Cullen and I are still in Minnesota soaking up every last warm, sunny SUMMER day while we are here because when we go back to Alaska on Saturday, it is going to be chilly!
I am thoroughly enjoying running in the heat and sunshine but my cardiovascular system does not. I am still struggling to run fast (hence my not-so-great performance at the half marathon this past Sunday). Even on easy runs my heart rate can get into the 160s/170s, which is not ideal. I guess the plus side is that when I get back to Alaska I will (hopefully) be able to cruise at paces that seemed much harder here!
Last week I was able to meet up with my “coach” Nichole. She technically doesn’t coach me anymore, but I still call her my coach since we’ve worked together so much in the past and she was the one who put this sub-3 hour marathon goal in my head in the first place.
We did a workout “together” as in we were both out running the same loop, but we had different paces we were running. I attempted a 5 x 1 mile workout at tempo pace but failed miserably and hit paces closer to marathon pace (6:50 instead of 6:30) due to my heart rate and breathing getting out of control. I chalked it up for the effort and knew that it wasn’t an accurate reflection of my fitness.
Then going into Sunday’s City of Lakes Half Marathon, I wasn’t quite sure what I would be able to do come race day. (Usually I am pretty good at predicting what I can run in a race.) I really hoped I would be able to run faster than I did at the Skinny Raven Half Marathon in Anchorage three weeks prior. I saw the weather was going to be cooler race morning, which I was happy about, but I am also in the thick of marathon training. Plus, I had had a cold the entire week before, and I was still feeling it in the back of my throat.
I did my usual 30 minute pre-half marathon warm-up for this race and felt as ready as I was going to feel. As soon as the gun went off, I settled into a more conservative pace than usual coming through the first mile in 6:49. (My first mile at the Skinny Raven Half Marathon was 6:28. Oops! Although honestly there is a lot of downhill during the first mile.) I purposely tried to reign in the pace early on so that my legs could still feel okay at the end. There was a 1:30 pace group, so I latched onto them and ran with them for a while. I thought I could start to pull away from them about half way if I was still feeling good. Well, instead of running a 6:50 pace like they were supposed to, they were running more like a 6:40 pace. I still hung with them but knowing that was as fast as I should push the pace based off how I was feeling that day.
Mile 1 – 6:49
Mile 2 – 6:39
Mile 3 – 6:39
Mile 4 – 6:44
Mile 5 – 6:42
Mile 6 – 6:47
The course is two loops around two different lakes, so it was really scenic, but also a little mentally tough knowing I had to run the same route twice. I grabbed some Gatorade at an aid station about half way through and then started to lose contact with the pace group. I felt a surge of energy and tried to catch back up with the group, but it just wasn’t happening.
Mile 7 – 6:54
Mile 8 – 6:55
Mile 9 – 6:50
Mile 10 – 6:59
Mile 11 – 6:55
Mile 12 – 6:56
Mile 13 – 7:01
As you can see my pace dropped off during the second half, but I actually stayed pretty consistent during the last half as well and didn’t totally hit the wall. There was a nice little downhill into the finish chute, and I ran across the finish knowing I had done the best I could given the conditions.
My watch stats:
Distance – 13.14 miles
Time – 1:29:51
Average pace – 6:50
Official results:
Distance – 13.1 miles
Time – 1:29:41
Average pace – 6:51
24th place for the women (640 total women)
5th in my age group (91 finishers in the 35-39 age bracket)
I’m going to continue to train as hard as I can going into the New York City Marathon. It is going to be a short build-up to the race (much shorter than I would prefer), but the cards fell together so nicely for NYC, I couldn’t say no.
We head back to Alaska Friday night, arriving in Anchorage in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday. While I am going to miss the warmth of this weather (and everything else about Minnesota), I will hopefully be able to train more effectively!
