I successfully completed the third of four half-marathons in the Halfathon today. Whoo! So what if it was my slowest half on record? I had to tackle two bridges....twice each! So make that four bridges. One of which was sheer evil (Sand Key).
Another reason that my time was slow: at around the 11-mile mark, I noticed that there was a dead-looking fish on the ground. A lot of people fish near the Clearwater Causeway, so I think that it fell out of someone's fishing bucket. I felt bad for this poor, dead fish who was living out his last moments on earth in the bright, harsh sun. So I picked it up and dropped it into the water. Burial at sea for a fish during a half-marathon? That, for me, was a first. And likely a last.
I ran the race with a friend (the same friend who kicked my butt a few months ago at the 5k). We decided to take things at a leisurely pace. Since it was her first half-marathon, she was guaranteed a personal record provided that she finished. And we did, so yay for her!
I do admit that at one point it looked like we might be last. But we were not. We overtook at least 3-4 people during the second half of the course. Yes!
Weather: not ideal. The humidity was not lower than around 75% for the whole race. Ew. The temperature, in and of itself, was okay in the high 50s/low 60s. But the humidity made this not so pleasant. Particularly since it was in the 97-98% range for the first hour. It's winter, Florida! You can abate with the humidity! In case you are keeping track, that is nearing the threshold of ick (humidity + temperature > 160), as in the threshold of ick that we measure for summer conditions. Also, Mr. Florida Sun came out to visit for much of the course. Some of it was not very shady. Actually, much of it was not very shady. This means that the temperature was probably closer to 70, putting it even closer to that ick threshold.
Only one to go! Also, I am now officially a Half Fanatic. This makes it worth suffering through the last half-marathon and going over the evil bridges and everything. Almost. Hey, I get another t-shirt (well, a singlet) to celebrate.
Showing posts with label Clearwater Half-Marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clearwater Half-Marathon. Show all posts
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Here we go again
Okay, half-marathon #3 is tomorrow and guess what? I still feel ill-prepared! Just like two of the last three half-marathons! Except for the one where I got sick during. I felt pretty damn good going into that one, actually. Oh the irony.
However, I am taking this with a grain (carton?) of salt. I was sick. There is not much you can do about sick other than ride it out. So that is okay. Also, I got through my 12-mile two weeks ago, so things could be worse.
For some reason, this past week I was ridiculously tired. No idea why. No obvious culprit, apart from the usual requirements of my job. So I did not get running. I sat in the parking lot of my gym for a good 15 minutes and tried to make myself go run, but it did not work out. I'm just going with it.
I did get out today to do my '2 miles to remind you what running is the day before the half-marathon' run (yes, this is really a thing). Seeing as it has been almost a week, this was probably a good idea.
You know what? The next--and last--half is going to be awesome. Because I will stick to my training plan. And not get sick. Or else!
(PS - Admittedly, that is an empty threat. But I will get nowhere with pessimism.)
However, I am taking this with a grain (carton?) of salt. I was sick. There is not much you can do about sick other than ride it out. So that is okay. Also, I got through my 12-mile two weeks ago, so things could be worse.
For some reason, this past week I was ridiculously tired. No idea why. No obvious culprit, apart from the usual requirements of my job. So I did not get running. I sat in the parking lot of my gym for a good 15 minutes and tried to make myself go run, but it did not work out. I'm just going with it.
I did get out today to do my '2 miles to remind you what running is the day before the half-marathon' run (yes, this is really a thing). Seeing as it has been almost a week, this was probably a good idea.
You know what? The next--and last--half is going to be awesome. Because I will stick to my training plan. And not get sick. Or else!
(PS - Admittedly, that is an empty threat. But I will get nowhere with pessimism.)
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Year of Frustrating Sickness continues
2011: in like a flu, out like a chest cold?
The reason I haven't been writing much lately (or running much lately) is that soon after Thanksgiving I came down with a pretty nasty chest cold. I did manage my Sunday night run (speedwork) and my Tuesday night run (same speedwork), but Tuesday night I noticed that I was coughing a lot afterward. Wednesday, I needed to take the day off work, which is virtually unheard of for me. So that was a cue that things were not okay. The cold stuck around for the next few days: it was one of those ones where you feel better one day, then tired again the next. So I decided not to run.
The basic rule of running when sick is that you are okay to run if the cold is from your neck up (so a head cold is okay, even if unpleasant) and not okay to run from the neck down (i.e., in your chest). I knew that I should take it easy and mostly I did. But I also knew that at some point, I was going to have to go running again.
I got out this Wednesday, so it had been a week of no running at all, which was lousy! I did some easy speedwork (this might sound like an oxymoron, but it was not a very long distance or amount). Admittedly, I did not feel 100%, but I did make it through the workout without falling off the treadmill. Same thing for Thursday. I decided to go ahead and do the next half-marathon that was on Sunday (yesterday).
