race report

Race Recap: 2016 Just a Short Run (JASR) Half Marathon

03.29.2016 by Jennifer // 49 Comments

I ran the Just a Short Run (JASR) Half Marathon on Saturday, March 26. This was my 8th half marathon, second time running this half marathon, and third time running a JASR race (I ran the 5K in 2014.) My main goal for this training cycle was to get through a second cycle of training with the Hansons’ method, since I plan to use that method for full marathon training, and just to build a good base of miles for marathon training later this year. While I didn’t have a goal time, I set 10:40 as my goal race pace since the plan prescribes training run paces based on your goal time. That pace is 10 seconds faster than the average 10:50 pace I ran in my October race, which is my PR. While I didn’t have a time goal for this race, I wanted to run my best. I wanted to start slowly and finish strong, which is the strategy I used to run my October race, which was my best race. I did not run even close to my best. I ended up running this race just 36 seconds faster than I ran it last year, but I ran it last year as a training run. Where do I even start to explain this race? You better settle in, because this is a long one.

Leading Up to the Race

I take full responsibility for running a poor race. But I had a lot going on in the two weeks leading to this race.

First, there were work stresses. I usually handle work stress really well and definitely feel like running helps with that. But the past two weeks have been extremely stressful, and it got to me.

Second, there was the car situation. I drive a 14-year-old car, and my husband’s car is 20 years old. Neither of us drive much (his car only has 80,000 miles on it), neither of us are car people, and neither of us want to spend money on a car. But when you drive old cars, things need to be replaced, and that’s what happened to my car recently. Plus, we take our dog everywhere with us, and he can barely fit into my little VW Golf. Well, even though we know exactly the car we want, it turns out there are a lot of decisions to make, and it’s stressed me out enough to now think I shouldn’t get another car and should just drive mine until it dies. I’ve been agonizing over this.

Third, there was my mindset. Two weeks ago I ran my peak week of 47 miles. When I said it crushed me, it really did. It crushed my will to run. After that week, I was pretty much done with training. I was counting the days until the race would be over so I could have my three months off training before marathon training starts. I want to do all the things I didn’t have time for or couldn’t do while training–strength training, yoga, doing a walk commute to work, cleaning the house, not eating so many carbs, staying up later than 8:30 p.m., sleeping in past 4:30 a.m., etc. The only reason I wanted to run the race was so that the race and training would to be OVER. I worried that I didn’t care enough about the race–after all, I’ve been saying I had no big goal for it–and that I wouldn’t be able to push when I needed to.

The Hansons’ Half Marathon Method: Second Time Around

I followed the beginner plan of the Hanson’s Half Marathon Method for the second time (don’t let the name full you–it’s tough!). The first time, I followed the plan to a tee, with the only changes being a planned week of easy runs while on vacation and tapering a little more than the plan called for at the end. Last week, I read through those training recaps. Going into my goal race, I felt so confident and was 100% confident I would have a good race. And I had my best race.

This time, I wasn’t nearly as good at following the plan to a tee. Because I hadn’t set a big goal for a race, I felt more comfortable slacking off. I looked back at my training log, and I skipped 3 runs–once because of snow, once because I was sick, and once during my taper because I just didn’t feel like running after my peak week. However, there were a total of 22 runs (out of 100) where I didn’t follow the planned workout and cut runs or speedwork short or didn’t do speedwork at all due to snow and ice. And on many of my pace runs, I cheated a little and would stop my Garmin and take a break between each of my miles at goal pace.

Now, I know that everyone says it’s perfectly fine to skip some runs and not follow the plan to a tee. I even read one article that says try to follow the 80/20 rule, that you should be fine if you follow about 80% of the plan. The thing is, that may be true for most training plans, but it completely goes against the Hansons’ method. The whole point of the Hansons’ method is to build cumulative fatigue so that you learn how to run well on tired legs. When you don’t run enough miles, when you skip runs or cut them short, you don’t build the fatigue you should be, so the method doesn’t really work. Plus, for me, the biggest benefit of the Hansons’ method was learning how to push through hard workouts when I was tired. That really built my mental grit. I did that so many times during the first cycle but feel like with the reduced or missed workouts, I didn’t push nearly as hard as I should have in training this second time.

So, while I can give myself all the pep talks I want about knowing the course well and running well on the course, the truth is that I didn’t believe I put in the training I should have. I worried that because I hadn’t got enough practice in training, I wouldn’t be able to push during the race. I also worried that I’d run all my pace runs on the flat river trail where I do my weekday runs and didn’t have any practice running at goal pace on hills.

