The Park to Park Half Marathon is in the books and as I was hoping(or dare I even say...expecting) a new personal record time to boot! 1:43:41, a time I can be very happy with considering the course and where my training has been the past month. I'm also encouraged because I feel I know exactly where I can improve as I reflect back on this race and how it played out as well.
Course Description
The race is a point to point race that takes you from Stuarts Draft Park to Ridgeview park in Waynesboro VA.
Scenic rolling hills through the quiet valley countryside with a few designated spectator spots, pretty much the polar opposite of my last event (NYC Marathon) but I was really looking forward to the peace and quiet here. The designated spectator areas were great and there was enough to look at and focus on that it made the miles go by relatively fast. (at least until near the end...)
I was a bit worried about the "gently rolling hills." Race directors like to talk about gently rolling hills in their event descriptions which can sometimes feel anything but gentle on race day. I also had not had a full training cycle leading up to this event, with limited hard workouts other than 3 or 4 real tempo runs over the course of the three weeks prior to the race and had not been doing much hill specific training. So the risk of my legs getting trashed by these gently rolling hills was a serious concern but not something that I was going to let myself get worried about.
Race Day
My Aunt Lorraine was also running the race, her first ever half marathon and first ever race of any kind. The night before I told her one of the most difficult things is not going out too fast, the excitement and adrenaline as everyone takes off will want to sweep you along with them and can lead to running ridiculously faster miles than your body may be used to handling and can seriously sabotage the later stages of a long distance race like a half marathon. Even experienced runners can fall into this trap, proper pacing is by far one of the most difficult things of any race for me and has taken years of practice to even sort of figure out. I should have listened my own advice that I gave my Aunt because I ultimately fell into the pacing pitfall myself in this race. Even though I had a great time and set a personal record, I know I left time on the course due to pacing.
We got to the start line by parking near the finish area in Waynesboro and riding a bus to Stuarts Draft. It was well organized and we got to the start area with plenty of time to spare. I ate a bagel about an hour and a half before the race and most of a honey stinger waffle 15 minutes before running. It's possible eating an entire bagel was too much because I felt I was on a little bit of a balancing act with my stomach throughout the race. I could take water/gatorade without issue but I was planning on eating something at the 5-6 mile mark but skipped it because I felt it could cause issues. Thankfully I can get through a half marathon without eating anything on the run, but if something like this happened in a full marathon I'd have been in big trouble. Half a bagel pre-race might have been better, or my go to long run meal last year of Oatmeal with blueberries.
Got through my light warmup routine and we are ready to run! Race started promptly at 7AM and as the gun went off I realized I was really happy to be back on the starting line of a race. I also knew unless something drastically horrible happened I would PR relatively easily due to the fact that I hadn't raced a half marathon in years and my overall fitness and how I approach longer distance races is much better now than it was in 2015.
Miles 1-3
Kept it steady and controlled through the first miles, I had done a couple 5 mile tempo runs in the weeks leading up to the race to really try to gauge what my body could handle for longer periods of time. I did those runs at 7:40/pace and was able to keep it controlled in training, but had questions if I'd be able to maintain it as my half marathon race pace. My general gameplan was to keep it between 7:40-8/pace through ten miles and see how I'm feeling at that point. One big problem was how the hills were going to factor into all of this. I ignored worrying about the hills and just tried to settle in through the early miles. Mission accomplished for the most part. Around mile 2 I noticed a guy pass me who looked legit. In the early miles it's usually fairly easy to tell who's running a proper race, and who's sucking wind. I could tell this guy was definitely the former so I made a decision to stick with him for a while since I was feeling good. This decision would end up being a bit of a mistake...
Miles 4-6
Miles 4 and 5 were solid, the net elevation shown on Strava makes it look like it was very flat but we were definitely spending quite a bit time rolling up and down those "gentle" hills. I still felt ok through the stretch but knew the real test was going to be that ten mile benchmark and how I'll feel then especially after all the hills. There was a water stop between miles 5 and 6 and the dude I had been locked on for the past 15 minutes or so totally picked it up after that water stop. I didn't notice it at first, I was feeling fine and I thought I had slowed a bit going through that water stop so I kept moving with him, passing a decent amount of people but after a couple minutes I realized we had drastically picked up the pace. I look down at my watch as that 6th mile clicks off in 7:26 and realized this was way too early to start picking it up that much as we weren't even halfway through at that point.
I still felt ok, but creeping concern over how that fast mile 6 would affect me started entering the mind at that point which is never a good thing. It was also here I was planning on eating part of a honey stinger waffle but due to stomach not feeling 100% settled I decided to just continue without eating. I got through 10k in 47:36 which I was happy with and still feeling relatively ok. I was well under my PR pace as long as I can keep holding it together.
