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Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon
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Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon - Run
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Comments: Was a little concerned about not warming up much but felt good going out with the pack. Settled into a good rhythm. Ended up running a lot of the race with a kid just out of college and we worked together pretty well to keep a decent pace going. Never did stop to pee but the urge eventually went away. With 5 miles left to go I was feeling great but wasn't going to go nuts. With 4 miles left to go I knew I had sub 1:20 in the bag and just kept pushing myself without getting too carried away. I was surprised the crowds in downtown Duluth were as big as they were for that early in the morning - figured people would wait for marathon runners. Great crowds down near the DECC. Finished strong - NEW PR for the half. What would you do differently?: Absolutely nothing. This was my 5th weekend of racing in a row without any taper whatsoever for any race. This was a B race, so my intent was not to run an all out race as if it were Grandmas Marathon. I think this is about as close as I have ever come to perfectly executing my race strategy. My goal was to grab on to the tail of the 6:00 min/mi tiger and hold on no matter how much he tried to scratch and pee on me. Mental discipline was my focus today, not going fast. Except for my usual quicker than desired first mile or so, the plan worked. This is a new PR for the half for me, but this is only the second time I've done a stand alone half. Very pleased for this time of the season - good confidence booster for the volume that lies ahead.  Post race
Warm down: Eat! Jumped in the car and drove home - too much work to do at home. What limited your ability to perform faster: Nothing. Stayed in control. Event comments: I miss doing Grandmas but would definitely do this race again, but then, its my favorite course. Last updated: 2007-04-02 12:00 AM
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 2007-06-16 12:37 PM |
Pro  4675     Wisconsin near the Twin Cities metro |  Subject: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon |
| 2007-06-16 6:09 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Extreme Veteran 502 Woodbury, | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon My goodness rocket man, that's blistering fast! I checked your time before I even verified my own when I got home - just wanted to know how it's supposed to be done. I rolled in about a half hour behind you, so you were probably halfway home. The day wasn't even properly cooking by the time you finished, so basically you cheated. Nice race! |
| 2007-06-16 7:00 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Master 2808 , Minnesota | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Nice job! You're smokin' fast for not tapering. Weather was pretty good for you, eh? Got a little hot for the full. |
| 2007-06-16 7:33 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Master 1671 West Bend, WI | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon NICE!! I cant believe that is only 5th in your AG. Great job out there- can you rub some of that speed off on me?? |
| 2007-06-16 8:11 PM in reply to: #847149 |
Champion 10019 , Minnesota Bronze member | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Another great race Mr. Speedy! Glad to hear you fulfilled your mission. Yeah, it was a little hot toward the end... A cloud or two would have been perfect, but otherwise a great day. |
| 2007-06-16 10:15 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Champion 19812 MA | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Amazingly fast...congrats on a well executed race! |
| 2007-06-17 6:20 AM in reply to: #846949 |
Expert 1059 Lakeville, MN | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Great race...it will be amazing to see what you are able to do with a little taper under your belt before a race! |
| 2007-06-17 11:09 AM in reply to: #846949 |
Elite 3687 | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Great race once again. I commented to my wife how confident you looked before hand. |
| 2007-06-17 1:29 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Elite 3491 In The Peleton | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Great job Jim! Your speed is amazing. |
| 2007-06-17 4:00 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Expert 1002 Wind Lake WI | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Wow, that's impressive. Great prep for Moo. |
| 2007-06-17 10:54 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Expert 1110 Pitt Meadows, BC | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Great time! Very impressed, but I agree with the comment that it's only good for 5th in your AG! |
| 2007-06-17 11:12 PM in reply to: #847998 |
Pro 4675 Wisconsin near the Twin Cities metro | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon VanCityJ - 2007-06-17 10:54 PM but I agree with the comment that it's only good for 5th in your AG! Just goes to show that there's a bunch of fast, older (not old!) guys out there. |
| 2007-06-18 4:46 AM in reply to: #846949 |
Master 1920 Ann Arbor, MI | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Good GOD you are fast!! I am so jealous- you're goal was to NOT go all out? Jeeze, what could you do if you actually tried!!  Great job out there!! |
| 2007-06-18 9:01 AM in reply to: #846949 |
Extreme Veteran 832 Podunk County, MN | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon |
| 2007-06-18 9:35 AM in reply to: #846949 |
