Mission Accomplished!

I did the Palm Springs Half-Marathon this morning. It was a fantastic day to race. it was 48 degrees and brilliantly sunny at the time of the start of the race and 67 when I finished--I noticed the latter a bit, but really these were pretty close to ideal conditions to run a half-marathon in.

I was determined to execute the race strategy i detailed in last night's post...conservative/negative split trying to run a 1:42, which i figured would put me on course for a sub-1:40 at the B&A in 3 weeks (easier course, more fitness).

I ran the first mile in what felt like a very, very easy effort. I hit the 1st mile in 7:44 with an average HR of 156bpm. Pretty much right on my target goal pace. The next mile had some downhills in it and I held back a little more: 7:41/159. The 3rd mile was the toughest on the course and I again played it very conservatively and turned in a 8:05/160. At this point, i felt fantastic and was quite encouraged by my splits and the HR I was seeing. The 4th mile was another very difficult one and i hit 7:58/161. Even though my average pace was below my target, i had gone through the most difficult part of the course and felt very comfortable.

Mile 5 brought the first of two easier miles and I ran a 7:25/160 and began to get very excited. I thought about my father, whom I've dedicated my racing to this year, and smiled and pointed skyward--here we go dad! I got a little carried away over the next mile recording a 7:18/164. I had planned to wait until after the 7th mile before I began to push it so I was clearly falling off my plan. The 7th mile went by in 7:34/163 in what felt like a bit of a restrained effort.

At this point (7 miles) I was at 53:45 or an average pace of 7:41 (1:40:35 pace) and I seriously began to think about trying to go f0r a sub-1:40. I had just finished the last 3 miles at a 23 flat 5k pace--essentially what I just did my last 5k at. I knew I was running well and certainly well enough to expect to hit my 1:42 target. I decided to try to control my effort over the next 3 miles and see what happened.

The 8th mile was 7:42/164. I was beginning to feel fatigue and noticed that my HR was staying up--although still below my 165 "speed limit". The 9th mile had some climbs and I slipped to a 8:00/165 and it was here that I began to think that my original 1;42 target was the correct one. Mile 10 was encouraging at 7:43/163 but since my elapsed time at this point was 77:17, I knew I needed to run a 22:43 final 5k and I knew that was a very low probability. My quads were beginning to complain and I also felt a fair amount of pain in my bad knee (time for a new set of injections!)

At this point, I decided to try to just run smoothly and in control and cruise to the end and get my sub 1:42. Mile 11 was: 7:58/162 and mile 12: 7:46/162. I'm really very encouraged by these two miles. A little slow but well within my cardio capabilities--162 is a good 5-7 bpm less than i typically average at this stage in a half. Now, my legs were a bit fried but this will improve a great deal over the next 6-8 weeks with the training I'm doing.

Mile 13 was an easy 7:58/163 and the longish last "0.1" went by in 0:53 with a 166 average (as I mentioned yesterday, the course was long at 13.18 miles according to the USATF). I hit the finish in 1:41:47 (an average pace of 7:43). this is equivalent to a sub 22:00 5k or a good minute faster than I ran a couple of weeks ago. I felt that time was not truly indicative of my fitness and this race confirms that.

NIce! Mission accomplished. It is what it is--I'm at or ahead of plan at this point. I'll need to run 103 seconds faster at B&A in 3 weeks--8 seconds per mile--this seems very, very doable with more training in the bank and at an easier course. In fact, I think I'll set my eyes on a new CR in that race (assuming I continue to do the work as planned).

Very satisfying and it appears that I have, for the most part, fully recovered from last year's hip problems and that my run focus is beginning to pay dividends--onward and upward!