Anatomy of a Half Marathon PR

I would LOVE to tell you all the details and pre-planning and huge amounts of training and prep work that went into my half marathon PR at the MORE half marathon on April 13th.  The real truth is I had been so focused on my triathlon and not ticking off my hurt foot I hadn't been running much at all.  The triathlon the day before only needed a two mile run so I was running three miles at most and doing a lot of interval training.  The night before I did not do my normal routine, I barely ate because I had a late lunch, I didn't hydrate enough, about the only thing I did right was go to bed SUPER early because I was completely exhausted.

That morning I woke up feeling terribly dehydrated and started sucking down major amounts of water, something I NEVER do the morning of a race after having to pee my second half marathon and wasting 10 minutes in the bathroom line.  Jamie arrived and I was a MESS.  I hadn't picked up what I was going to wear, I was sucking down water and chowing down on cream of wheat.  This is NOT the way I normally do race mornings AT ALL.  I threw on a brand new pair of shorts, I literally ripped off the tag and said yep these are brand new oh well. It is pretty funny how comfortable you get once you have run a certain number of races.

We wandered over to Central Park and it was pretty crowded.  I ate my chews and I had brought a whole bottle of water with me. Jamie and I chatted and we were each going to run our own race.  She was going to try and break 2 hours and I had no expectations just wanted to cross the finish line.  We were in the same corral and then I said bye as she ran off at the start.  I settled into an easy pace but then felt oh no I have to pee.  The line at the first porta potties was LONG so I said ok suck it up.  As I rounded towards Cat Hill I was never so happy to see the boathouse.  No line, I was in and out QUICKLY and I was so happy.  Got back into the groove of things and found myself catching up to the 2:10 pacer.  I looked at my watch saw my pace was 9:15, realized I felt great and then said oh well guess we will see how long this lasts.

That first lap of the park, the whole 6 almost 7 miles felt like a walk in the park.  I was going at an easy pace keeping up with the 2:10 pacer with no issues.  I was stopping at every water stop to drink a little water and then would run and catch back up to the pacer.  That little difference of stopping and drinking my water really settled my stomach.  At mile 6 I opened my chews, now if you follow my blog you know I like to throw up, or well I don't like to throw up but my stomach always feels the need to puke.  So this time I had two chews at mile 6, drank my water and walked a little.  At mile 7 I had two more chews and walked a little drinking my water.  Mile 8 I did the same thing.  Wow I felt amazing, I was keeping with that pacer and feeling great.  THEN came the second trip up Harlem Hill.  Now at this point I was really running at percieved effort.  I have been training with a heart rate monitor in my zones but I wanted to race more free form.   It was working extremely well and about half way up harlem hill where you curve around and then see the hill continues my body said, "Stop and walk so you can finish strong".  As I let that pacer go I was frustrated and kicking myself but I knew it was the right choice, my heart rate had gone too high.  I didn't even know what my rate was but I knew my effort was too much.  At the top of the hill I ran to the next water stop, walked with my water and regrouped.

Those rolling hills of the park post Harlem Hill are decieving because they are no where near as large as Harlem hill but they are still difficult.  I never caught back up to that 2:10 pacer but I just kept telling myself as long as you don't see that 2:30 pacer you are fine.  Coming around towards the finish I walked a little bit but I felt good.  I was walking with a purpose, bring down my heart rate so I could sprint it out at the end.  I know that course pretty well as I spent most of my marathon training in the park so I knew exactly where I could start sprinting.  Oh my did I sprint, my face was so determined some guy yelled "Now THAT is a game face".  2:14:24.  Holy crap.  If someone I knew had been right there I would have jumped on them in a hug.  I got my medal, my heart was racing not from running but sheer excitement.

Finally I found Jamie and all I could do was show her my watch.  She screamed, I screamed, she said she made it under 2 hours, I screamed, she screamed.  We were SO excited! 13 minutes off my old PR, a whole minute for EVERY mile of the race.  My multisport training is paying off.  I honestly think that also my more laid back approach and lowered expectations really helped.  Also I think my new method of walking to really drink that water, let it settle and also get my heart rate to drop was the difference.  My legs were definitely sore the next several days so I need to improve my lactic acid recovery but that will come with more longer runs.

Feeling STRONG!

Two DESTROYED PRS

Did I mention I was EXCITED

Not a creature was stirring not even a Triathlete

Nerves are the name of the game today.  Soon I will pack my stuff into a backpack and take my bike onto the subway to Brooklyn.  Tomorrow morning I will wake up before the sun, gather my things and wearing my brand new team tri kit I will head to conquer my newest challenge.  By tomorrow afternoon, midmorning if I am lucky I will be an official triathlete.  Months of training coming down to one small race which is really just a short dress rehearsal for the much larger race in June, less than TWO MONTHS away.  Cue the freak out. 

I am feeling fairly confident going into tomorrow's race.  I'm looking at it as a training race, it is a chance to see how to transition.  A chance to see how I do in the pool with many other swimmers and how my swim anxiety does in a race situation.  Biking, oh the biking, I have a pretty good idea of what to expect here post duathlon but it is always good to get practice with no drafting and passing.  This time I will be more in the thick of things as opposed to the duathlon where everyone was WAY ahead!  The run is only 2 miles and will hopefully be the easiest part of the day but the bike to run transition was extremely hard in all my bricks as well as the duathlon so we shall see how my foot manages it. 

