Wow! its been a while I visited this little corner of internet that belongs to me. Time for another race report. The actual race happened on 24th Feb but i haven't had the chance to put down the report for it. So here it is..
This was my second year doing the norcal half marathon. I had very happy memories for the first one. It was at this race that I actually got my PR. You can read about it here. Last year this race happened in Sept. I was in middle of my marathon training and was in great shape. This year it was very different. First the race was moved from Sept to Feb and the course was also moved from San Jose to Fremont. No complains on the second one as this was really close to home. I had a pretty bad start to the year with a knee injury and that took away three-four weeks completely with hardly any running. I started running little more consistently from beginning of Feb. Considering i had only 3 weeks of some sort of running (most of them slow and short) I was very realistic about my performance. When my coach asked me about the goals about the race my only goal was to get through the race uninjured.
Going into the race the plan was to run in Z3 and lower Z4 for first 3 miles (168-175 bpm) and then run next 7 miles in higher Z4 (175-180) and then go really hard for the remaining 3 miles with HR > 180 bpm. When i read that plan I wouldn't say i was very excited. To be honest i was bit worried. Considering how little i have run beyond Z2 this would be something incredible if I am able to pull it off without getting injured.
Fast forward to race. I was up early and had a large banana, 1 powerbar energy bar and 22 oz electrolyte drink for breakfast. I reached the race start at 6:30 for a 7:30 start. It was freaking cold. I just kept moving/running to keep myself warm for the next 45 mins. With 15 mins to go I lined myself up behind the 1:55 pacer. My thought process was that 1:55 pace would be comfortable for first 3 relatively slower miles and then I can run my own race. After the bit of chit chat with fellow runners and national anthem off we went. I kept up with the 1:55 pacer for first 3 miles with relative ease. It was time to up the tempo. So I decided to push my pace.
Surprisingly, I was feeling quite good. So instead of waiting until mile 10 I decided to push my pace even more from mile 6-7. In the hindsight it was bit too aggressive for the amount of training i had. But anyways, things went relatively smooth until mile 12 where my wheels came off. I was completely out of breath and my left calf was cramping a bit. I had to take couple of walking breaks to catch my breath. Last mile was quite a torture to say the least and I crossed the finish line in 1:51.
It was quite surprise seeing the final time. It was only 1 min slower than my PR time. Looking back I think quite a few things clicked :
1) My fear that i might get injured again was finally going away. Last year I had run ~700 miles without a down time due to injury for a single day. The injury at the beginning of year did dent my confidence quite a bit
2) Last year my nutrition plan was 1 gel/30 mins with electrolyte from the water stops. This might seems very aggressive for some people but works great for me. After the race I realized that I had forgotten the gel at 1:30 mark and that might be the reason for my bonk at mile 12. I am sticking with this plan. I am experimenting with increasing my sodium intake in some of my training run. So that is something I might include in my future races. Beyond that I am not going to touch it.
3) Gaining the confidence to run my own race. If you go through all my races last year I always try to stick with the pacer. In some ways I don't have the confidence that I can run a smart race and stick to the plan. This race I followed the plan very closely with the exception of getting overly aggressive little too early.
Things that I think I still need to work on:
1) I need to re-look into my electrolyte intake before and during the race. I think that 22 oz of liquid in the morning did not stick well in my stomach. I also had some cramping issue towards the end portion of the race even after following my aggressive gel schedule. That is the reason I am experimenting with little more sodium intake
2) Train more consistently. Off late with a new job life has been hectic and I end up missing workouts every now and then. Hopefully, once I settle down at work this will be back to where I want it to be
Garmin File
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/277196654