Race Day

Well, basically all my worries became reality. I got to the race an hour early to get a good parking spot and was just in time to get the very last good spot so I didn’t have to take a shuttle bus from the other parking areas. My running buddy Anna was doing the 8.1-mile race, so we met at registration to pick up our bibs and swag (shorts and socks). There was a gear bag drop-off, so we took our bags over only to find that there was no marker to write our bib numbers on the bag. So while Anna was waiting to use the bathroom, I walked back to my car to drop our bags off. That was just one thing I was annoyed at before the race started. I was annoyed that I wasn’t given pins with my bib and had to go back and ask for them. I was annoyed that the bathroom smelled like poop and I had to wait in a long line smelling poop. I was just annoyed that I had to run the race.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I do not like races. Just last weekend, when I was running with Chelsea for her 50K, she was telling me all the races she’s doing this year. I commented that she must love races and that I’m the opposite. I love to train but hate to race. She asked why, and I said because of everything. I hate everything about races except crossing the finish line. So, this race was no different.

Anyway, I got back from my car to find Anna. I was in the middle of doing my dynamic stretches when we heard “Go!” and everyone started moving–three minutes early according to my watch and confirmed per the race results. So, we had to start in the very back instead of with our pace group, which annoyed me.

Miles 1-3: 10:50, 10:37, 10:36

The weather was perfect–about 33 and cloudy. My plan was to ease into my goal pace of 10:40, and that did NOT happen. The 5K, 8.1-mile, and half marathon all start together. The 30K is supposed to start five minutes earlier and merge in, but I think this time everyone started at once. That meant that after the merge all the runners near us were running much faster paces, and you know what that’s like. You either go with the flow or get trampled. The first mile includes a .25-mile hill with a 137-foot climb and is the biggest hill of the course. I planned to take it easy on that hill and felt like I was, but in retrospect I should have gone slower. I kept trying to put the brakes on, but I failed. Plus, I was annoyed at everything. I didn’t say a peep to Anna the whole race even though we were running together. I was already in a not-good mental place, and when I get like that I tend to go inward. I was annoyed at the woman behind me breathing heavily. I was annoyed at the people talking around me. I was annoyed at all the different pace groups around me because of the merged races. I was annoyed at two guys doing run-walk intervals who kept running around me then stopping to walk right in front if me.

Miles 4-6: 10:44, 10:41, 10:29

The race course is two 5-mile loops around a lake preceded by a 3-mile out-and-back. As we started the first loop, the seeds of “I don’t want to do this loop a second time” took root in my brain. Anna and I stayed steady, going a little slower on the uphills and a little faster on the downhills. Still, everyone was annoying me–except Anna, and that’s because it’s nearly impossible to be annoyed at Anna! Finally, around mile 4, I told Anna I wanted to put in my headphones to drown out the people around me, so we walked for a short time to get out our headphones. Physically, I wasn’t feeling bad. I just was not into the race.

Miles 7-10: 11:16, 10:37, 11:27

In mile 7 I started to feel a little tired. I decided to walk to take my second gel and salt stick since it coincided with a hill. Anna was feeling good and kept on, and I let her go. When I saw the 11:16 split show up on my Garmin, I told myself not to panic. I have been known to throw away the whole race off of a single split (I’m thinking of you, 2015 Pittsburgh Half Marathon.) So I really tried to focus and get my mojo back for the next mile, which I did. However, as I was coming to the finish line area where those running the 8.1-mile race would finish and I’d have to keep going, I started thinking Maybe I’ll just go through the finish line. I did NOT want to run anymore. It’s weird because I didn’t feel like I was physically struggling. I wasn’t feeling super good, either. I just felt meh. I didn’t know if the race chip would figure out that I only did 8 miles if I crossed the finish line, and I certainly didn’t want to be a cheater. So I reluctantly kept going. Shortly after that, I passed where I’d parked my car. I slowed down and was this close to just stopping, getting in my car, and going home. I did not want to be running! But, I’d said that the only thing I had to do in this race was finish, so I knew I needed to finish, even if I had to walk the rest of the race. So that’s pretty much what I did.

Miles 11-13.3: 12:19, 12:30, 13:18, 11:42

I walked a lot of the last miles. At one point the 11:27 pace group passed me while I was walking, and I rallied and tried to keep up with them. But that motivation lasted about five minutes. I walked when I wanted to and ran when I wanted to. And I kept being annoyed. Are you ready for this? I was annoyed at the little kids handing out water at the water stations because they were veering too far into my path. Who gets annoyed at volunteers–much less little kid volunteers–in a race? What kind of person am I??? One of the reasons I picked this race is because it’s very low-key–most runners do it as a training run for the Pittsburgh Marathon–with no spectators. There were all of two people cheering…and they annoyed me! Can you see my mindset here? I was in a dark place and just could not pull myself out of my funk. So I walked. And ran very little. I made myself run the last mile and finished the last .3 at a 10:58 pace.

