Space Coast Half Marathon race report
Ran the south course of this race. Was shooting for a 1:12-1:14, so planned on starting at 5:40 and then dropping it down if I could. Weather was good for racing, 55 degrees and little wind.
The race started and there was already no one near me. Came through the first mile in about 5:40, so right on target. After that I settled into the 5:30s for a while, although the watch beeped before the mile markers so each mile was probably a few seconds slower than what it said. After about 2 miles my shins were already tightening up, which made this race kind of rough. This problem had started a few weeks ago due to not getting new shoes in time. I was worried it was really going to ruin this race. By about 5 miles the shin tightness was at the point where it felt like I couldn't land correctly. Just tried to focus on not worrying about it and getting through it hoping that it might subside, which it eventually did. Came through 10K just under 35:00, so I was at least on pace to break 1:14 at this point. Wasn't feeling the greatest though so I knew there was the possibility that I would just totally fall apart. Miles 7-9 slowed to the 5:40s. Tried taking a gel around this time but the fumbling messed up my flow so I only took like half of it. It must've at least done some good as I seemed to have gotten a second wind after 10 miles, was feeling better and pace got back into the 5:30s. Sub 1:14 didn't look as likely, I would really have to pick it up for the last three miles to do it. Just missed it coming in at 1:14:12.
Not overly excited about the time, but I did at least hit my C goal of getting a PR, so I can't say the result of this race was bad. The shin issues definitely didn't help. I think having others to race with would help out a lot, It can get tough doing these solo as there is no one around you to push you to try to stick with them and potentially get pulled to a faster time.
So that wraps up my training cycle. Going to take it easy for the next two weeks without any planned workouts before starting training for Boston.
Splits (by watch): 5:40, 5:33, 5:33, 5:35, 5:34, 5:38, 5:39, 5:40, 5:42, 5:40, 5:35, 5:39, 5:33, 1:10 (0.22 mile, 5:27 pace)
| 