I wasn't going to post my RR for this but since HappyLily asked, here it is:
The race
Fox Cities Half Marathon on Sept 21 - This is a flat and fast course, well organized, pretty course and I had a good race here last year.
The plan
I signed up for this race last winter and had planned on it being my tune up race for my fall marathon (Monumental) but then I hurt my calf and had to take all of June off. Kind of threw a kink in my plans to run a good fall marathon. I felt like I lost a ton of fitness with my time off but I decided to start a 12 week McMillan marathon plan and see what happened. I was waiting for my fitness to magically come back but it didn't seem to be happening.
After hemming and hawing about racing this (I know that training wise it would have been better not to), I decided I needed to know exactly where my fitness is right now. This would either give me confidence going into Monumental or be the deciding factor to not race it.
Race morning:
It was about 55 degrees and lightly raining. Cloudy with a fairly good breeze. We got there a little early and waited in the car since it was raining. The rain stopped and I ran about 1.8 miles warm up before hopping into the corral about 5 minutes before the start.
First mile felt okay but then the next couple miles I started doubting if I could hold the pace. I was breathing too hard and my face was getting hot. I thought my effort might be a little too hard for so early into the race. I was worried about the breeze since it was coming mostly from the west and the course runs southwest (point to point) but it wasn’t bad at all. (7:05, 7:14, 7:07)
Miles 4-6 I started to ease into the pace and it felt a little bit better. I was still working pretty hard but I felt like I might be able to hang on. A girl in black shorts and a black top came up behind me at a decent clip around mile 5 – I was running right around 7mm at that point and was surprised she seemed to be going a good bit faster. She commented 'good job' to me as she went by. We played leap frog over the next few miles. She would slow and I would pass her – then she would pass me back after a bit. (7:11, 7:10, 7:12, 7:03)
Miles 7-10 were pretty rough. My legs were starting to hurt and I was starting to fade. I got water from two aid stations in here, hoping that would help because I was starting to feel really thirsty. It was a big struggle to try to stay on pace. I had a couple slow splits in here but my garmin was giving me slightly wonky readings (6:5x at one point when I entered a park when it had been 7:3x right before that). My legs were hurting and pretty fatigued and I was breathing pretty hard. (7:11, 7:18, 7:25, 7:17)
Miles 10-13: I passed the girl in black going up a bridge and she did not pass me back after that. These last few miles I was just trying to keep moving my arms. My hip and legs hurt and I was just trying to keep running when I was dying to stop. I was trying to calculate in my head if I was still going to finish under 1:35 but I had no idea. Two bridges in here that just sucked. As the finish line came in sight I tried to pick it up a bit – there was a girl ahead of me that I tried to catch but when she saw me, she took off and I had nothing in me to keep up. Crossed the finish line and stopped my watch before dry heaving. A worried volunteer had to follow me around for a bit after that. I had to laugh when the time on my watch read 1:34:23 (1 second slower than my PR) but when I checked the official results it was actually a one second PR: 1:34:21 (7:13, 7:16, 7:25 < I had nothing left at the end). This was good enough for 2nd AG (out of 307) and 11th female.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the race. I kept feeling like I wasn’t the same person who ran a 1:34 half last spring and I lost so much confidence with my injury. And I wanted to decide if I should even bother driving to Indianapolis to run. So this race helped answer that for me (I decided to go for it so we will see what happens in 6 weeks.)
on my way to badass
Still waiting for the perfect race picture. 5K PR-33:52 , 10K PR 1:11:16, First HM 2:42:28
uʍop ǝpᴉsdn sǝʇᴉɹʍ ʇI
Hey, one second or one minute; a PR is a PR. Well done. How did you like the McMillian 12 week plan. I have never seen that one. I have used the Ryan Hall 10 week plan and have had good results with it.
Nice run!
I'm so glad that you posted your RR here. Thanks a lot. :-)
A PR so soon after your injury, AND 2nd place AG on such a large number is just fantastic! The way you describe how you ran this half shows well that you are the essence of the true racer, down to the last drop of pain. Congratulations, onemile, you will shine in your next marathon and I can't wait to hear about it!
P.S. I think the water helped you, even if it was just mentally.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Nicely done 11 weeks removed from a 30 day stint on the bench.