I crossed the finish line at 13.3 miles in 2:30:19 according to my Garmin, for an 11:18 pace. The official results are 2:30:14 for an 11:29 pace.

The Perfect Storm of a Bad Race

Poor Race Plan. Per my race plan, I wanted to start slowly and run in a 10:30-11:00 pace range until mile 10, when I planned to speed up. I based that race plan off of my 10:50 pace in my half marathon PR but didn’t take into account that that race was on a flat trail. Plus, I didn’t practice my pace runs on hills. So my pacing strategy for such a hilly course turned out to be more than I could handle. In retrospect, I realize I was just running too fast in the first half of the race. I wasn’t checking my heart rate, and that was a mistake. When I looked at my stats after the race, I saw that my heart rate was in my max zone for the whole race up until the last miles where I walked a lot.

Burnout Leading to Poor Mindset. I was simply burned out from the training at the end and didn’t want to run. This is the first race where I didn’t plan out a cute outfit, and I didn’t take a single picture at the race. I just wasn’t feeling it.

Mental Struggles. Confidence does not come easy for me. While I developed huge confidence from doing the Hanson’s plan the first time, I felt really bad about my training this time and didn’t feel like I was going to have a good race. And that’s the power of the mind, friends. I went into the race thinking it wouldn’t be good, and I could not pull myself out of a very dark mindset that caused me to throw this race away. I do think that the first faster miles made me a little tired later, but I didn’t feel that bad physically during the race. I just didn’t want to push myself to keep my goal pace. I just didn’t even want to run. I gave up mentally.

What Worked & Lessons Learned

All is not lost, however! One thing that worked well was my fueling and hydration, which I wrote about here. I had no stomach problems whatsoever. While the cool weather surely contributed, I’m glad that I have a fueling and hydration strategy that works for me. The other thing is that I wasn’t a big baby about this race not going well like I was in past races. I think my husband and family are always praying I’ll have a good race, because they know how upset I get if the race doesn’t go well. Not this time. Yes, I cried a little when I was showering after the race, but then I just thought, “Oh well, I really suck at races” and didn’t beat myself up.

I also learned some really valuable things.

Run at least the first half by heart rate. This has worked really well for me in the past, so I don’t know why I didn’t do it this time. I’m not sure how my heart rate was in the max zone for so long in the race, and I didn’t think I was going too fast. I so wish I would have checked my heart rate! From now on, I need to check my heart rate and not just rely on pace.

Do pace runs on the race course or similar. It would have been very impractical for me to drive to the race course to run two days of the week (I usually ran it during my long runs), but I should have at least added in more hills on my pace runs.

Follow my training plan as closely as possible. Whether or not I actually need to do that to have a good race is a moot point because my mind believes that I do. However…

Don’t race. Yep, I think I’m done with races. I don’t like them, and I don’t do well in them. So why do them? I feel like I just need to run for fun for a while. But…

The marathon. My first full marathon this fall that I’ve been planning since 2014. This race confirms that I should not do it. If small local races stress me out, how will I handle a marathon? And if I know that mental struggles are my biggest hurdle in races, a marathon isn’t the place for me. And yet. I still want to do it. Is that crazy? I’ve been wanting to for so long, and I’ve built up all the mileage to get to this point. Registration opens this Friday, and I don’t know what to do.

I’ll end this by saying a huge thanks to everyone who has followed my journey…although you may no longer want to follow me now after learning that I was irritated at little kids trying to give me water! I know so many have been rooting for me for so long, and that means a lot to me. This wasn’t the ending I wanted, but it’s a journey, and I have to take the bad along with the good. Also, I’m trying to remember that I did accomplish my main goal of getting through another training cycle and logged 593 miles, all while staying free of injuries. I’m happy about that, and I’m moving on!

Race Recap: 2015 Buffalo Creek Half Marathon

10.18.2015 by Jennifer // 44 Comments

The tagline of the Hansons Half-Marathon Method book is “Run your best half marathon,” and that’s exactly what I did yesterday at the Buffalo Creek Half Marathon. Although, I do wonder how much of my great race was a result of training and how much was that it was just a great course and great weather leading to a magical day, because so many people got PRs! Amanda (Crazy Cat Lady Runner)–who had done minimal training and was running the race for fun–got a big PR, as did Steff (Run Steff Run), Kim (This Runner’s Fuel), and Kim’s daughter. Steff said that her friend Carrie and Chelsea (Pittsburgh City Girl), who I saw on the course but not afterward, also got PRs. Plus, Kim, Kim’s daughter, and Carrie all got age group awards. Congrats to all these awesome ladies!

