I've been doing a fair bit of running lately as you may have read in the GMT's (rolf), and yesterday was my first "official" half marathon. That's 13.1 miles fyi. About six months ago I decided to train for one. Training was going really well so I decided to nix the half marathon and run a full marathon instead (Oct 15 Hartford Marathon). As luck would it, another half marathon popped up that was right in line with my training schedule, so I decided to run it with MBC's cousin Rachel.
For marathon training, I'd already done multiple runs of 11-13 miles, plus a 15, 18, 20 and 21 miles, so I knew running 13.1 wouldn't be a problem, but more a matter of how fast. I felt well prepared for this. The weather was perfect for running yesterday, being 52 degrees and mostly sunny. Once the run started, I knew within the first half mile that I was going to be strong, as long as I didn't cramp up or pull anything. I pushed a pretty fast pace (for me, anyway) for the first few miles and thought about slowing down to conserve energy, but I felt strong so just pushed on without slowing. Not only did I keep that pace, but I managed to speed up, as the second half of my race was faster than my first half. My legs started to feel heavy at mile 11, but I kept my pace knowing I only had about 18 minutes of running left. I was tired and achy, but I finished strong. I could have run further, but not at that pace.
With my goal being two hours and finishing in the overall top half of all runners, I finished in 1:48, and 215 of 807 overall. My pace was 8:18 a mile, which is faster than any training run I've had and just a little slower than my 5k pace. I can't believe I managed to keep that pace for that long. I couldn't be happier with my results. Preparation was everything. This course was flat and a lot of my training is on hills, so I think that certainly helped.
I'm feeling a little sore this morning, but not bad at all...about as sore as I'd be after a hard MTB ride. Recovery run planned for after work today. I've got four weeks left until the full marathon.
Pic of me and Rachel (2:09 finisher and 20 minutes faster than her best) post-run is below
tl;dr
For marathon training, I'd already done multiple runs of 11-13 miles, plus a 15, 18, 20 and 21 miles, so I knew running 13.1 wouldn't be a problem, but more a matter of how fast. I felt well prepared for this. The weather was perfect for running yesterday, being 52 degrees and mostly sunny. Once the run started, I knew within the first half mile that I was going to be strong, as long as I didn't cramp up or pull anything. I pushed a pretty fast pace (for me, anyway) for the first few miles and thought about slowing down to conserve energy, but I felt strong so just pushed on without slowing. Not only did I keep that pace, but I managed to speed up, as the second half of my race was faster than my first half. My legs started to feel heavy at mile 11, but I kept my pace knowing I only had about 18 minutes of running left. I was tired and achy, but I finished strong. I could have run further, but not at that pace.
With my goal being two hours and finishing in the overall top half of all runners, I finished in 1:48, and 215 of 807 overall. My pace was 8:18 a mile, which is faster than any training run I've had and just a little slower than my 5k pace. I can't believe I managed to keep that pace for that long. I couldn't be happier with my results. Preparation was everything. This course was flat and a lot of my training is on hills, so I think that certainly helped.
I'm feeling a little sore this morning, but not bad at all...about as sore as I'd be after a hard MTB ride. Recovery run planned for after work today. I've got four weeks left until the full marathon.
Pic of me and Rachel (2:09 finisher and 20 minutes faster than her best) post-run is below
tl;dr
