Palm Desert Half Marathon race report

Palm Desert Half Marathon/5K
Linda and I thought about doing this race a couple of days prior to race day Sunday. We were going to see how we felt on Saturday and then decide. I had a 10 mile run to do anyway but could have just done that as a training run. The only taper I did was to not ride or swim on the weekend. Other than that, last week's training went as usual, including strength training/weight lifting on Friday.

Linda signed up for the 5K and I registered for the 1/2. I was excited to be doing this race with Linda again. We've done this is the past on a Valentine's Day weekend and had fun.

The weather was a perfect ~50* f. with the sun out and not a lot of wind at 7am. The course was essentially flat as well with just a few rises and drops, aka 'false flats'. The course was uncrowded just under 600 1/2 marathoners and an even smaller number of 5K-ers. Linda did the 5K and started 15 min. after the 1/2. After the race she felt inspired to do more 5K's this year and is hoping some will join her. (Details to come.)

I maintained a good pace throughout my race, using heart rate as a confirmation of my perceived effort (see below for further explanation). I held a consistent and gradually descending pace and effort with the biggest pace variations coming from the undulations of the course. Finished strong. In the end I had a PR by over 7 minutes.

Observations/Coaching recommendations: 

• Take the shortest route! When the course curves around to the right or left, move towards the cone side or the gutter side of the lane and run the shortest distance you reasonably can. Some people just blindly run a line no matter what.
• In a headwind, draft! I ran behind a bigger guy (red, curly hair - easy to spot) whenever we had a headwind during the first few miles. During the 1st half of the run he was going slightly faster so I purposely accelerated to catch him when we hit the windy sections.
• Don't get carried away by the excitement! Run slower off the starting line than you think you should. Ignore all the other runners around you. The more people there are the more likely you'll be swept away in the moment, run too hard, and then finish much slower than expected.
• After around a mile or two or three, don't think, "Hey! I'm feeling really good. I think I'll push the pace and see what I can do." Most of the time this ends in disaster. Most people DO feel good early on, once they get moving. That DOESN'T mean they're going to be able to maintain that pace and continue to feel good. Better to start off at the pace you planned and speed up at the end than it is to start fast, "bank some time", and hope you can hang on in the later miles. You probably won't have as fast a time with using the "banking time" strategy.

Boring time splits, heart rate averages, and stats(with an short HR explanation):

1:47:10 (13.19mi by gps) - previous best 1:54:26 Carlsbad, Jan. 2015

8:08/mi average pace; 139 average Heart Rate

6th of 24 in age group

73rd of 243 males

111th of 589 overall

Splits:

1 mi - 8:31, HR ave ???

2 mi - 8:15, HR 132 (caught myself feeling good and pushing too hard too early)

3 mi - 8:30, 131 (back off a little from the previous mile)

4 mi - 8:27, 135

5 mi - 8:16, 136

6 mi - 7:41, 136 (some downhill)

7 mi - 8:41, 137 (some uphill) 

8 mi - 8:08, 138

9 mi - 7:48, 141 (some downhill)

10 mi - 8:02, 142

11 mi - 8:19, 142

12 mi - 7:44, 148

13 mi - 7:32, 153

13.1 mi - 7:18 pace, 154

At 59 years old, my aerobic Zone 2 heart rate is around 110 to 128-ish. Zone 3 (tempo) is around 128 to 138-ish. Zone 4 is 144 to 154-ish. My MAF heart rate is at 132. Through training and experience I know that I can do a 1/2 marathon-type event in Zone 3, allowing it to drift upwards toward the high end as the miles pile up. Towards the end I know I can be in Zone 4 for a reasonable amount of time. How long depends on how well I paced the earlier miles. One note: even though mile 2 heart rate was at a reasonable rate, it takes time for HR to come up and for me to settle into a comfortable pace that is sustainable.

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