I’ll give a short version for those who don’t want to read this long recap: I had an awesome race, leading to a strong finish with a 2:21:50 finish time (10:50 pace). This was my third year running this race. My time last year was 2:28:11 (11:19 pace), so that’s a 7:01 PR! In 2013, the first year I ran it, which was a redemption run after having an awful first half marathon experience a month before, I finished in 2:37:30 (12:01 pace). So in two years, I have dropped from a pace in the 12:00s to a pace in the 10:00s. When you’re churning out the daily miles it’s hard to see the big picture of how you’re improving, so it makes me feel so good to see my progress over the years at this race. While it was an awesome race, it was a little different than I thought it would be. Races have a way of surprising you no matter what your plan. Here’s how everything went down.

Pre-Race: The Mental Battle

I will be writing a separate post about this, but in the weeks leading to this race, I had decided that this would be my last race for time. I would do races for fun or to finish new distances, but racing a race was not for me. The emotional stress is just too much, I’d decided. In the days leading up to the race, I felt confident but my nerves were still raw with anxiety; I couldn’t even think of the race without crying. Everything changed the day before the race. I had finished work for the day and checked my blog feed. I saw a post from elite runner Tina Muir on how to pace yourself to have a good race so checked it out. Tina advocating a pacing strategy to start slower than your goal pace and ease into it (it’s a great post, so do check it out). That’s the strategy I planned to use, so I was happy to read that. Then, she linked to a half marathon race recap from Abbie, who had been paced by Tina in a recent race. Wow. You have to read that post–the link is in Tina’s post. Abbie describes what it is like to truly race a half marathon, and how Tina’s constant positive words and support helped her go from struggling at the very beginning to strong, to believe in herself and sustain a nearly 5K effort the whole race. As I read the recap and thought how great it would be to be paced by an awesome runner like Tina, I realized that I needed to be my own Tina, that I needed to believe in myself the way that Tina encouraged Abbie to believe in herself. So I thought back through my training. I thought about all the many times I had to push when it hurt, when I was nauseated, when I wanted to walk, when I wanted to quit. If I had done that over and over in training, I could definitely do it during the race. It was like the heavens opened up and angels came out to sing hallelujah. That’s when, for maybe the first time ever before a race, I knew I could do it. I knew I was going to have a good race. I believed in myself. That night, I read back through all the supportive comments you all had left me on this blog, on Daily Mile, and in email. Thank you to everyone who sent positivity my way, because it buoyed my spirits even more, and I went into race day with such a great mindset, which absolutely helped me.

Pre-Race: Race Morning

After I got a solid 8.5 hours of sleep (I, luckily, always manage to sleep like a baby before a big race), I woke, ate my tested breakfast of bagel with peanut butter and jelly, a banana, water, Nuun, and tea and got ready. Amanda was running this race and offered to pick me up. We got to the parking area in about 40 minutes, just as the sun was coming up. It was 40 degrees with a feels like temp of 35, so it was very cold when we picked up our packets. We were early, so we sat in Amanda’s warm car for about an hour and took our time getting our stuff together and using the clean port-o-potties. The race started at 9, so we took a shuttle to the start area at 8. I wore a very warm hoodie at the start that I left in my gear bag right before the start, so I was able to stay pretty warm at the start line. It was a sad moment when I had to take my hoodie off, though! We lined up, and I told Amanda I was going to close my eyes for a minute. I wanted to take a few minutes to breathe deeply and reflect on my training and go over my plan. Well, as soon as I closed my eyes, I smelled the waft of a fart from someone near me…so my deep thoughts moment was a little ruined, ha ha.

At the start line area

With Amanda and the port-o-pottie background!

A photo posted by Jennifer Kent (@jennifer_kent) on Oct 17, 2015 at 5:30am PDT

We got our stripes on! We’re ready!

Miles 0-3

1: 10:34 | 2: 10:58 | 3: 10:59
Finally the national anthem was played, the horn sounded, and we were off! Amanda’s plan was to run the first few miles with me. I had told her I’d be starting slow, and she wanted to start slow too and see how she felt from there. My plan for these miles was to run between an 11:00-11:10 pace and ease into my goal 10:50-11:00 goal pace range. I had started training with an 11:00 goal pace but halfway through had switched to a 10:50 goal pace. Unlike training for my spring half marathon, where my goal pace always felt good, running my goal pace in training was never easy, at least after the first 1 or 2 miles. I didn’t know whether that was the effect of cumulative fatigue and it was just harder running that pace on tired legs, or if the pace was just too hard for me. So, I really had no idea how my goal pace would feel and gave myself a 10-second range that I hoped I could stick to on race day. The first mile was fast because it was all downhill. My effort and heart rate were very low, so I wasn’t worried about a faster first split. It was an almost identical first split from last year’s race. After the first mile, we turned into a residential street and ran a few small rolling hills until we turned and got on the trail that we’d be on for the rest of the race. These were basically warm-up miles. I kept the pace slow and easy, making sure I eased up on the little hills, and Amanda and I started chatting like we would do on a typical training run. I took my first gel and salt stick at 30 minutes, and sipped on Nuun in my handheld every 15 minutes, per my plan.

