Half-Marathon PR and a Great Weekend on the North Shore
Date: 9/15/14
Current Weight: 184 lbs
Total Miles Last Week: 21
Long Run This Past Weekend: 13.25 Miles at Wheels-Off Half-Marathon, (Duluth, MN)
As I've said before in my blogs, I have been looking forward to the Wheels-Off Half Marathon all summer and really looking at it as the end of my summer running season for the year. After a great start to the year focused on ultra distance races, I've focused my time since the Afton 50k on a training schedule aimed at building speed and strength in my running. I posted the training schedule that I've been following in my last blog post. It has been focused on alternating weeks, one with higher mileage and the next lower mileage, both with several focused workouts per week; one hill workout, and two short tempo workouts. I knew going into my taper period for the Wheels-Off Half Marathon that I was by far in the best shape I've ever been in. My running has never felt so good and effortless.
This past week was possibly the worst lead up week to a race that I've ever had. I won't go into too much detail, but stress and insomnia are things that most people deal with to some extent at times and unfortunately this week was one of those times for me. I am quite good at keeping a smile on my face and working through it, but it without a doubt reflects in my running ability. By the time Friday rolled around, I was actually considering dropping from the race and just taking the trip up north purely to relax. I felt that having a good performance on such little sleep all week was unlikely, and I really wanted to run this race to get my personal record. I'd say one definite difference between road running and trail running for me is that I'd be pretty unlikely to do a road race just for the enjoyment of it, trails are much more enjoyable for me. Road running has it's place in my heart though, because it allows you to set very specific time goals and have very few interruptions or surprises that keep you from meeting them if you put in the training necessary.
I had a client, Erik, who planned on running the race, as well. He and his wife, Terri (who also recently completed her first half-marathon) had planned on carpooling with us to the drop of site for the shuttle to the start line. When I mentioned to Terri on Friday morning that I was seriously considering dropping, she convinced me to commit to starting the race, even if I was just going to do a more relaxed pace and run alongside Erik. Thanks to her I made my mind up right then that I was at the least going to do the race no matter how I felt the next morning.
After my Fiance, Isabel, and I arrived up in Duluth, we ate dinner and then checked in for the night at our hotel. I woke up the next morning at 4:40am to get ready to go to the shuttle. Although I only got about 5 hours of sleep the night before, I was running on enough adrenaline that It was not too noticeable. The girls dropped Erik and I at the shuttle, and we bussed up to the start of the race on old Hwy-61 near the town of Larsmont. It was a chilly morning, about 37 degrees when we arrived at the start line. After a little over an hour of waiting, we were off and the race had started. It was a smallish group (only 79 racers), and I found myself surprised to be running with a small group at the front of the pack that quickly branched off from the majority of the runners. I was hanging near the top 10 at a comfortable 7:30 pace, and that excited me as I knew If I really had a good day I would be contending for a top 10 spot.
I found myself struggling to find the even pace that I was looking for (around the 7:30 range) in the first few miles. My mile splits ranged from 7:15/mi to 7:40/mi. Although the splits weren't as even as I was hoping, I had been keeping my pace around a 7:30 average, so I didn't worry too much. At mile five I found myself hitting what I thought to be a bit of a wall. I didn't feel terrible, but felt like maintaining my current pace may not be realistic. At 7:30/mi I am definitely working hard. 7:30 is a pace that I am comfortable at for tempo workouts, but something that I honestly had never maintained for more than five miles before in training. I had to convince myself at this point that I was fighting a mental battle, not a physical one. Most of my tempo work leading up to the race had been significantly faster than 7:30/mi, and I convinced myself that my current pace was something that I truly had in me for a longer distance like half-marathon. I powered on, every mile wondering if it would be my last at my current clip. I just kept convincing myself every mile that I could do at least one more mile at my current pace. If I had a true low point in the race, it was along London road. The road is mostly on a slight incline, not enough to really destroy you, but enough to slow your pace. From miles 8-11 on London Rd, I had my slowest mile splits, ranging from 7:35-7:40. As I approached "Lemon Drop Hill," leading into downtown and right before the course dumps onto I-35, I was feeling fatigued, beaten up, and was noticing that I couldn't seem to maintain the same leg turnover that I was earlier in the run. At this point I had to make a decision, I was either going to give it an all out effort and finish with a PR, or I was going to give in and let my goal slip by. The choice was obvious to me, even if I didn't make my goal, I knew I would regret not at least trying to since I would have been so close. I turned my trusty white hat backward (which means business, in case you didn't know..), turned on the afterburner, and managed to crank out two more max effort miles. I managed to average under 7:30 for the last two miles and came in with a time of 1:39:45, my best half marathon time by almost five minutes. It could not have felt better to cross the finish line and know I had given an all out effort and made my goal. My placing was 12th overall, and the first of seven in the Men's 20-29 division. Erik also not only crossed the finish line, but crushed his time goal for the race. Congrats to Erik (aka: Captain
America)!
