So today was the B & A half-marathon. My second open running race of the year (after the Icicle 10 miler in early January). At 13.1 miles it represented the longest running session I've had since August of 2008 (18 months ago) when I slugged through the run of Ironman Canada. I had competed this race twice before--2007 and 2008. These were the two years that I was fittest, from a triathlon perspective. 2007 being the gold standard when Peter Reid, the 3 time IM Hawaii World Champ, was my coach. In 2007 I ran 1:38:39 and in 2008 (on higher training volume) I ran 1:40:20. I felt like this was an execellent mid-term exam for me as I would really be able to tell if I had fully reversed the impact of my "sloth-like" existence that had prevailed from August 2008 until December 2009. IIn November of 2009 I decided to regain my MOJO and over the last four months I've tried to become a competent long-course triathlete again. This was to be a good mid-term exam of my progress to date. Here is how it went down:
Race morning was pretty nice, weather-wise, especially given the challenges of this record-worse year here in the Mid-Atlantic. At the start it was 35 degrees and beautifully sunny, albeit with an important wind. I got up at 4:15 am, slammed some PB&J, threw two thermos of coffee and a banana in the Black Beauty (my replacement for the Black Beast) and headed south. Easy trip. Checked in. Ran a mile warm-up and off we went.
I decided to seed myself way-back, both to control my early pace and to give me the pshyco bene of passing a lot of folks. Ther were well over 1000 runners in the combined marathion and half and I was probably 300-400 from the start. I fully expected to finish around 100th in the half (there were 601 who finished the half) so this was a last minute tactical decision for me.
I wanted to do the first mile between 7:15 and 7:30 and when I hit the marker at 7:20 with an average HR of 155bpm I knew I was in business. The first mile is always a bit of a throwaway (in my view) in a long course race. It doesn't tell you much unless the news is very bad and this case it was pretty positive. I settled in and tried to focus on running as many 7:15-7:30s as I could--preferably with my HR around 160-162.
Mile 2 and 3 were: 7:27/164 bpm and 7:24/166bpm. I felt very good about my pace control but was alarmed about my HR (in 2007 the first three miles averaged: 157/158/160 albeit I was 26 seconds faster at 3 miles this year). I thought about Pete's lectures about not getting caught up in HR so I decided I was still potentially OK--although I had some doubt.
I knew the 4th mile would be slower as it was up-hill and indeed I ran 7:37 (169) and felt pretty bad. I had negative thoughts dancing around the edges but I vowed to just stay in the moment and not panic. Fortunately, at this point two fairy godesses came prancing by and i decided to focus on staying very close to their attractive pace and see if I could ride out the storm.
Mile 5 was a 7:28 (168 bpm) and I was at 37:16 (vs. 37:47 in 2007) and I was telling myself I was going to get through it.
I kept looking for mile 6 but must have missed it bcause I was focusing on the business ends of my two pacers (just a--lame--joke). At this point we went down the big hill to the turnaround and soon I was upon 7 miles. My watch said 13:42/166 for the two miles--OMG!!! BTW, the ladies had run away from me but I was stunned that I had averaged 6:51 for miles 6 and 7. I thought about it for a few seconds and concluded no-way--this was too good to be true...mile 7 marker was off. (Indeed--at this point I was suppossedly 1:30 ahead of 2007).
My concerns were confirmed at mile 8 when I clocked a 9:10 with an average HR of 169. I was now (and I think accuartely) just 12 seconds ahead of 2007. This was dispiriting but I had enough tactical awareness to know that the mile markers were messed up. I told myself to relax and just see where mile 9 came in.
BTW, it was now evident that I had enjoyed a nice tail-wind on the way out of this out and back and now I was running into a sizeable (15-20 mph) headwin. Worse, tactically I was in no-mans land--there was literally no one within 100 yards front/back of me. I was trying to stay on it but I was growing very tired (my lack of long-runs becoming evident) and I was beginning to get concerned that I was crashing.
Mile 9 was 7:51/167--oh oh--not good news. I now was more than 30 seconds off 2007's pace and a long way from home. I was completely isolated tactically but I told myself to relax, get more efficient an do try to stop the bleeding. Mile 10 elapsed in 7:48/164 and I came to the conclusion that 2007 was probably out of my reach (especially with the course change between 2007 and 2008) but given my stabilization in mile 10 if I could suck-it-up (buttercup) in Mile 11 then I could at least break 1:40. I decided right there that I needed to make that happen.
Mile 11 was 7:37/167 and I felt very, very good about it. My elapsed time was 1:23:23 and I had 16:37 to get home under 1:40. Here I relaxed a bit (too much!)
Mile 12 was a horrible 8:03/165 and at 91:26 I knew I had to get moving to do it. I waited until 1:35 elapsed and then I went for it. I was really hurting but quite motivated through what turned out to be a 7:39 13th mile with an average HR of 170 and I finished off the last tenth of a mile with an average HR of 176 and 42 seconds (it's definitely long) to hit the finish at 1:39:48.
I liked this a lot!
My AG finish by year: 2007: 12th, 2008: 11th, 2010: 6th.
Overall: 2007: 100th, 2008: 113th, 2010: 100th. I'm probably the only person to ever finish 100th twice in this race--my 15 minutes of fame!
I was 69 seconds slower than 2007 but 32 seconds faster than 2008. In 2007 my HR averaged 164 and this year it was 166. so I ran slower than 2007 but worked harder (not counting a probable reduction in my max HR over the last three years). Versus 2008 I was 32 seconds faster and this is nicely in line with the 24 seconds faster I did earlier this year in the Icicle Run.
So what does this mean?
Two immediate explanations:
1. I've done more volume than 2007, I weigh the same, I worked harder this year, and I was slower. I was in better shape in 2006 when i began the ramp than I was in late 2009 this time around. I'm either not as near my potential yet now and/or I'm getting older and slower.
2. My worse starting point this year, my focus on speed versus base/endurance this year versus 2007, the course change (which I think made the course longer) all caused me to fall 6 seconds per mile short versus 2007 although i was i was faster than 2008, with less training volume.
The simplest explanation is #1 but #2 might be more accurate. My predicted time for a 5k (given this half) is 21:35. I'm running a 5k next weekend and I'm calling I'm under 21:35. In any event, I did a 1:38 half in a half-IM in May of 2007 so if I can do a sub 1:40 half in a half-IM at some point this year, I'll be happy.
Give it a "B".
2010 is going to be a very fun year--I can't wait to do my to-do list!!!!!
best, rc
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