Miles 4-6

4: 10:54 | 5: 10:42 | 6: 10:42
The trail at this point had gone from the residential area to the woods, and it was beautiful. I love this course so much! There are colorful fall leaves all around, Buffalo Creek right beside the trail, and some rocky areas and even a small waterfall or two on the side of the trail. The trail is soft crushed-limestone and feels flat but is a slight downhill. There were people running near us, but it was never crowded, and you could easily pass people if you needed to. Shortly after mile 4.5, Amanda started picking up the pace. I was feeling really good and wanted to follow her, but I kept to my plan and stayed at my pace. At mile 5 I turned on my music, and it was then the party started! I tend to speed up when I put music on, which is why I didn’t want to start with music, and I could not slow down! I did not follow my plan in miles 5 and 6 and ran a bit faster. I was feeling so good and strong, and the pace was so easy. That is not how I envisioned the race going for me! I had anticipated these middle miles starting to feel tough, but they didn’t. In all my visualizations, I had pictured myself pushing in these miles to keep to my goal pace but had never considered that the pace would feel easy and I’d have to hold myself back. At one point, when the course had cleared out a little around me, I could not help dancing a little as I ran! But as I saw the splits come up, I worried that this faster pace would work against me later on, so I really made myself slow up for the next few miles. I never once looked at my average pace or thought about my finish
time. I did a great job staying in each mile and would just check my lap
pace and make sure I was in my range.

At some point in these miles, I took my second gel and salt stick and thought, Wow, I’m two-thirds of the way done with my gels! The race was going by so fast!

Miles 7-9

7: 10:58 | 8: 10:57 | 9: 10:55
It was more of the same for these miles. The pace felt easy, and I just kept ticking off the miles one by one. Because I was a little worried about the faster pace for the previous two miles, I made an effort to slow down. I ran a lot of the race with a smile on my face, enjoying the course, having fun, and just feeling great.

Miles 10-13.1

10: 10:57 | 11: 10:44 | 12: 11:04 | 13: 10:41 | .1: 8:55
When I was running mile 9, I knew I would have no problem picking up the pace once I started mile 10. In my training runs, my third and last gel always coincided with mile 10. But during the race, mile 10 started at 1:50 instead of 2:00. That was the first inclination I had that I was running a good time and would likely finish with a good time. I was pacing my gels out at 45 minutes so wasn’t due to take another gel until the timer on my watch hit 2:00, but I also knew that once I started a harder pace, it would be harder for me to take a gel. So I took my last gel and salt stick 10 minutes earlier than I’d planned and started to get to work. That mile was a 10:44 split, and I had no problem pushing for it. Mile 11 was my moment of stupidity in the race. When I checked my watch, I thought I saw a 10:36 pace, and thought Wow, this feels so easy. Great. So I kept chugging at that pace, and when I checked my watch a few minutes later, I saw the pace was actually 11:36! Ack! I had slowed up without even realizing it and/or just misread my watch when I first looked at it. I was a half-mile in at that point so just worked on picking up the pace as best I could without sprinting and wearing myself out. That was my slowest split in the race at 11:04. It was at this point, at about mile 11.5, that I felt the race really started for me. Up to that point, it had felt pretty easy. This was the first point that I really had to dig in and push, but it was exactly like I had pushed in training, so I was familiar with the feeling and knew I could do it. When my watch dinged and I knew that I had only one mile to go, I put the gas on and gave it all I had. I should note that starting at mile 10, I started passing people, but I was really passing people like crazy in that last mile. Most everyone was slowing and struggling, and the majority were taking many walk breaks. I stayed focused, kept my positive inner talk going, and just kept pushing. This was a very hard effort for me, I was wheezing like crazy, but I kept at it. I didn’t look at my watch the whole time. When my music ended and nothing started again, I started fumbling with my MP3 player to find something to play while I crossed the finish line. But then I saw the finish line! It came up so quickly, so I just forgot about the music and did my last final sprint to the finish. At 10:41, my last full mile was my fastest, though only by a single second, and for the last .1 I was able to push to finish at an 8:55 pace. YES!

A photo posted by Jennifer Kent (@jennifer_kent) on Oct 17, 2015 at 1:59pm PDT

Post Race

My throat hurt a lot from all the wheezing in the cold air in that last mile, so it took me a while before I could talk. I met up with Steff, Amanda, and Kim (in that order in the photo below) and we shared stories about our PRs. Then we took the shuttle back to the parking area, and Amanda and I went out for a celebratory breakfast.

