Austin Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Austin, Texas
United States
The Austin Marathon Foundation, Inc.
50F / 10C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 58m 25s
Overall Rank = 1758/6977
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 158/780
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 6:00. Ate a luna bar and an orange w/ a bottle of water. Showered, pottied, and got dressed. It was milder than I thought, so I went back to the room to shed some layers before heading out.
Event warmup:

Walked 5', jogged easy 10', walked, stretched, did 4X accelerations, walked, lined up
Run
  • 1h 58m 25s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 02s  min/mile
Comments:

I started under pace on the long slow climb. Took 4 walk breaks during each hour, but timed them based on feel rather than my watch. Tried to take big advantage of downhills to speed up turnover and make-up time and tried to take walk-breaks more on hills where I would be slowing down anyway. I kept an eye on HR to keep it around 162. Got into 170's 1X and slowed a bit to avoid that. Tried to walk long enough to bring HR down to low 150's before running again. Strategy seemed to work. I was right on 90 minutes at the 10 mile marker. Carried Accelerade and skipped water stations. Energy was good, but made my throat mucusy and had some gas and diarrhea later.
What would you do differently?:

I could have worn shorts instead of long pants, but I did not over heat. I will try plain water and a gel next time.
Post race
Warm down:

Ate a banana and did some light stretching. Walked some and then did more stretching. Had some chicken noodle soup - excellent post race nutrition! My stomach was a little upset, but the soup was soothing and made it feel much better! Walked back to the hotel and had 1/2 whole grain bagel w/ rest of soup.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I think this was the best effort I could have made with my current training and fitness. I expect these things will improve together.

Event comments:

This was a VERY well supported race! The packet pick-up was super fast, smooth and easy. There were lots of volunteers, lots of drink stations and lots of good stuff at the finish line. The only down side was that the race ended up starting 10-15 min. late, so we were getting pretty cold standing there after getting all warmed up. I would highly recommend the race.




Last updated: 2008-12-21 12:00 AM
Running
01:58:25 | 13.1 miles | 09m 02s  min/mile
Age Group: 158/780
Overall: 1758/6977
Performance: Good
Course: The course lived up to it's reputation for the hills, including the "killer hill" at the end, which was fortunately fairly short. There was plenty of room to run and the bands that lined the route were fantastic.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5