Notes
Things that might have contributed to this year's race going better:
- Staple 160HR runs were 13 miles, not 11
- Kept mileage up until 2 weeks prior to the race, 2 week taper
- Started 165HR runs 4 weeks out and progressed into weekly tempo runs. Did 4 or 5 of them.
- Did a few short runs in the heat a few days prior. Not sure how much that could have done, but it didn't hurt.
Legs felt 100%. I had a some deep-down pain/soreness in my left calf the week before, as my leg muscles started to relax. Ice-bathed my calfs on Thursday and it worked like a miracle. Felt no stiffness or pain anywhere on race day.
Ate a banana and a stroop waffle at 4:00. Jeff picked me up at 5, dropped me off at 5:30. I could tell it was windier than forecast the day before. Originally, they had called for 15-20 mph wind, then by the day before, they were forecasting only 7 or 8 mph. Wunderground says it was between 12-17 this race. It was a chilly walk to the convention center, and that was with my hoodie on. Dropped off my stuff and kept my throw-away gloves on. I waited until 6:25 to head to the start, remembering how cold it was last year.At the starting line, I got as close to the front as I could, and tried to get on the left side for that first turn. It was a little warmer in the crowd. ;)
I was wearing a pace band for a conservative start and a strong negative split. 7:12-6:51 over the first half, then 6:40 to the end, essentially. I started off on pace, and it didn't feel like work, I was relaxed. I didn't have the problem I had in prior years getting stuck behind the crowd. My heart rate was low, and I tried to just concentrate on light steps and good form. By miles 3 and 4, the effort was still easy and I was warmed up enough that the pace wanted to drop a little. I was 5 seconds ahead at 3 miles, and I consciously worked at slowing a little so I stayed on target. I wanted to hit halfway feeling good, but not with time in the bank. Took my gloves off after 3 miles. The effort felt really easy, and I tried to focus on being very exact with the pace, using good form, and keeping my eyes up and running the shortest possible distance. Just before mile 8, the half marathoners split off and the crowd thinned out a lot. Also, I began to notice the wind, though it was coming from the side at that point.
In miles 9 and 10, I could feel the wind a good deal more, and when I could, I would tuck behind someone for a few minutes just to avoid as much as possible. I was running low 6:50s now, though, and moving a little faster than my wind-blockers. ;) The effort still felt easy, though I could start to feel the very beginnings of fatigue in some muscles, I think just due to creeping up on lactate threshold. I was about 5 seconds ahead at mile 10, and trying not to bank anymore time.
The turn at 10.8 put us straight into the wind. This is the worst I felt the wind the entire race. It was a big wide open road right there, with nothing blocking it. I also had no one else around to run with. I was by myself. I felt a little doubt here just realizing how much wind there was, and wondering if I had planned well, but I remembered studying the course and knowing the NNW wind was in the forecast, and remembered that miles 11-12 were likely to be the worst. The wind got better after the turn before mile 12. The overpass was easy. I wound up putting a few more seconds in the bank on the downhill. I felt good, and was readying myself to start running 6:40s, though I wanted to use up my banked time first. Was supposed to run 14 in 6:42, and ran it 6:52.
The wind was bad again here, and I struggled to get down to 6:40. I missed my watch chime, but turns out I ran 6:45 for 15. Around here, I ran up next to a guy who asked me what pace I was trying to run. He was trying to run 3:00 also, and suggested sticking together during the wind, so we did. Chatted for a bit. The next few miles came easily. There was wind, but we were in the Tanglewood neighborhood and the trees and houses cut down on it. We felt a few gusts, but not terrible. Traded off drafting with Ethan for a bit. I had this feeling around this point in the race, realizing that I wasn't working that hard, wasn't breathing very hard, my paces were drifting faster without much effort, and it felt like 17 miles had flown by. I just couldn't believe I was at this point in the race already. This is where I felt like I had it, like sub-3 was going to happen if I could just manage not to screw it up. I was in a position to succeed, with all the obstacles out of the way now. I think my watch average pace showed 6:52 right here. I knew mile 19 was coming up, where the wind was going to be at my back. And even in mile 18, I wasn't feeling the wind. I dropped a couple of ~6:36s for miles 18 and 19 and felt great, absolutely great. I thought at this point I already had some time banked, though in truth I had just gotten even again since I had lost some time in miles 14-15. Anyway, it was downhill running from here. I stayed at 6:35 for one more mile.
My pace band had me at 6:40 until the end, but my plan if I felt good was to do 6:35/6:35/6:30/6:30 for miles 21-24, then slow down for the hill on 25, then do what I could at the end. I wanted to have sub-3 in the bag by mile 24, and just be trying to hold on. It wound up being closer to 6:30/6:30/6:25/6:25. 6:30 would have come easier in miles 23 and 24, but I really wanted to make hay while the sun was shining. It was downhill on those parts, and I just wanted to have the work done when I finished 24. I focused on really running straight lines and not running the curves. By 24, I could tell my legs were having trouble holding that pace. They wanted to run about 6:45-6:50, which still would have been OK. If I would have had to run 6:30 or 6:35 to the end, I might could have done it, but I didn't have to, so I didn't. ;)
Ran mile 25 w/ the hill in 6:39, and the hill was just nothing. It's not much of a hill, but in prior years, it still took my legs out at that point in the race. It didn't hurt at all this year. After mile 25, I saw the clock and it became real that sub-3 was about to happen. I looked at my watch average pace and it showed 6:47, so I knew it was there. I saw a guy in front of me start walking right then, and I had a sudden realization that all the time I had banked amounted to about a minute, so it wasn't exactly guaranteed. I ran hard by feel at this point, making myself work so I could see 2:58:xx instead of 2:59. My watch apparently went wonky somewhere in here. It says I ran a 6:50 for mile 26 and then a 5:00 pace (!!) last segment, but I can tell from the map it wasn't reading my position correctly. Not sure if it had to do with the crowd, or the tall buildings or what. I deduced after the fact that from the mile 25 marker to the end, I averaged a 6:29 pace.
I wasn't dead at the end. I had energy to pass a handful of people right there, and I still had this feeling like the race was all over so fast. This part of the race usually feels like it lasts hours, but it was all about to be over.
Official time: 2:58:28
First half: 1:31:23
Second half: 1:27:05