A photo posted by Jennifer Kent (@jennifer_kent) on Oct 17, 2015 at 2:04pm PDT

I’m bummed that my Garmin came up short. Amanda’s did too. I mentioned that they changed the finish line in the days before the race, but the race director confirmed that the new course measured at 13.1.

As I thought about my race afterward, I was very happy that I felt so good and strong, that I was able to push when I needed to, and that I ended with an average pace that was exactly the pace I trained for. That has never happened before! But then the coulda-shouldas started happening. Overall, this was an easy run for me, with about 1.5 miles of actual racing at the very end. So, while I got a great time and PR, it almost didn’t feel like I really earned it. I know I could have pushed more and finished even faster. When I was running 10:40 paces in the middle miles, should I have stayed there? Should I have worked a little harder in those middle miles instead of taking it easy? But if I’d done that, would I still have been able to push at the end? Or was sticking to my plan the right choice, even though I knew it was an easy effort? Well, of course, this is why this was probably not my last race! Now I’m curious about how much I can push in the middle miles and still push at the end, so I want to try again.

Race Organization and Swag

This race is the main fundraiser for the nonprofit Buffalo Freeport Community Trail Council, and the race organization is top-notch. There is great communication beforehand, lots of port-o-potties at both the parking area and start line, and little wait for the shuttles. The finish line had water, hot apple cider (though it was gone when we went to get some), pizza, bananas, whole-wheat fig bars (which I had though they are probably not vegan), and cookies. The finish line was very congested this year because it had to be fit into a much smaller place than originally planned, but the race organizers did the best job they could with it. The volunteers were very friendly and encouraging, as many of them served as some of the only spectators on the course since there were few areas for people to spectate. I think I read somewhere that the shirt and medal theme is inspired each year by flora and fauna seen on the trail, and this year’s theme was a dragonfly. I love it! It’s my favorite medal of all three years. The shirt this year looks like a women’s-specific shirt, with a bit of a cropped length but a nicer, cottony-feeling fabric than the standard tech shirts given in the past. This is my favorite shirt too.

This year’s race shirt and medal.

Close-up of the medal and shirt.

Lessons Learned

While I curse races in the days leading up to them, I always learn something from them. These are my takeaways from this race.

What Worked Well

So, did the Hansons’ method work? YES, YES, YES! First, the race itself felt much easier than the training runs. Whether that was intended or not, it definitely made the race a very enjoyable and fun experience. Second, I really had no problem pushing at the end when I planned to. It was hard work, but doing it felt exactly like it felt during training, and I was prepared for it. I have never felt this good in a half-marathon, able to keep my goal pace so easily, and be able to push hard at the end like I did.
This was my 7th half marathon and the only one where I didn’t take walk breaks. In previous races, I either took short walks through the water stations, at each mile or so, or just at the end when I was tired. In all of those times, I never thought walk breaks helped me. Instead, I think they didn’t just slow me down physically but also slowed down my momentum so that it was much harder to get back into my pace. In my training runs, I usually walked at least a few steps to take my salt stick (since I kind of have to push it back in my throat). During the race, I really didn’t want to break my momentum so just slowed down to take my gels and salt sticks. The very last time I took them at mile 10, I did walk about two steps because it was a bit harder to take them, but other than that I ran the whole race. I think not taking walk breaks works much better for me.
My fueling plan–first gel and salt stick at 30 minutes and the next every 45 minutes, and Nuun every 15 minutes–seems to work really well. This was the first race that I had no problem taking even the last gel. I did take out my gels a few minutes before I was due for them and warm them in my hand so that I could get them down in only two swallows. Also, scheduling my sips of Nuun every 15 minutes really helped me keep my focus and helped break up the race in short, 15-minute segments. The salt sticks definitely kept the nausea at a minimum in the race. My stomach did start to hurt at the very end when I was pushing hard, but it was very minor and I was able to pretty much ignore it.
My Garmin data screen worked great. I had my main screen set to show time, lap pace, and pace. Showing time helped me just keep focused on when to take my gels and Nuun, so that I was never in the “Oh my God, when will this mile end” mindset. I actually never looked at distance all through the race. As for pace, I went mainly by the lap pace and just worked on keeping on pace for each mile. That way, I never looked at average pace and worried about my overall time. I also used the pace setting to make sure I wasn’t going too fast or slow at any one point. This came in handy in mile 12, when I accidentally slowed up and I needed to get back on pace but didn’t want to wear myself out by running too fast.
Having a 10-second goal pace range instead of a specific goal pace helped me run more on feel and not have to be a slave to pace. It eliminated the stress of having to stick to an exact pace and didn’t cause me distress if I didn’t hit a pace exactly.
My race outfit was perfect for the cold temperatures. I wore crops, a lightweight top, a warm tank underneath, and gloves. I was so tempted to wear full-length tights and a warmer top when I saw how cold it was going to be, but I’m happy I stuck to my plan. I was very cold at first–in fact, I could not feel my feet for the first few miles!–but I warmed up and started sweating quickly, so I was happy I hadn’t overdressed. Oh, and if you do not own a Lululemon Scuba Hoodie, get one immediately! It is so warm and cozy that I don’t know how I lived without it for so long. It’s warmer than some of my coats! It’s been perfect for dog walks on these cool mornings, and it kept me warm and comfortable before and after the race.
Last, but definitely not least, I finally won the mental battle, and I owe a lot of that to the Hansons’ plan. Knowing that I had pushed so hard on all my training runs made me realize that there was no reason I couldn’t do it again on race day. I believed I could do it, and I did it.

