Finally felt like running again finished the rest of the distance I missed from my DNF. Just nice easy jog on my B-day on the canal. Even though I hate the distance I am planning on taking another stab at a marathon. I will never have an optimal run by time the kids are old enough to put in the milage I will be past my prime. Not sure if I really have the desire to do it either. As it was I'm 10 lbs over my lowest college weight and don't have near the intensity in workouts as back then.
Thinking about the race somewhat removed I am glad I went out hard and didn't just sit at 7 min pace trying to lock up 2nd place I went after it. I thought my sub 1:20 with the nearly doubling of milage would allow me to keep roughly the same pace but I was overly optimistic. I should have shot for 6:20-6:30 pace. After reciting multiple times in my mind that I wasn't going to run any miles under 6 min pace for the first half and guess what I did...that was on me. I still would have died horribly but probably would have finished if those opening miles were 6:20 or so.
I don't know why my muslces got shredded so bad. I have had serious calf soreness in both my half marathons and don't think it is due to form. I am sure some of it is normal but I wonder if running slower paces with the stroller hurt me. I also subconciously lean on the stroller which helps control it but might diminish impact. Finally all my training was pancake flat there are no hills nearby to have long up or downhill tempos to get my legs used to the beating. I would probably have less problems on a flat course instead of the utah 1,000 ft + drop.
All said I still love running and quite enjoy the longer distances. I have been reminiscing of XC days of old and have always loved autumn because of such great memories. I think I was a better XC runner than a track guy and part of that is getting off the hamster wheel and team aspect.
|