Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2018 (Read 704 times)

Most of the United States is just terrible in the winter. I think we always fail to realize how far north most people live in the world, it's amazing to me that the middle of Australia is equivalent to the Caribbean up here!

Anyway, if weather was better here, I can see why it would be harder to run. But it's been consistently high temps of 1-2 C lately, which is below normal, and we still have 12 more weeks of these temps (and much lower) before it starts to turn around. Ugh.

This time of year is tough for running. We have so many holiday parties and events at night that I'm doing a bunch of runs at night followed by another run in the morning. I posted this over in the sub 3 thread but I was trying to compare running 12 hours apart at night vs during the day time. It's definitely still challenging, but not as difficult as a double during the day. Problem is I'm running over 20 miles within 12 hours, which sucks.

MY RACE REPORT

First I want to start by saying this was my second marathon my first one was back in 2011. As a Preface to that early in January of 2010, I rolled off the couch and decided to run a 5k which I "trained" for and ran in March that same year finished in 28xx. As soon as I ran that 5k race I decided I wanted to run a Marathon, so I picked a local one in February of 2011 and signed up for it, then I got back on the couch and waited until September 2010 to start "training" again.  I look back at the "training" I did for that marathon and I am surprised that I was even able to complete it,but I did in 4:25:21 my goal for that race was to finish in 4:25:00 which I did not do.  I came up 21 seconds short and crossed the finish line behind a 70+ yo guy wearing a cowboy hat and I swear he was wearing cowboy boots too....

I always knew I would run another one because I was not happy that I missed my goal by 21 seconds.

Fast forward

2015 when I started to get the running bug again I ran about 450 miles that year

2016 I increased my dedication and logged right at 1000

2017 I had a slight setback due to illness and non running related injury and managed right at 700 most of that started in August.

In 2018 YTD I have logged 2009.3 miles and renewed my dedication 1983.1 miles were in preparation for this race.

I initially set my goal for this race at sub 3:30:00 which I thought was possible based on a HM time earlier in the year and thought this would also give me a BQ time for 2020. Well we all know that target moved by 5 minutes later in the year and I was forced to reevaluate what my target would be.

At the end of the day I figured I might as well go for the BQ so my target was set at sub 3:25:00 and I pushed harder in my training.

About 6 weeks ago I was chatting with a guy on Strava we had both just completed a HM and commented that it was in prep for a Marathon after some discussion we realized we were both training for the same Race and we were both targeting 3:25 to qualify for Boston and decided we would meet up and try and run together. 

race week

I had taken Vacation day from work on Friday in order to make the 4 hour drive to the Island without arriving too late at night. I got down there and got my packet picked up parked my car at our Villa. (I stayed on the island this year, from experience of year past, staying off the island is a logistics nightmare having to park miles away and catch one of the shuttle busses to the start line so you either get up at 3am and make the 45 min drive to the island and arrive way to early or risk missing the start of the race.) 

I arrived about 2pm picked up my bib then I got dressed and went on a short 3 mile run to loosen up after the drive down. I finished up and went to meet Larry after he picked up his packet, we compared our race plans and decided we would at least line up and start the race together near the 3:25 pacer and see where it went from there. My wife arrived later that evening (she had to work Friday) and we went out for a quick dinner and back to the Villa to rest up, I was in bed by 9pm.

Race morning I was up and able to wake up go through my normal routine only being a half a mile from the starting line, I was not rushed and had no stress of getting up too early rushing around etc.

I had been monitoring the weather leading up to the race almost obsessively checking it multiple times daily to see what it was doing as initially there was a storm moving in and it was supposed to start heavy rain at 8am and continue on through the race. Fortunatley we only got a few sprikles prior to the start but the major rain held off until the race was ove so other than some cloudcover the weather was great

I got a text from Larry saying he had arrived so I finished up and headed on over to meet up with him. I asked my wife to meet us over at the starting line so I could give her my jacket since I wanted to keep it on while we were waiting and ran a short warm up. We got back to the starting line and she was no where in sight I looked for her in the crowd but was getting close to the start and had to make my way to the 3:25 pace group. National anthem finished up still no sign of her so I decided I needed to drop the jacket and hid it behind a palm tree and got back over near my pacer. 

A few moments later and the gun goes off and we are on the way.

Miles 1 2 and 3 rolled off fairly quickly. (7:59,7:45, 7:48) 

Not that there are a large number of participants but we get off to a very slow start 

weaving in an out of people the first quarter mile. Somewhere around the half mile mark we lost the pacer he had dropped slightly back maybe 50 meters.  We decided just to hold our own pace and just pushed forward at a steady pace

Miles 4 and 5 were pretty “fast” at (7:39, 7:38.)

Just after mile 3 the pacer flew past us he must have been moving at a 6:40 pace and was quickly 60 -70 meters I don’t know if that pushed us a bit but these two miles were pretty fast.