What this race taught me is a lesson I already knew - don't let you mind limit what you can do. The mind has a comfort zone, a safe place, and a "governor" much like a car has to keep it within those bounds. When you push out of that comfort zone, the mind tries to place a limit on what you can do both physically and mentally. Tim Noakes is a South African professor that has done some extensive research on this phenomenon. His research has shown that in runners, the mind is almost always the limiting factor. That your mind will tell you that you can't withstand the pain, the output, and the effort the you are putting in long before you truly physically cannot withstand it. He calls this his "Central Governor Theory." In this race I took a pace that felt like it was going to be nearly impossible to maintain, and held tight to it, losing only 3 seconds per mile overall in the second half of my race, finishing with a 7:33/mi average overall.
Although I am happy with my performance, I do wonder how much better it could have been if I had a good tapering week of adequate sleep and lower stress. Looking forward, I need to work harder to plan ahead to allow my body the rest it needs in the week prior to my focus races.
After the run, I enjoyed a great weekend with my fiance, Isabel. We enjoyed a night on the town with Erik and Terri, enjoying some fabulous food at "The Tavern on the Hill," along with a few too many great craft brews at the restaurant and the Bent Paddle Brewing Co. On Sunday Isabel and I enjoyed a visit to the spot where we got engaged along the North Shore, and a few hours of hiking along the trails near Gooseberry Falls.
Overall, I feel happy and relieved to have this race behind me. I am now looking forward to the Icebox 480 and a winter of cross-training and base training for next year. I plan to write a bit more about that in my next blog post.
Current Weight: 184 lbs
Total Miles Last Week: 21
Long Run This Past Weekend: 13.25 Miles at Wheels-Off Half-Marathon, (Duluth, MN)
As I've said before in my blogs, I have been looking forward to the Wheels-Off Half Marathon all summer and really looking at it as the end of my summer running season for the year. After a great start to the year focused on ultra distance races, I've focused my time since the Afton 50k on a training schedule aimed at building speed and strength in my running. I posted the training schedule that I've been following in my last blog post. It has been focused on alternating weeks, one with higher mileage and the next lower mileage, both with several focused workouts per week; one hill workout, and two short tempo workouts. I knew going into my taper period for the Wheels-Off Half Marathon that I was by far in the best shape I've ever been in. My running has never felt so good and effortless.
 |
| Cold Morning Pre Race |
I had a client, Erik, who planned on running the race, as well. He and his wife, Terri (who also recently completed her first half-marathon) had planned on carpooling with us to the drop of site for the shuttle to the start line. When I mentioned to Terri on Friday morning that I was seriously considering dropping, she convinced me to commit to starting the race, even if I was just going to do a more relaxed pace and run alongside Erik. Thanks to her I made my mind up right then that I was at the least going to do the race no matter how I felt the next morning.
After my Fiance, Isabel, and I arrived up in Duluth, we ate dinner and then checked in for the night at our hotel. I woke up the next morning at 4:40am to get ready to go to the shuttle. Although I only got about 5 hours of sleep the night before, I was running on enough adrenaline that It was not too noticeable. The girls dropped Erik and I at the shuttle, and we bussed up to the start of the race on old Hwy-61 near the town of Larsmont. It was a chilly morning, about 37 degrees when we arrived at the start line. After a little over an hour of waiting, we were off and the race had started. It was a smallish group (only 79 racers), and I found myself surprised to be running with a small group at the front of the pack that quickly branched off from the majority of the runners. I was hanging near the top 10 at a comfortable 7:30 pace, and that excited me as I knew If I really had a good day I would be contending for a top 10 spot.
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| Proud finishers post race |
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| Taken right after I crossed the finish line |
What this race taught me is a lesson I already knew - don't let you mind limit what you can do. The mind has a comfort zone, a safe place, and a "governor" much like a car has to keep it within those bounds. When you push out of that comfort zone, the mind tries to place a limit on what you can do both physically and mentally. Tim Noakes is a South African professor that has done some extensive research on this phenomenon. His research has shown that in runners, the mind is almost always the limiting factor. That your mind will tell you that you can't withstand the pain, the output, and the effort the you are putting in long before you truly physically cannot withstand it. He calls this his "Central Governor Theory." In this race I took a pace that felt like it was going to be nearly impossible to maintain, and held tight to it, losing only 3 seconds per mile overall in the second half of my race, finishing with a 7:33/mi average overall.
 |
| A New Favorite |
After the run, I enjoyed a great weekend with my fiance, Isabel. We enjoyed a night on the town with Erik and Terri, enjoying some fabulous food at "The Tavern on the Hill," along with a few too many great craft brews at the restaurant and the Bent Paddle Brewing Co. On Sunday Isabel and I enjoyed a visit to the spot where we got engaged along the North Shore, and a few hours of hiking along the trails near Gooseberry Falls.
Overall, I feel happy and relieved to have this race behind me. I am now looking forward to the Icebox 480 and a winter of cross-training and base training for next year. I plan to write a bit more about that in my next blog post.
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