Results
My first half marathon in a couple of years. With my Half Iron coming up in August, I have to get in some longer training sessions and races than I would not normally run. The Ocean Run provided me just that opportunity. Prior to the race, I didn't really give any thought to strategy or expectations for the day other than I wanted to make sure I was under 1:20. My half marathon PR goes back to 2004 with a 1:14:42. Knowing my fitness was no where near that, I just figured I'd try to go out and have the best run possible.
The morning of the race was frigid. Grabbed a quick mile warmup with the Shara, Boumenot, Gazelle, Gazelle Jr., & Duda. Dropped my warmup gear and before I knew it, go time! Lined up at the start and tried to size up my competition for the day. There appeared to be a few runners that looked pretty serious and knew how to "throw down."
Once the gun went off, I tried to settle right in. I was immediately bothered by the fact that no one wanted to take the race out. Reluctantly, I took the early lead and tried to run as comfortable as possible. After hitting the mile, I nervously ran back against the crowds trying to weave in and out of runners. Those first miles felt so easy. High fives with WTACers, enjoying the ocean views.."man, these half marathons are pretty sweet." Unfortunately the fun quickly ended when I felt like a ton of bricks hit me around mile 5. This also happens to be the point in the race when Erik Russo and Steve Brightman made their attack on me. After a short time running together, a gap between them and me was there but I was able to keep them within reach. Once I hit about 6.5 miles, I knew things weren't going to get any easier and I was in no man's land just trying to hang on. I'd best describe my second half of Ocean's Run as a struggle. Fortunately, I had a teammate helping me out. Funny thing though, Garwin wasn't even in the race. Chris, Katie, and the little guy were encouraging me to hang in there and keep fighting. As I hit the 10 mile mark (59:00), all of a sudden I was within striking distance of Steve Brightman. I thought to myself, "Maybe I can pull of a second! Focus, don't worry about the #1 guy, go after Brightman." Right before we hit mile 12, I made a move on Brightman and tried to break him. My move did not work. Brightman countered. Once again, Chris offered me some encouragement and reminded me to out kick them that last mile. My tank was completely empty and I just wanted to hang on.."top 3..hold on..c'mon,"..I told myself. Before I knew it, another runner, Brendan Doyle, came cruising by me and I was further discouraged. I just wanted to cross that damn line and be done for the day. Completely spent, I crossed the line in 1:17:18. I didn't let on to friends and teammates, but I was dejected over my weak finish and struggle over the final portions of the race. On the positive side, my time was alright and I gave it my all.
548, 540, 545-too fast
554, 558, 602-struggle begins
558, 558, 547, 607-no man's land
555, 543, 550-suffer fest
After finishing, I quickly met with my parents and their boxer, Ally, who came out to support. They were excited to see Shara and all of my WTAC teammates finish up. While catching my breath, I met up my old boss and PMS Principal, Tim S., who had just finished the 5k. After discussing highs and lows of our races, Tim let me know that he achieved his goal for the day.."Goal achieved, beat Tommy today, I ran the 5k, he ran 13.1." Very neat to watch Gazelle, Action Acton, Which Way Boumenot, Shara, Crutch, and Seth wife finish strong races (Congrats to all). The race had nice swag and was very well organized. Special thanks again to Chris and his family for helping me out there.
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| Boumenot contemplating pushing The Gazelle off the podium. |
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| WTAC |
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| I'm looking rather hefty post race. |
Three days later writing this blog post, I'm still a bit sore from the race. A big part of me wants to race another half sometime this spring and try to go under 1:16 (any takers?). The other part of me wonders how am I going to pull off this Half Ironman in August in respectable time or even finish? No matter what, I better get training. Cheers!
Monday-2500yd swim
Tuesday-8 miles..5 with Lulu on Atlantic Ave and on beach during high tied. Added on another 3 afterwards at a nice clip. Still sore.
Wednesday-5 miles on Moonlight Loop with a light rain. Post run: 25 minute strength (pushups, abs, bench press, hip exercise, stretch).
Thursday-50 minutes on the trainer in my basement.
Friday: am-1300yd swim at the Y..towards the end of my swim, the Schondawg and Gazelle showed. Tackled some repeats with Steve.
p.m. 5+ mile wind run w/ my Animal Friends (Gazelle & Lulu). Added on an additional 2.5 miles at a good clip solo. (7+)
Saturday-a.m. 10k Noyes Neck Road/Materese Hill Tempos (Warmup, 2X 1+ mile up/1 mile down, 4X quick hillpops, jog home). While the hills don't match Holyoke, I thought the up and downs would be a good simulator.
p.m. 7 miles of roads/trails in Burlingame with Shara..took a stop at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center to check out the cool views.
Run: 5X, 48 miles (highest in a long time)
Lulu: 2X, 10 miles
Swim: 2X, 3800yds
Bike: 1X, 50 minutes
Core: 1X, 20 minutes
Good racing Tommy! Looking at your splits, they were actually pretty consistent, so you did a great job jumping up in distance. I wouldn't worry too much about relating this to your half-iron, you'll be very fit by then and still faster than most triathletes on the run leg. Besides, it's good to have a couple regrets/lessons learned to help motivate your training even more.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mike - your splits do look good to me, but I understand not being happy with the end result. Still a pretty good half marathon race for not having done one in a while. Congrats!
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