March Madness Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Cary, Illinois
United States
hillstriders
29F / -2C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 35m 30s
Overall Rank = 156/992
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 38/107
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 5:30am and had the usual clif bar and banana and 12 oz of water. Went back and laid down. Couldn't fall back to sleep, though. I had a course to beat up on ;)

Packed up the bag and headed over to the gym. Had some time to kill, so went to the porta-pottay and then found a ton of BTers to chat with about the race (chirunner, HL, whizz, dumpster, steve-, misskelly, grizdog,davidclough).
Event warmup:

It was about 8:10, so I shot a gel and some water and Coredump and I headed out for a quick 10' warmup. Shedded some of my clothes and headed to the start line. Saw Davidclough lined up about where I was and he mentioned that I might be too close to the front. I agreed and kind of moved around and found the perfect spot.
Run
  • 1h 35m 30s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 07m 17s  min/mile
Comments:

This was a pretty good run. My super secret goal on this course was to get to 1:35 and I accomplished that. I started out and was seeded pretty good. The field had a ton of accomplished runners and BQers on training runs. As always, the pack started out a little quick, but I remained in my position and pretty much went out at the pace I wanted to hit (7:10). I also knew that the next two miles would be fast b/c they are net downhill, so I wanted to take advantage of them, without letting my HR get out of whack.

I knew that I wasn't going to negative split this race with miles 10-12 being what they were, so I planned on going by HR. I wanted to keep the HR in check for the first 4 - 5 miles, and then just let it go. I had done a 70' tempo run at/around LT, so I knew I could survive the race once I got through mile 4 at an easier pace. So, although the splits for 1-3 were faster, they weren't out of control HR wise.

I kind of lost concentration during mile 4, b/c although its somewhat uphill, its not a big hill and my pace should have been faster their. Once I made that turn, I gradually started picking up the pace. I saw davidclough in front of me, and he was flying. I wanted to catch him, so I made him my rabbit. He came back to me faster than I expected, as when we hit the first big hill at mile 5, he was slowing down. I passed him at the top, sent him some encouraging words and really started to dial in for the next hill. Once you hit that hill at mile 7, then its recovery time for the next couple of miles. I used that to get my overall pace down, but also to keep the HR in check for the last 5K of climbs.

At mile 10 I was in position 175, according to this dude that was shouting position. This was way cool, b/c even though I was struggling a bit there, I realized everyone else was, too. I made my way through mile 11 and then Hangloose was riding his bike and followed me a bit offering some encouraging words. Once I got through mile 12, I decided to leave it all out there. I ended with everything I had and passed a few people while kicking it to the end.

My garmin had it at 13.18 miles, and others had it at 13.2 or so. This is close enough, though..

1m: 7:11, 148 ahr
2m: 6:54, 157 ahr (downhill)
3m: 6:56, 158 ahr (downhill)
4m: 7:31, 158 ahr (uphill)
5m: 7:21, 159 ahr
6m: 7:17, 162 ahr
7m: 7:22, 164 ahr (uphill)
8m: 7:10, 163 ahr
9m: 7:07, 159 ahr (downhill)
10m: 7:24, 165 ahr (major uphill)
11m: 7:25, 165 ahr (major uphill)
12m: 7:26, 165 ahr (uphill)
13m: 7:09, 168 ahr
0.18m: 6:21, 171 ahr

What would you do differently?:

Not much. I would like to have kept the pace going for mile 4 that I had for mile 5. Lost a few seconds there. And I would have started my kick a little sooner b/c I still had a little left, there at the end.
Post race
Warm down:

I met with my family and had some endurox and stretched. Talked awhile as I watched other BTers finish. Then I changed and got some of the warm pretzels that are so darn good.

We then sat down and re-hashed the race. Good times.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not much, again. I have a feeling if I wasn't traveling with the guys the 4 days before the event, I probably would have had even a better race time. I didn't get much sleep while out in NYC, and did over indulge in eating (and drinking) a bit. We played hoops (for 2 hours) and football (for another 2 hours) in back to back days. Not exactly the perfecct taper, as my legs had some soreness from doign sports I am not used to.

Post race analysis from coach, showed that I may have been a little dehyrdated towards the end of the race. Considering I only took in 18 oz, that is highly likely.

Not sure how much this affected the overall time, but probably a bit. Just leaves more room for improvement next time! And I am very happy with this time and improvement over my PB (4.5 minutes!).

Event comments:

They put on a great race. No wonder it fills up in 2 days so fast.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2008-01-24 12:00 AM
Running
01:35:30 | 13.1 miles | 07m 17s  min/mile
Age Group: 38/107
Overall: 156/992
Performance: Good
See below in run report.
Course: From their website: Marathon Course has been dubbed the most challenging in Northern Illinois. We strongly recommend that you train for this race on hills, both uphill and downhill. On a scale of 1 to 10, we rate this 8. This means the course is not flat!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5