How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Mahomet Half Marathon

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Location:

Eugene,OR,USA

Member Since:

Nov 09, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

  • 5k PR - 18:48 (7/04/08)
  • 8K PR - 33:46 (5/19/07, on trails)
  • 10k PR - I have not run a competitive 10K yet.
  • 12K PR - 50:10 (8/09/08)
  • 15K PR - 1:04:52 (3/22/08)
  • Marathon - Have run 1 trail marathon, (Grand Island) 3:55 (July 2007)
  • Ultra Marathons -
  • Farmdale 33.5 miles, 10/08 - 6:08
  • Riddle Run 28 Miles, 01/09 - 5:35 (run in 2-3 inches of snow)
  • Devil's Lake 50k, 07/09 - 6:22
  • Howl at the Moon 8 hour, 08/09 - 39.98 miles
  • North Country Trail Run 50 miles, 09/09 - 9:44
  • Farmdale 32 miles, 10/09 - 5:45
  • McNotAgain 30 Miles, 10/09 - 5:50
  • Red Rock Canyon Half, Las Vegas, 06/12 - 2:15


Short-Term Running Goals:

Keep running in the winter - 1st year in Eugene - fun!

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep on Keeping on..

Personal:

Moved to Eugene in Autumn, 2012 - Track city USA!

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: Mahomet Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:42:40, Place overall: 90, Place in age division: 9
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.000.000.000.0020.00

Woke up to a beautiful morning for running a half marathon - upper 50's, a bit breezy, and mostly sunny. I felt refreshed and rested as I readied myself for the day's run. Treating the race as a semi-long run, I felt none of the usual race day excitement, rather, just  a desire to get out and run for a couple of hours.

I arrived at the race site without problem, registered, ran a slow mile, and walked to the start line. I saw Mike I., and we talked for 5 minutes about running. He invited me to run Forest Glen with him sometime. I told him I don't own a car, so he said to email him and we could plan for him to pick me up and drive me there. I have never been to Forest Glen, from Mike's description it sounds like a tough and beautiful trail run.

We started off the line at 7:00am, and I ran comfortably slow the first mile. I was surprised to hear the 1 mile split at 8:15, it felt more like 9:15. For the next 6 miles I remained on cruise control, running between 8:05-8:15 pace.

When I could I ran on the crushed gravel edge of the asphalt country roads, but sometimes the edge was just high grass, so about 2/3 of the race I ran on the hard road. I wore my Puma 4 ouncers, deciding to test my foot strength. These shoes have just a thin sheet of rubber pasted to the bottom of the mesh , no cushioning and not much of a heal. It is close to running barefoot, and I am happy to say that I had no problems with the asphalt surface, my foot strength was good, and the shoe comfortable.

At mile 7 I started to accelerate my pace without trying, as I had caught a bit of trance energy and flowed with it. I am guessing my pace dropped to 7:30-7:45, and I held onto this through miles 8-11. The final 2 miles I dropped the pace further to 7:15-7:25, just that natural urge to run hard during the final minutes of a run.

Before I knew it I was crossing the overpass hill which leads to the high school track, and I sprinted the final 300m, coming into the chute in 1:42:40, for an average pace of 7:50. I had no struggles in the race, it was just a smooth flow of running which felt good the entire way. After the hard 300m my breathing returned to normal in 10 seconds.

During the race I compared how my mind grasped distance from a few years ago, and today. 2006 was the last time I ran a half marathon, and it was on the same course. Then the miles seemed longer and more strugglesome, especially the final 3. Today I did not begin to feel warmed up until mile 10, and was disappointed that the run would soon be over. Having run a few ultra distances this year, it stretches the mind to believe that 20 miles is short, and 13, real short. In 2006 I finished in 1:47, so I took 5 minutes off that time with minimal effort.

After eating a banana and a biscuit with honey, I decided to walk the overpass to Lake of the Woods and run some trails. I ran at my normal long run training pace, which is 8:30-10:00 per mile - nice and easy. After 5-6 trail miles I packed it up and went home.

Overall a good training day, 19- 20 miles total, 13 being moderately hard. My knee never bothered me, so it is a hit or miss injury, some days it feels weak after 5 miles, on other days normal. Not sure what to make of it.

The 50 miler in Hell, MI is in 3 weeks. I will plan on running 20-27 miles next Saturday, then begin to taper off with shorter, quicker runs.

Comments
From Kelli on Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 16:35:54 from 71.219.64.200

Super job!!! It sounds like you had the perfect race day, you gotta love that. I love the self reflection about it, that is what makes you a strong runner. Way to go on adding more miles.

From JD on Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 18:58:31 from 166.217.39.239

Nice going today. Looks like your fitness level is still way up there!

From jtshad on Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 16:47:22 from 204.134.132.225

Great job, you are a quickly becoming a distance junky!

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