It's all relative

BDR Half Marathon, Safety Harbor

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Location:

FL,United States

Member Since:

Feb 08, 2015

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Certified course PR's:

Mile: 4:28.0 (Florida, Jan 2020)

5K: 15:12 (FL, Jan. 2020)

10K: 31:44 (FL, Feb. 2020)

15K: 49:03 (FL, Feb. 2020)

1/2 Marathon: 1:10:34 (FL, Feb. 2020)

Marathon: 2:26:57 (WA, July 2019)

100k (63.7 miles, trail): 9:11:00 (FL, Jan. 2019)

Personal:

I started running in 2010 and have (mostly) kept it a habit ever since!  

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
57.7017.6675.36
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
17.250.0017.25

AM: Long run with Anthony on a rainy, cold, humid early morning.  Started at 5am, so it was nice to knock out the run and just relax the rest of the day with the crappy weather.  It's taper week, so I didn't go hard, but I kind of regret it- the speed wouldn't have taken too much out of me in retrospect.

Week plan- short taper again, slightly shorter today, half/7 miles tomorrow, full effort Tuesday, half effort Wednesday (~8 to 10), off (or easy) Thursday, Easy 2 or 3 on Friday morning, race Saturday.  PR attempt if the weather cooperates.

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Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
7.500.007.50

AM: 7.5 miles wicked slow.

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Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
13.004.2517.25

AM: 7ish miles at track in SH.  4x200, 4x400, 4x200 with equal recoveries, just working on form.  Cadence was a little low today which isn't the best of signs.  The workout tonight will tell me more.

PM: 10 miles at track in East Lake with Anthony. The workout was 3 sets of 200-400-600s with 200 recoveries between items and 400 between the sets. Everything was sub 5:00/mile and honestly felt pretty easy. I did the entire workout in lane 2. The 200s were quicker in the 33/34 range. I tried focusing on relaxing, pacing, quick cadence, and knee drive. Really makes a difference being on a quality track with another hard-working runner.  

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Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
12.250.3012.55

PM: 12.5 miles, ~7:15 average.  A bunch of striders at the end spent mostly just racing cars.  

Now, it's time for a short taper!

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Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
4.300.004.30

PM: 4 miles in EL solo and lots of dynamic exercising.

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Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.000.000.00

Goose egg.  Time to focus for tomorrow!

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Race: BDR Half Marathon, Safety Harbor (13.109 Miles) 01:12:33, Place overall: 1, Place in age division: 1
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
3.4013.1116.51

BDR Safety Harbor Half Marathon Race Report

What a race.  I was excited to come back and recapture it in words, but I can't really do it justice.   I wanted to break James O's course record today (1:13:48), and expected to be close, but didn't quite expect to have this effort in me.

Race prep: Have done high mileage pretty consistent (for me) and stuck to 5k specific/short rest workouts mostly.  Very short taper this week, really starting on Thursday.  The weather was in the 70s, windy, and sunny- which isn't ideal, but we'll take it here in Florida.

The race: I was expecting it to be just James and myself today, but a guy from England (Stuart) decided to crash the party to race on vacation.  I was feeling good at the start watching my training partner dominate the 10k earlier in the morning, so I took out the race quite fast just to see if someone would call my bluff- I'd never run anything under 5:40 pace of this length.  This guy Stuart called my bluff quite decidedly and took us out even faster.  We were at 10:55 after two miles.  Then we ran a 5:21 mile for mile three.  Ouch.

I was tentative taking the lead back from him as we hit the hills at mile 4, but he had slowed (5:42 pace) and cadence, so I casually took it expecting to not hold it for long- he seemed very strong.  I then dropped it back down once we crested the hill in mile five- 5:31 pace to try and establish control.  From there on out, I was dictating and just tried to focus manage my breathing, cadence, and effort- especially on the hilly sections.  Honestly, the mile I was most worried about was mile 11, which contains the last of a sucky set of hills in the neighborhood.  Fortunately, right after that mile is where the 180-degree turnaround comes for the final 1.75-mile stretch, so I'd be able to gauge the distance from the field.  My lead had grown to about 35 seconds and was growing- Stuart was slightly long striding and noticeably winded.  I'm sure I looked like a real gem myself.  From there I just pushed.  Negatively, I noticeably let my breathing continue to slip a bit and fall off with its consistency, which was a mistake that I need to fix.  I suppose I just get excited getting to that finish line, so I guess it's hard to beat myself up about that.

The finishing bend came- which is an ideal 150 meter stretch for racing.  I was surprised I didn't have a finishing kick in me at the end because of all the work I've been doing at it, but I guess it's different than two weeks ago when no one is hanging on your shoulder.  I crossed the line, broke the tape, and took the record!  Even if the record stands for only a year, it's something I have never done.  Course record.  Very cool.  And the PR is nice.

                     Me-  1:12:33,        Stuart- 1:14:24,         James- 1:14:46

Splits- 5:28, 5:26, 5:21, 5:43, 5:31, 5:27, 5:38, 5:34, 5:29, 5:35, 5:36, 5:39, 5:36, Finish- ~0:30

5:32 average mile, 17:11 5k pace.

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Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
57.7017.6675.36
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