Notes
Yuck. Started out ok, but knew right away I overestimated my fitness going in. Saw one of the local guys I usually finish near in 5k's at around the 2 mile mark, but watched him disappear into the distance. Was hot, even though I didn't think it was that hot this morning.
Lessons learned from this training cycle.
* Long runs need to be longer -- 11 miles just isn't long enough. I should probably have a 14 with a mid-week 10.
* Doubles are ok, as long my main run should be at least 10k -- I had a lot of bullshit 3/3, 3/4 days that I don't think helped me much over the 15k distance. Maybe next year, I'll definitely double on days I run with Dad, and maybe double on other days as long as one is at least 10k.
* Need more specific endurance work -- I didn't do nearly enough work at my target pace in the last month before the race. Probably working on target pace in the last several miles of my long runs would be most effective for 15k/HM distances.
* My taper was shit -- When Beth went camping on 7/3 and I missed my runs, the whole thing just went in the shitter. I know what my taper should look like, and I did not do anything like what I should have done.
* The heat is no joke. It's not realistic to think I can do it every week with family obligations being what they are, but I think as often as I can manage, I need to try to get my long runs in during the time of day the race will be run.
* It was stupid to switch my Garmin to km for this race. Actually, I should not have worn it at all. First longer race with it, and I was looking at it way too much.
I think next year, I should do the HOF HM in May, which will give me the endurance base and confidence I need going into the last 8 weeks before the Boilermaker. If I want to run a good 15k, I need to focus more on longer races. I thought what I was doing would be good for 5--15k distances, but in reality it was probably good 5k training, ok for 10k, and shit for anything longer. If I can get 2--3 HMs between now and next Boilermaker, I think that will be a much better schedule than just a bunch of 5k's with the occasional 10k thrown in.