This one was the Holiday Half-Marathon, which is a one-way that goes from Madeira Beach to Largo. The course was meh, I felt. At least it was overcast so it wasn't exposed and sunny, because I think that it would have been pretty killer in those conditions. I felt cautiously optimistic about the it, thinking that possibly with the time off, I had a chance for a good time.
And I think that I would have had a chance for a good time, too, if it weren't for this pesky chest cold that REFUSES TO DIE! So I got through the first two miles in relatively good time, then realized that I was not feeling well. I walked for a bit and discovered that my heart rate was much too high. Blerg. So walk/run it was. For the whole rest of the half-marathon. It seemed like one hundred million miles, although my time was actually not horribly dreadful considering the circumstances and that I was walk/running.
In fact, my time was still better than it was for the Oak Tree back in September. Me sick > me running hills. Sad but true.
I think that there were some good things to take from this experience. First, I was glad that I had run into adversarial conditions last summer because I had strategies for coping with this en route. I decided to run divide my intervals into 0.65, so 5%, then run for 0.55 and recover for 0.1. Obviously, it worked well enough to get me through the course and I wasn't even the last person. I'm not sure that I would have known what to do if I hadn't had to complete such runs last summer. So this was a good thing.
Second, I feel like I am ready and raring to go for a half-marathon. It was the illness that stopped me this time. So here's hoping that the next half (January in Clearwater) goes better. I think that it will, too, because I will have some hill practice time between then and now while I am in Canada for the holidays. The Boxing Day race in Hamilton has a few nasty ones, so if I can get some hill work in, that should be useful for both. The next half involves the Causeway (i.e., one giant hill).
Third, I am half-way through the Halfathon! Which is totally cool. Only the equivalent of one marathon to go now. Also, I was happy with this most recent training plan, so I will modify it for the next race and see how that goes.
Fourth, I am incredibly glad that at no point yesterday did I lie down in a ditch and take a nap next to the race course, even though that was very tempting. Victory!
The reason I haven't been writing much lately (or running much lately) is that soon after Thanksgiving I came down with a pretty nasty chest cold. I did manage my Sunday night run (speedwork) and my Tuesday night run (same speedwork), but Tuesday night I noticed that I was coughing a lot afterward. Wednesday, I needed to take the day off work, which is virtually unheard of for me. So that was a cue that things were not okay. The cold stuck around for the next few days: it was one of those ones where you feel better one day, then tired again the next. So I decided not to run.
The basic rule of running when sick is that you are okay to run if the cold is from your neck up (so a head cold is okay, even if unpleasant) and not okay to run from the neck down (i.e., in your chest). I knew that I should take it easy and mostly I did. But I also knew that at some point, I was going to have to go running again.
I got out this Wednesday, so it had been a week of no running at all, which was lousy! I did some easy speedwork (this might sound like an oxymoron, but it was not a very long distance or amount). Admittedly, I did not feel 100%, but I did make it through the workout without falling off the treadmill. Same thing for Thursday. I decided to go ahead and do the next half-marathon that was on Sunday (yesterday).
This one was the Holiday Half-Marathon, which is a one-way that goes from Madeira Beach to Largo. The course was meh, I felt. At least it was overcast so it wasn't exposed and sunny, because I think that it would have been pretty killer in those conditions. I felt cautiously optimistic about the it, thinking that possibly with the time off, I had a chance for a good time.
And I think that I would have had a chance for a good time, too, if it weren't for this pesky chest cold that REFUSES TO DIE! So I got through the first two miles in relatively good time, then realized that I was not feeling well. I walked for a bit and discovered that my heart rate was much too high. Blerg. So walk/run it was. For the whole rest of the half-marathon. It seemed like one hundred million miles, although my time was actually not horribly dreadful considering the circumstances and that I was walk/running.
In fact, my time was still better than it was for the Oak Tree back in September. Me sick > me running hills. Sad but true.
I think that there were some good things to take from this experience. First, I was glad that I had run into adversarial conditions last summer because I had strategies for coping with this en route. I decided to run divide my intervals into 0.65, so 5%, then run for 0.55 and recover for 0.1. Obviously, it worked well enough to get me through the course and I wasn't even the last person. I'm not sure that I would have known what to do if I hadn't had to complete such runs last summer. So this was a good thing.
Second, I feel like I am ready and raring to go for a half-marathon. It was the illness that stopped me this time. So here's hoping that the next half (January in Clearwater) goes better. I think that it will, too, because I will have some hill practice time between then and now while I am in Canada for the holidays. The Boxing Day race in Hamilton has a few nasty ones, so if I can get some hill work in, that should be useful for both. The next half involves the Causeway (i.e., one giant hill).
Third, I am half-way through the Halfathon! Which is totally cool. Only the equivalent of one marathon to go now. Also, I was happy with this most recent training plan, so I will modify it for the next race and see how that goes.
Fourth, I am incredibly glad that at no point yesterday did I lie down in a ditch and take a nap next to the race course, even though that was very tempting. Victory!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)