San Diego Half Marathon - Plan, Results, Consequences, and Quiet Goal

I signed up for the San Diego Half Marathon at the last minute. Linda and Corey were doing the 5K so I wanted to be supportive, especially of Linda's 60K For Sixty goal for 2016. The picture below is of her three 5k medals. 3 down, 9 to go! And it was her best time on a very much downhill course.

I had a 19 mile run scheduled as part of my training for a marathon (May 1 - which is still definitely a questionable proposition as my plantar f-ing-itis is rearing it's ugly head with all this run training. I'm still up in the air on this marathon plans.)

3rd 5K for Linda's 60K For Sixty

The goals for this run were:

1. Run my 19 miles one way or another.
2. Run the first 8 miles at a moderate, slower-than-marathon zone 2 effort/pace.
3. Run the final 5 miles at goal marathon pace of 8:37/mile.
4. Finish at around 2:00.
5. Come out of this race able to train the next day - if I race it my quads will be painfully sore for 3-4 days. (Half marathons tear me up, as do most events that I actually race.

Goal 1 fell by the wayside when I only got a mile in prior to the start of the race. The atmosphere and excitement got the best of me and dampened my enthusiasm to do extra - I only got 1 mile in before the race. I achieved the 2nd goal, staying in Zone 2 heart rate for 8 miles and even taking a quick bathroom break. It felt very easy. Goal 3 had to be modified because the GPS watch was not showing mile splits. Instead of pace I resorted to monitoring heart rate and staying in Zone 3 in spite of the hilly terrain. Goal 4 was met with a 1:57:10 finishing time.

Goal 5 was only partly achieved. My quads came out of this run in good shape with just minor soreness. My plantar f-ing-itis was quite angry though. I also woke up with a small knot in my back between the ribs. It didn't bother me at all during the run but by the end of the day it was tight enough to keep me from training. With 3 weeks until Ironman California 70.3 Oceanside my priority was to be healthy so I skipped 2 days of training, saw Dr Ott my Chiro, rolled and "ground" the knot, and a good massage.

I haven't given up on my desire to do a marathon on May 1st. Caitlyn is my inspiration. When she finally did her first marathon in January of 2015 AND ran a Boston Qualifying time to boot, I decided to look up what the qualifying time was for my geezerly 60-64 age group. It's a 3:55. With my one and only stand-alone marathon at 4:29 done in 2008, a 35 minute time drop, especially after doing a 1/2 marathon in 1:47, seems possible. Plantar F-ing-itis may be the limiter though. I don't want to sacrifice my Ironman Arizona race (and Mission 16/60 goal) in November where I very likely need to win my age group to qualify for Kona. So, following through with an attempt to qualify for Boston is still to be decided.

GPS file from race. The mile paces, according to this file, line up well with goals 2 and 3, especially when considering the hilly terrain during the final 5 miles.

#getsladed #sdhalf #sladecoaching

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.

#getsladed #halfmarathon #sladecoaching #racereport #palmdeserthalfmarathon #Mission1660

Another Half Marathon

The legs, especially the quads, are HURTING today! Finished the San Diego "Triple Crown" yesterday - 3 Half Marathons in 2015. First Carlsbad, then La Jolla, and finally, today, AFC (America's Finest City) Half Marathon. It was hot and humid for San Diego and this seems to be typical for this 1/2. It's also a challenging course, starting at the Point Loma lighthouse and descending for a number of miles before flattening out, with a final not-so-fun hill in one of the final miles before leveling of in Balboa Park. It's a beautiful point-to-point race. It was great to see many Team Challenge fellow athletes out there racing!

With the terrain the way it was I decided to ignore my mile pace and run based on feel and heart rate. Which meant I probably ran too hard down the hills and the quads pay for that. As the race progressed and leveled off I slowly increased my effort and allowed my heart rate to slowly rise. It kept hitting 141+ (which is a tick below Zone 4 for this geezer and I didn't know how LONG I could handle Z4). I'd back off slightly but I'd look again and it was up again. In spite of that the occasional mile split I'd see were relatively slow so I continued to try to ignore that, focus on steady effort and good form, and let the finish time be what it would be.

Ran or short-strided most of the final long uphill, passing a good number of people. I had no true sense of what was coming after that hill since I didn't do my due diligence to prepare. From the comments the veterans made to me on Facebook I trusted it would be flat so ran harder that final stretch to the finish. I didn't dig as deep for this as I have other races and I think it's an indication that my focus is elsewhere - Silverman 70.3 and Ironman Arizona. I did cut a lot of training out last week as something of a taper but now it's back to it with 7 weeks to go until Silverman.

Time to do some foam rolling, grinding, and stretching!

Boring details:
2:07:13 (9:36/mi, HR ave 138, HR max 158)
37th of 149 in age group (top 25%)
988th of 2445 males (40%)
1551st of 5021 overall (30.9%)
Splits:
1 Mile - 9:24 ("flat"), HR ave 119
2 - 8:57 (slight uphill +33ft), 133
3 - 8:37 (-76ft), 135
4 - 8:14 (-270), 133
5 - 9:05 ("flat"), 137
6 - 9:41 (flat), 138
7 - 9:47 (flat), 139
8 - 10:12 (flat), 139
9 - 10:22 (flat), 140
10 - 9:49 (flat), 142
11 - 10:25 (flat), 141
12 - 10:56 (+114), 142
13 - 9:52 (+76), 149

#Mission1660 #getsladed

Carlsbad 1/2 Marathon / Mission 16/60 Update

It's been at least a month since my last update. Like so many other people it was a challenge for me to get all my training in during the last few weeks of  December. Family, friends, and other commitments tend to be extra high priorities and that was the case for me too. Along with that came a cold that last a few days. After recovering from that, first some back muscles seized up and then my left Achilles started complaining. Each of those things cost me about 3 days of training.