Miles 6 - 9 (7:40,7:43,7:48, 7:47)

We turned into a slight head wind at mile 6 but nothing that impacted our effort or pace. We also got to see the lead runner just before mile 7 as there was turn around at about 8.5 he was moving pretty fast finishing in 2:24x I was still comfortable with no issues at this point.

Miles 10 -12 (7:41,7:45,7:51) 

Mile 10 came and went but I got my first taste of “pain” in mile 11. I often have issue with the joints in my two big toes and felt the first sign of “pain” somewhere in mile 11. feels like pins and needles being stuck in my joints  this usually limits my ability to push off. 

Mile 13 -15 (8:00,7:40,7:50) 

Mile 13 was one of the slowest as I stopped at the aid station to get a good drink of water take a pain pill to try and help with my toes (this helped some be was a struggle the rest of the race) got back on pace miles 14 and 15. 

Miles 16-20 (7:49,7:46,7:40,7:47,7:47) these miles for the most part just clicked off I was trying to stay focused on Larry who was moving slightly ahead 10 to 15 meters but I kept reeling him back in to 2-3 meters. Somewhere around mile 17 I almost had a major mishap. most of the race was run on the streets but a large portion was on paved pathways that range from 4-7 ft wide and were fairly cury and uneven in some cases. Anyway in my attempt to cut the corner and remain as straight as I could, I got my left foot slightly off the path and rolled my ankle a bit.  I let out a very loud *&$&*! but fortunately I was able to get my right foot on the ground quickly to support my body weight and survired with little impact to the race but a very sore ankle Saturday night and Sunday after the adrenaline wore off. 

As I cross mile 20 I had a check here Target was 2:36:44 I came across about 1 minute ahead so I knew I did not have much time to play with I could not fade and had to maintain my pace.

Mile 21-25 (7:39,7:43,7:47,7:44,7:59)

I was still battling the pain in my toes but I kept my eyes focused on the pacer and Larry who was still slightly ahead of me. and kept pushing. Mile 22 I got to see my wife as I ran down the path in front of the Hotel on the beach and this gave me a good boost to be able to see her.

Mile 26-26.2 (7:29,6:33) I knew at this point that I was not going to hit any walls there would be no fade in my pace and I was going to hit my target. I just wanted to have a strong finish and kept pushing the pace though mile 26 which ended up being my fastest mile after I hit the 26 mile mark I know there are only 2 turns and then the finish line and start to make my final push to the finish. I make the final turn and see the finish I see the clock 3:22x I see Larry who had pulled a few seconds ahead cross the line 3:22:56 and then hear my wife yelling for me I know I am going to reach my goal and push harder to get to the line.. I raise my hands and cross the line in 3:23:07 Larry is waiting for me and we exchange some high fives knowing we meet the BQ standard.

I am extremly happy there was no “wall” no muscle fatigue, I did not fade and I was able to maintain a consistent pace through the entire race.  

could not be happier!

Great report Corey, sounds like a perfectly executed race.

Did you find your jacket?

Mark - Hey, if you see Nick Willis make sure to ask advice on the stuff he's an expert on ... running, off course, what did you think it was?

Corey - Awesome race report and awesome that you got your BQ. Got your jacket back? Come on man, don't leave us hanging.

I think you executed the race perfectly and I'm glad you survived the toe troubles. I have raced 3 marathons and 2 50Ks and I bonked on all of them. So really count me amazed and happy that you did so well.

Darkwave - I must agree on the dark colors.

Piwi - Your sense of humor is perfect, if they don't like it they can go suck a nail until it becomes a pin 

Jmac - wait, are you complaining about the cold weather?

Flavio - I enjoy the speed I can get in the cold, that's for sure. But I'm mainly complaining about the darkness! Big difference

Mark - yeah my time off hurt, I only had 830 miles as of June 30, so my second half was much bigger. Good luck with spikes, haven't run in a pair of those in almost 15 years.

Piwi - Thanks for the kind words, I think I have one more level to hit in my running before my desire to keep pushing gives in. I'm already feeling more burned out at the beginning of this cycle than I should. I remember your wise words about losing desire, and it makes me even more impressed that you still have the drive to get out there as much as you do. I'm afraid within the next few years I'll just give up, but maybe I'll come back one day? Anyway can't think of that for now, just onward and upward in training.

Thanks everyone! Again I appreciate all the support here on this forum.

And yes I went back and my jacket was still there!!

I was really surprised as my wife said they were going along and picking everything up to donate.

Next up for me is a 5k on Jan 12th

HM in Feb 23rd

still wondering if I should try and improve my time in the spring (was thinking end of April) to help ensure I get into Boston.

Any thoughts?

I am going to try and get back at it with some runs later this week starting off slowly but my legs are feeling good right now.

Corey - hard to tell in this new world. You would think you're set on time, but if you have the will and dedication to give it a go, you should run another marathon since I think you had enough left in the tank to do well on your current training.

Watson - Good to hear from you, hopefully you will be more consistent next year.

Me - Going out tonight to do 400 and 1200 meter repeats. Haven't done pure speed (400) or VO2 max (1200) work since September 12, so this should be interesting...