It's all relative

AM: Track in SH.  Still feeling quite sore, but I went for it anyways.  Workout was 12x400 with descending rest from :90 down to :10 with 3 items at :60 rest.  Survived fine really until the last one.  Tank was emptied on that one minus a sprint at the end which would have been unnecessary.  

Splits- 1:14, 1:13, 1:14, 1:16, 1:15, 1:15, 1:15, 1:15, 1:14, 1:17, 1:16, 1:18

PM: longish run, half with Anthony and then 5 more miles solo. Anthony sped up to around 6:30ish pace. Not sure why he likes to do that on regular runs. I suppose he was feeling strong. Either way, I'm happy to get some miles in and for the company.

AM: treadmill and gym- arms, back, abs, dynamic stretching

PM: 7..5 miles at @ 7:30 pace

AM: Longish run.  Waited too late in the day to start this run as it hit mid 80s with a ton of wind and sun.  Felt fine for the majority, but was dehydrated for the last 5k.  

I'm happy to crack 3,000 miles!

PM: 11 miles at 7:29 pace.  Felt good.

AM: Track in Safety Harbor.  5x1000 with 200 recoveries.  Tried aiming for half-marathon pace for Sunday.  Splits- 3:35, 3:33, 3:36, 3:33, 3:30.  Then finished with 2x1000 with a pair of other runners at their pace.  I feel ready for Sunday.

Planned day off.

AM: 7+ miles in Safety Harbor with Matt.

PM: 5 miles with Anthony in East Lake.

Planned day off.

AM: 5 very slow miles with Tim and Christina. 

I think I'm ready for the half marathon tomorrow.  I don't truly know what to expect out of myself.  I could have tapered better for sure, but it happens.  I've planned a 5:38 pace, which is stressful, but it's really more about being able to relax, breathe, have a quick cadence, and have a smooth knee drive.  I realise that if I'm leading/pacing the whole way, this is a tough goal.  It appears I'll be stuck with leading the race unless someone different shows up, which is just something I'm going to have to overcome if I want to reach a PR.  Well, never hurts to try.  =)

"A" Goal- 1:13:51.  "B" Goal- sub 1:15:00.  "C" Goal- top 5 in the race.

Holiday Halfathon Race Report

Conditions- The conditions were decent.  Temp was in the middle 60s, with only a 5-8 mph headwind the majority of the way (which is better than it normally is.)  The course is a certified point-to-point, so the headwind can be an issue.  3 bridges, but pancake flat otherwise with a couple of 90 degree turns, but easily manageable.

Race Prep- Could have been better.  Not running when I was in Ireland for 8 days two weeks ago seems, in retrospect, an unfortunate detractor from my fitness.  Diet has been pretty crappy overall.  Weight is in the upper 140s, about 7 pounds too many.

Goals- “A” 1:13:30-50s “B” Sub 1:15, “C” top 5.

The field- Really, it was just me versus myself today.  I wasn’t really in a “racing” mood today, as I was truly shooting to PR and be in the 1:13s for the first time ever.  Turned out only Anthony and Sean were up for going that quick.  Anthony turned out to be a huge help once he settled into the pace I wanted- 5:38-5:39.  I was very thankful for that.

The race- For the first 7 miles, Anthony and I traded second and third or hung side-by-side at 5:39 pace talking about 15-20 seconds behind Sean who, as expected, went out fast.  Sean hung on however a lot longer than we both thought he would.  I kind of wished he would just stay with us, as it makes it more fun and relaxing.  We caught him at mile 6-7 and he humorously asked us, “Where have you guys been?” when we evened with him and passed him.  I think Anthony and I both knew it was a good idea to definitively pass Sean at this point or else our pace would have dropped to “race pace.”  Ideally Sean would hold with us, but we wanted to keep clicking off the miles at 5:38-5:39 per mile.  I really wanted to PR, so I was in no mood to play racing games.

Everything was going smooth until mile 11 began.  That was the end for me.  My breathing dropped to a 2:1 scheme and then even a 1:1 ratio.  It was also really unfortunate to have NO mile marker for this mile.  I had entered the stage where I was beginning to just hang on, but I think I had enough to recover if I began to slip.  I didn’t realize mile 11 had ended until 11.3 or so and that there was no marker, and at that point it was too late.  My pace had dipped so much I had lost about 23 seconds.  I tried the best I could to recover, but I had resigned myself at that point to not being able to reach my main goal.  I was cooked.

