It's all relative

St. Petersburg Halloween Half Marathon Race Report

Before: Well, I didn't know what to expect a couple weeks out from the marathon, but the legs just weren't there.  Did taper a bit, but had a good, hard workout on Tuesday which couldn't have helped.  The wind was 8-10+mph throughout, which I suppose should be expected on an unsheltered island.  Humidity was average for Florida.  Temperatures were favorable, ~72 degrees.

Miles 1-2 Took it out shooting for 5:35-5:40 pace for the entirety.  Mile one I was worried.  I felt like I lacked strength in my legs.  Usually, I gear up pretty well for a race and don't notice anything body-wise in the beginning other than excitement.  Not today I thought... Our lead group seemed to be five: 4 regular faces (Sean, Lee, Chris M, and myself) and 1 new face (Anthony, who I've trained with on easy runs the last couple months).  I wanted to just stick to the pace as I was interested to see if I could PR, so I dictated the pace for a lot of it and mostly led.  

Miles 3-10: The group dropped to Anthony, Chris, and I.  From here all the way to the turnaround I was leading (shooting at about 5:40s or faster) or Anthony would take over (and slow us down to about 5:50).  I didn't enjoy the slowing, but I let it happen, and then try to compensate with 5:35 pace which as it turns out was a bad idea.  I did sincerely appreciate someone trading off the lead though and sharing the responsibility of blocking the wind.  Both were still on my heels entering the final stretch.

Mile 11: Wheels fell off.  I wasn't gassed, I was just... tired.  I told myself to speed up, and I just wouldn't.  It was an odd feeling.  I got passed emphatically here by Anthony and Chris.  I did not like that, but I sincerely just couldn't keep up.  They flew away.

Mile 12: Well, somehow, more wheels fell off the vehicular device.  I didn't know the car I was driving had so many wheels.  Chris and Anthony were already out of reach.

Mile 13:  I think the axle broke here at this point.  Rear view mirror shattered.  The hood of the car flew up to catch the wind.  You know the deal.  I looked at my watch and almost laughed a bit.  I was trying hard to pick up that pace.  There was still no sign of 4th place behind me, which didn't help my slowing.

Finish: Ugly.  Managed to regain some form and dignity.  All of a sudden, my legs knew how to move fast again.  Thank you fast twitch muscles at the end.

      1    Chris          1 Overall           1:15:00.3       5:44/M
      2    Anthony        2 Overall           1:15:36.5       5:46/M
      3    Me             3 Overall           1:16:32.2       5:51/M
      4    Sean           4 Overall           1:18:43.1       6:01/M
      5    Lee            5 Overall           1:18:55.1       6:01/M

Splits: 5:40, 5:39, 5:43, 5:36, 5:36, 5:49, 5:53, 5:50, 5:47, 5:44, 5:58 (ouch), 6:24 (ouch), 6:54 (6:07 pace- ouch)

Takeaways: I will use this as motivation.  I can do better.  Still had fun and enjoyed hanging with the group afterward.

Did not run.  Busy day.

AM: Track in Safety Harbor.  The workout was 11x400, 1x600 all with a quick 200 recovery.  I told everyone beforehand it was time to buckle down and get serious with our workouts.  This workout would be run until failure.  If you failed 2 items in a row, that was it- can the workout.  No dogging recoveries, water breaks, or walking.  It seemed like they bought in.  Seemed as if it would be difficult to break them of habits, so I didn't really have many expectations.  I held the same expectations for myself, although I knew deep down I wanted 100m recoveries, but that time will come.

Splits (400s)- 1:15, 1:15.3, 1:14.7, 1:13, 1:14.5, 1:13.5, 1:14.4, 1:13.7, 1:13.7, 1:12.7, 1:13.4

(600)- 1:53.6

I nailed this workout.  I wanted them all sub 1:15 (5-minute pace), and having just running hard 2 days ago, I'm happy with this outcome.  3.1 miles at sub 5:00 pace... that's exciting to see.  I felt very strong, even on the last one and the form held.  Breathing got serious, but still didn't empty the tank completely. 

PM: 8 miles with Anthony, 7:20 pace.  I don't know why.

Late PM: 3 more miles with the group.

AM: Tempo run in Safety Harbor.  Ran marathon pace on mine however.

PM: 2 miles and then the gym- chest, tris, abs, dynamic stretching.

PM: 4 miles solo in East Lake.

Honeymoon Island Half Marathon Race Report

Received a free race from a local race director with a couple of hundred people and decided to run it.  Did okay.  No one really there to run against except Jeremy R, but he doesn't really train anything past the 5k distance, so he finished well back in second at around 1:23:30.  Fun race on the trail (even though you loop it twice which is tiring) and got to hang out with some people afterwards.  I can't say that I shut it down at the end, but I definitely didn't push myself hard the last 4+ miles.  

Splits: 5:55, 5:44, 5:40, 5:39, 5:36, 5:45, 5:41, 5:44, 5:49, 5:57, 5:57, 6:00, 6:00, 0:29