Sub 2:00 Half Marathon thread (Read 2396 times)

Way to go, Miele!!!    Chocolate milk is a great recovery drink for us mere mortal runners; Champagne is the recovery drink for AWESOME runners!!!   So very happy for you .

Well done Miele! Thats a great race and a big accomplishment.

Miele – way to go. Well deserved Champaign and congratulations! Looking forward to read your PR.

Regarding sports basement, I went to get the biking shorts and ended up getting running shorts!

Pandora29 – how did your 5k go?

EdithRevisited – tree is still not decorated  we put on lights yesterday and hopefully would put on ornaments next weekend.

Seems like you had fun running 15k. I enjoy trail running more than street running too. Hopefully u felt better in a couple of days after thanksgiving weekend.

TaraC – how did the race go?

Me – I went running yesterday morning when temperature was in mid 20s. Was wearing some nike running gloves. First hours was fine, but then felt miserable. My hands felt numb. I was doing a 2 hour loop and was away from the car. Had no option, but to finish the run. When I got back to the car, I couldn’t use my fingers to open the zip of water bottle to get the car key out. Used my teeth to do so. Sat in the car and couldn’t use figures to turn on the car. Had to use palms to do it. Seems like I need to ware 2 pair of gloves next time when it’s this cold.

OK.  Here's the skinny:

Short story:

Chip:  3:53:48 (4:50 PR!!!)

A/G:  71/388

Gender:  662/?

O/A:  2324/6435

Feel free to skip/skim the following:

Pre-Race:

Was feeling good about having completed a pretty solid training cycle.  New PRs in the 10k and HM tune-ups although the HM was a little disappointing and threw my confidence a little.  I decided to do something that is never recommended and base my goal off the 10k by comparing the stats from 2 years ago when I had run my marathon PR.  My 10k PR pace 2 yrs ago was 1:07mm slower than my MP.  Using the same calculation I came up with an 8:52 MP for this race.  I wanted to ignore the HM time because it just made me doubt myself.

Tortured myself about what to wear since it was going to be quite a bit colder than I'm used to and wouldn't warm up much by the end of the race.  I decided to go with shorts since I it's been a very long time since I had run long in tights.  Arm warmers, tank, double-up on the gloves, throw-away zip jacket, hat and a gaiter which I pulled up over my ears.  Planned to have a gel before the start and then one every 4 miles.  Had my own water bottle.

Hit the expo and then went to the hotel where I just relaxed the rest of the day.  Got up at 4 to have coffee and eat something before getting on the shuttle at 5.  Seriously questioned my choice of attire.  Soooooooo cold (I know you guys up North are laughing at that but, what can I say, I was coooooooold).  When we got to Folsom a lady got on the bus and said it was about 26-27 degrees which was actually a few degrees warmer than predicted.  I stayed on the bus until about 6:20 when I visited the world famous CIM port-o-potties.  There's a mile of them!  You can really tell this race is organized by runners.  An endless line of port-o-potties and we could stay on the bus until about 15 min. before the start.  Got back to the bus and started stripping off the sweats.  Dropped the bag and headed to the starting line.  Managed to line up right in front of the 3:55 pace group.  Perfect.

The Race:  The plan was to stick with the pace group at least for a few miles then speed up ever so slightly to an 8:55 pace.  I also decided I would have only positive thoughts.  I was not going to start cussing myself out no matter what.  I was just going to do my best and be happy with it.  No negatives.  None.

Miles 1-5:  9:06, 8:59, 8:41, 8:49, 8:52.  It was hard to judge my overall pace and didn't realize till I crossed the 5.9 mat that I was a little ahead.  My feet and hands were frozen.  Took first gel at mile 4.

Miles 6-10:  8:47, 8:51, 9:03, 9:06, 8:55.  At mile 7 I decided to slow down.  I thought I was working just little too hard to maintain a specific pace and there were still so many miles left to run.  Around mile 8 my left foot started warming up.  My right foot took until mile 10.  Hands still frozen.  I had to pull my fingers out of the glove fingers and hold my hand in a fist to keep it a little warm.  Then I'd have to switch the bottle to the other hand and repeat the procedure.  I need some good mittens.  At mile 10 I realized I was a little behind pace. That's OK.  I wasn't going to beat myself up.  I kind of expected to be passed by the 3:55 group around mile 13 and planned to try and hang with them as long as possible. Took second gel on schedule.

Miles 11-15:  8:58, 9:04, 8:58, 8:54, 9:00.  I really didn't pay too much attention to the watch.  It seems any time I looked at it it said 9:00.  Crossed the half still behind but not so much that it worried me.  If I had anything left at mile 20 maybe I could make it up.  Took a gel at 12 but it made me a bit queezy.

Miles 16-20:  8:51, 8:50, 9:02, 9:06, 8:56.  Fingers still frozen.  The water stations were dangerous with all the frozen water and gatorade on the road.  So glad I had my own bottle and didn't need to veer into the worst of it.  Ok, at mile 16 I did wonder why I keep signing up for these things but quickly threw that thought away.  I was there, I was running and that's that.  I turned on the music at mile 20 and guess what the first song was.....'A Pain that I'm Used To' by Depeche Mode.  Fitting.  I never got passed by the 3:55 group so I felt I still had a chance.  Pushed the gel to mile 17 due to the previous queezy stomach and that was the final gel of the race.  My stomach couldn't take it anymore.