Mile 12 and 13 were a blur of… annoyance.  13.1 was also uncomfortable, as I saw 1:14:4x on the display and couldn’t even leg it out under 1:14:59.  Bummer.

    Place  Runner      Gun Time    Pace 

      1    Anthony      1:14:11.9   5:40/M

      2    Me               1:15:02.1   5:44/M

      3    Sean             1:17:59.9   5:57/M

      4    Lee              1:18:07.4   5:58/M

      5    Chris            1:19:34.5   6:04/M

      6    Mike             1:20:01.1   6:06/M

Overall, I'm proud I regularly run with 4 of the other top 5 guys.  That was cool to see us all finish near the top!  On a personal note, I’m a little dejected at my effort.  I have the fitness to run 1:13 but, there were times during the race where I just didn’t feel like running fast.  I didn’t like that feeling when I let it partially take over at mile 11-12.  I especially am not proud of losing 50 seconds in the span of 2.5 miles to another racer who also was losing time. 

Takeaways- I need more mileage.  I need consistent weeks (no Ireland breaks!).  My fat needs to come down.  I need a speed-work partner.  Running all my speed work solo has produced zero PRs in the past year.  Zero.  Anyone have any other thoughts on breaking out of this funk?

Splits- 5:49, 5:38, 5:36, 5:52, 5:34, 5:47, 5:53, 5:30, 5:38, 5:43, ~5:44, ~5:51, 5:57, Finish ~0:31

PM: 9 miles, most of them with Anthony.  7:32 overall pace.  Felt better to go quicker.

AM: Track in Safety Harbor.  3 quicker miles with Alan and company, nothing too fast, along with 5 slow miles.

PM: 6.5 with Bill, CJ, and Gail in Dunedin.

PM: 10 miles with Anthony.  

Late PM: Almost 3 more later on with the team.

AM: 7.5 miles in Safety Harbor.

PM: 7 miles solo.

PM: 6 miles with Anthony

AM: Parkrun in Clermont.  Can't really call it a race, although I did work relatively hard.  17:00 5k time and first overall for the "race."

Noon: Ran 4 miles solo in Safety Harbor when I got back and stopped to watch the parade where I found Dow and we hung out for a bit.  Then ran back.

PM: solo in East Lake.

AM: PM: slow roll, solo in East Lake.

Noon: 17 miles in Connecticut. Went out for an 8-miler, and at mile 2 I saw a sign saying "Taine Mountain" and decided to call the roads bluff. Got carried away up there in the snow and ice. 25 degrees, but only light wind.

Noon: 10 miles in the hills

Afternoon: 5 more in the hills. ~25 degrees. Warmer than yesterday...

AM: 6 mile recovery run. 22 degrees.

PM: found a flat quarter mile and did 12x400 repeats at around 5:00/mile pace. Had a 200+ cadence for most of and focused a lot on form. Didn't expect to get quality paces with all the wear and tear my quads and hamstrings have gotten the last 3 days.

AM: went out for 6 to 7, got caught up in the run, ended up with 13. These non-stop hills are becoming beasts although...

PM: 35 degrees, wet, felt okay.

Monster week overall, though.

AM: solo run in the hills, 39 degrees. Actually saw another person not only outside but running! Rare in this area. Was cool to see. Happy holidays!

AM: 20 miles with some serious hills, but nothing fast. Although it was only the low 30s, it seemed mich colder than that with no sun today.

AM: 9 miles in the hills- felt better than yesterday... then again the weather is in the upper 40s today, so that helps.

AM: 10 miles in the hills. 35 degrees.

PM: treadmill and then abs. Threw in a 5+ mile tempo at 5:45/mile pace to work my tired legs a bit.

AM: 8 miles in the hills in light snow.

AM: 4 miles running on ice in Boston in the snow.

PM: 2 miles slow.  Still icy.  

Flew home.  Hung with family before my flight instead of running.  Seemed like the appropriate choice.