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counting my race chickens
I've signed up for the 2022 Canyonlands Half Marathon on March 19, which (assuming disaster fails to strike, which is ... not always a good assumption) will be my first half-marathon race since 2019, and my first time running Canyonlands since 2016. I've run the Canyonlands Half six times, and the associated five-miler once, but I haven't run it since it was taken over by Mad Moose Events. On the plus side, they've changed the course this year so that it ends at Lions Park, at the intersection of Highway 128 and Highway 191, instead of turning down 191 and running into Moab; 128 is a beautiful canyon run next to the Colorado River on a closed road, but those last few miles were alongside traffic and pretty unpleasant. On the minus side, they've changed to ten year age grouping, which means that at 58 I am unlikely to earn a podium finish, alas. On the other hand, I'm really only competing against myself and my own expectations, and as long as no women my age or older beat me, I'll be content!
My own expectations, of course, are the important thing. I was pretty excited about running the Thirsty Thirteen in August, but then I threw out my back mountain biking (not even in a wreck! how unfair!) and I couldn't race. I was bummed about having trained so hard with nothing to show for it, though of course all my training helped me turn in a solid performance for our team in Reach the Beach in September, so it wasn't as though it was fruitless. I considered a few possible half marathons in October and November, but ultimately decided to sign up for Canyonlands.
I kept running, though I cut back my mileage, stopped doing speed workouts other than strides every so often, and took a bit of time "off" for mountain biking over Thanksgiving. But with a race looming on the horizon it soon became time to start seriously training.
So, last week I did a 3-mile tempo (that is, hopeful-half-marathon-ish pace), my first speed workout in three months. And - it went really great! My average pace for the tempo portion was 8:02, much faster than my tempos in July-September, which were in the 8:15-8:20 range. Yesterday I did a 4-mile tempo, and while it was not nearly as blazing, it was still faster than my tempos this summer at slightly better than 8:10 pace.
I have found that if I'm running sufficient mileage (like, 50mpw - which I'm probably not quite going to achieve this spring) that if I run a 6 mile tempo with a 2M warmup, my pace for the tempo is what I can sustain in a half marathon race. I know I shouldn't be too optimistic! But I've been running about 40mpw lately - which is what I was running ahead of my DNS half marathon in August - and I think I can bump it up to 45+ for a few weeks before the race.
So, I'm making great plans. Last Sunday I ran a long run of 12 miles, and I plan to do that as well this Sunday, then alternate between 14-mile and 12-mile long runs, possibly with some surges in the 12-milers. On Tuesdays or Wednesdays I hope to run tempos, building to 6 miles, and then alternating with things like 2x3 or lactate clearance workouts that combine faster-than-HMP with slower-than-HMP-but-not-easy. I'm doing core, strength and stretching 3x/week, and trying to keep my easy runs easy and stay uninjured.
My A goal for the half is 1:46:45 (about an 8:09 pace), which would be the age-graded equivalent of my PR half marathon time of 1:35:55 at age 50. (Which would be a 1:22ish for an under-30 guy!) My B goal is sub-1:48, my C goal is sub-1:50, which would still be a "regional-class" performance. We shall see what happens in seven weeks!
My own expectations, of course, are the important thing. I was pretty excited about running the Thirsty Thirteen in August, but then I threw out my back mountain biking (not even in a wreck! how unfair!) and I couldn't race. I was bummed about having trained so hard with nothing to show for it, though of course all my training helped me turn in a solid performance for our team in Reach the Beach in September, so it wasn't as though it was fruitless. I considered a few possible half marathons in October and November, but ultimately decided to sign up for Canyonlands.
I kept running, though I cut back my mileage, stopped doing speed workouts other than strides every so often, and took a bit of time "off" for mountain biking over Thanksgiving. But with a race looming on the horizon it soon became time to start seriously training.
So, last week I did a 3-mile tempo (that is, hopeful-half-marathon-ish pace), my first speed workout in three months. And - it went really great! My average pace for the tempo portion was 8:02, much faster than my tempos in July-September, which were in the 8:15-8:20 range. Yesterday I did a 4-mile tempo, and while it was not nearly as blazing, it was still faster than my tempos this summer at slightly better than 8:10 pace.
I have found that if I'm running sufficient mileage (like, 50mpw - which I'm probably not quite going to achieve this spring) that if I run a 6 mile tempo with a 2M warmup, my pace for the tempo is what I can sustain in a half marathon race. I know I shouldn't be too optimistic! But I've been running about 40mpw lately - which is what I was running ahead of my DNS half marathon in August - and I think I can bump it up to 45+ for a few weeks before the race.
So, I'm making great plans. Last Sunday I ran a long run of 12 miles, and I plan to do that as well this Sunday, then alternate between 14-mile and 12-mile long runs, possibly with some surges in the 12-milers. On Tuesdays or Wednesdays I hope to run tempos, building to 6 miles, and then alternating with things like 2x3 or lactate clearance workouts that combine faster-than-HMP with slower-than-HMP-but-not-easy. I'm doing core, strength and stretching 3x/week, and trying to keep my easy runs easy and stay uninjured.
My A goal for the half is 1:46:45 (about an 8:09 pace), which would be the age-graded equivalent of my PR half marathon time of 1:35:55 at age 50. (Which would be a 1:22ish for an under-30 guy!) My B goal is sub-1:48, my C goal is sub-1:50, which would still be a "regional-class" performance. We shall see what happens in seven weeks!
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What a runner!
Running next to traffic sounds very unpleasant.
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I usually run on very lightly-traveled roads here, or on bike/ped paths, and I really hate running next to a heavily-trafficked highway! Noisy, scary (despite the orange cones of separation) and stinky.