What Could Have Been Improved

Like I mentioned, my big mistake in this race was not paying closer attention to my pace in mile 11 and accidentally slowing down. I should know that so late in the race my body wants to slow down, and I should really have been watching better to make sure I wasn’t slowing.
I also didn’t have a plan for what to do if everything felt good in the middle miles and I could run at a faster pace. That had never seemed like a possibility, so it wasn’t in my plan. I should include a “if you run better than you think you will” clause in my plans from now on.

To everyone who has followed my training for this race, thanks so much for following my journey and for believing in me at the end. I can’t tell you how how all the positivity and support really helped me!

Race Recap: Man Up Father’s Day 5K 2015

06.23.2015 by Jennifer // 19 Comments

Last year I ran the Man Up Father’s Day 10K as my first 10K, so I signed up for it again this year. Last year, I trained from January-March for a 5K and then for 10 weeks for the 10K, so I’d been working on speed the whole year. When I started to do some speedwork earlier this month after half marathon training all year, it became clear that I was in no shape to race a 10K, so I switched to the 5K.

The 5K race starts near Heinz Field on the North Shore. It goes past PNC Park then onto River Ave. that parallels the river trail. It loops back onto the river trail (where the 10K and 5K courses merge) and finishes beside the river in front of Heinz Field. It’s a flat course and one I run a lot since it’s very close to my house.

Race Outfit:
Lululemon Iris Flower/Pretty Purple Stripe What the Sport Singlet
Pretty Purple All Sport Bra
Black Pace Rival Skirt

Background Story
My best friend from high school and college, Darcey, was also running the 5K, her first race after a very long hiatus from running. But she had an accident last week and wasn’t sure she could run the race. I encouraged her to run it slowly or walk it and told her I might do it with her. I told her if the weather was at all decent, I would race it, but if not I’d run or walk at her pace with her. (Funny story: She was so concerned about having a slow time posted in the race results that she called the race director to say she would be walking it and to not publish her results. Ha ha! He told her not to wear the timing chip.)

I had a late night Friday night for a bar crawl for a friend’s 40th birthday (so much fun!!!), spent all day Saturday on the move, and then stayed up late drinking wine Saturday night–all things I would never do before a race. But I was just going to be running it slowly and walking, so I didn’t really care.

My nonchalance continued on Sunday morning as I prepared for the race, such that I completely forgot to put my timing chip on my shoe and headed to the race without it. I had to get a new number at the start, which is why I have two different numbers in the pictures and why my results are listed under #1255 and not my name.

My best friend from high school and college, Darcey, and me before the race

Before the Race
It was 70F and 100% humidity when I left my house, but it was cloudy and breezy, which helped make it not feel so bad. By the way, I checked my running log, and it was 53F at the race start last year! I met Darcey and her boyfriend, who was also running the 5K, and Darcey excitedly informed me that she was going to run the race. There went my excuse for running it slowly! We were there early so had a lot of time to talk to people, use the porta-potties (which were disgusting from the Rolling Stones concert the night before), cheer the 10K runners on when they started, then get in line. I ran into Mike from Daily Mile and Kim from This Runner’s Fuel and got to meet Tony from Runderful Life. There were Steel City Road Runners members as pacers, and Tony was one of them. It’s awesome that this race has so many pacers!

I looked between the 9:30 and 10:00 pacers, unsure of my strategy. My 5K goal pace–which I have only achieved once–is 9:30. I knew I wasn’t in shape to run the whole race at 9:30, but should I start with the 9:30 pacer? I chose the safer strategy, to start with the 10:00 pacer and then, if I felt good, speed up. Plus, I knew that even 10:00 would be a challenge since my tempo run the week before at a 10:16-10:25 pace was very tough.

I introduced myself to the 10:00 pacer, Laura, and told her my strategy. Then I said, “I’m scared.” Just minutes before the race start, it hit me: I was about to race a 5K. It’s the same feeling I get before every 5K–I know it’s going to hurt, and hurt a lot, but I don’t know exactly when the pain is going to hit and exactly what it’s going to feel like and I’m terrified.

