Tom King Half Marathon

March 12, 2011

I'd rather this have been a triathlon; it would have gelled better with my training plan than a half marathon. And after the intense soreness that hung around after First Light, I was afraid I'd bury myself and not have enough for the triathlon season, which kicks off next week. Regardless, race season has begun and Tom King is always a great way to kick it off.

Got a solid night's sleep and had way too much time (again) to get myself ready. Spent way more time playing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door than actually getting ready for the race; hells yeah. But I did get my breakfast down, fully dressed and out the door with plenty of time to get to race site. I even had time to get Levi out of bed and dressed before I left. Did I mention I "worked" last night? Actually made things easier for a number of reasons.

I get out of Smyrna about 7:05 and arrive at race site about 7:40, 50 minutes before race start. Between getting my bib, going to the bathroom and warming up, I find that 50 minutes is just about the exact amount of time I need to get everything done without feeling rushed. All roses so far. I wish I had time to pee one more time before the gun, but I don't; hopefully I won't feel compelled to stop and pee during the race. Because I don't plan to. I'd like to PR today (sub 1:42:50), but I really have no idea what to expect. No taper for this race, no special preparation and I really didn't give it much thought. Special for no reason other than it's the first of 5 between now and mid-April. Well... not entirely. This is my first race in my new racing shoes. I bought a pair of Newton Distancia neutral racing shoes for use only in races and key race-simulation workouts 10 miles and longer; I'm very interested to see them in action. And, of course, with race season comes the first leg shave of the year. Man... it's kind of cold first thing in the morning...

I'm quite a ways back when the gun goes off which causes two things: it takes me about 90 seconds to actually make it to the start line and makes things VERY crowded for the first 2 miles. I was jogging along comfortably somewhere in the 7:30 ballpark, which was more than acceptable. I know better than to read too much into it, but I focus on keeping it easy for as long as possible. Same plan as First Light: keep it under LT to the halfway point, bring it to LT for the next 5k and sprint home; get a negative split by any means necessary. And, as always, shoot for the PR if it's within reach.

My HR stayed down and my pace stayed steady for the first 4 miles. Somewhere around there my ATP system tapped out and I started flirting with LT (finally). So the pace started feeling increasingly difficult, but I was never in any kind of trouble for the first half. I passed a couple friends of mine around mile 5, and a few more I didn't see, but it was an otherwise controlled slog to the turnaround at roughly the 10k mark. I lap my Garmin at mile 6.5, turn off my heart rate alarm and am excited to see that I did the first 6.5 in just under 50 minutes (about 49:30). This means that if I can negative split the course, I'll come in under 1:40. That was my goal for First Light that ended up being wholly impossible. This was a great omen, but nothing more. I still feel good, so we'll just see how long I can ride it out. For the first time in my racing life, I stayed completely within my HR zones; I never got within 3 beats of LT despite clicking 7:30 miles like I was getting paid for it.

I see a lot more people on the way back: Norton, Kellie, Ricky, all within a half mile of me at the turn. Things are slowly starting to get harder now. By mile 7 I'm keeping my pace up, but am doing so at LT (187 bpm). I actually find myself running faster than that: 7:15; 7:00; even as fast as 6:40 at one point. I'm banking all kinds of time and really enjoying the ride. We all know it wouldn't last long.

There's quite a bit of bottlenecking around mile 7. Since the race route is pretty much out-and-back on a Greenway, hundreds of runners get funnelled onto this paved trail 7 feet wide for most of the middle miles. It was a pretty frustrating thing cruising down a light downhill or catching a wonderful draft at well under 7 minute miles then having to quickly descelerate to 8:30s because I have no room to pass. This happened 3 or 4 times, but I tried to focus on the positive. This was a chance to relax, recover a bit and get my heart rate down.

The stretch from mile 7 to mile 10 (when you exit the park) really is a tough section. I found myself hitting a handful of low points during that stretch, but was happy to see my pace never really falling. Just be patient. Be patient. Hold everything together.

After some lows, some highs and some more lows we finally reach mile 10 and exit the park. I've taken a bit of gel at the aid stations at miles 5 and 7.5 thus far; same theory as First Light, but I just brought one gel this time, spit less out and stuck it back in my pocket when I was done. I squeeze another bit at mile 10 and toss the package. I'm getting pretty dehydrated and I find myself getting in as much water as I can manage without actually stopping to walk. Although they added an extra station at mile 1/12, I still really think they don't have enough. There's water at miles 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10. I do long course and I'm spoiled; I want them every mile. Cotton-mouth city.

I remember the two barely-there inclines exiting the park and getting back onto Davidson, but forget the IMPOSSIBLY long stretch between Shelby Bottom's and the road. It's about a half mile of road I routinely forget is there, and this time it's in a headwind. A thin slice of forever elapses and I finally find myself over the 2nd "hill" and start to turn the screws a little. It's just past mile 11 and I'm truly racing for the first time today; the first 11 was more holding on and being patient. I can't ramp my heart rate up over LT or even really close to it over the 1.5 mile stretch from the park to the stadium parking lot. I had planned to, but it was all I could do to keep my body from falling apart. Tough, tough stretch. Into the wind the whole way in. My pace has seen it's fair share of over-8-min/mis over the long run into the stadium, but I'm still doing mid 7:00s most of the time. What's more, I have a chance to break 1:40 if I can just murder myself for a little...while...longer...

I'm in all kinds of pain as I round the turn at mile 12.5 and run towards the open door into Titan's Stadium. No finish line kick, my "kick" is merely holding the fuck on. But my pace never really slows and I'm not being caught by anybody. Well, that's not true. I was playing pass-tag with a woman over the last mile and ended up losing the battle. Nobody else I marked got the better of me that day, and she was a Kona qualifier. I'll concede her 10 second gap.

I also forgot the sharp decline into the stadium, but take full advantage of it. I'm in a ton of pain but know two things: it will be over in a collection of minutes and it WILL be a PR. I find myself kicking it in at 6 min/mis when I'm in the stadium and cross the line at 1:40:32 gun time. More importantly, my Garmin reads 1:39:10. OH, HELL YEAH! Sub 1:40, baby! I didn't see that coming at all. It was a lofty goal, but not one I figured I had in me. Cue celebrations.

Gun time: 1:40:32
Chip time: 1:39:09; 7:30/mi avg

Per the Garmin:

13.22 miles in 1:39:10; 7:30/mi avg; 181 avg HR

First 6.55: 49:25; 7:33/mi avg; 177 avg HR
Second 6.67: 49:45; 7:27/mi avg; 185 avg HR

PR over First Light by 3:42
Beat last year's Tom King by 14:14 (wow! I went just as hard last year)

Alright, nice. Not an important race. Not a lot invested in it, but it's far and away the best race I've ever had at any distance to this point. I'm happy; I hope you are too. Natchez Trace Triathlon is next weekend. Hopefully it goes just as well.

Everything's building towards New Orleans 70.3. I really want to nail that one. I'll keep you posted.