[Race Report] Pony Express Half Marathon

** Race Information**

Pony Express Half Marathon

Sacramento, CA

May 1, 2016

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/562502510

Goals

Goal Completed?

1:35 No

1:36 Nope

1:37:33 (new PR) Not that one either

Training I talked a little bit about my training hiccups in my last race report. Basically I had an unexpected long recovery after a surgery in December.

Between that race and yesterday I got a solid 4 weeks of mileage in along with a couple of decent tempo runs. I basically followed the last 4 weeks of Phase 4 of Jack Daniels half marathon plan, hitting between 44 and 48 miles a week with a 12 mile long run on the weekends.

Race Strategy

My ultimate goal was to hit fairly even splits, and maybe speed up towards the end if possible and make it under 1:35. I was shooting for splits from 7:22 to 7:15, but no slower. My last "A" race I went out too fast and ended up walking a bit towards the end. I wanted to avoid that this time and just run smooth and consistent for the entire 13 miles.

The Actual Race

everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth

The weather forecast originally called for a high of 92 the day of the race. But when I checked the day of the race the forecast was down to 88. So it was expected to be fairly warm. Race time was at 7am. I got there about 45 minutes early, did a brief .75 mile warm up jog to the start line and then did the usual race routine of wait in line for porta potties and then go to drop gear. This is the first race I've been too without a gear check, but one of the running clubs offered to stash my pullover for me, which was super cool of them. Temps were probably low to mid 60s at that point. Which makes for a pleasant run, but not necessarily a fast run. I had to pee, but I didn't want to wait in line for the porta potty again. But then the race started about 5 minutes late, so I would have had plenty of time...

The race was super small - only about 1000 people total for both a full and a half marathon. I lined up next to the 1:35 pacer and was almost at the very front. There were no corrals. We started off and everything went smooth. I stuck with the 1:35 pacer for about 1/2 mile, but he was going out a bit faster than I wanted to go so I slowed just a bit. After about 1 mile the marathoners split off to do a different loop and the half got onto the second half of the marathon course. At this point there was almost no one ahead of me (Quick spoiler - I came in 16th overall) which was a little weird. It's kind of hard to relax when you're not quite sure where you need to turn.

Miles 1-7.

I felt really good for the first 7 miles, but I could tell I was starting to heat up more than usual. My wife said she would meet me around the 7 mile marker, and sure enough she was out there with my kids which was awesome and a great pick me up. Splits here were 7:22, 7:16, 7:09, 7:19, 7:28, 7:15, and 7:22. I took my first gu around 7.5 miles, and I'm glad I brought two along this time.

Miles 8-10

I passed the 20 mile marker for the marathon, and it was a bit discouraging to be reminded that I still had an entire 10k in front of me. This section of the course worked itself through Land Park, a very nice neighborhood in Sacramento with pretty houses and some nice old trees. There was one girl in front of me that I could see, but the 1:35 pacer had disappeared in the turns ahead of me. I worked on slowly reeling her in, and passed her somewhere in the 9th mile at the top of an unexpected hill. But then another guy came from behind and passed me. I imagine he was doing the same thing to me - slowly reeling me in. I was getting hot at this point and although I knew I was slowing down I couldn't quite mentally will myself to run faster. I skipped most of the early aid stations, but by this point I was trying to get some water every time. I took my second gu around the 10 mile mark.

Splits were 7:31, 7:37, and 7:36.

Mile 10-13

I only had one person ahead of me, so I tried to concentrate on keeping up with him and reeling him in instead of thinking about my flagging pace. I will also add he was literally the only person I could see running other than myself.

I kept wondering to myself whether my slowing was due to physical conditioning or just mental weakness - should I push myself faster? I tried to speed up a bit, but felt like throwing up when I did, so I just kept up the "comfortably hard" pace I was doing before (although there was absolutely nothing comfortable about it). In mile 13 the guy in front of me slowed down just a bit for a corner, so I took that as an opportunity to attack. I passed him right before the corner, pushed through, and used that momentum to keep the pace up for the next few minutes until the end. For the last .1 miles or so through the shoot I was hurting but I could hear my kids again shouting "go daddy!!" and saw my wife taking pictures, so I pushed through to the very end and did my best to keep my form looking solid. Above me I could see "1:38" on the timer board, which was disappointing. No PRs today. When I finished the race my legs were shaking a bit and walking was hard, but my kids cheering me through the finishers area was fun. "Daddy, get the chocolate milk! oh get two! Get the pretzels!! No not the fruit. Yes get the clif bars!"

*Splits were 7:37, 7:40, and 7:19. *

Final (chip) time was 1:38:09. Gun was 1:38:12. Despite this mediocre performance I managed to get 2nd place in my age group (M 35-39), taking home a cool horse shoe as a medal and impressing my son. So that's at least kind of cool.

Thoughts

I'm not sure how much the heat impacted my performance. I think by the last 3 miles or so the temps were high 60s, maybe low 70s. When I got in my car to leave about 30 minutes after the finish it was 73 out. So again, a very nice day. Just not necessarily for racing. My PR last November was set in the low 50s.

I also think the lack of people racing created a feeling of complacency. My wife said the 1:35 pacer came around the final corner, saw the time on the board above the finish line, and started sprinting towards the finish for a time of 1:35:20. Overall this felt more like a really, really hard solo tempo run and not like a race. I only saw two other racers for the entire last 6 miles.

What's Next?

Recovery week this week, then I'm going into base building for a marathon in December. I'm hoping to spend the next 12 weeks building up my mileage as high as possible, doing primarily easy running. Then go into marathon training. I have another half marathon scheduled for October 2nd, so I'm curious to see what kind of impact higher mileage makes on my 1/2 time. And hopefully the weather's a little cooler too!