Miles 21-26.2:  8:46, 8:44, 8:49, 8:53, 9:00, 8:49 and final .26@ 8:47.  Also, at mile 20 I gave myself a little lecture and it went something like this:  You trained like a mofo, you ran mile after mile like a mofo, you carbo loaded like a mofo now do the best you can for the final 10k.  Run like MOFO!  I didn't really care what my pace was I just wanted to give it my all.  Whatever it was.  These were difficult miles and I was curious if I would hit the wall but not really concerned about it.  Mile 25 was really when my legs wanted to stop.  They hurt.  The mile took forever.  Mile 26 felt like it lasted at least 4 miles.  It just never ended.  My legs hurt.  Everything hurt.  I did check my watch at the 25 mile marker and trying to do math with a partially frozen brain that's just run 25 miles is tricky, to say the least.  I figured I might be able to squeeze in under 3:55.  There was a slight head wind that was frigid.  I'm glad my throw-away never got thrown away.  I saw DH probably just after mile 26 and I later found out he thought I had just missed my goal and he was a bit upset for me since he knew how hard I had trained.  But he didn't realize at the time that it had taken a little while to cross the starting line.  The final 10k was the fastest split of the race.  Pretty pleased I could salvage it in the end.  The clock was ticking at 3:55:57 when I got close so I thought I had come in just under 3:55.  I did it.  Not my A goal but a solid B goal with which I was crazy happy.

Shortly after I crossed the finish line I heard the announcement of the 3:55 group finish.  Still thought I had maybe a 3:54x but couldn't check my watch because of frozen fingers.

Got the medal and mylar.  Staggered over to get my drop bag.  Managed to find DH.  They had a really good band playing but I was shivering uncontrollably (only 37 at the finish) by that time and had to get back to the hotel.  I did the unthinkable and took a nice, long, hot shower.  DH checked my results and I was thrilled to have come in under 3:44 and only 10 seconds off my 5min PR goal!  Icing on the cake!

Overall I was very happy with how I handled the race.  I slowed down when I felt I was trying for too much.  I didn't get down on myself.  Stayed positive (except for that one minor episode).  I thought of you guys every time I came to a timing mat and knew you were 'watching'.  I could feel you cheering me on and I used your energy.  The final 10k was the fastest split and I think I had a small negative split.

Oh, and it's a BQ-1:12.  Pretty sure I don't have a chance of getting in with that time but I'll try anyway.   Sorry that's so long but that's the story and I'm sticking to it.

The end.

miele - Great race report!! I could feel the cold through the computer. Talk about a well-executed training plan and race - you're my hero. I hope you get into Boston!!!

2footshuffle- Great 5k!  Even if the course is a little short, I would take what I could get and chalk it up as a fast 5k    It is those guys fault they didn't measure it correctly LOL. Either way, nice fast run!

Pandora - Great Santa 5k.  I bet it looked really cool coming out of the starting gates with all those outfits on.  Glad you beat your goal too!!

Miele : Great marathon !! woohoo  The splits were really consistent and steady.  Those long 70+ mile weeks really paid off big.  Glad you didn't hit the big wall and sounded like the gels did their job.  What kind of fluids were you drinking? How much do you think you took in total?

Me - I ran a 22mile long run on Sunday and it was surprisingly fun.  I didn't really get sore during or after the run which kind of shocked me.  I will be running tonight after one day rest and it feels fine.  I ran 22.3 miles  in 3hours and one second.  I kept around an 8.03 pace for the run and my splits were fairly steady as well.  This is the last long run in my training cycle.  It is taper time for the next 15 days or so.  My goal marathon pace is looking to be 7.45-7.50  I ran one of my 20 milers at a 7.52 pace and this 22 miler seemed somewhat stress free.  It was the first time I took my long runs over 20 miles so I was curious what would happen.  I think it went ok and I think adding 4 more miles on to Sunday's run should feel ok.  lets hope eh ?   Marathon on the 26th woohoo

Miele,  CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Your race report was a PLEASURE to read.  It sounded like a well-executed and positive race, and awfully consistent. But COLD, brrrrr. I am not clear on where you are but I'm in NH and your race sounded plenty cold.

Tara, Rats, what a shame.  But I foresee lots of great races in your future.

Wolf, GOOD LUCK with the tapering!

Hectortrojan, My 5K went great, thank you!  Had fun and exceeded my goal by 14 seconds per mile (8:30 goal, hit 8:16 pace). Obviously, I need to work on goal setting and was a bit conservative this time!  More detail above and in the Half-Marathon User Group Race report thread.  I LOVE your foot avatar by the way.

Me - Light speed work today in the COLD.  Borrowed my husband's scary hunting camouflage face mask thingy, which helped a LOT.  Please don't tell him because I don't think he wants me sweating in it.  Winter is historically the time when my running falls off the rails, but I'm expecting now that I'm self-employed I will stick with it, as I have the freedom to run during daylight hours.

Franks : You are in the right place to come back.  Lots of support and plenty of half mara runners here as well as fulls.  Also lots of other distance runners too so hang out and I look forward to hearing some advice or experiences from your bank of knowledge.

I have to run an 8 miler tonight, nothing special. Just racking up the miles and starting this taper down.