Rock n Roll 1/2 Race Report

I went into this one with 2 goals:

• PR - Accomplished
• Sub 1:30 - Accomplished

I had an important third goal.  I started the race injury free and needed to stay that way for the marathon BQ attempt in 2 weeks.

I can pretty  much say that this was the best race of my life.  Not only do I feel like I crushed it, I felt absolutely fantastic the whole way and was giddy after about mile 8 when I hit the downhill run to the finish because I knew then that I "had it in the bag."

Here is me at Mile 11 having a ball:

The weather was absolutely perfect.  50 degrees and overcast.  Tech shirt was perfect.  Very cold at finish though.

We did a 1.5 mile warm-up with strides before the race.

I started with Dalton and we sent out pretty strong.  The first real hills start about mile 2.5 and I felt great and decided to keep the sub 7 pace until I got cardio constrained or some kind of muscle issue cropped up.  Neither happened.  I made it to Mockingbird at around a 6:55 avg pace and was not breathing hard.

Nick, Sunny, Josh and Shaheen's sister were cheering everyone on and I saw them 4 times.  I also saw Jen, Dan Tracy, Sheri and Blake and Matt and Ken.  All the cheering makes a huge difference in attitude.

The last 6 miles were a breeze in the 6:30s.  I barely felt winded and my form stayed clean.

I really picked it up rolling into fair park and was seriously in the 5s for the last 800-900 meters.

Dalton and I ran 1.5 miles after the race to loosen back up.  I felt loose and energetic all afternoon.

This was a nutrition test for the marathon - Oatmeal before and GU during.  Perfect.  I only did 1/2 cup oatmeal and one GU though.  Also, I hauled ass through the water stops using the squeeze technique.

I was pumped to see Scott Rosa run a beautiful 2:07 first 1/2 and just be ecstatic about his future in running.

Although the splits look even, the energy expenditure was much higher in the first half due to the uphill.  I really like this course, because when you hit that downhill, you know it is easy sailing to the finish...

I finished 12th in age group, 116 overall out of about 11,000 runners and 99th out of the men.

1	6:59
2	6:46
3	6:52
4	6:44
5	6:57
6	6:53
7	6:49
8	6:54
9	6:44
10	6:32
11	6:42
12	6:32
13	6:35
14	1:37

Close Call?

I went out for our weekly Wednesday hill run last week.  We have started doing a 12 mile double loop which adds more hills and basically eliminates the warm up and cood down.  On the second loop, I really put the hammer down and was having a big time surging up the ascents with Steve Phiffner (one of the fastest guys I know).  On the last surge up Flagpole Hill, I was really going for it and at the top of the hill, my calf tweaked.  I stopped immediately and did not try to run any further. 

I have not felt this calf pain since last year.  I lived with it most of the year last year and I hate it because although I can run through it, it puts a governer on my speed and I generally cannot go faster than a 7 min pace.

This sucks because I have been healthy since the new year and I was trying hard to keep it that way.  I took Thursday off and ran a really slow 9 mile loop on Friday.  It did not hurt too bad on Friday, but I took Saturday off as well and did Chest and Back.

Today I took it out for a real test drive.  I started at 5AM and went almost 22 miles.  About 10 of those were sub 8s and 6 were sub 7:30s.  My calf was sore (read dull pain), but not tweaky.  I was listening really closely and never let it get close.

Chris Strait gave me a pair of compression socks and I have been wearing them all day and I can tell a huge difference in recovery.

When something like this happens, you have three choices:
1.  Be stupid and keep running too hard and get really injured.  I did that last year.
2.  Stop running and let it rest, but risk loosing some fitness.  This is a bad idea 4 weeks out from the Marathon.
3.  Keep running, but stretch like crazy (yoga), eat lots of protien, and listen very closely and keep the speed well within the safety zone.

I am trying #3 and so far so good.  We will see how things play out with hills, and a little more speed work this week.