My calf is starting to feel better as I have not run hard all week, so I decided to go ahead and do my last planned half marathon time trial. Since my HR seems to be freaking out recently, in addition to the calf problems, I decided not to go out as hard with the hope that I would be able to finish faster at the end. I suspect that the HR issues may be asthma/pollen related as my mileage of late has been low, so I would not suspect over training, while it has been cooler and we have seen a fair amount of rain. Maybe I need to get one of those crazy masks that Galen Rupp wears? I did a 5.5 mile warm-up in a little over 40 minutes (40:35 I think, but maybe 40:25) after which I started the time trial. My HR was high during the warm-up (averaged around 135) so I suspected that even without going out hard my HR would be where it normally is when I go out harder. The first mile of the time trial felt really easy but my HR was up near 170 like normal. I hit the "mile" marker in 5:27 and finished the first lap in 11:09 (19 seconds slower than last time). I kept the effort the same and finished the second lap in 11:07 (22 seconds slower than last time, 41 seconds total). I decided to start picking up the effort a little after 4 miles, and made it through the third lap in 10:59 (12 seconds slower than last time) for a total time of 33:15. My HR was now in the 175-177 range, where it stayed for the rest of the time trial, occasionally climbing up to about 180. I kept the effort strong for mile 7, and after 7 miles I grabbed my water bottle even though I didn't really need it (temps were in the high 60's and low 70's, so I felt cold for a while). Getting the water was a bad move, as I believe that it pulled blood away from my muscles to deal with the water which caused me to slow down again while my HR stayed high. I finished the fourth lap in 11:10, and followed that up with an 11:12. I tried to push harder during the sixth lap to speed up, but nothing really came and I finished that lap in 11:09. I closed with a final "mile" in 5:31, and finished the time trial in 1:12:34 (1:21 slower than last time, and 0:54 slower than the time before that). Overall it wasn't too bad. I was not expecting to go as fast this time as last, and this time I was dealing with the HR issues. If nothing else this helped me to experience a little discomfort so that when the marathon comes in 4 weeks I will be able to push through it. Despite being the slowest time trial I have run all year (I have run four of them since July) my legs felt the worst at the end of this one. I'll take an off day in a workout rather than the marathon itself. I finished 21 miles total in about 2:10:00
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