Rockford Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Rockford, Illinois
United States
Special Events Management
81F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 33m 3s
Overall Rank = 14/749
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 3/28
Pre-race routine:

Woke up a bit after 5am. Ate a bagel, a bananna, and had 12 oz of Ironman preform. On the way to the race I ate half of a cliff bar.
Event warmup:

Ran .85 miles at about a pace of 8 min per mile with a couple of pickups toward the end.
Run
  • 1h 33m 5s
  • 13.18 miles
  • 07m 04s  min/mile
Comments:

I ran this race because I really wanted to have a half marathon time under 1 hr 30 minutes and I really did not think it would be a problem. Last year I ran like a 1 hr 33 and 1 hr 31 half marathons and about two weeks ago I did a 13 mile training run in z2 and ended up running about the same time as this race time.
After the training run two weeks ago I really felt like I could have held that pace for a lot longer than 13 miles or gone a lot faster.I know right now I am a WAY better runner than I was last year so I really did not think it would be a problem to reach my goal, but I failed to do so. Need to keep the race in perpsective, though. My main goal is IMWI so I can't let this piss me off too hard, just need to use it as motivation to train harder/smarter.
What would you do differently?:

Learn to pace myself at the beginning of races. Be mentally tougher.
Post race
Warm down:

Said some swear words under by breath and drank some water.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Since the end of the race I have been thinking a lot about this so I can learn from my mistakes. Here are some of the reasons I think I may not have preformed well:

1. Pacing. I ran the first 6 miles in 40:07 which was 6:41 per mile. Since my goal was like 6:52 per mile, I think I should not have came out so hard. This is not the first time I have done this and need to work on it. Especially for Ironman.

2. The heat. By the end of the race it was into the 80's without a cloud in the sky. I feel if I was used to the heat, it would not have affected me so much but I have not trained in the heat this year and feel it definatly affected me. Along with that, usually if I do a training run at like 7:20 a mile or so my HR is around 150. The day before the race the temps were in the upper 80's as well, and I did a 2 mile run at this pace and my HR was much higher. If this is a legit reason, hopefully my body will adjust as I am able to train in the heat.

3. Workload. I biked like 70 miles and ran 20 within 7 days of the race, however when I did a training run two weeks ago at about the same pace as this race, my workload was pretty high and I felt much better after the run than i did after the race.

4. Toughness. Just need to get tougher and push through.

5. Course was a bit long- It definatly was but not enough to justify missing my goal by 3 minutes.

I do feel I can also take some positives out of the race.

1. I did not walk at all, regrouped a bit towards the end and still finished with a relativly okay time.
2. My recovery was awesome. In the past after halfs, I am spent for the day and it usually takes a few days for my knees and legs to feel better My legs and kneesfelt great right after the run and I ended up going for a little swim afterwards.

Event comments:

Good race but not too many spectators. The fact that the course is a bit long is kind of stupid too. I think they do it because the marathon starts at the same time and they can only have one finish line and they pry base it on the marathon distance so the half is a bit off. Just kind of sucks, though....




Last updated: 2012-04-10 12:00 AM
Running
01:33:05 | 13.18 miles | 07m 04s  min/mile
Age Group: 3/28
Overall: 14/749
Performance: Below average
Course: Started in downtown Rockford and went mostly north through some neighborhoods. The first half of the course was a bit more hilly than I expected. I ran the first half around 6:40 per mile and was feeling great. Around mile 4 I threw some water on myself and my garmin HRM quit working. Turned east down Harlem road and saw my wife and training partner, Brad. HRM was reading like 70 so I took it off while running and gave it to Brad. Then turned south along N. Second Street at about mile 6. At mile 7 I hit a wall. I didn't slowly start feeling bad, out of nowhere it hit me like a ton of bricks. I held on until about mile 9 and I felt like I was going to puke, at that point I did not feel I was going to be able to reach my goal and was pretty upset. I wanted to start walking due to the bonk and general disappointment but then starting thinking about Ironmman this fall and how I know at some point in the run I am going to feel like this and could use this to learn how to suffer a bit. I then decided I would just try and run the rest of the miles in under 8min per mile and I was able to do that. Towards about mile 12 I felt like I was coming out of it and I finished fairly strong. On the course website it showed the half at 13.25 miles and my garmin clocked it at 13.18 miles, so I'm sure the course was a bit long.
Keeping cool Below average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3