Race Report - Country Music Half Marathon

My PR would've had me 16th overall out of over 22,000 finishers, BUT, alas, I was still in a car on the highway about 15 minutes before I was supposed to be starting. The logistics at this race were not ideal to say the least. We were staying in a hotel near Opryland, about 15 minutes drive from downtown Nashville. Our plan was to leave around 5:15, get to LP field (where the finish was), and take the shuttle over to the start. Leaving at that time, we thought, was going to give us plenty of time. My wife, her sister, her sister's husband, and I were all doing the race. Fortunately, we had some grandparent help, so the kids stayed in a different room and we got off in the AM easily.

We were on the road right about when we were planning. However, we got to about 5 miles within downtown and then sat on the highway for quite a while. We thought they were stopping the shuttle at 6 AM, and ended up missing that time. We just figured we'd jog the 2 miles over
to the start. But, we kept sitting. And sitting. And sitting. We finally pulled into the parking lot at like 6:45 or so. So we traveled about 12 miles in an hour and a half. The whole source of the problem was the light at the off-ramp to get to the stadium. There was no traffic control and only a few cars were getting through at a time, causing a HUGE backup.

Then, we pulled into the parking lot and started realizing very quickly that the place was a logjam. There were no workers around, a ton of cars in line, and cars parked everywhere they could be. On the grass in between the trees, on the medians, etc. We tried to remain positive, but were all a little bit cranky about the fact that the logistics of this race were such a pain. I guess we should’ve left about an hour earlier, but that would’ve been at 4 AM for a 7 AM start! Oh well…

We finally found a place at the end of a row on a little patch of grass. I then jumped out and took off. I was thinking I would jog over to the start quickly, but then realized I didn’t really know how to get there. I decided to just take the shuttle, which was actually still running, and then just start with whatever wave was starting when I got there. I was supposed to be in the first starting corral based on estimated finish time, but by the time I got to the start line at like 7:14, they were on wave 6. Now I had something like 5,000 people to dodge in order to go fast. I decided to just cruise for a while and see how it went… treat it like a supported training day.

I started and the first mile was extremely crowded. I couldn’t even see the first mile marker; I think I did around a 7 minute mile. I decided to not even pay attention to mile splits. The course wasn’t bad. It had a few minor hills, but nothing like what I’m used to in CA. Still, with the heat and the hills, it wasn’t an easy course either. I hit the 5K marker at like 22 minutes. I figured I could do it as a long tempo run since the crowd would thin out some as I ran.

I got to the long out-and-back section where you could see the leaders coming back the other way. This was sort of frustrating because I could tell this was a field where I could’ve possibly been top 30 or even top 20 overall. Oh well. I tried to just keep cruising a little bit harder. I made it to 5 miles in around 36 and change, but then I pushed a bit harder. I wanted to negative split it. I did the loop at the turn-around and started back towards town. I got to mile 9 at 62 minutes so I had made up some time in the last few miles. Miles 10 and 11 weren’t bad. I was a little fatigued, but was still feeling strong and still passing a TON of people. At mile 11, I had a GU and kept drinking Cytomax and water. It was really heating up. It was only like 8:15 AM, but already in the 80s I think. I was thinking about my brother-in-law who would be out running until around noon in the heat!

The last 2 miles were good. The course took you back to LP field (the stadium where the Titans play) and the finish was just outside the stadium. I was shooting for 1:30 or less, so I kept pushing. I came down the bridge over to the stadium and made the turn towards the finish. I crossed the line with 1:29 something on my watch. Not too bad considering I ran the first 3-4 miles at over 7 minute pace. I was 88th overall out of 22,000 finishers. My PR time for a half-marathon would’ve had me in the top 20 overall – around 16th or 17th. It was not a particularly fast field and the heat took it’s toll on people. I think I could’ve done a 1:24 or 1:25 had I pushed it. It was still a good race and I had fun.

After the race, I went for a short jog and then circled back to catch the winners at the marathon finish. A Kenyan (can’t remember his name) finished in 2:13 and change. Pretty fast for that heat. The women’s winner did a 2:35. Then I regrouped with my wife and her sister (above) and waiting for my brother-in-law to finish. He finished his first marathon and is already talking about another marathon just a few days afterwards, which is a good sign. I was proud of him because he really struggled near the end, but stuck to it and made it to the line. It’s probably not a race I would do again, but we all had fun.

Back to the Track

Bonus!!! My work trip was canceled!!! Normal training for another week, which definitely makes me happy.

I've officially started my track workouts! Last night was a group workout with coach - I did about 5 miles warmup, partially with my wife, and then did some stretching, a few drills, and then 7x800 on 2:50. It was not entirely killer, but that pace is definitely uncomfortable for me, which, of course, is the point. It wasn't bad; I was hitting 2:48 or 2:49 for most, then hit 2:51 for #6 and back to 2:48 for #7. I was pretty consistent.