All in all I am feeling excited for this step on the journey.  I'm proud of how far I have come but fully aware of how far I have to go in such a short time until Eagleman (still freaking out).  

Sunday, oh right then Sunday on to a half marathon in Central park because well why not?  I wouldn't be me unless I overscheduled myself :)  The goal for the half marathon is strictly to finish not a single time goal at all.  I haven't been putting in the training miles running wise and I owe it to myself not to push like crazy.

Hopefully there will be a nice update Sunday night about my race fun :)

Patience is a virtue....

that I definitely do NOT possess.  Is being stubborn a virtue?  I have that in spades!

Foot surgery Dec 6th, half marathon January 26th...does that sound like a good idea to ANYONE?!?!  I went to the podiatrist on the 23rd for  my last post op check up and I said, "soooo can I run a race this weekend?"  My doctor who is on to my sneaky ways said, "How far is it?"  We played a little cat and mouse briefly until I finally muttered under my breath, "a half marathon" and he looked at me as though I had 4 heads.  After a lecture about scar tissue, not pushing too hard and patience I was told under no circumstances was I to run the race.

I was pretty devastated.  Not being able to run has not only been frustrating for me but also depressing.  Running is my release, it channels all my frustrations, stresses and helps me think through problems.  I'm addicted, I need it and when I don't have it I just feel off balance.  I guess if I was going to be addicted to something it is a good thing, but still really an addiction and this forced break has been very difficult for me.  I was crushed at the prospect of not running that race because I felt I NEEDED it.  I am doing the 9 plus 1, for those not in NYC that means run 9 New York Road Runner Races and volunteer once to qualify for the NYC 2015 marathon.  So I needed the race for my 9, I also had signed up with the intention of getting redemption from last year.

Saturday before I met up with J and after our sushi dinner we had some drinks, I had red wine and I must say all my great ideas come over a couple glasses of Pinot Noir these days.  We did the math and figured out exactly how fast I needed to walk to finish the race by the cut off and I can not even explain the high I got from deciding to do the race.  It was going to be freezing cold and I had the perfect excuse to sit home in my nice warm bed and here I was scheming ways to get out there and do 13.1 miles in 18 degree weather.  Who am I?  I'm not sure most people I grew up with would recognize me these days, I definitely do not look much different but athlete was never a word to describe me, more like scrawny :)  I think I may have even impressed my own little brother which let me tell you means more to me than most of my race medals (not the marathon medal I mean let's be real here!).

Sunday morning I got up, gave my foot a pep talk and then put on compression socks covered by wool socks and my running shoes.  I feel calm just putting on the shoes, relief washes over me and I feel as though I can conquer the world.  Several layers of under armour later I bounced out the door to Central Park.  It was cold but I swear I didn't even feel it at first I was just too excited and happy to be out there, adrenaline is a beautiful thing when used properly!  I gave J a fist bump and told her to kill it and then set out to "run" my race.  I lightly jogged the first mile, walked the second and kept that pattern for the first 8 miles.  This was an exercise in self discipline, keeping to a plan and not running myself into the ground.  I did not take any pain medicine pre-run because I wanted to feel the foot and know if I should stop.  About 8.5 miles in I ran into a woman who was limping and after talking to her it turned out she had hurt her IT band during the race.  We walked and talked, she called me an angel and said she was debating just quitting until she saw me.  In reality she was likely MY angel because I needed someone to slow me down a little and bring me back to my situation.   We ran across that finish line at 3 hours and 5 minutes.  Definitely not my best time, not my goal for that race at all but a powerful learning lesson, I felt so proud of myself and instantly more centered.  My foot was not impressed and required icing and elevation the rest of the day but I still didn't take any pain medicine so a win in my book!


Running: 20 miles
Biking:  2 hours
Swimming: 2400 m
Strength Training: 6 sessions

A Marathon? No way! Never! A January 2013 Race Review

In October 2012 those were the exact words out of my mouth to my good friend Chris from work.  I had just run my first half marathon and gotten bitten by the running bug or that so called runner's high.   I ended up signing up for a half marathon in Central Park, in JANUARY and of course I dragged along Jamie because she is always a willing participant in my crazy schemes as I am in hers.

January 2013 Half Marathon- Central Park
It was 19 degrees out and we set out in MANY layers to do two loops of central park with our ever loyal Sherpa Mike carrying extra layers.  It was FREEZING cold yet that didn't phase some of the people running with no shirts on or in only sports bras.  I am pretty sure that I couldn't feel my toes until mile 3.  I was running in a pair of Nikes that were the same style as my first half marathon but not the same shoes.  About mile 8 I started getting pain in my left IT band.  Coming up to mile nine was HARLEM hill, the devil.  I was struggling but I looked to the side and saw a person out in the freezing cold cheering for us.  It turned out to be my friend Shawna who even ran up Harlem  hill with us in her uggs while holding coffee, have I mentioned how awesome she is. 

I had just started actual strength training instead of just running training and it felt pretty obvious to me in my recovery post race if it was not shown in my time.  Our times were not great due to a bathroom break in the middle.  I learned the importance of foam rolling and then graduated to some sweet Asics for running.

We will be doing this race again in 2014 to beat our times.