Miles 7-9
Miles 7 and 8 were a couple of the toughest miles in my race, and also where I could feel things start to slip away from running as best a time as possible. Likely because I had just been running too fast relative to what I'd trained recently, I had to start backing off a bit. I knew I was easily on PR pace if I just held it together even if I backed it off to the 8/mile range. There was a great spectator cheer area near mile 7 which was nice, I knew my Aunt had friends that would be in this area and I was looking out for them, but I didn't know exactly where they would be and didn't end up seeing them. Mile 9 is basically where I had to make the decision to just survive the last four miles instead of do any serious racing. I might have been able to push through at sub 8/pace for a while longer, but at the same time I reminded myself that I had not had a full training cycle leading into this race, and while I knew I was in decent shape, I wasn't in a position to risk totally blowing up my race as I was still well under PR pace.
Miles 10-13
After mile 10 I was just in pure survival mode. I knew Andrea, Hilary, and my little cousins would be near mile 11 so I split up the last stage of the race into #1. see them, #2. get to the finish line. The street that my Aunt lives on leads out to where we run past on the course, so it was very convenient for them to watch from there, and then meet us at the finish line after the race. I got past there in decent shape, saw them and waved, I'm glad I didn't miss them, I missed seeing Melanie during the NYC Marathon which was unfortunate so I didn't want a repeat of that. I knew at the point of passing where I'd see them I would be about 15 minutes from the finish. Seeing them was great and helped keep me on pace. I remember looking at my watch and seeing an hour 35 minutes at the 12 mark, realizing I could literally speed walk the entire last mile and still beat my personal best was an awesome feeling. Rounded the last couple turns up one final hill and into Ridgeview Park and I could see the finish line! Ran across and saw 1:43 on the clock and even though I had a painful last few miles which felt slow compared to the first half, I broke my old personal best by 7 minutes! Awesome!!
Finish line video of me crossing the line, 1:43:52 gun time
Conclusion
A seven minute PR is awesome, but what is more awesome is I know I was capable of running an even better time had I paced better and not run like a bat of hell in the 6th mile. Also not being able to eat on the run was something I need to look back from a nutrition standpoint. I think I easily left 2-3 full minutes on the course with the pacing mistakes I made and less than ideal nutrition strategy. Overall I can't complain for setting a new personal record on a hilly and unfamiliar course. Really happy with how the race turned out and very awesome to see my Aunt complete her first ever half marathon too! I'm signed for a couple 5k's later in the year but I'm excited to target another half in the Fall and really go for sub 1:40 which I feel I am very capable of with a smarter race strategy and full training cycle. Thanks for reading, until next time!!
Course Description
The race is a point to point race that takes you from Stuarts Draft Park to Ridgeview park in Waynesboro VA.
Scenic rolling hills through the quiet valley countryside with a few designated spectator spots, pretty much the polar opposite of my last event (NYC Marathon) but I was really looking forward to the peace and quiet here. The designated spectator areas were great and there was enough to look at and focus on that it made the miles go by relatively fast. (at least until near the end...)I was a bit worried about the "gently rolling hills." Race directors like to talk about gently rolling hills in their event descriptions which can sometimes feel anything but gentle on race day. I also had not had a full training cycle leading up to this event, with limited hard workouts other than 3 or 4 real tempo runs over the course of the three weeks prior to the race and had not been doing much hill specific training. So the risk of my legs getting trashed by these gently rolling hills was a serious concern but not something that I was going to let myself get worried about.
Race Day
My Aunt Lorraine was also running the race, her first ever half marathon and first ever race of any kind. The night before I told her one of the most difficult things is not going out too fast, the excitement and adrenaline as everyone takes off will want to sweep you along with them and can lead to running ridiculously faster miles than your body may be used to handling and can seriously sabotage the later stages of a long distance race like a half marathon. Even experienced runners can fall into this trap, proper pacing is by far one of the most difficult things of any race for me and has taken years of practice to even sort of figure out. I should have listened my own advice that I gave my Aunt because I ultimately fell into the pacing pitfall myself in this race. Even though I had a great time and set a personal record, I know I left time on the course due to pacing.
We got to the start line by parking near the finish area in Waynesboro and riding a bus to Stuarts Draft. It was well organized and we got to the start area with plenty of time to spare. I ate a bagel about an hour and a half before the race and most of a honey stinger waffle 15 minutes before running. It's possible eating an entire bagel was too much because I felt I was on a little bit of a balancing act with my stomach throughout the race. I could take water/gatorade without issue but I was planning on eating something at the 5-6 mile mark but skipped it because I felt it could cause issues. Thankfully I can get through a half marathon without eating anything on the run, but if something like this happened in a full marathon I'd have been in big trouble. Half a bagel pre-race might have been better, or my go to long run meal last year of Oatmeal with blueberries.
