So today was the Monson half marathon. I approached it with the attitude that it was a race at a time when running miles are down, and therefore I'd push myself to try and keep up the intensity. Reason being is that through talking with people and doing some research, I've come across the idea that one way to maintain running conditioning during a down period is to make the runs more intense (ie, not all LSD). Due to road conditions around these parts, the winter is definitely a down period for running.
I ran part of this course with my dad last Sunday to get a feel for it, get a sense of hills and what-not. I've only run 3-4 times since the marathon, so I really had no major preconceived notions of my performance because I had no idea how much dropoff to expect. My previous half marathons (and PR) have been in the 1:53 range (not counting the half marathon in the patriot half iron) - an 8:40 min/mile pace, or so. There were two primary factors in the back of my mind that led me to believe that I was likely ready to break through that plateau, though:
- Previous half's were done at a time when it was pushing the envelope of my conditioning - either being the first half I've ever done (Lowell Sun '08), after IT band issues (Lowell Sun '10), or building up to that kind of mileage in minimalist shoes (Worcester '11). This was the first time I was doing a half where I had little significant reason to be cautious, so I could just go.
- Two of my September threshold runs were 10 miles in length - with eight of those being in the 7:40 min/mile range, for an overall average of right around 8 min/miles. Those runs were on a flat course with an average HR below 155. A third threshold run was hillier, but done at the same pace of around 8 min/miles, but with a HR of 161. Since I didn't let it all out on those runs, I knew that I could maintain that HR/intensity for the time required to complete the 13.1 mile distance.
So really, the biggest question was how would the hills impact my performance. There was potential to completely burn out in the first half, making for a very long and brutal second half. Even with the downhill - once you are gassed, just putting one foot in front of the other can be a challenge.
Since I knew the course to be fairly hilly, I did a few things for this race that were new - things I had recently heard were beneficial, but had no experience with:
- Compression pants: A couple weeks ago, my sister got me a pair of compression pants. I've always thought of them as somewhat gimmicky, but when they arrived and I put them on, I noticed that my legs felt more springy. I immediately thought that any small benefit could easily be worthwhile during the ironman next year - so they were definitely worth trying out.
- Carbo loading technique: Everyone has heard of this, and I never really paid much attention because I've heard conflicting reports on its effectiveness. However a few weeks ago I came across an article discussing the results of a study where the methodology of carbo loading was optimized. See link in the sidebar for more details. Once I saw that study, I decided to give the technique a shot. So yesterday, after the P90X Chest & Back session, I did the quick 3 minute balls-to-the-wall run, following by consuming a bunch of carbs. I didn't quite match the nearly 750g of carbs that the technique calls for - but I didn't hold back on the Mountain Dew or the left over halloween candy or the chocolate chip cookie for lunch after the workout.
- Caffeine: Speaking of Mountain Dew - I've always avoided caffeine before a race figuring that it is a diuretic and that I wanted to retain as much water as possible. However, I've read things recently that caffeine can help improve performance. Apparently it's a debatable topic, but I figured what the hell - there are already so many unknowns in this race, I mine as well give it a shot.
- Stronger Legs: Not so much an unknown, but recently I've noticed a big difference in leg strength. The first major indication was being able to do the P90X Legs workout the other week without being sore for days, the second indication is the noticibly longer holds on the wall squats - both regular and single leg. The last indication is that the past couple yoga classes, the sitting portions of awkward pose (similar to wall squats) are much easier than they were before. So I was hoping that the increased leg power might help with ascending hills, as well as recovering quickly from said ascention.
So, as usual, I started off relatively slow as a warm up (the joke between my dad and I was to 'start slow, and then taper back from there') for the first mile. But something was wrong - the first mile clicked at just over 8 minutes. Shit! I better slow down, because otherwise I'm going to be gassed pretty quick. But my HR was < 155, which is high for a first mile, but not terrible. The problem is that I didn't feel like I needed to slow down. I'm not sure why, but I decided to keep up at a similar pace, maybe slow down a bit on the steeper portions - but I was finding that after those sections, my legs were re-energized pretty quickly, and I could resume buzzing along at a sub 8 min/mile pace.
For the next few miles, I just kept up pace and it felt fine. Which was surprising because my HR was at least 165. Typically at that intensity, my endurance starts to plummet, but I wasn't feeling nearly as strained as I would have expected. Very odd. The concern was how I'd feel at the halfway point of the race - would I burn myself out?
As the miles clicked by, I continued to be surprised by how strong I felt. I have to admit, I was keeping myself motivated by passing people on the hills - there were a few times I was keeping pace with someone nearby, but eventually we'd hit a hill and they'd drop back. I switched to using mostly calf muscles for ascention, giving the quads a brief break. During the downhill parts, I picked up speed - but not too much. I think this ended up being a smart strategic move - the downhills gave my body a chance to recover, and my not flying down them, I had a longer period of time for that recovery so that I was re-energized for the next uphill.
By the time I hit mile 11, I had been on a downhill slope for a couple miles and hit a mini wall. My overall pace was slowing down slightly because cadence was dropping - so I had to start consciously thinking about that to maintain a high foot turnover. This is where the race became mental - at this point I knew I was going to beat the 1:53 previous PR, but now it was a matter of pushing it for the last two miles, and not having the ego hit by being passed. Honestly, those last few miles - that was a huge part of what kept me going. I'd pass someone, and I didn't want to be that guy that passed someone, only to have peaked too early and then crash before the finish line. Plus, by this time, my foot was starting to hurt again, so I just wanted to be done. And the only way to do that was to run faster.
So anyhow - how did it go?
Absolutely crushed it.
Remember how I said my halfs PR was in the 1:53 range? This was a full 13 minutes faster! Are. You. Flippin'. Kidding me?
And this was on a hilly course! Where the hell did I ever pull that from?! And on a right foot that is not 100%! (which was actually fine and painless until mile 7 or so, BTW)
I'd have been reasonably happy with something in the 1:53 range, figuring 'eh, it was a hilly course, haven't run much at all in the past few weeks, and on a bum foot'. I'd have been really, really happy with a 1:45 - knocking 8 minutes off a 13 mile course, around 40 sec/mile faster than before, is significant improvement! But a full minute/mile faster?! I really pulled some magic out of my ass on this one.
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