My race season for 2012 is now coming into shape. Originally I was just planning on a peak in Aug/Sept/Oct... but I think that is too far off to be the first big goal. So, today, I signed up for one of those races that I've thought "someday I need to do that one"... Wildflower. This is a half Ironman distance race on May 5th (and a tough one at that). And then I will have a bit of a lull over the summer and then another peak for the August/September/October races. The August race is the Mountain Man half, in September I'm going to revisit my first ever race at Xterra Deuces Wild, and then in October I'm thinking my last big race will be the 70.3 in Austin. If I strike lightning there is also the Hawaii Ironman in October, but I'm pretty much assuming that will not happen.
So, from now to Wildflower is 16 weeks. I think I will redo the 13 weeks to a half-Ironman plan that I did for Boise in 2010. The next 3 weeks will be continuing my current weight training / general start-of-season warming up stuff.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Phoenix Rock n Roll Half Marathon
Went to Tempe this weekend for the RnR half marathon.
First, on Saturday, Fox did his first ever race, running in the 1 mile "Kids Rock"... the course went from the finish of the full marathon to the finish of the half marathon in a little loop. He was very excited about doing it, and had fun... afterward he said he wanted to do my race too. I told him he would have to build up to that. I didn't get an exact time on his run, but it seemed like it was right around 12 minutes, which is great.
After that we spent most of the day at the pool (which was freezing, but the hot tub wasn't bad). Later that night we went to the supercross at Chase Field... that was pretty fun (not something I thought I would ever go see). Maybe not the best preparation for a race, but it was fun.
So, the race. I went into it with a goal of beating 2:30... and an outside hope of a new PR (would need to beat 2:22). I ended up doing 2:35, which I'm pretty happy with. It is way better than Vegas' 3:00+, and I paced myself out pretty well I thought. I had some tightness in my left hamstring starting around mile 6 or so... the usual gradual degradation of how my legs felt/functioned by the end. But, I did manage to pick up some speed after the 10 mile mark, with my pace slowing from 11:06 at 5k, to 11:30 for 10k, to 11:55 at 10 miles, but back up to 11:52 for the overall.
First, on Saturday, Fox did his first ever race, running in the 1 mile "Kids Rock"... the course went from the finish of the full marathon to the finish of the half marathon in a little loop. He was very excited about doing it, and had fun... afterward he said he wanted to do my race too. I told him he would have to build up to that. I didn't get an exact time on his run, but it seemed like it was right around 12 minutes, which is great.
After that we spent most of the day at the pool (which was freezing, but the hot tub wasn't bad). Later that night we went to the supercross at Chase Field... that was pretty fun (not something I thought I would ever go see). Maybe not the best preparation for a race, but it was fun.
So, the race. I went into it with a goal of beating 2:30... and an outside hope of a new PR (would need to beat 2:22). I ended up doing 2:35, which I'm pretty happy with. It is way better than Vegas' 3:00+, and I paced myself out pretty well I thought. I had some tightness in my left hamstring starting around mile 6 or so... the usual gradual degradation of how my legs felt/functioned by the end. But, I did manage to pick up some speed after the 10 mile mark, with my pace slowing from 11:06 at 5k, to 11:30 for 10k, to 11:55 at 10 miles, but back up to 11:52 for the overall.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Las Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon
Well, I finished the race, despite being sick for the most of this past week. I had resigned to a slow time, but I still wanted to try to make it something reasonable... I was hoping for 2:30 or something around there.
The race was insanely crowded. They claimed that there were 44,000 people running. For some reason, after the first few start corrals moved out, the rest of them were just all started at once it seemed. Once we turned the corner to head north they just said walk up and go. This I think added to everyone's issues with the race.
Pretty much the entire race was like playing football or something. I generally run/walk, so I wasn't angry at the people walking... but they didn't have to walk 4 side-by-side or things like that. Each time I ran (for the whole race), I had to dodge and weave between people. I thought it was actually kind of fun doing this (at least when it opened up a bit more later)... but I guess a lot of people hated it. I do feel bad for people running the full marathon who had to START weaving through people after completing the first half of their race.
The water stations were not always that great. And I didn't know that the water was coming from a fire hydrant until later (I didn't get sick). The porta-potties were pretty sparse. I had to stop at one around mile 6 and the lines were huge.
Overall, I'm glad I did it... it was pretty neat to run on the strip... but I don't think I would do this race again. The organization was just poor all around. And the dangerous situation in the hallway between bag check and the Mandalay Bay was the worst fire hazard I've seen. We were packed in like cattle for what seemed like 45 minutes, then got to a point where there was another herd coming from the other side, and had to turn back. I saw a number of people getting sick and moving off to the side... I was trying to not have a panic attack myself.
Anyway, glad it is over, glad I did it and finished. My time was a crazy slow 3:07... but it was good to end the year on a successful race (rather than the DNF at the Flag half-ironman). I think I will need to pick out a schedule for next year pretty soon, and an overall plan for what I want to do (tris/runs/other). This year was far too lax exercise wise, and I need to get it going back in the right direction.
The race was insanely crowded. They claimed that there were 44,000 people running. For some reason, after the first few start corrals moved out, the rest of them were just all started at once it seemed. Once we turned the corner to head north they just said walk up and go. This I think added to everyone's issues with the race.
Pretty much the entire race was like playing football or something. I generally run/walk, so I wasn't angry at the people walking... but they didn't have to walk 4 side-by-side or things like that. Each time I ran (for the whole race), I had to dodge and weave between people. I thought it was actually kind of fun doing this (at least when it opened up a bit more later)... but I guess a lot of people hated it. I do feel bad for people running the full marathon who had to START weaving through people after completing the first half of their race.
The water stations were not always that great. And I didn't know that the water was coming from a fire hydrant until later (I didn't get sick). The porta-potties were pretty sparse. I had to stop at one around mile 6 and the lines were huge.
Overall, I'm glad I did it... it was pretty neat to run on the strip... but I don't think I would do this race again. The organization was just poor all around. And the dangerous situation in the hallway between bag check and the Mandalay Bay was the worst fire hazard I've seen. We were packed in like cattle for what seemed like 45 minutes, then got to a point where there was another herd coming from the other side, and had to turn back. I saw a number of people getting sick and moving off to the side... I was trying to not have a panic attack myself.
Anyway, glad it is over, glad I did it and finished. My time was a crazy slow 3:07... but it was good to end the year on a successful race (rather than the DNF at the Flag half-ironman). I think I will need to pick out a schedule for next year pretty soon, and an overall plan for what I want to do (tris/runs/other). This year was far too lax exercise wise, and I need to get it going back in the right direction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)