March Madness Half Marathon Race Report

This one may get a little long winded so if you just want the results, scroll down to the Results section J

I was a little nervous about this race. It is the hilliest race in Illinois that I know of and March weather can be pretty unpredictable. Plus it sells out in only a few hours and I was on bed rest and cortisone when registration started. I figured I would sign up anyway and it would at least be a good long run.

My foot healed faster than I expected and although the first few weeks back running were pretty tough my run fitness seemed to come back after about a month. Then I decided to try and join a local running club (Fast Tracks Racing) and see if doing some track workouts with them would help. I did a track workout one week and did 5 mile repeats all at or under my tempo pace and even set a mile PR on the last one. The next week I did a 22 mile long run with them including 8 miles at close to TP. I'm definitely planning on joining them some more.

The combination of a few great workouts and the weather had me excited to race this half marathon. My goal was just to beat my time at this race last year 1:20:06 as I have only been running hard for about 6 weeks now. Thanks to Jake at Zoot, I also had a few new pairs of shoes to choose from. I decided to race in the TT as have been training in them for a little while and they are nice and light but still have a bit of cushioning.

Yesterday Theresa and I had a wedding to go to and this was the first time we left Abigail (our 6 week old daughter) with anyone. My parents did a great job watching her, but by the time we picked he up and got home Theresa and I just wanted to go to sleep. Abigail on the other hand was ready to get up for the day and decided she wanted to be up most of the night. Theresa tried her hardest to comfort Abigail and let me sleep (and did a great job), but when 6 AM came around we were all exhausted. Considering it was windy, 30 and there were light snow flurries in the air, Theresa and Abigail decided to stay home and try to get some sleep instead of going to watch a race.

Fortunately, I had friends from Endurance Nation and Get A Grip that were also racing so I had people to hang out with, but it wasn't quite the same not having Theresa there. Plus since she wasn't there I don't have any pictures to post.

The Race

Luckily at race time the weather was great. Maybe mid 30s, a little windy but not bad, and no rain or snow, just wet pavement. As usual, the first mile flew by, felt way too easy and was faster than it should have been. I forced myself to hold back and try to stick to my target paces. With the first 3 miles being downhill it was tough, but I think I limited the damage. Unfortunately I found myself in no man's land during mile 4. The lead pack and chase pack were pulling away and I wasn't confident I could hang with them (or close the gap) and there wasn't really anyone close to me. So I decided just to chill and take it easy with mile 4 being my slowest of the day. Two guys caught me during mile 5 and we had turned into a headwind. I was tucked behind the guys but they were going a little faster than I wanted to. I felt good though and decided it was time to hang with them and see what I could do. The next few miles were not to exciting until mile 8 when I decided I was going to go hard and see what I could do. I tried to catch at least one person every mile and I did. Mile 12 came around and I could see two guys about half way through but I couldn't catch the next two that were about 200 yards in front of me. I'm happy though because I finished strong.

The Results

I ended up coming in at 1:17:43 which is a 5:56 pace. Not bad at all considering how hilly this course is. Last year I went 1:20:06 on this course and then ran a 1:17:34 on a flat course a few weeks later.
Today's 1:17:43 was good enough to get me 7^th overall and 4^th in my Age Group. Considering how competitive this race is I'm pretty excited with that result.

Up Next

Now I just have to figure out what to do in Boston. Two months ago I was planning to just go and take it easy, but now that I feel I'm in good enough shape to set a PR, I might have to run a little harder. I'm thinking I will try and set a small PR, but not all out race, so that I can get right back into training that week as I have bigger goals on my mind.

But first, I have the opportunity to go to a Zoot Camp in Oceanside next week. Let me know if you are racing Oceanside 70.3 as I will be there watching.

Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon

As my followers know I always focus on long course events, in fact I have only done one triathlon shorter than a half ironman in the last 3 years and I've only done one sprint in my life. The reason … my swim sucks and in the short races I don't have enough time to catch up. I have been working on my swim for a while now (well over a year) and it is continuing to get better, so I decided to give a short race a try.

I signed up for a Lifetime Fitness Indoor Triathlon and figured I would be competitive on the bike and run, and just hoped my new swim skills would keep me from losing too much ground on the swim.
When I got to the race I was expecting it to be really low key with a few people that look like serious competitors and mostly people trying to get in shape. Well, I was wrong. I pulled into the parking lot and saw multiple Ironman license plates and stickers. While registering, I found out that there were a bunch of guys from the Northern Illinois University Triathlon Team there, and on the way to the pool, two guys were putting on speed suits.

I quickly realized this was not just going to be an easy workout.

On a side note, I felt like a tri geek wearing my race kit to a small local race, but I felt better after seeing the speed suits and compression socks others had on. Triathletes (myself included) sure are an interesting bunch.

Swim (637.5 M in 10' – 1:34 / 100 M – 2^nd OA)
I started the swim comfortably hard and the women in the lane next to me put about 5 meters on my in the first length. I quickly realized again it was time to push, so I did and finally caught her about 3 laps later. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful, I just focused on my technique the whole time. Looks like all the drills and swim lessons are paying off.

Bike (18.5 Miles in 30' – 3^rd OA)
The bike was on a spin cycle with a computer that measured the speed of the flywheel. Therefore the higher your cadence the more points you get. I settled in at about 125 rpm and just stayed there for 30'. I tried to go faster but I would start to bounce and since this was my first time on a spin bike I was really nervous about hurting a knee because of the fixed gear/flywheel I wasn't used to.

Run (3.53 Miles in 20' – 1^st OA)
My goal was to set the treadmill to my 5k PR pace and see what happens. I found out what happens at 15 minutes in when I started to feel like I was going to throw up and couldn't keep my eyes open. To save myself from completely blowing up I brought it down to 10 mph for two minute and then tried to start working back up. I'm disappointed I couldn't hold 11 mph the entire time, but I'm still pleased with holding a 5:40 pace for 20 minutes off the bike and after just returning to running about 6 weeks ago (from a 6 week break due to injury). This was also the first race I've used my Zoot Ultra TT shoes in, and they were awesome, very light and felt great. I can't wait to get a pair on the new Zoot Ultra Speeds to try seeing as they are over 2 ounces lighter!

Summary
I ended up with 201 points and 1^st overall, my first overall win ever! I've had a number of age group wins but never been able to crack first overall. Hopefully this is a sign of good things this season. I had a ton of fun at the race and think I might even do another one (who knows maybe I'll even race something shorter than a half ironman this year.
It was interesting that my bike was the weakest split, last year I always did the best on the bike. I'm thrilled with the improvement in my swim though.