Got through my light warmup routine and we are ready to run! Race started promptly at 7AM and as the gun went off I realized I was really happy to be back on the starting line of a race. I also knew unless something drastically horrible happened I would PR relatively easily due to the fact that I hadn't raced a half marathon in years and my overall fitness and how I approach longer distance races is much better now than it was in 2015.
Miles 1-3
Kept it steady and controlled through the first miles, I had done a couple 5 mile tempo runs in the weeks leading up to the race to really try to gauge what my body could handle for longer periods of time. I did those runs at 7:40/pace and was able to keep it controlled in training, but had questions if I'd be able to maintain it as my half marathon race pace. My general gameplan was to keep it between 7:40-8/pace through ten miles and see how I'm feeling at that point. One big problem was how the hills were going to factor into all of this. I ignored worrying about the hills and just tried to settle in through the early miles. Mission accomplished for the most part. Around mile 2 I noticed a guy pass me who looked legit. In the early miles it's usually fairly easy to tell who's running a proper race, and who's sucking wind. I could tell this guy was definitely the former so I made a decision to stick with him for a while since I was feeling good. This decision would end up being a bit of a mistake...
Miles 4-6
Miles 4 and 5 were solid, the net elevation shown on Strava makes it look like it was very flat but we were definitely spending quite a bit time rolling up and down those "gentle" hills. I still felt ok through the stretch but knew the real test was going to be that ten mile benchmark and how I'll feel then especially after all the hills. There was a water stop between miles 5 and 6 and the dude I had been locked on for the past 15 minutes or so totally picked it up after that water stop. I didn't notice it at first, I was feeling fine and I thought I had slowed a bit going through that water stop so I kept moving with him, passing a decent amount of people but after a couple minutes I realized we had drastically picked up the pace. I look down at my watch as that 6th mile clicks off in 7:26 and realized this was way too early to start picking it up that much as we weren't even halfway through at that point.
I still felt ok, but creeping concern over how that fast mile 6 would affect me started entering the mind at that point which is never a good thing. It was also here I was planning on eating part of a honey stinger waffle but due to stomach not feeling 100% settled I decided to just continue without eating. I got through 10k in 47:36 which I was happy with and still feeling relatively ok. I was well under my PR pace as long as I can keep holding it together.
Miles 7-9
Miles 7 and 8 were a couple of the toughest miles in my race, and also where I could feel things start to slip away from running as best a time as possible. Likely because I had just been running too fast relative to what I'd trained recently, I had to start backing off a bit. I knew I was easily on PR pace if I just held it together even if I backed it off to the 8/mile range. There was a great spectator cheer area near mile 7 which was nice, I knew my Aunt had friends that would be in this area and I was looking out for them, but I didn't know exactly where they would be and didn't end up seeing them. Mile 9 is basically where I had to make the decision to just survive the last four miles instead of do any serious racing. I might have been able to push through at sub 8/pace for a while longer, but at the same time I reminded myself that I had not had a full training cycle leading into this race, and while I knew I was in decent shape, I wasn't in a position to risk totally blowing up my race as I was still well under PR pace.
Miles 10-13
Finish line video of me crossing the line, 1:43:52 gun time
Conclusion
A seven minute PR is awesome, but what is more awesome is I know I was capable of running an even better time had I paced better and not run like a bat of hell in the 6th mile. Also not being able to eat on the run was something I need to look back from a nutrition standpoint. I think I easily left 2-3 full minutes on the course with the pacing mistakes I made and less than ideal nutrition strategy. Overall I can't complain for setting a new personal record on a hilly and unfamiliar course. Really happy with how the race turned out and very awesome to see my Aunt complete her first ever half marathon too! I'm signed for a couple 5k's later in the year but I'm excited to target another half in the Fall and really go for sub 1:40 which I feel I am very capable of with a smarter race strategy and full training cycle. Thanks for reading, until next time!!
So happy for you! Love this post. I appreciate more than ever what you are saying about pacing. Shoot, what a challenge, and one I will be working on, for sure! For now, I'm appreciating that my body and my brain kept me on the road to the finish. 🙌 Thanks again for coming to run the valley!
ReplyDeleteYes it takes lots of practice and discipline to pace well! Even with lots of experience big mistakes can be made, all part of the challenge...
DeleteYour blog posts are awesome and I love the behind the scenes stuff!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Great recap, as always. You are well positioned for a sub-1:40 half in the fall!
ReplyDelete