It's all relative

There were 18x300s today with 100m recovery.  I stayed well  below speed workout pace per the advice of Drew and Lee.  I was thankful for the advice, since I ended the workout feeling great as opposed to exhausted.  I held all but the first 2 at 55-60 seconds, or 5k pace, then on the last set picked the first 4 up to about 53-55 seconds, then 50, then 46 for the last one.

Lifted weights: Tris (Dips & pushdowns), Pectorals (Straight flys, downward flys), Shoulders (press- machine and free wire), Rotator cuff (in and out)

Ran part of the course I was unfamiliar with.  Terrible labeling of the race map, but I figured it out.  I'm happy I did this- I didn't think there would be literally 3 sets of 180 degree turns, and I also probably would have underestimated the slight hills.  Was also nice to see where the tangents would be, particularly on 14th avenue with the turnaround.  

No running, prepped for race and busy at work.  Had hummus, bread, chicken sandwich, and veggies.  Not too much water.  

Best Dam Race Half Marathon Report

This race is right in my current hometown, so it's hard to pass up. Particularly when it takes 8 minutes to drive to. It's in the third year of existence, and this run would be my fifth overall half marathon. I feel they're long enough to where I feel like I've worked hard, but not so long as to where I want to cry from every cell in my body- looking at you, marathon...

Ran mile 1 expecting someone to blow by me, so I could use as a pacer from afar, since I saw a 1:10 half marathoner registered as well as a couple 1:13-1:14 guys and I wanted to run a 1:16:00. However, at half a mile only a good runner, James O, was behind me. I know he is very quick and generally runs much better than me based on his times. At mile 1 I was still conservative at a 5:55 mile hoping to have at least him I could fall behind, but since no one wanted to go in front, I decided to settle into a pace, so I dropped down to 5:43 for the next 2 miles to get closer to the 5:46 pace I was hoping for. I don't usually wear a watch, so me "dropping down to and sticking to a pace" is akin to an infant getting all his food in his mouth- cute, but not gonna be messy. I wasn't excited to have to focus on a pace for that long.

At the 3-mile turnaround I was surprised to see a gap already forming, and at the 10k mark I had a good 1:40 lead on James (second) and about 3 minutes on third. At the 6.5 turnaround, I must've had some body language, because James clearly gave a push to shorten the gap. Fortunately, I caught myself slowing in time, although, in hindsight, it was unintelligent to drop the pace to 5:30 for mile 6, as I felt cramps in my quads and hamstrings quickly. From there on out I tried to keep them at bay all the way until making it to mile 12 and decided I could probably run through them so close to the end.

The only runner left in sight at mile 11 was James and he was about 3 minutes back, but having never led a half marathon I decided to push anyway. At the 13 mile marker right before the final turn I took a look at my watch and was elated to see it just cracking 1:15:00 along with my 5:35 mile pace for the last 2 miles, so a PR was in sight.

Fortunately, I did end up with a 1:15:30, a pr in the end. I love being a newer runner- the pr never gets old. Next race is in 3 weeks, so I have a chance to leave it all out on the course and hopefully put in the work to do it again.