O'RtL: Half-Marathon Race Report

I ended the week with my second road race of the year.  I got up at 4:10 AM after a so-so night of sleep.  I had double my usual pre-race breakfast and left home by 5:00 AM on a 130-mile drive to Emmetsburg, Iowa to run the O’Round the Loch Half-Marathon.  I ran this race a year ago as a planned training run, only to be convinced by a couple NAIA college runners to help them push for a national qualifying time.  We all made it under the time standard and I set a PR of 1:16:21, while taking second overall.  I also ran the race in 2005 after a sleet storm left a half-inch of ice on the roadways.  I won that year by twelve minutes. ............

This year, I came in with a goal of running under 1:15 and my workouts suggested I could go as fast as 1:13.  So, I planned to run 5:40 pace, which would just go under 1:14.  I was a little concerned all week with hitting my goal for a couple reasons.  First, this was my eighth week in a row of running 80+ miles.  Second, I ran a very hard time trial just six days earlier.  Third, the weather conditions were not ideal.  The temperature at the start was 63 degrees and I would have preferred 40 degrees for a March half-marathon.  Also, there was a 15 mph South wind, which I knew would be directly in my face for the last 4.5 miles.  The humidity was also 94% at the beginning, which makes breathing a little uncomfortable.

As the race started, I felt great and was running fantastically.  I had company in the beginning, but his breathing/hacking told me it would be short-lived.  We went through mile 1 in 5:29 and mile 2 in 5:35.  He did not make it to the end of mile 2.  I continued running well, hitting mile 3 in 5:32.  I planned to hit all the water stops this year, which occur at 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 of the way.  As I approached the first station, the supplies were just arriving by pickup, so I missed out.  This is par for the course at this race.  I actually stashed bottles at mile seven and ten in anticipation of poor race management that I had experienced in previous years.

Miles 4, 5, and 6 were as strong as the first three miles.  I hit them in 5:30, 5:37, and 5:38 respectively.  I did get to take water at the halfway point, which a volunteer handed to me in a bottle.  I enjoyed getting a bottle, which is much easier to drink from and much less mess than using a paper cup.  I hit halfway (6.55 miles) in 36:26, which meant I was on pace for 1:12:52.  I was 34 seconds faster than I had aimed to run, but my breathing was good and my legs felt fresh and alive, so I was okay with it.

Just after the halfway point, the course cuts through a two-mile stretch of gravel road.  In 2005, this road was covered in snowdrifts, but that was not a problem today.  Instead, the gravel was a little squishy, which slowed me down some.  The two-miles cutting across the gravel took 5:47 and 5:51.  Still, after exiting the gravel, I was on pace to run 1:13:39.  Then, I ran up against the headwind.  I knew 15 mph would be tough, but was confident from previous workouts that I could battle through a 12-15 mph breeze with only minimal slowing.

I struggled immensely, however, on the return trip.  With each mile, I saw my goals disappear.  Mile 10 took 6:18, which meant I would no longer be running 1:14.  Mile 11 was an embarrassingly slow 6:29, which eliminated the 1:15 goal.  But, I held onto hope for a PR.  I rallied and tried to push even harder on mile 12 while resulted in a 6:14.  This was clearly an improvement but still not enough.  At that point, I knew even a PR was not going to happen, so I shut things down a bit and cruised in to a 1:16:58 finishing time.  When I got home, I checked weatherunderground.com for the history data and discovered the wind speed had increased to 23 mph with gusts of 29 mph. 

I see now whey miles 11 & 12 were profoundly different.

I did win the race by over three minutes and I am aware that I did not enter the race on fresh legs, but still I was left unsatisfied.  I honestly felt like my legs had plenty of zip for the end and my heart rate and breathing were fine too.  To have a race result dictated by outside factors is very disappointing.  I gave up hours of sleep, hours on the road, hours away from my family, and a small chunk of change for what?  I could have run almost as hard of a workout at home and I already knew that wind affects race results, so I struggle finding a benefit.  Ultimately, I am glad it was Saturday’s race that had weather problems and not the Boston Marathon, but overall the taste in my mouth is still sour.

Here is my training for the past week.

I started the week by flipping my Sunday long run, which was supposed to be 20 miles with 14 miles at goal-marathon pace, with my end of the week run which was supposed to be a tune-up race of 8k-10k.  I made the switch because I planned to end the week by racing a half-marathon.  So, I ran a 4-mile warm-up, a 10k time trial, and a cool down to bring the total 12 miles.

