Wallis Sands Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Rye, New Hampshire
United States
Pursuit Racing
53F / 12C
 		Total Time = 1h 51m 14s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Ate bread with honey and almond butter, a few crackers, some apricots and normal drinks 4 hours pre. Coffee and EFS finished the pre race food.
Event warmup:

Got to race site early with Zack, so we just registered and wandered down to the ocean for a while. Pre-race, ate jelly beans 30 minutes before, drank water and did some short runs.
Run
  • 1h 51m 15s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 29s  min/mile
Comments:

I'm very excited about this race. My goal was 1:52:30, and 1:51:30 was my aggressive goal. The course was flatter than I expected, though the wind was stronger.

I tried to run by feel rather than time at an aggressive but comfortable pace. I never felt overtaxed, though by mile 8 mile the left quad was letting me that the IT band needs more rolling!

I ran pretty even paces through mile 10, then the fading began. At the start of mile 10 I was sitting on 1:14:15 and wondered if I could step it up just a tad and hit 1:50. There was no way that was going to happen.

Overall I felt strong right through mile 11, but I didn't have anything left in my legs to push it home any faster than I went. The wind was brutal the last three miles - the course was right on the ocean for the last leg and the wind had nothing to slow it down. Not really an excuse, just the reality of the finish. I faded to 8:45-8:55 miles the last three, though there weren't really many people passing me as I slowed so I think almost everyone was in the same boat.

I felt like this was the first time I really raced a run. And the first time the legs have been the limiter and not the lungs. Hmmmm ...

What would you do differently?:

Not much. I think I just need some more running behind me to finish this distance stronger. The first three 5ks were almost exactly the same pace, so I don't think the pace I was running was off by that much if at all.
Post race
Warm down:

Pizza, steak tips, more ocean gazing.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Probably just need more time and miles in my legs to go faster. I think this race is really an accurate marker for my current level of fitness at this distance. I don't think there was much time left on the course. With the new job I missed most of Feb. so I crammed a full plan into 8 weeks - again, probably just more consistent running is the ticket.

Event comments:

Beautiful venue and a great course. Only 5 water stops, so they were ~2.5 miles apart. I carry most of my own drinks, so this doesn't really matter to me, but it seems like not many stops for a half. Overall and AG places aren't posted yet.




Last updated: 2011-02-06 12:00 AM
Running
01:51:15 | 13.1 miles | 08m 29s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Course: Flat, beautiful and in great shape. There were a few very minor hills, but nothing even remotely similar to my runs at home. Last 3.5 miles were right on the coast into a pretty hard headwind. The inland part of the course was protected and not very windy.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4