Off to the races

Today was the first of 5 half marathons in New York City.  I have to start with giving props to my sister-in-law who rocked her first half and made it look easy.  If she lived closer I would recruit her into joining the running club, with her long legs she could be a force on the roads!  

I knew at the start that this would be a struggle, the run yesterday combined with the end of illness.  But we were registered and going to run.  Everything I run going forward must have purpose and intent behind it.  My goal is a 4:40 fall marathon and I mean it this time.  SO to go and run this as fast as I can or to try to make it a PR lessens the impact it will have on the ultimate goal.  Today other than finishing, I wanted to work on my consistency.  Aim to have most miles at a 10:30 pace.  Success in doing this for 9 of the 13 miles.  I wanted to finish in 2:17-2:20, came in at 2:22.

So what went wrong in those 4 miles.  The course did not help, to call it hilly was an understatement.  The hills didn't stop, and did quite a number on the quads.  That said the fact that I was able to hold my pace for the majority of miles is a feat given how weak I am on the hills.  My run yesterday was a bad idea, I was going in on tired legs and 4 hours of sleep.  My outfit didn't help, I over dressed and suffered a little.  Next time no jacket.  I also went out too fast, not fast compared to others, but the first 2 miles were at 10:13 and 10:14.  Had I kept it slightly slower I could have taken 15 seconds off to 2 other miles and brought it that much closer to my goal.  This may sound like I am nit picking here, but I have to understand this.  All of it.  There were other factors, a little dehydration, no Gu, and poor nutrition the week prior.  These runs will help me move forward and I have to continue to improve.  

What now?  Rest tomorrow, yoga to calm down the quads.  3o miles this week with a track workout.  Next week I start adding a second speed workout.  

Miles trained today: 13.3

(To the NYRR this is the 2nd race that we disagree about the mileage, not happy for that extra .2)