March Madness Half Marathon

This past weekend was what is affectionately referred to in the Chicago running circles as "The hilly half-marathon." Flatlanders that we are, we just don't get many hilly races, so this is the one chance that many of us get to stretch those hill climbing muscles.

Leading up to the race I was thinking that I had a shot at breaking 1:13, which would put me right in the PR range. The goal was to go out hard and try and bank some time early as the hills during the last 3 miles really make this a hard course to run hard late. When the gun went off, I was greeted with a pretty stiff head wind though and the first mile came in at a sluggish 5:42. I tried to bare down on the next two miles and it seemed to work as I clocked in a couple of sub 5:30 miles, but for some reason, I just didn't have it mentally this race. I continually found my mind drifting off during the race and usually as my mind would drift off, so would my splits. I was out there running, running pretty hard too, but I wasn't racing. I guess I'm just not in racing form yet.

That's not to say that I had a bad race. I did beat my time from last year by about 30 seconds and at no point did I feel like I was running over my head. The hills from miles 10-12 didn't really seem to bother me like they did last year and I was even able to run one of my faster splits on the last mile. As far as placement, I was completely by myself from about mile 1 through the end of the race. The winner came in about 5 minutes ahead of me (!) and the 3rd place guy was about 30 seconds behind me. It was pretty much a supported time trial.

It was great to meet up with so many friends before and after the race. Special thanks to Lisa V. (Leather) who went through the hassle of getting her bib transferred over to me so I could run this race. I truly appreciate it!

Here are the splits for the day:

1 - 5:42
2 - 5:26
3 - 5:28
4 - 5:40
5 - 5:38
6 - 5:43
7 - 5:49
8 - 5:40
9 - 5:25
10 - 5:49
11 - 5:47
12 - 5:49
13 - 5:32
13.19 - 1:00

Finish Time: 1:14:27

A Slow Burn

Another decent if unspectacular week in the books.

Mon: 9 at 6:40 Pace
TuesAM: 9 at 6:20 w/ 10 strides at the end
TuesPM: 6 Miles very Easy
Wed: 8 Boring miles
Thurs: Sick...took Off
Fri: 21 Miles with 3 miles @ 5:39 Pace...still feeling sick
Sat: 9 Miles w 1200 in 3:40, 800 in 2:28, 400 in 69 and 200 in 31
Sun: 10 Miles Easy

Total: 73 Miles
YTD: 629 Miles

Thursday was a family sick day as pretty much everyone in the house except for those 1 and under fell ill to a nasty 24 hour stomach virus. While I got lucky and got the mild version of it, I didn't get a chance to get out for a run, which I didn't really mind to be honest. Friday I was still feeling a little woozy, but decided I was going to try and get the workout in. The long run called for 2 X 3 Miles @ 5:39 pace, but after doing it the first time, I knew my stomach couldn't handle another spin at it, so I just settled into a comfortable pace and finished the run. Saturday called for a pure speed workout. The mileage for the intervals was laughable at about a mile and a half, but the goal times really scared me. In the end, I was a few seconds off on every single one, but since I had to do these on an icy somewhat hilly .4 mile loop (well hillier than a track at least), I wasn't too upset about it. I think I got the desired result out of the workout, was to get some time running at top speed. I was actually sore later on that night.

Today's workout was another interesting one. It called for 16 X 400 in 82 seconds each with a 200 recovery. Again I decided to do this one on the treadmill since the roads are still pretty icy right now and just aren't conducive to fast running (plus I hate doing speedwork with layers of clothes on). Now when I saw this workout, I'll admit that I probably underestimated it. 82 second quarters equate out to a 5:28 pace per mile, so I figured with a rest in between each, it would be a pretty easy workout. To compensate for that, I decided I would keep the recovery at a decent pace of 7:30 per mile, which worked out to about 50 seconds of a rest recovery. By the end of the workout, those recovery intervals seemed like 5 seconds instead of 50 though. In the end, I see the value of a workout like this and actually kind of enjoyed it, although it was much harder than I thought it would be going in.