I've been up & down over the last few days about my race on May 4th. I ran 1:16:40 to set my then half marathon PR in the spring of 2017. The race came after I had had a blood clot six months prior. I built off of that race and tackled four marathons in ten months. That wasn't really the plan. After running 1:16 in the spring of 2017, I signed up for a June marathon. I ran a 2:46 on a weirdly paced day. I was targeting something in the low to mid 2:40s and ran with a group the first few miles who said they wanted the same but we slipped into the 6:30s miles 3 to 6. I panicked and ran 6:00-flat for the next 13 miles and then ran some slower miles. It ended up being a 1:22 first half and 1:24 second half. I ran the NYC Marathon in November and blew up spectacularly on a humid day. The race was a logistical nightmare. I went out in 1:20-flat and came home in 1:27. I had done some really great training that indicated sub-2:40 potential. I was mad so I ran CIM four weeks later. I ran even 1:22 splits and knew there was more to give but was happy with the PR. I then ran Boston in April of 2018. I was greeted with horrible weather but somehow managed to run 2:44 again. I then trained in earnest for Chicago, 2018. Six months of nothing glorious -- no racing, just high mileage and big workouts. I ran an awful race but then had some major breathing issues a week after the race. I was misdiagnosed at the time but we think I had another blood clot. I wasn't able to run from mid-October until mid-January. I came back hungry but also had to rebuild my engine altogether. By this spring, I came out on the other side and ran some really great races & workouts:
4/7 Good Life Race 5k- 16:44
4/10- 8 x 800m @ 2:43 + 4 x 400m @ 76
4/13 Lakefront 10 Miler- 57:57
4/17- 3 miles @ 5:35, 3:00 jog, 6 x 2:00 @ 5:12 pace, 2:00 easy, 3 miles @ 5:42 pace
4/20- 1600m in 5:16, 8 x 300m (55 >>> 52), 200m in 33
4/21- 18 miles @ 6:45 pace
4/24- 3 x (3200m, 400m) w./ 400 jogs: 11:15 (5:38, 5:37), 75, 11:15 (5:40, 5:35), 76, 11:12 (5:40, 5:32), 72
One good rule in interpreting a race after you run it is that you should not complain about a PR.
Here's what I wrote pre-race: I believe that I can crack 1:15:00 or come very close. A good day is seeing 1:14 on the clock or 1:15-mid. A day I'll still feel good about is seeing a PR even if it is by a couple of seconds.
The result: a 1:16:03 Half Marathon PR of 37 seconds. Am I happy with that? Of course not. That would be off brand. I know I shouldn't really complain after not being able to run, having to build back up, and then coming away with a PR, but I feel like I've been so close to running faster than that but haven't. I thought I was in sub-2:40 shape before NYC and Boston. I didn't get to run a half before those races but feel like 1:15 would have been right. In this race, I thought I could threaten 1:15 and at least run 1:15-mid. I took the race out a touch too hot in the mid-5:30s. I settled down with back to back 5:45s and came through 5k on 1:14:50ish pace. I ran two more 5:45s or so and came through 5 miles right on 1:15-flat pace. The race conditions were not great. We were met with steady rain and wind and humidity. Although the temperatures were fine, I don't do great in the heat/humidity, so I preemptively took in some water at 5 miles. Almost immediately, my stomach started to cramp. I fell off the two other runners I had been running with by 5 seconds at 10k. I split a 6:15ish mile 6 to 7, as I fought off the stomach cramp. I couldn't go at the same tempo. I tried to change my strides, my breathing, my thoughts were going dark. I thought my day was over. I kept pressing different parts of my abdomen and eventually things got better. I was able to get it back to 5:50 for 8 & 9 & then was able to go 5:42 for mile 10. I ran my last 5k in 17:56 which is 5:46 pace or 1:15:40 half marathon pace. Basically, I ran 1:14-1:15 pace for 12.1 miles of the race. The 6:15 mile and the end of mile 6 and the start of mile 8 lost me about :30-45 seconds. Without the side stitch, I walk away with a 1:15-mid. I sprinted hard and ran 5:28 pace from 20k to the finish but came up 4 seconds short of 1:15:59. I know it sounds silly but it would not be as frustrating if I could say I ran 1:15. There isn't much difference between 1:15:59 and 1:16:03. It just would have been nice to have a different number for my PR. Either way, I know I could have run 1:15-low/mid on the day, maybe even 1:14-high without the wind/rain. My body is trashed because I ran 90+% of the race as hard as I could have. I don't know when I'll get to run a half next. I'm all in on the Berlin Marathon in the fall so it might not be until well after that. So for now I sit at 1:16:03. Calculators convert that to a 2:39-flat marathon. A 1:15-low/mid would get me 2:37 or 2:38. It would just feel better to know I have run the half that converts faster. I just have to keep proving to myself that I know I'm a better runner than that and go into Berlin with big goals. I want to run 2:37. I want to break 6:00/mile for the marathon. I'm not shying away because I ran 1:16:03 instead of 1:15. If I keep progressing and feel like 2:34-2:36 is possible then I'm going to go for that. I'm ready for a big result in the marathon and I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen.
For now, it's about recovery for the next week or so. I'm targeting a 1 mile, a 5k, and a 10k to touch up on some speed before starting my intentional marathon block in mid-June. From there, it's 15 weeks of grinding through marathon training. I hope to come out on the other side of that, that we have good weather in Berlin, and that I'm able to run the kind of race I know I'm capable of.