Mile 1: 9:48
Oh, that glorious first mile. I felt good. I felt strong. The pace felt very manageable. I found myself thinking, Maybe this is the day that I develop that super power to run at a fast pace while feeling it’s easy. I stuck close to Laura, even though I felt like I could speed up. My heart rate data shows I was running at my half marathon effort, which would explain why I was feeling so good. There was a water stop right at mile 1, and since I hadn’t brought my own water, I grabbed a cup and tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to drink while running.

Mile 2: 10:08
Tougher. Definitely tougher. But still doable. At this point we were on the trail. When I felt my stomach start to get upset and my breathing start to get very labored, I tried to push all thoughts out of my head except one: Stick with Laura. Just stick with Laura. I did. My effort according to my heart rate data was about 10K pace.

Mile 3: 10:17
Time to unleash the speed! I knew I wasn’t running at max and that I could speed up. So I did, passing Laura. That lasted for all of maybe one minute, before my body said, What’s this now? Aw, hell no! And my body responded by doing everything it could to slow me down. I was struggling to breath, struggling to move. I wanted desperately to stop. Not walk, just stop. At about the last half mile, Laura passed me. Could I have dug in, stayed with her? It’s easy to think I could have and should have now that the race is over. I just had a half-mile to go–why didn’t I try harder to stay with her? But you know how it is being in the moment, when your body is screaming at you to stop, and it seems like it’s all you can do just to keep going, let alone go faster. My effort according to my heart rate data was in my max zone, which is where it should be for a 5K.

My pace chart from my Garmin clearly shows my big surge in speed followed by my big slow-down at the beginning of the last mile. Looking at the chart, I realize that if I hadn’t tried to speed up so much (a 7:32 pace?!), I might not have slowed down as much (down to an 11:06 pace) and thus might have had a better chance at a more consistent, faster pace in that last mile.

.2: 9:45
My Garmin recorded 3.2 miles for this race, and I was able to push a bit for the last sprint to the finish line.

My stats according to my Garmin were 32:07 for 10:02 pace. Official stats were 32:05 for 10:21 pace.

After the Race
There was a lot of food, including ice cream and Eat N Park smiley cookies, but I only had a small piece of banana. I was pretty happy with my effort when I saw my Garmin stats. I knew a 10:00 pace would be a struggle, and I was happy to come so close. Of course I deflated when I saw my official 10:21 pace. I ran the 10K last year at a 10:25 pace–so I could run twice as long last year at just about the same pace. Sigh. Still, for it being so hot and humid, and for me not really doing any speedwork or preparing for this race, I’m not unhappy with how I did.

I saw Darcey, who did awesome and ran much faster than she thought she would. She was kicking herself for not wearing her timing chip since she finished in about 34 minutes when she initially thought she would finish in about 45 minutes. I was really happy for her! In the more than 25 years I’ve been friends with Darcey, this was our first race together, and her just being there made it a lot more fun for me. Her boyfriend also did awesome, finishing in something like 23 minutes and placing 8th in his age group.

Happy after the race is over!

I also saw Kim and Mike after the race. We all agreed that the weather was not on our side that morning.

Kim, me, and Mike after the race

Race Organization and Swag
This race is very well organized with great communication and great volunteers. I love that they had so many pacers, and Laura was a fantastic pacer. She made sure everyone knew when a water station was coming up, told us when we were halfway done, and in general was very encouraging. There are no medals, and the race tee is just a cotton one. But overall I think this is a really great race on a flat course. I would do it again!

Lessons Learned

Not doing speedwork at faster paces this year has really hurt my speed. I did mile repeats and half-mile repeats as part of my half marathon training plan, but they were all at slower paces (9:50-10:10). I need to think about my speedwork for my next training cycle.
I need to get comfortable being uncomfortable. My downfall in this race was mental. If I had enough energy to push for the last .2 miles, I had enough energy to push the last half mile. Instead, I let my body convince me I didn’t, and I slowed down. I need to get out of my comfort zone more often and learn to push when my body tells me to stop.
Race-specific training helps. I trained for last year’s 10K for 10 weeks. Yes, it was cool on race morning, but I’m sure 10K training helped me run a good race last year. I would like to figure out a way to train for a shorter distance–a 5K or 10K–instead of just half marathons.
I need to work on maintaining a consistent pace. This is something I’ve always struggled with, but seeing the pace chart from this race showed me just how much I need to improve.

Overall, I enjoyed this race because I got to see friends. With the hot and humid temps and not really preparing for this race, I did about as I expected–just okay. But I’m okay with that. The other good thing about this race is that it gives me a good gauge of my 5K pace on a hot and humid day, which is an interesting data point.