Master 2346 Dayton, Minnesota Bronze member | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Impressive as always! Nice job! |
| 2007-06-18 1:43 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Pro 4541 A farming town in MN | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Ditto all the comments above...smokin' fast! Your port-o-john strategy sounds pretty similar to my pre-Grandma's strategy...I thought I was the only one that needed to go 3 times before race start! They can never have enough port-o-johns! Congrats on a sub-1:20 half. You're gonna have a heck of a season... |
| 2007-06-18 2:06 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Expert 660 Central New York | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Not sure how you managed to stay "under control" when OBVIOUSLY you were shot out of a canon. Man, you're fast. |
| 2007-06-18 2:59 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Elite 2515 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Holy schnikes that's fast, Jim! Nice work. Not sure I could even run a single mile at that pace... Looking forward to watching you crush IMMoo! Cheers! Tom |
| 2007-06-18 9:57 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Regular 98 Eden Prairie, MN | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Just think of how much faster you could've gone had you not been running with a full bladder. Or maybe that's WHY you were running so fast! Super race! -Kevin |
| 2007-06-19 9:10 PM in reply to: #846949 |
| Champion 9430 No excuses! | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Heck of a race Jim, season is going along great for you!! Keep it up |
| 2009-01-29 11:36 PM in reply to: #846949 |
Expert 1027 Zürich, Switzerland | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Great job! I think we have the same performances in terms of running times and HR pacing. Last december I did 1h18'16" on a hilly course and I registered same exact HR averages. And this HR is consistent since 4 years on half marathons. It is not common to find somebody with same race speed and same HR. I am preparing for the full marathon now...are you going for the full too? |
| 2009-01-29 11:38 PM in reply to: #1936899 |
Pro 4675 Wisconsin near the Twin Cities metro | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Plissken74 - 2009-01-29 11:36 PM Great job! I think we have the same performances in terms of running times and HR pacing. Last december I did 1h18'16" on a hilly course and I registered same exact HR averages. And this HR is consistent since 4 years on half marathons. It is not common to find somebody with same race speed and same HR. I am preparing for the full marathon now...are you going for the full too? nope, I got bored with marathons after 10 of them (page 2 of my race results) and that's why I started tris. Getting ready for 2 Ironmans this summer. I do plan on setting aside time in the next couple of years to focus on a fast marathon. |
| 2009-01-29 11:57 PM in reply to: #1936900 |
Expert 1027 Zürich, Switzerland | Subject: RE: Gary Bjorkland Half Marathon Birkierunner - 2009-01-29 6:38 AM Plissken74 - 2009-01-29 11:36 PM Great job! I think we have the same performances in terms of running times and HR pacing. Last december I did 1h18'16" on a hilly course and I registered same exact HR averages. And this HR is consistent since 4 years on half marathons. It is not common to find somebody with same race speed and same HR. I am preparing for the full marathon now...are you going for the full too? nope, I got bored with marathons after 10 of them (page 2 of my race results) and that's why I started tris. Getting ready for 2 Ironmans this summer. I do plan on setting aside time in the next couple of years to focus on a fast marathon. I fully agree with your feeling. I did 7 marathons in 2 years (2004 and 2005) and then I stopped after going well below 3hrs. Switched to tris last year. Now again in marathon for a fast one. I think we can do below 2h50' with these half marathons time... But then a question: were you able to give up 2 or 3 running training per week for going smarter on Ironman preparation? It is still annoying me but I know I should do it if I want to improve my IM and HIM times. I am much better on HIM with 4h45' last year and now I want to get a slot for Florida...IM is too though for a slot. I should run probably no more than 4 times per week and hammering on the bike 5x per week... |
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Overall Rank = 52/5027
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 5/255
Up at 2:30 to eat a banana and bottle of Ensure then back to bed. Up again at 3:45 to get ready to go the DECC to catch the race shuttle bus. Arrived at the start area very early about 5 AM - too early. The start area for the half marathon is very small and doesn't have nearly the room to spread out as Grandmas Marathon. Said a quick hello to Bryan (mndiver). I brought a large plastic bag with me and spread it out on the side of the road and put some clothes on top for cushion and just sat down and stretched. Most people came with no warmup clothes, just their race clothes, and stayed standing for 1.5 hours - what are they thinking??
Absolutely zero warmup, which is not what I wanted. There were tons of people coming toward the start corral from the buses and I didn't want to fight against traffic to go warmup. So, I got in one of the long lines to use the porta-john and tried to get my legs warmed up by running in place. Third trip to john was close to start time and after about 20 minutes of waiting to pee and coming within 4 people of getting the next one, I decided to bail and go to the start area so that I could get a decent spot. How long can I hold it?