Glad you posted! Outstanding time & placing. Impressive that you were able to hold on after feeling the fatigue so early in the race. I am exhausted just reading it. Congrats on the 1-sec PR; does not sound like you could have possibly made it a 2-sec PR. Dry heaves at finish = 100% effort.
I was just in a similar situation -- did a HM 6 weeks out from my full, even though it didn't quite fit with my training plan & there were probably a lot of reasons not to. But I really felt I needed to get that time, to know what to do for the full. I was happy with the result, and glad I did it (will see what the final outcome is). I don't know what kind of goal you have for Indianapolis (are you going to tell us?), but sounds like you will be ready despite the time off.
During my previous 2 HM's, I also did not take any water/fuel. But during the last one I took water twice. Didn't get much more than a mouthful at each (hard to drink at HM pace!), but felt I needed it. However it really may have just been fatigue, thinking anything might help. Could've been the same for you.
One other question - did you train straight through, or build in any kind of taper/recovery? How to handle that was something I was agonizing over for myself, your advice on that helped.
Dave
Stone, LRB - Thanks
Jack - it's a customized plan that I purchased. Not one from the book. I like the plan so far - I am just over half way through. He alternates a weekly long run with a fast finish long run, and gives most of the runs by time. It's a little more conservative (on miles) than I like but I have been a little generous with the run times he gives.
Lily- Thanks. I've taken water before just for the mental boost. I do believe it helps. It was a rough race for sure.
DaveP - Thanks. I am thinking somewhere around 7:45 pace for Indianapolis (3:23) is my goal. I have yet to do a big chunk of the MP runs so I will have to see how that feels. I did cut back quite a bit the second half of the week before my race (off, 7,5,3 race). And then this week I moved my rest day to Monday and have shorter runs the first part of the week (McMillan built my race into my schedule because I had put it down when I filled out his questionnaire).
Damn. Great race and RR! Thanks for sharing.
Glad you decided upon the race!
Damaris
As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.
Fundraising Page
Barking Mad To Run
Congrats on the PR and the confidence booster. Good luck with your upcoming training and the next race!
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
It sounds like you really gave it your all out there and ran a strong, gutsy race. Congrats on the PR and 2nd place in your AG.
Life is good.
During my previous 2 HM's, I also did not take any water/fuel. But during the last one I took water twice. Didn't get much more than a mouthful at each (hard to drink at HM pace!)....
During my last half it was a comedy of errors trying to A: get that stupid cup in my hand from the volunteers hands then B: drink from it. So much so that I finally slowed to a crawl for the last water stop at mile 12!
But yes, I personally take water as a rule during a half marathon and obviously a marathon, whether I feel I need it or not. I do that mostly because if I wait until I actually do need it, it is probably too late.
During my last half it was a comedy of errors trying to A: get that stupid cup in my hand from the volunteers hands then B: drink from it. So much so that I finally slowed to a crawl for the last water stop at mile 12! But yes, I personally take water as a rule during a half marathon and obviously a marathon, whether I feel I need it or not. I do that mostly because if I wait until I actually do need it, it is probably too late.
Not so critical in a HM anyway, I think, unless it is somewhat warm out. Obviously for a marathon you need to figure it out.
For my last marathon, I made a point of getting a cup (at least) from every water stop. Will probably do the same at the next. Don't expect to get hyponatremia from those little cups, especially with the amount that ends up on me.
Do some of you actually stop & walk, just to make sure you get a good drink? You can certainly make the case that those few seconds are an investment to avoid losing more time due to getting dehydrated.
Nice job! That's great you decided to go for it and that the race went so well! Very motivational for those of us coming off of IR.
5k - 25:15 (11/18/12)
10k - 1:01:51 (2/14/15)
10mi - 1:33:18 (3/2/14)
HM - 2:06:12 (3/24/13)
Upcoming Races:
Benched until further notice. :/
Everything you need is already inside. [[Bill Bowerman]]
Congratulations! I am so happy to hear that your fitness is coming back- great PR and good to know that the first 3 miles of a HM can suck and that it's possible to still hang on (if you're willing to work for it!).
Good luck at Monumental!
WOW, congrats!