Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Frederick Half Marathon

aka, when a plan doesn't come together.

The Half Marathon is an odd distance.  I'm coming to realize that I don't really like it all that much.  Something about being short but not really that short.  A 15k or 10 miler I can get my head around.  And probably can tough through if i'm having a bad day.  But being early in a half and it's not going so well means a long time to grind out.  It happened last fall at the Baltimore Half and it happened again last weekend at the Frederick Half.  At least my fitness was good enough that my time this go around did improve by over 5 minutes.

I was keyed on the half as potentially the prime indicator of my upcoming marathon goal pace.  After a blazing fast Cherry Blossom, I was starting to get thoughts of 3:15 or even 3:10s creeping in to my brain (3:10 being the new Boston Qualifier for someone 35, which I am going to be by Patriots Day 2013).  I figured if I ran the Cherry Blossom equivalent again and then toughed out the last 3 miles I would be solidly in the 1:32 range, and on a good day close to breaking 1:30. 

So I rested up (thanks to a mystery knee ailment that surfaced last Tuesday morning) and took it easy all weekend.  The race was early Sunday morning, but I even walked the dogs early and went to bed before 11.  I had only one beer with dinner. I warned up pretty properly and felt ok at the start.  I was running with a friend with a GPS watch and we had similar goals so we had a fairly aggressive 6:50 pace (same as the bulk of my Cherry Blossom split).  The course goes out from the Fairgrounds, and then doubles back up Market Street.  It is a bit of a hill up past the 2 mile mark and then a half mile later.  I'm hanging in at this point, but really feeling like it was not my day.  So by mile 5 I had pretty much let him go and was trying to hang on to 7 pace or just over that.

It still wasn't happening and I was at 7 minute pace exactly at the 8 mile mark.  But I had dropped close to a minute off the original pace so I was really in the 7:20's or worse.  A not-so-nice hill at mile 9 and I was dropping hard.  I had to be doing 8's by then and that's how my Baltimore half ended.  I thought about stopping, but kept moving the legs forward.  I took a gu type pouch at the water stop and it tasted weird, and had too much of a fluid consistency.  More reason to just bring my own in the future.  At 10 1/2 there was a medical tent and I thought about stopping.  My hamstrings were pretty tight and I was not comfortable.  But I kept going cause as bad it was I still had a PR in my range. 

I started worrying about my friend Dan and his 1:40 pace group catching me (that was a bit over the top) and kept moving the legs.  Finally we turned into the Fairgrounds and, yes, there was another hill.  At the top you enter the track and finish there, on severely uneven ground.  The 13 mile mark was around the turn and you finished on the straight.  I was not willing to run another step and staggered around the finish.  I sulked about my time, but I think i'm over it.  My bad Baltimore half was the most accurate for predicting my full time at White Rock.  And a 1:35:35 still predicts to a 3:21 or something which is a large improvement, and what I was originally aiming for when I started my training at the beginning of the year.

Twitter splits (I think I could recrate the others, but I don't really feel like it)

1/2 Marathon: Pj Anderer - Finish in 1:35:35. Pace: 7:17. At 8:35:45.

1/2 Marathon: Pj Anderer - 10 Mile in 1:11:26. Pace: 7:09. Est: 1:33:43. ETA: 8:33:48.

1/2 Marathon: Pj Anderer - 8 Mile in 0:56:00. Pace: 6:60. Est: 1:31:45. ETA: 8:31:54.
(people enjoyed the impossible 6:60 split at 8)

May slide into something of a makeup race before the end of the month, I haven't decided yet.  I'm also going to the MCVET 10k memorial day weekend and that should indicate some things. 

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