ING Half Marathon

Finally. ING is over. For some reason this race was looming over me like a dark cloud. I guess in part the race signifies the end of the offseason and ushers in the beginning of tri season. 13.1 miles is a bit too much to overlook so it required a certain amount of mental focus. I was never able to look past it far enough.

Sunday was a perfect day for racing. The temperature hovered around 50 degrees with a light sprinkle in the air. I got moving around 5 am and made it downtown shortly after six. I had a solid 45 minutes prior to the race so we entered the Omni hotel and just found somewhere to hang out. It was warm and moderately quiet, despite the buzz of nervous athletes. I was feeling good that morning. My legs felt recovered and ready to race. I wasn't as giddy as normal but I didn't feel sluggish at all. I entered the corral with about 15 minutes to go and naturally ran into everyone and their mother.

As previously mentioned, my goal for the race was 1:35. I seeded myself between the 1:30 and 1:35 pace group. The first two miles were downhill and my times clearly reflect that as I went out fast, but comfortably. Just before the mile 2 marker, the 1:35 pace group swallowed me up. At this point, it threw me for a major mental loop. I had my first two miles WELL under the 7:15 pace. I spent most of mile three settling into my correct pace, adjusting to the hills and trying to refocus on running MY race only.

As I made my way into the Old Fourth Ward, I was burning up. I wore a sleeveless UA top under a short sleeve wicking shirt. I immediately shed the top shirt. My pre-race strategy was to bank time during miles 4-9, as those are the flattest sections of the course. I tried to make a move but my body was not budging. I started to suspect that things were going to fall apart for me around mile 10.

I was able to push the pace around mile 7 and get back under 7 minute miles. At the half way point, I was nearly dead on for a 1:35 finish. I did begin to notice that my garmin and the mile markers were off quite a bit. I made the decision to push again once I entered Piedmont Park. I found some extra motivation there and began surging for the next mile. By mile 10 I was pretty wiped. And the worst was yet to come.

The final 2 miles roll through Georgia Tech and are all uphill. The terrain has two small hills that you pop up quickly, 2 long gradual ones and 1 really long slight incline. Hands down, it is the hardest part of the course. I knew I was going to lose some time here and didn't have an accurate gauge on how much time I banked. I pushed and pushed. I was hurting at this point. I made it to the top of GT and into the final turn. My watch said I was on pace, race clock said I needed to push it even more.

I know I was pushing that final mile but the speed was just not there. It was a matter of trying to hang on for dear life. I had a decent cadence and form so I stuck with it. I hit the split on my watch when I crossed the 13.1 threshold as I had the course 13.35. The best part was finishing within 5 minutes of numerous friends. It allowed me to just hangout at the finish line congratulating several others.

Official chip time (13.35 miles) 1:36:04
Unofficial 13.1 split: 1:34.10
Pace: 7:11
Overall 283/10481
Men: 248/4618

I see it as a success. My goal was 1:35 and I feel like I made it. As always, I am the hardest on myself. I am pleased with the time but don't feel that I raced it well. I know I went out too hard. I really need to work on that. From there I never had that extra gear to push it. I was too afraid to go into the hurt zone too early in the race. Maybe I was right, maybe I wasn't. I just feel like I crossed the finish line and still had more to give. I need to work on that. For now, I am happy it is over. It gives me some added confidence for Rev3 and I can turn my attention there.

ING Pre-race thoughts

Looks like the first real race of the season is finally here...ING half marathon. This will be my second time racing it with the other being in 2008. It should be a very interesting story to tell when it is all done. If I look back at my training log comparing then and now, I had two totally different approaches to training.

In 2008, most of my training was volume based. The intensity was low and came in the form of mile repeats. I also had the added benefit of an extra half marathon on my schedule prior to ING. In the four months leading up to ING, I put in over 385 miles of running, including a 130 mile month, my biggest ever. (I had to double check my logs to see how I did that).

Fast forward two years and I find myself in a totally different place. My volume certainly isn't there but I am running better than I ever have before. In part (knock on wood) is that I continue to be injury free. The extended volume has been replaced by weekly tempo or track sessions to increase the intensity of the runs. My four month volume is only 265 miles. Both my time and distance are nearly a third less than previously.

So what does all this mean? Well it definitely offers two contrasting training perspectives. In 2008, my offseason goal was to work solely on my running. I was doing very little other than running. And this approach panned out well for me in that all the base building came back into play after injury left me down for Ironman Florida.

This year the goals are different. I wanted to maintain my FTP on the bike throughout the offseason while steadily bringing my run along. Also given that I continue (crosses fingers) to be injury free means I really don't want to mess with my training much more. I would love to be running more but I have a good thing going. No need to mess with it. My speed is coming along. I just hope my endurance is there too.

Two years ago, 9-14 mile runs were prescribed left and right. This year not so much...which has me slightly concerned. In fact, I only hit 12 miles once in training. Gulp. This is where I just have to rely on the cumulative effect of training. I was still able to do 12 miles after running 10-12 during the week. So ideally, Sunday my legs should be a bit fresher and guide me to the finish line.

In 2008, I pulled off a 1.41 and was very proud of my effort. Well it is time to surpass that as most of my training runs are in the 1.39-1.41 range. If I visit VDOT or McMillan Running both tell me I should be capable of running a 1.35. Ouch...sounds painful. That really is my goal. I have wanted to get my half time down into the low 1.30s for some time now. But I am a bit weary of doing that this weekend. I just have a feeling that I will come in 1.36-1.37.

Here is to hoping that the low volume and more intensity approach works better for me