33

Heh, I did this too except the marathon came first.