My race plan was to run a 10 min. mile and stay in HR zone 2 for the first 8 miles. Then determine if I could sustain the pace or increase the pace for the remainder of the race. After starting I tried to maintain a pace that would keep me in Zone 2. I started off a little too fast. After just a few minutes, I had to focus on staying on pace as people were passing by me steadily. After the first 4 miles, other races around me were maintaining a similar pace. Approaching the park, I knew Joann would be there, so I got a boost in energy waiving to her. Before the bridge, I could hear runners commenting on the bridge and how hard it was going to be. Having trained on it, I had confidence I would be strong going over it. As I approached, I extended my stride rate and accelerated up, passing alot of runners who slowed considerably or where walking. On the downside, I focused on small steps with my feet landing more aft than normal and just let the decline take me down. HR increased slightly going up but was back in the zone before reaching the bottom. The run out to the JFK school and back was nice and steady. Approaching the museum entrance, the crowd started to gather in the street. So much so, there was only about 6 feet to run through on the two lane road on Wisner. As I turned on to Moss St., I had gotten behind a female runner who was maintaining a pace of about a 9 min. mile. I focused on keeping up and as she increased her pace for the last 3 miles I stayed with her. This helped me greatly to stay mentally focused on pushing the pace. A few times I had the thought of slowing, but I just kept saying hold on the superdome is just around the corner. As we circled the superdome, I slowed slightly so when I entered I could have a nice finishing kick. Turning into the entrance I started getting excited and increased my stride. Crossing the finish line and hearing the announcer call out my name felt great.

Mile - Time - HR
1 9:59:44 167
2 10:05:34 173
3 10:02:62 174
4 10:03:12 172
5 9:46:22 189 Up Bridge (Mile 5 marker was as the top)
6 9:55:17 170
7 10:04:75 174
8 9:56:86 173
9 9:52:63 173 Up Bridge (Mile 9 marker was as the top)
10 9:04:22 174
11 8:40:98 179
12 8:37:65 183
13 8:22:05 187
13.1 :49:57 189

Not much. Stay in my HR zone a little better. Maybe use zone 3 instead of 2 for the first 6 miles. Then increase pace into zone 4.

Warmup for longer. Warming up is a constant area that needs improvement both in training and race day.

4 Scoops Recoverite


Probably performed to the best of my aerobic conditioning.