My Garmin said I had 1:59:43 so it counts...

My last half marathon I had to pretty much abandon any thought of getting a PR.  The ice and cold temperatures pretty much put an end to that.  But that didn't mean I couldn't try to do better on my next attempt. 

In between these two half marathons I had a chance to run a local sports team themed 5k that finished in the hockey arena.  I hadn't really known what I would feel like doing at this one.  But the course was short last year, so I planned on seeing if I could get close to what I got last year.  I didn't count my time as a PR when it was only 2.88 but it was one of my best runs from last year.  So this year I heard post race that they had corrected the course to make it a true 5k.  Not knowing that before the race, I looked at my time, was pleased but just thought "oh it's a short course so it's not technically a PR".  But after I heard they corrected the race distance, I decided to count it as a new 5k PR.  I started thinking that I really hadn't felt that horrible during this shorter race and that maybe I could try once again to do better at my half coming up.

I've been not doing a whole lot of speedwork lately as I've been training for the marathon.  This means I've been running about an 11mm pace.  Which feels good to me.  It just amounts to "time on my feet" which is really an important thing for marathon training.  So I kind of just skipped over speedwork even thought technically it is on my plan. (Luckily I don't have a coach so I won't get shamed from anyone for this).  I just don't want to do it when it's snowing or on the treadmill.  It feels unsafe.  Yeah, that's my excuse. So, I have been doing the heart rate training approach on and off for a while.  I look at how long I was actually able to stay in HR zone 2 and see what my pace was for being in that zone.  It's never that impressive but as I saw it improving, I felt like something was happening.  Other had told me about this approach "slow down during your long runs if you want to improve" which seems counterproductive but actually works.  I know I talked about this before.  So anyway, the point is, I didn't really do any speedwork.  I didn't know how ready I would even be to try to run this thing fast.  All I knew was I held a good pace for the last 5k and that was good enough for me.  This was a super relaxed race.  There was very little buzz about it.  I told no one what I was doing.  I even reserved the right to change my mind at the last minute.

The day of the half marathon it was chilly (35-40) but not really cold.  It was one of those days I had a hard time picking out what to wear.  I didn't want to get too hot but I also didn't want to freeze at the start.  After that was done, I thought about the fact that this course was a 1 mile loop. That means don't bring water, don't bring a belt unless I have to store something.  And maybe I should avoid having to store anything because it's just extra weight.  Found a place in a windbreaker vest that I could put a few gu packets and my key.

Got to the race early, took the usual picture with my running group, headed to the start.  Chatted with another runner who was hoping for a good outcome.  She provided some encouragement.  I just didn't say too much about a goal.  I didn't really know what I wanted to do.  I always knew it was possible to work on running 9 minute miles for this but wasn't sure if this was the time to try.  Mainly just didn't want to get inside my head with all that anxiety and stuff.

Got started out and felt pleasantly fine running a faster pace.  Somehow I was able to keep this pace for over half the run.  Around mile 7-8 it started to get really hard.  It was more just thinking about the fact that I was running faster than usual.  I knew I probably should look at my watch just to make sure I was still good on pace, but every time I did I had that feeling that I wouldn't be able to keep this pace up.  Around that time I was thinking "I actually feel ok, this is ok." but then I started to think "Listen, you're only about half way.  Anything can happen.  Don't do what you did last time and just lose it at the end." 

There were some other things said to myself at the time but mostly just cursing the fact that this was hard and various negativity.  I already knew that would happen so I tried to go to my happy place. I tried to look at what other people were wearing, others' ideas for running accessories, who was cheering us on, different stuff I saw.. thoughts about world peace, etc.  I say this in jest, but I've had some random things pop into my head while running and then I get fixated on it for a while. Maybe just how a word is pronounced, the origins of the word, etc.  Or other randomness.  I saw a few people I knew, said hi and hoped they didn't think I was rude because I'm sure my face was dead serious. The last time I really put a good effort into this I had my previous PR about a year ago.  I had about 2:06 and what happened was I started really fast and then ended with a disappointing finish.  A friend of mine tried to help me, but I was tapped out by that point.

I know you're not really "supposed" to bank time.  I've heard this so many times.  But yet I still did this strategy for this race.  If there was one thing I would work on for the future, it is this.  Maybe I'd work on keeping a steady 9mm instead of doing this: 8:48, 8:43, 8:49, 8:53, 9:00, 9:10, 8:58, 9:25, 9:19, 9:35, 9:34, 9:31, 9:03, 9:07 (last fraction of a mile). If you add that all up it was 13.44 miles and 2:02:45.  However, my Garmin told me that when I reached the half marathon point, I was at 1:59:43  So I'm counting it as a sub 2 hour.  But I definitely think I can try again and hopefully do better. Maybe get more of a "legit" sub 2.  That's why I titled it this way.  In Garmin we trust.

Looking at my splits, it's pretty clear that the banking time strategy could be risky. A friend of mine once said "Just get the pace and hope you can hang on" meaning in a way it didn't matter how I did it as long as I finished well overall.  Another friend told me to start at 9:30 and try to gradually get faster.  The only problem I can see with this is the following: this is not how my body seems to want to work.  As soon as I settle into 9:30 that is kind of what I have made up my mind to do.  It's almost like I can't get faster once I set that pace.  Negative splitting has not been easy for me lately.  I used to do really well with it, back in my early running.  I'm not sure what happened.  You'd think if you were running for about 6 years you would get better with your racing strategy but that is clearly not the case!

Looking at my splits above, I appear to have kind of hit a mini wall at miles 8-11.  Maybe that was the "you probably can't do this so maybe just slow down" thoughts in my head at the time. Always angel vs devil language.  Then I had these thoughts about "but what if you could!" and "just try because whatever you get, it has to be a PR".  Luckily, there were a lot of fast people running this race, so I just tried to keep up with them when I found a person who was a pretty good (unintentional) pacer for me. Especially at the end, there is this one runner, if I ever saw her again I'd thank her for setting a good pace.  

So what's next is just to continue training for this spring marathon which will be marathon #3 for me.  I still want to do it and I am going to aim a little higher than I thought I could accomplish.  Just a few more super long runs and I should be where I need to be training wise.  I'm a little bummed that all it wants to do is rain this week after we got a break from super cold and/or snow/ice but I guess you can't predict the weather.  I have enjoyed not sweating to death or wanting to go lay down in someone's yard with the sprinklers on since I've been training in the winter.  Last time I had an 19 mile run I remember having that thought.  It was 80 degrees and so many tempting yards to rest in. But jumping over crusty snow for 17 miles isn't exactly fun either.  After hearing about the predicted downpour this weekend I'm not sure how I feel.  But somehow it will work out.  It's all about just time on my feet.