Started off at my easy pace, around 9:30-9:40 per mile and tried to get in the groove. After a couple of miles, my HR was at Z1.9, I felt good and bumped it up to 8:45-9:00 per mile. HR elevated Z2-low Z3. I was able to hold this pace through the first hour or so, about 6.5/ 7 miles.

At 1:20 into the race, my legs just started to give out. A high level of fatigue came into my quads. Breathing was okay; HR was Z2-low Z3 but I just couldn't get my legs to move any faster. They just kept getting slower and slower. As my legs got heavier and more fatigued, my pace slowed and my HR with it. I was trotting along at 11:00-13:00 per mile, my HR in Z1, and I couldn't go any faster.

I don't think it was my nutrition. I've been using PowerGels with a lot of success lately. I took one of these every four miles, about every 40 minutes. Hydration could have been an issue. Water was given out in 3-4 oz. servings every two miles but I brought a water bottle to supplement this. I even walked through every water stop and at one point refilled my own water bottle. I'm sure I consumed 40oz.+ of water, which is typical of most of my longer runs.

This performance was almost a full minute per mile slower than my earlier half-marathon. I improved my hydration and nutrition, which were limiters on the last race. That leaves only two other reasons for a poor performance: my training plan and the heat.

As I ranted about earlier in my logs, I'm not really happy with my body's performance under the LSD program. I feel like I have lost a whole lot of speed and this race seemed to show it. Now, to be fair, it looks like I'm going to start some speedwork in my program just next week. I going to stick to this program for the DM Half-Mary in October but I'm not very happy so far.

The second concern is the heat. I beat the heat this year, consuming a lot more water throughtout the run and improving my nutrition. Still, the temps were in the 90's, as opposed to the 70's in May. This heat is going to have an effect on my time as well.

I guess I'm going to have to chalk this up to heat but my training is still suspect.

I can't think of anything I would do differently.

Grabbed some fruit and water in the cooling tent and caught up with P and B. Kibbutzed a bit with a lot of the running regulars, we headed to the pool for a cool-down. Water temp was about 80* but still cooler than the air. For the most part, I just walked around and kept cool for a while. A few times I got some bad craps in my hamstrings but nothing that I couldn't stretch.


The heat, some weight,


I actually did the satellite version of the race at Joint Base Balad in Iraq but I wanted to be with the rest of the group. :)