Notes
Manual mile splits...GPS a bit off. Official results not there for me due to chip malfunction. After waiting and an email to the timing contact I now have an official time of 1:32:54. 467th OA, 39th AG. Chip was picked up at the start - 23 seconds behind gun. Guess I stopped it a bit late or started early.
A good event, lots of people - too crowded the first couple, big groups around me for the entire race until it started really stringing out over the last 2-3 miles with lots of runners walking/suffering. Managed the top 500 medal! Ankle was really swollen Friday night after the drive, expo, walking, etc...but it was decent after ice, ibuprofen and sleep. No pain/issues at all during the race.
Overall - Hard to not be happy with the outing as I did lots of things really well and particularly pleased with the adjustments and attitude. I vividly recall racing in my late 20s and treating every race as if it was my last.
Weather - 63ish at the start with 90% humidity. Mostly cloudy but sun would come out from time to time. Temps came up and I think hit around 66/67 by the end but humidity seemingly dropped. Wind was light and ENE...for the last few miles the light headwind really helped me. I'm not adjusted to warm/humid conditions as Chicago mornings have been stuck between 35-50 for a good 95% of my runs the past 2 months.. Anything warmer was lower humidity or one of the handful of warmer outings.
Pacing / Effort / Plan- The plan was to start around 7:15ish for the first couple of miles and then try to work closer to 7 flat. I executed this well but miles 4 and 5 were feeling far harder (and hotter) than expected and HR was well over target range already. Even the first 3 miles had me checking the watch and looking for mile markers as they were not zipping by as I'd expected. I knew that holding 7 flat likely wasn't the answer and trying to push down to 6:50s as hoped (sub 1:30 was hard to get out of my head!) was not an option today...the big adjustments came at this point to focus on effort / feel and use pace and HR as a nothing more than a metric / tool. From that point on it was much easier to just back off when things felt hard or drinking/fueling, etc. and pick up a bit when it was possible. I really think I nailed the effort almost perfectly to not blow-up and give myself a chance to push on the last 3 and take advantage of the breeze and some downhills.
Focus/Breathing - Not a complete success as focus at race efforts takes some practice but overall I was able to hone in on form, cadence and breathing when I needed it most. This of course meant letting runners zip by a few times and staying in tune with where I was in that moment and running my own race. I wore a nasal strip and to my surprise, was able to nose breath most of the race (another indicator of proper effort I think?). Focusing on a steady deep 3-3 / 3-4 breathing pattern saved me a number of times, especially if I was having trouble after some fuel or water...or if I simply got out of sync. This pattern is one for me to practice more often...even if it's just focusing on 5-5 on an easy run.
Fueling and Hydration - Took along my banana and honey mix in my own soft pouch. I also had some mix pre-race along with an electrolyte drink with some caffeine drink mix (crystal light I think). Carried a half bottle of water for the first few miles as well. Stomach was feeling good and no trouble early. Started slowly working on the honey around mile 5ish and had some minor issues (felt like I couldn't eat or drink more) from about 7 miles and on. Breathing helped a ton and seemed to push things down enough to keep drinking water and keep at the honey. Hit up 2 of the 4 (or 3?) Gatorade stops and had more trouble getting that down. Water stops involved some in the mouth and the rest on my head/hat and a 2nd cup if possible. My honey mix was about 50g total but failed to get it all in so maybe took 35g total plus maybe a few grams from Gatorade. Fueling is a skill and I think I'm better than I was back in my peak days but lots of room to improve.
Mindset / Attitude and Adjustments - really pleased with this one. The ability to recognize the need for adjustments and not be disappointed was something I've never been good at but excelled with today. I knew the weather wasn't going to be ideal for me so when I adjusted pace and the HR zone I was able to roll with it and not get mad/frustrated. I tried to take in the fun of the event, the runners/crowds, bands and fans and remember that it's a privilege to be able to run. Not setting a big goal surely helped with all of this but a few times during the run I reminded myself that I didn't need to crush myself as the big picture is far more important and in a couple years this pace might be a moderate level training run as part of a marathon block.
Preparation - training wise, this is just where I'm at and nothing wrong with that - some good long runs and can't complain for 20-30 mile weeks. Race prep was so-so. I did a lot of things right like hydration, fuel prep/plans, race plans and race mindset (pre-meditated the need to adjust/slow down). We had some traffic getting down to Indy, had to walk a bit too much for the expo and then dinner with Kyle and Brad and ended up picking a bad spot with a long wait for the food to come out and not an ideal dinner for me. We were all up a bit late as i needed to get my stuff laid out, bib pinned, etc. Not much I could control here outside of pulling kids out of school for a full day instead of just a couple hours early - but something to learn from/consider for any future travel races.
Heart Rate - Was fascinating to see how quickly my HR jumped into the low 150s where I honestly thought I needed to cap my effort for at least the first 8-9 miles. Despite the rather comfortable effort of the first 2 miles, the heat/humidity, race environment and maybe food/caffeine were impacting me. This of course was a key adjustment - I allowed for a much higher HR based on how I felt - which ended up landing about 10bpm higher than planned - and then of course letting it drift higher in the later miles. I also recorded a new max HR at the finish, which was another surprise. This really showed me how HR can be a great tool / guide but is definitely not as set in stone as I'd thought. I'm sure I'll learn lots more with the summer heat coming and more race, tempo, track sessions. Takeaway here is that good old fashioned "feel" is more relevant - with HR being a good confirmation. Often during the middle few miles I could feel myself teetering on the edge or going a bit beyond and then would see 165-167 on the watch. With time, figuring out the HR nuances will make it a more practical tool but might also consider a power meter/pod if I want to keep geeking out with metrics. To be honest though, it was nice to use what always worked 12-15 years ago and just race by feel (well, mostly at least!).