Rock and Roll!

Today was the P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon. It was a very impressive event, just the sheer number of people, volunteers, stuff (water/food/gels/etc).... huge.

My goal going in was to beat 2:30, and I did that, clocking in at 2:21:59 by my timing. I'm very happy with the result, and I learned a few things. First, I need to continue trying to strengthen my neck, my back, my legs... basically everything. I think it was around mile 6 when the first thing started hurting (well, first beyond my feet)... and that was my neck and upper back. Luckily that either went away or was simply overshadowed by my left leg falling apart piece by piece starting around mile 9. I stopped for a second just after mile 10 and tried to stretch my hamstring, and it immediately cramped up... I straightened it out and just hoped it would let go, luckily it did. I didn't risk trying to stretch it again for fear of a continuous cramp... not sure if that was the best idea or not. Anyway, as I continued, the cramping / leg pain seemed to just spread from there. My knee was not having much fun, my calf constantly felt right on the border of a charlie horse, and my hip flexor was pretty much toast... all on the left leg. Now my right leg hurt and all, but did not feel this bad. It was quite a struggle to finish after this... I had to stop and walk a lot more often.

Another thing I learned or relearned was that when there are lots of people around, I tend to go faster... including faster than I should. The first 3 miles I think were all around 9:00, which is not the pace I had planned. There were tons of people, and I had estimated my finish time at 3 hrs. (a long time ago), so I had to weave my way through them. I was cruising and I had a hard time slowing down to the 10:00 mile pace I had in mind (10:00 miles and then :30 walking was the plan). I was able to make myself walk those :30s, but I decided to just run the pace that felt right. This resulted in my pace getting slower and slower as I went... the opposite of what I was hoping for. I wanted to be steady (and "easy") at 10:00 miles, then speed up for the last couple. In hindsight, I think it worked out okay, and if I hadn't gone that fast in the beginning, when I fell apart I may not have been able to beat 2:30.

Well, that's about all I can think of at the moment. I'm really happy I did the race, and I just hope my legs recover okay (right now both knees are incredibly stiff). I think the first 5k was my second fastest (again, not what I really had in mind), and the first 10k was probably my fastest ever. And, since this was my first one, my 10mile and half times are also records (woo!).

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... I averaged 172 bpm... that seems crazy, and I'm not sure if it is good crazy or bad crazy still. I think that's about the same heart rate that I was scared of the first time I used the hr monitor on a 40 minute bike ride... but now over 2:22... yikes.

January.... countdown to half marathon

On the morning of January 1, I made the fateful decision to pick what was left of a 12 pack of Fat Tire off the ground.... and I hurt my back. Since then I've been trying to be good and rest it (rather than trying to stretch it out or anything, which is my inclination). A friend got a Wii Fit Plus for Christmas, and I was able to do exercises (play games) on there okay, so that's been my exercise for the last few days. I liked it so much that yesterday I went and bought one too. My back feels much better, but not quite perfect yet. I think maybe one or two more days of rest and I can do some more running. There are now less than 2 weeks left until the P.F. Chang's half marathon in Phoenix, it is probably smarter to make sure the back gets all better, versus trying to get a bit more training in. It is close enough that I doubt the training would make as much of a positive difference as a hurt back could make a negative one.

1/7 - first proper workout since the 'ol back strain. Went to run at the gym, planned on doing 10 minute miles for an hour.... ended up doing worse than 10 minute miles for half an hour (finished 3 miles at 36:00 with cooling down walking). Wore my heart monitor during the run, averaged 148 bpm, with a max of 172.... that seems a bit high, but ok I guess.

1/10 - Mountain Biking at Fantasy Island in Tucson. Was super fun, but kicked my butt, which was good. Rode for 44 minutes, averaging 10.3 mph and 158 bpm. Weaving through cactus is a lot of fun!

1/13 - Last treadmill run before the race. I wanted to push myself fairly far, but not too far since this is my "taper" week. 6 miles seemed right, so that is what I did. Ran 10:00 miles and then rested :30 after each (first one was a little slower to warm up). Took 65 minutes to get to 6 miles that way, average hb was 164. I think this will be my strategy to try to break 2:30 on Sunday.... 10:00 miles and :30 rests.