Then, today was a 1 hour easy spin on the trainer in the morning, but then intervals on the bike at noon. 3x7 minutes very hard intensity (roughly 40K pace) during a 1:15 ride. It actually was OK after the track the night before. My training is switching over to less lower body weights / power and gradually trying to turn that into sustained speed. So far so good, but I am anxious to see where I am at in an actual race. Auburn is only 7 weeks away.

Two Long Days

I was originally supposed to be traveling on business this coming week and leaving Sunday, so I re-arranged my training schedule. I put my 2 long days on Thursday and Friday. So on Thursday, I did an hour on the trainer followed by a 12 mile run in 90 minutes with big hills. I was tired, but it was a pretty strong run. I did all of that before work. Then, at lunch, I did my 3000 yd swim and decided to experiment with bilateral breathing. I have always been a one-side breather on every-other stroke (what can I say, I am not a "real" swimmer... I don't do flip-turns either). I decided to spend 400 of my drills doing bilateral breathing every 3rd stroke. Every single 100 of that set was 1:26. I have never seen 1:26 before; usually my 100s are around 1:30-1:34 or somewhere in that range depending on what else I'm doing. It was a good day.

Then on Friday, I took the day off work and since the in-laws are in town, I took advantage of the playmates for the kids and went off on my long training day. I went to the pool first thing and did 3000 yds again. Then, I get on my bike and headed out for my long ride. I was hoping the rain would die down, but the first 2 hours were pretty miserable. Fortunately, I was at least prepared with booties, two pairs of gloves, and my jacket. I was scheduled for 65 miles and about 1.5 hours in, I was about to cut it short because I was absolutely sick of the hard-driving rain. Then, it started clearing and my mood improved. I finished off the ride, with hills, in 3:45 or so. I got off the bike, changed quickly and headed our for my hour run. I didn't feel great, but I was still cruising along and ended up doing 7.9 miles in 58 minutes. So even on my runs after long rides, I was still hitting 7:20 per mile and I felt like I was going fairly slow. My running off the bike is definitely getting much stronger.

Now, I am not traveling for business this coming week, so I'm really looking forward to another good week of training.

Commuting

I did my first commute to work today. My plan had an hour easy ride in the AM and then a 90 minute ride in the PM with intervals. I did the ride home with the intervals and ended up averaging 16.8 mph and 232 watts on the way home with ~2000 feet of climbing. It took me about an hour and 24 minutes. I felt pretty good most of the way. The Serrano hill was tough at the end, but I still made it up OK. The total for the day was 44.5 miles and 2:35 of ride time. Finally a good quality ride during the week.

Tomorrow morning is an hour on the trainer followed by a 90 minute run. Hopefully it's not raining too hard!

Recovery

Today was an easy day - 2 hour ride followed by a 30 minute run. It was nice to sleep in a bit and still be back at a reasonable time. I covered 38 miles on the bike and about 4.2 miles running. My bike ride had ~1660 feet of vertical and I averaged 18.3 mph and 186 watts. It was a decent ride and I felt pretty good. Since it was a recovery ride, I decided to do the first test ride on my race wheels. It was a little hard getting air in them because the stems are a bit short, but otherwise, everything was great!! Can't wait to race on them and my first race is in less than 2 months!

My post-rdie un felt fairly fresh, too. I guess that's what a recovery week is about. This coming week, we start dialing down the weights and doing more on the bike. I'll have a longer ride on Wednesday and coach has thrown in a ride before my long run this week. I'm looking forward to it.

Ice Bath

12,000 yds of swimming this week, 48.3 miles of running, 94 miles of riding, and 1:45 of weights. Today was a 60 mile ride with 4000' of vertical and I averaged 17.7 mph and 201 watts. I followed that up with an hour run where I covered 8.2 miles. My total training time for the week was 16:43. That's a new weekly record for swim yardage and it's only 10 miles short of my longest run week ever.

And I topped it all off today with a 10 minute ice bath. It was a little cold at first, but not bad and some people swear by them. We'll see how the legs feel tomorrow when I get back at the weekly routine.

No Juice

No juice this morning on the hard spin / weights workout. It could have something to do with the fact that my swim-run yesterday was 3200 yards followed by 11.5 miles with some intensity. The batteries on my PowerTap were dying, but I only averaged ~180 watts for the workout. Granted, it has walking lunges, step-ups, platform jumps, and squat holds, too, but that's 10 watts lower than normal. Tomorrow is another 45 minute "warm-up" run, then weights, and then a ride at lunch. We'll see how the legs respond to more weights!