Week 14 (10/15-21): total ~26 miles (5/7.9/13.1) – posting 10/24/2018
Avg resting HR: 57
Weight: 113
CityStrides coverage of Northampton: 75%
Long run: Happy Valley Half Marathon. 13.1 miles; avg HR 164; time 2:26:56; average pace 11:13
It’s a taper with some speedwork thrown in—13.1 miles instead of 5 and 8–and wow, I cut four seconds off my previous half-marathon record of 1:27:00 in 2011! Temperature makes all the difference (I don’t remember the Binghamton Bridge Run that well, but it was mid-May so it probably was above the 40s), but I’m almost a decade older so I am super-happy. Plus I stopped to take pictures!
The nice people at 50/50 Fitness offered a free yoga class on Saturday, right before the bib pickup. I don’t do yoga very often but feel some benefit when I do, so it was fun to head out to Hadley on a sunny fall day and check out their facility. There were a big bunch of us but not too many for the room, and it was a good class. I decided to buy a shirt because they were a beautiful blue, and a nice weight for a long-sleeved technical shirt. The swag bag was mostly coupons, but the two cool things were the KT tape I mentioned in my last post and an actual hardcover book—The Spartan Way by Joe De Sena. (Reading it now—not great self-help, but I’m getting something out of it and then I’ll send it off to another home.) It was great to have my bib ahead of time, so I could pin it on in the warmth of home and not have to get up quite so early!
Race morning was cold and windy morning but the potential rain held off. I rode my bike to Look Park, a little worried my feet would get too cold, but it’s only 3 miles and it was OK. I arrived just a little before the start, with just enough time to find the donuts and coffee. The setup was different from last year and at first I only saw bananas and water—I wouldn’t quite have had a meltdown if there had been no donuts (they didn’t mention them in the publicity), but it would have been a big disappointment. I thanked the person behind the table and she said “It wouldn’t be a fall race in New England without cider donuts!” So true, and they were delicious.
One of the great things about riding a bike instead of driving is having gear so much closer; I was able to stuff my jacket and scarf in my bike bag and switch out my gloves just a few minutes before the start. We shivered for a bit and then the announcer led us through some warm-ups (great idea while we’re forced to wait anyway!) and we were off.
Like the marathon on a smaller scale, I planned on thinking of it as a ten-mile training run followed by a 5K, so I went out fairly easy. But I was feeling good and decided the training run could include a little speedwork/fartlek, so when I was bunched up with someone I’d up the pace a bit and get ahead to a clear spot. After two miles I felt well warmed up. I switched places multiple times with a big guy who was alternating running and walking; when I passed him on a hill I said “I’m sure we’ll see each other again”—but he never passed me again. The route is close to what I did in 2015 for 16 miles, but I’d only run some of it since; I knew there was a big hill on Audubon Road and I passed a bunch of people there. A woman in green with a very steady pace had pulled a decent way ahead of me and I figured I’d be trailing her the whole race, but I passed her (she may have passed me back). Pretty much the whole way I saw clumps of people ahead of me, rather than trailing far enough back to see only a few runners ahead. It made me think about how the marathon itself will probably be actually crowded the whole way! I don’t normally enjoy that much, but it will be a novelty.
This was the first time I’d taken dates in a race for fuel instead of relying on the sports drink at the tables. I’m planning on bringing them for marathon day along with gels. It was a little more stressful than I thought it would be to fish them out of my pack and chew while swilling water from a cup, but they taste so much better! I also use to run with empty hands, relying on the belt pack, but now I’ve gotten used to carrying the phone in one hand and a bandana in the other, so adding in gloves and headband once I warmed up worked out well.
My pace was holding steady around 11:20 – 11:30 and I was still feeling good. Not much crowd support, but the occasional family waving. Around mile 7 I recognized a fellow student from my current UMass class was cheering us on, which was fun. The skies cleared and we got some sun. The leaves were beautiful. At mile 10 I upped the effort to 60%, then 70% at mile 11 and 75% at 11.5 (I really love having RunKeeper along to know where I am and how I’m doing). The last few miles were downhill, tremendously helpful physically and psychologically, and I passed a number of people without getting passed back. At 12 I told myself 80% effort but I was feeling so good that I really pushed harder than that–it felt like I was flying. I laid it on at the finish and was delighted to see 2:27 on the clock!
Post-race I got super-chilly again; the beer felt good but it was cold standing in line for a taco. I watched part of the ceremony, hopped on my bike, and was home before 1pm.
One more week with only 19 miles, and then the marathon!!! Hard to believe it’s almost here!
Bonus photos from my pre-dawn 8 miles in the Meadows (that hole of light in the first one is a puddle reflecting the sky):
