September (2016) Running Challenge

@MNLittleFinn

Sounds like a tough race, and I hate it when I do a race and the course is short. Did this course have a certification?

You asked about opinions on a full, and here is mine, and I know it's only worth .02. I'd wait on the full. I did my first full about 18-20 months after starting to run. I was nowhere near ready for the pounding on my legs. My fist half was a blowup at mile 11 finishing at 2:20ish after averaging 9:00 for the first 8-9 miles, then the second was an easy run after a broken leg at 2:10. After my first full, i hired a trainer who told me he'd have advised me to wait until I had run at least 2-3 years relatively injury free before attempting a full. Running a full is not equal to 2 half's, it's so much more than that. From my perspective, looking back at your strava data, you run a lot more in mid to upper zone 3 than you should, and that will kill you training for a full. I was actually worried about how hard you ran your last long run, then did a really tough interval run 4 days or so before this half. Both runs looked like leg crushers from your HR data. Doing 50+ miles a week will take it's toll and it's important to stick to a 80/20 split on easy running vs tempo's/speed work. Doing a workout too hard in half training is tough to recover from, but doing it in full training can throw you off for many days, even weeks. I'd work another summer building base miles, running 10k's & half's and get your easy runs to stay in the upper portion of z2 and lower z3, keeping the average in z2. Once you have mastered racing a half and can finish them strong, then you can look at doing a full.

Just did something new. I set my garmin so it alerts when I reach the top end of HR z2. This will be new, I used to run by pace, I'm thinking that, especially over the winter, I want to work on keeping more of my runs in the E range, which will be VERY hard for me, but in the long run should pay off with not having to walk during those last miles of a HM. Spent too much time working on speed....I got a lot faster, but also just got tired at the same place. Hoping this will fix that in time.

Edit: obligatory picture from after today's race: Jeez, I look older than my age.

So, my half was this morning, not yesterday, lol. I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out! It was my first hm. My goal was under 2:20 and my stretch was 2:10. It was tricky for me to come up with an estimate as I'd never run 13 miles before, and all my training for it has been in the heat so I wasn't sure how much my pace would improve running the race in 50-55 degrees. Well! Garmin has me at 13.11 miles in 2:09:31 and my official chip time is 2:09:58. It's def a certified course (the marathon is a BQ'er) but either way, I beat my stretch goal! Ahhh! and had a distance PR! And I ran the whole thing, not a second of walking or stopping!

The course was beautiful, around Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks. No crazy hills, but definitely some long rolling ones, and I netted somewhere between 400-500 ft elevation gain overall. I knew in my head that my stretch goal was a 10:00 pace, so as I ran I noted each split and calculated a running tally of how many seconds/minutes of cushion I was giving myself for each mile I ran in under 10 min. I hadn't planned this, just thought of it as I was starting, but I found it extremely helpful. It meant that by the time I had 3 miles left, I had a cushion of 1 1/2 min, so even if I ran the last 3 miles at a 10:30 pace I would still average out to a 10:00 pace overall. This was super helpful to me mentally. And in the end I was able to keep my average pace under the 10 min marker!

I feel by doing that, and monitoring my heart rate, I really managed this race quite well. By the home stretch I did not have a sprint to the finish line in me, but I was able to get my last mile in at a respectable pace.

So, my next planned HM is June. Gotta aim for a sub-2 on that one! Lol

I'm on my phone right now, but I'm gonna try to post a few pics in a separate post.