Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Drake Relays on the Roads Half Marathon

Cruising into week 17 on the training plan and things seem to be going pretty well. I have been pretty bike heavy and not running as much so I took on a couple of races recently to get some timing back and get my mindset back into racing mode. On Saturday I ran in the Drake Relays on the Roads Half Marathon and I really got a lot out of the experience. First, I really enjoyed the run. We had an 85 degree day on Friday and by Friday night storms rolled in and the high forecasted for the race were 40s and 50s. So I told myself before I hit the sack on Friday that I would be ready to run no matter what the conditions. Race morning was chilly but really not that bad considering. It did rain briefly a couple of minutes before the start but I don't think it bothered anyone. I really didn't know where I was at pace-wise for a race like this so my goal was more general than it might typically be. I was shooting for a 1:30 to 1:35 but I wasn't going to kill myself to get it. I wanted to try and stay relaxed concentrate on form. Up until now my longest run week was 33 miles at the beginning of March and besides that I have rarely made it out of the teens for weekly run mileage and my longest run was a 10 miler during that 33 mile week. So I was anticipating a reasonably difficult time once I got closer to that 10 mile mark. The first 4 miles felt ok and I was right on my race pace and felt extremely relaxed. The first half of the race is mostly flat and one stretch where the elevation drops relatively quickly. I had only glanced at the course map briefly but assumed that the elevation change back up would be just as quick. Around mile 5 started a slow ascent that took several miles and was gradual. That really took quite a bit out of me because my quads were a little tight because of a heavy bike week. I powered through knowing that when we leveled off I would be fine but I know my pace took a bit of a hit during that stretch. Once things leveled off I felt a lot better and settled in comfortably. Around mile 11 I started to feel it a little bit but I decided to try and hold my pace and suffer a little bit but not too much. I held my pace and finished just a few minutes off my goal time and more importantly I can take the experience and use it to prepare for Ironman Kansas in June.

The most difficult thing for me at this point is that it would be really easy to look at my training and my results and the results of friends that ran and try to tinker with it too much. I know that I can run the half a lot faster and I could certainly up my running mileage and my overall training time to try and improve that much more before that first race but in the end I am not training for a half marathon. I am training for an Ironman and getting too caught up in these other races and where I rank next to other competitors could easily derail what I am trying to do at Ironman Wisconsin in September. I am exactly where I need to be at this point in the season.

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