Carmel Marathon (Half) - RunHalf Marathon


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Carmel, Indiana
United States
Carmel Road Racing Group, LLC
71F / 22C
Overcast
 		Total Time = 1h 56m 7s
Overall Rank = 298/1117
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 15/55
Pre-race routine:

Kept my up my scheduled swim/bike sessions w/no taper except no run x3 days. No idea what to expect from the legs today.
Event day I was up at 5:15AM. Ate Cliff bar with some iced tea & water.
Event warmup:

Biked 3mi to event site, then walked 1/3mi to start area. Did a few stretches.
Run
  • 1h 56m 7s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 52s  min/mile
Comments:

Ran pretty easy 1st 5mi. Decided if I was still doing ~9min pace @ mile 7 I would push it. Felt pretty decent then so upped it to ~8:35 pace. Around mile 10 my R hammie felt like it might cramp so I backed off slightly. Last 2+mi I pushed a little to ~8:20 pace. Interestingly the course's last mile or so was run parallel to the USATF 8k championship course. The elites were on their home stretch as I was running my last mile. It was strangely demoralizing to be struggling to bring it home while these elites were flying by. Lost my concentration- and my hat which cost me a few sec to retrieve. Finished strong down the chute, but with the feeling that R hammie could lock at any second.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe push a bit harder in 1st half??? Overall I think I got most of what was in the legs today.
Post race
Warm down:

Got post-race leg massage.Walked around venue a bit.
Rode bike home.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

No real taper. Did not plan to PR so paced conservatively. That R hamstring threatening to cramp put a lid on my last 5k.

Event comments:

Not bad for a 1st time event of ~5,000 total runners (full, HM,& 8k). Too few police & volunteers in spots. At least 2 water stations had just 1 very busy volunteer, and some intersections had no police while others had 2 officers. Kudos for plenty of port-a-lets. Farmer's Market (early) & bands (later) at finish were good post-race diversions.




Last updated: 2011-06-11 12:00 AM
Running
01:56:07 | 13.1 miles | 08m 52s  min/mile
Age Group: 15/55
Overall: 298/1117
Performance: Good
HR 148ave/172peak Neg split (59:52 vs 56:26) 1st 5k 28:42 10mi 1:30:09 Last 5k 25:58
Course: Suburban. Basically flat with some rollers. A couple small hills hit 3+% grade for ~1/4mi. Humid start, and sun came out for a few miles late in the run which heated things up a bit.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? No
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3