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just the facts ma'am:<br>
1:22:04 15oa, 2nd ag (40-44 y/o)<br><br>
with 10mph tailwind, 50f, humid. perfect day to race.<br><br>
ummm, the point-to-point half marathon drops 895 feet from start to finish, but has a grueling 40 feet of climbing. geez, it felt more like 200 feet of climbing. i'm such the wuss. anyway, it's the tucson half marathon; but i live a mile outside of tucson city limits, and i had to drive 15 miles further away from town to park at the race finish... so it should be called the oracle-catalina half marathon <img alt="" src="http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/wink.gif" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
i didn't taper for this, and just wanted a fitness check with last year. ran 30 seconds slower than last year (although the course was different, although the weather was better) so i'm close to the same fitness. with tapers i run this course 3 minutes faster than flat half marathons, but this ended a 70 mile week for me, and my legs felt the mileage. anyway, i'm optimistic going into the last weeks of my training for phoenix rock and roll marathon... hoping to run a good time in that race.<br><br>
i started near the front, and traded places with a few folks. got beat by two women, both masters... and the last one passed me with a mile to go, after i passed her at the 10 mile mark. ah well. my training pals finished 1st and 5th overall... dang 30-somethings... with screaming fast times, 1:11 and 1:14 i think. hoping some of their speed rubs off on me during the next few weeks of training.<br><br>
overall, i felt fantastic aerobically, but just had flat feeling legs. i couldn't move them fast enough... probably due to not doing much speedwork in november (just 3 workouts). and the piddly little hills at the end just kicked my butt. in retrospect i should have saved more for the last two miles, but retrospect is always 20-20. it's a good lesson before my goal race though... i will start out slower in the phoenix marathon and not make the same mistake that i made today. (i'll find a new mistake)<br><br>
the stats: (also known as "pick out the non-downhill miles"<img alt="wink.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/wink.gif">:<br>
mile/pace/avg hr<br>
1 6:35 146<br>
2 6:12 153<br>
3 6:02 156<br>
4 6:00 155<br>
5 6:00 157<br>
6 6:04 157<br>
7 6:14 157<br>
8 6:10 157<br>
9 6:14 157<br>
10 6:14 156<br>
11 6:14 155<br>
12 6:42 154<br>
13 6:36 154<br>
0:47 156<br><br>
so right the first mile was rolling, and the last two also. in the race i kept trying to run at hr=160, which is what i averaged in the hartford half, but just couldn't get my little legs to go fast enough. definitely lacked the leg strength/speed over the last few miles, as my pace and hr both dropped. so my training goal for december has become clear... more speedwork and some strength work, focusing on running uphills harder.<br>
three more tough weeks of training and then taper time. phoenix here i come.
1:22:04 15oa, 2nd ag (40-44 y/o)<br><br>
with 10mph tailwind, 50f, humid. perfect day to race.<br><br>
ummm, the point-to-point half marathon drops 895 feet from start to finish, but has a grueling 40 feet of climbing. geez, it felt more like 200 feet of climbing. i'm such the wuss. anyway, it's the tucson half marathon; but i live a mile outside of tucson city limits, and i had to drive 15 miles further away from town to park at the race finish... so it should be called the oracle-catalina half marathon <img alt="" src="http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/wink.gif" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
i didn't taper for this, and just wanted a fitness check with last year. ran 30 seconds slower than last year (although the course was different, although the weather was better) so i'm close to the same fitness. with tapers i run this course 3 minutes faster than flat half marathons, but this ended a 70 mile week for me, and my legs felt the mileage. anyway, i'm optimistic going into the last weeks of my training for phoenix rock and roll marathon... hoping to run a good time in that race.<br><br>
i started near the front, and traded places with a few folks. got beat by two women, both masters... and the last one passed me with a mile to go, after i passed her at the 10 mile mark. ah well. my training pals finished 1st and 5th overall... dang 30-somethings... with screaming fast times, 1:11 and 1:14 i think. hoping some of their speed rubs off on me during the next few weeks of training.<br><br>
overall, i felt fantastic aerobically, but just had flat feeling legs. i couldn't move them fast enough... probably due to not doing much speedwork in november (just 3 workouts). and the piddly little hills at the end just kicked my butt. in retrospect i should have saved more for the last two miles, but retrospect is always 20-20. it's a good lesson before my goal race though... i will start out slower in the phoenix marathon and not make the same mistake that i made today. (i'll find a new mistake)<br><br>
the stats: (also known as "pick out the non-downhill miles"<img alt="wink.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/wink.gif">:<br>
mile/pace/avg hr<br>
1 6:35 146<br>
2 6:12 153<br>
3 6:02 156<br>
4 6:00 155<br>
5 6:00 157<br>
6 6:04 157<br>
7 6:14 157<br>
8 6:10 157<br>
9 6:14 157<br>
10 6:14 156<br>
11 6:14 155<br>
12 6:42 154<br>
13 6:36 154<br>
0:47 156<br><br>
so right the first mile was rolling, and the last two also. in the race i kept trying to run at hr=160, which is what i averaged in the hartford half, but just couldn't get my little legs to go fast enough. definitely lacked the leg strength/speed over the last few miles, as my pace and hr both dropped. so my training goal for december has become clear... more speedwork and some strength work, focusing on running uphills harder.<br>
three more tough weeks of training and then taper time. phoenix here i come.
