Colorado Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Fort Collins, Colorado
United States
40F / 4C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 31m 32s
Overall Rank = 52/1079
Age Group = M30-39
Age Group Rank = 4/61
Pre-race routine:

Up at 4:00 am. Threw my bag in the car, fixed some toast with peanut butter and hit the road. Had an espresso GU on the road and water. My stomach wasn’t feeling all that settled but I sipped a bit more water and knew I had over 2hrs to race time. Parked in the parking car garage and loaded onto the bus for the trip out. Sat next to a gentleman from South Bend who was out for the week to race and do some biking. Nice trip out to the start.

Got to the start ~6:20. The crowds were pretty much gathered around the johnies or the trucks trying to stay warm and out of the breeze. I use the restroom then sat down for a bit.
Event warmup:

~6:35 I went out to the marathon mile marker 12 and back for a warmup. This warmup routine should get be back to the start with ~5min to spare, however, I rounded the last bend and there was not a runner in sight! WTF! I ran over to the truck, threw my clothes off and into a bag. I was looking for the timing mats and couldn’t see them so I hit the road and started my watch – resolving that I could still run a PR by my garmin and be a few minutes behind “officially.” Well, I rounded the next bend and saw the last of the runners shuffling across the timing mat. I reset my garmin and was one of the last across the timing mat. I was chuckling.
Run
  • 1h 31m 32s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 06m 59s  min/mile
Comments:

The first mile was pretty chaotic considering my starting position. I tried to run straight lines and stay out of the pack. I mostly ended up running just across the midline or on the shoulder. The second mile was still congested, but less chaotic. I had to use the garmin for pacing these first few miles – I seemed to be either at 7 even or well faster than target for some reason.

We got out of the canyon at mile 4 and the course started to flatten and we lost our tailwind. Despite having to concentrate a lot on pacing, I really felt good at this point and simply wanted to stay strong and in control. I was a bit concerned that the pacing would get increasingly difficult as the miles passed and the grade shallowed – it did.
The only real climb came in the 6th mile. It was a non-factor. My hr was 175 (bottom of z4) going into it and I stopped looking at the pace and just nailed a steady HR. I peaked and had a sip of Heed at the top. A good downhill after the crest and I let myself log my fasted mile split here (6:40 – which I probably shouldn’t have done).

I started feeling fatigued around mile 7 and really fatigued in miles 9 & 10, and my mile splits show it. My plan was to kick it up a notch for the final 5k and I just couldn’t. I was doing everything I could at this point to just hang onto the pace – I was spent. I tried to keep running strong and it felt good to be passing the 10kers, and a HMer every one in awhile.

I should say that I was only passed once the entire race, and this included the 10kers that joined up with us at mile 10. A guy I passed coming out of the canyon overtook me at mile 12, slowing down a bit as he passed to tell me that I was running really strong and that I was pushing him the entire race. I tailed him to the finish and never overtook him (but my chip time beat his chip time by nearly a minute).

Shortly after this we turned off the bike path and onto the final straight up to the finish. Seeing the finish really helped and I picked it up a notch to finish strong.

mile time hr ave/max
1 6:51 168/173
2 6:57 172/175
3 6:55 173/175
4 6:59 173/177
5 6:46 173/178
6 7:05 175/178 (hill)
7 6:40 173/177 (solid downhill)
8 6:51 177/179
9 7:03 176/179 (trying to keep the wheels on)
10 7:02 178/180
11 7:06 178/185 (hitting z5)
12 7:15 177/179 (wheels coming off)
13 8:04 180/185 (1.13mi)
What would you do differently?:

start on time. better pacing in the second 5 miles, although I really don't know if this hurt me that much. ease into a kick earlier rather than waiting until I could see it
Post race
Warm down:

Got a water after the race. Ran into Bruce in the finish chute and chatted with him for awhile. Got more water, some bagels, cookies, and orange slices. My stomach was really not liking me at all, so I hobbled around a bit. Went down a block to see the first of the marathoners come in. Saw Dime finish and he was looking strong. Viewed the results, chatted with some friend from my running club, looked for Dime in the beer garden.

Had I ran my goal of 1hr 30min I would have podium’d! I can’t believe that.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I really don't know. I trained my a$$ off for this race. I had some crappy pacing workouts due to 30+ mph winds at times and got sick a few times leading up to this, but nothing that really got in my way.
Race day, I was ready. Fesh and tapered.

Event comments:

awesome course, esp. for Colorado! If I do mary or another half mary I'll look to this again.




Last updated: 2008-02-28 12:00 AM
Running
01:31:32 | 13.1 miles | 06m 59s  min/mile
Age Group: 4/61
Overall: 61/1079
Performance: Good
garmin says 13.19 @ 1:31:41 "race time" was 1:33:48 chip time was 1:31:32
Course: nice course. net ~400ft el loss with maybe 150 of climbing. point to point with the ~last half being on a bike path
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4