I ran the time trial by doing two figure-8 loops at Ada Hayden, which eliminates wind and elevation benefits.  I also wore two GPS watches to help ensure the distance was accurate.  Finally, I set one to auto-lap each half-mile and the other at each kilometer to allow for different comparisons.  The weather was 56-degrees and there was a 14-mph south wind.  The wind really affected me on the second loop evidenced by my fourth mile being nearly 10 seconds slower than my average pace.  My 5k splits were 16:50-17:08, making my 10k total 33:58.  That’s a new PR by another 31 seconds.  I’m amazed to be setting PRs on training runs on tired legs.  I ran 88 miles the week before this effort.  Total: 12 miles – 1:13:37 (6:08 pace)

Monday was a two-a-day and I ran an easy 6 miles in the morning by heading to Moore Park for 3 loops on the hills.  That afternoon, I checked out from the ISU indoor track meet while there were 4 heats of the girls 4x800 and ran another 6-mile recovery run.  Ames is on Spring Break this week, so we did not have enough girls for a relay.  I ran this one along Stange to my neighborhood and back to ISU.  Both runs felt good.  My knee is definitely better off this week than it was the past two weeks.  Total: 12 miles – 1:29:41 (7:28 pace)

Tuesday was a track workout.  Since this week ends with a tune-up race, the workout was designed to be kind of light.  I did a 3-mile warm-up, then 5x600m repeats with 400m recovery jogs, then a 3-mile cool-down.  The repeats were supposed to be 5k-pace (or 1:55 each).  I ran them in 1:49-1:50-1:49-1:50-1:48.  The recovery jogs averaged 2:01.  The repeats felt smooth and comfortable despite being well under 5k-pace.  I’m certain I could have run them each 4-5 seconds faster even.  Afterwards, I enjoyed an ice bath and my hamstrings were pretty tight.  As I reflect on the week, I wonder if doing this workout so close to the 10k time trial may have been a mistake.  Total: 9 miles – 59:39 (6:38 pace)

Wednesday was the midweek long run.  I got out a little late and had to run in unfavorable conditions.  It was 72-degrees out by 10AM and I started the run dehydrated.  It did not go well.  I had to walk at mile 6 and seriously considered bagging the run when I got home.  I got home at mile 9 and re-hydrated.  I downed a bottle of Gatorade in no time at all, but thought I’d give it another mile.  I eventually settled on a revised goal of finishing 12 miles, but felt good enough to stretch it to 14 miles.  In the end, I fell just one mile short of the running plan and managed to run it at all goal pace.  Again, on reflection, I should have approached this run differently by hydrating before starting and maybe backing off the pace a little bit.  Total: 14 miles – 1:33:18 (6:40 pace)

Thursday was the first of back-to-back recovery days designed to allow the legs a little recovery before the tune-up race.  I ran two loops at Ada Hayden for a 7-mile total.  The run also had 10x100m strides thrown in to keep my racing legs sharp.  This run felt pretty good, but my overall feeling is dead legs.  I worry about Saturday’s race.  Total: 7 miles – 51:45 (7:24 pace)

The second recovery run went well too.  I still have a little feeling of dead legs, but not as much as the previous days.  I did a couple loops on the Moore Park hills again for this run.  The heat again was bothersome, but not nearly what it was like on Wednesday’s long run.  Conditions for the race Saturday are similar, roughly 65 degrees with 90% humidity and 12 mph South wind.  Sadly, I’m not excited.  Total: 5 miles – 37:42 (7:32 pace)

Saturday, I ran the half-marathon in Emmetsburg.  Is was a simulation of the 20 mile long run with 14 miles at goal marathon pace.  I ended up doing a 3-mile warm-up and 3-mile cool down to go with the race.  I ran both the warm-up and cool down at exactly 7:00/mile and the half-marathon averaged out to 5:51/mile, which is about 9 seconds faster than goal marathon pace.  The 19-mile workout averaged 6:13/mile, which would be a 2:43 marathon … not bad for a workout.

Later that evening, I ran an additional 7 mile recovery run with my training partner upon her return from Spring Break in Costa Rica.   This certainly was not for my benefit following short sleep and a hard effort.  It actually felt good, though, to stretch my legs and increase the blood flow through them a little bit.  I will, however, compensate by making next Monday’s two-a-day into a single recovery run.  Saturday’s Total: 26 miles – 2:52:38 (6:38 pace)

For the week (Sun-Sat), I hit 85 miles in 9:38:20 or 6:48/mile.