Otherwise I've been swimming at least 2 and usually 3 times a week, riding 3 times a week (all shorter stuff on the trainer or in a spin class), and running at least 3 times a week as well. Strength training has averaged 2 1/2 times a week. All of this has been part of my change of focus this year. Mission 16/60 is still in place and running has been the highest priority. Doing speed work and strength work on the bike is also part of the focus and I find indoor cycling classes push me the most to get some of that. Longer rides out on the road will need to be started this weekend because Ironman California 70.3 (Oceanside) is about 10 weeks away. Adding a 3rd strength training session when I could fit it in on the weekend was just a way to change things up some after doing a twice a week routine for a few years. The original guidance for this training is from my guru/expert, Diane Buchta. She KNOWS her stuff and she has helped me to have much success in this long distance triathlon game.

Weight and nutrition are another matter. So I'll be open with this like I've tried to be with my training and challenges. My current weight is 165.5 lbs. It's a good 12 pounds over what I feel is my ideal race weight. I'll write more on what I intend to do about it soon.

Linda - Thomas Bloom (Mom took photo)

The 1/2 marathon at Carlsbad on Sunday was a success. I read my race report from 2 months ago to refresh my memory on what I did right and if there was anything to improve on besides my time. Unlike the November race there would be undulations on this course so my splits would not be as easy to gauge. I chose to run by heart rate and feel instead. Based on that I think I had more even splits than in November. I started at a more reasonable pace the first 3 miles. I wasn't able to speed up as much at the end of this race but that seems to be because of more consistent and faster middle miles. In the end I dropped 2 minutes off my time and was quite happy with my effort and performance. Although being 5 or 10 minutes faster would be a dream come true, it will obviously take a lot more hard work and some good fortune.

Caitlyn Pilkington, Boston Qualifier

The race itself was well run and the course was nice... and on familiar roads. I've done many training rides and runs along sections of it. Linda and Mom were out on the course where we barely saw each other at around mile 5 and then again at mile 8 or so. I took water in at about every other aid station - so roughly every 2 to 3 miles. I took in a 100 calorie gel with water at mile 6 and again at mile 9 or 10. Once again I was surprised to see how many people don't cut the apex on the curves but simply follow the painted line on the asphalt.

Post race I met up with family and a number of Team Challenge friends. (Not pictured include Kat, John, and Genna.) The best was hearing that Caitlyn Pilkington finished her first marathon in a 3:29, a Boston Qualifier!

Boring Stats:
mile 1 - 9:05 pace (a little crowded) / Heart Rate ave 121
2 - 8:19 (down hill) / HR 131
3 - 8:52/ HR 136
4 - 8:20/ 138
5 - 8:49 (up and down) / 139
6 - 8:36 (up and down) / 136
7 - 9:22 (steepest section - walked more) /133
8 - 8:35 / 137
9 - 8:44 (some uphill) / 140
10 - 8:29 / 138
11 - 8:26 / 144
12 - 8:19 / 144
13 - 7:59 /146
13.29 - 7:49 finishing pace / 147 HR ave
Official Time 1:54:26
Unofficial 13.1 split = 1:53:09
Personal best, previous best 1:56:26 (16 Nov 2014)
52nd of 170 in age group
841 of 2713 men
1301 of 6653 Overall
Age Grade: 62.81%

Sunday, 17 February 2008

Palm Springs 1/2 Marathon (my first 1/2 marathon)
1:59:15 (~9:10 average mile), 312 of 675 overall, 226 of 312 men, 33 of 50 men aged 50-54.
Goal time 2:05 before injury
Plan was to start on the slow side, run for 7:00, walk 30 sec.
HR monitor malfunctioned for 1st 2 miles
Mile Splits (some miles have 2 walk breaks)
9.53
9.16
8.55 HR max 151, ave 146
18.46 (2 miles - 9.26) HR max154, ave 145
9.44 HR 153, 146
9.17 HR 150, 143
8.49 HR 152, 142
8.47 HR 154, 144
9.17 HR 155, 147
8.57 HR 150, 146
8.45 HR 157, 153
7.57 HR 164, 161
:48 (last .1 miles - sprint) HR 172, 168 - final 5K 26:27

Half Marathon and Marathon Planning

Before I leave:

1. Don't eat within 3 hours of the start. Ok to sip water.
2. Shirt, shorts, socks, shoes
3. Sweatshirt for the drive?
4. Bathroom
5. Eat a Gel (Hammer or Gu) with caffeine, 5-10 before the start.

Bring:

1. Ice chest
2. Sports drink - Gookinaid Hydralyte or GU2O or Hammer Endurolyte
3. Sports drink with protein - Hammer Sustained Energy
4. Sports gel - Hammer or GU
5. chapstick
6. Fuel belt
7. UnderArmour for cold weather?
8. Hat
9. Sunscreen
10. shoelace
11. sunglasses
12. Food, water for after
13. $ for extras
14. Watch
15. HR monitor