My original plan for this weekend was to fly to Tampa on Wednesday, then Tampa to Philly on Friday, before hitching a ride back to DC with a teammate post-race on Sunday. Due to a late season snowstorm, I never made it to Tampa, and so I cancelled my Tampa/Philly flight and just drove up to Philly Saturday morning. This turned out to be unfortunately fortunate, as my teammate got sick and had to skip the race.
I arrived in Philly around 10:30 am, and did my rounds: expo, Chipotle, hotel. Chipotle's been skimping on the portion sizes recently, meaning that I have to order three bowls to get what used to be included in two. I did a fairly good job of pretending like I was trying to remember other people's orders, and also made a show of counting out three forks, so I think my secret was safe until I blogged about it.
My hotel nicely let me check in at noon, so I was able to enjoy my bowls of Chipotle in the quiet of my hotel room while streaming the half-marathon world championships. Then some DIY yoga, hip stretching, and tennis balling, Ucan+coconut water for dinner, call with sig other, and an early bedtime.
The big question on my mind had been "tights or shorts" for this race. Starting temps were forecast to be 29 degrees, with wind and overcast skies. 29 degrees, no wind, and sunshine was unquestionably shorts weather, but the wind made this a tough choice. I decided that I'd just check the weather in the morning before heading out, and pack whatever I didn't wear in my gear bag in case I wanted to swap.
***
When I woke up, it was 34 degrees, so that settled that question. Still windy, but warmer-than-freezing meant shorts. I wore a singlet and arm-warmers on top, plus a throwaway shirt and a old heat sheet from a past race.
My warm-up was about 2.5 miles - mostly easy, but spiced with two minutes hard and two bathroom breaks (not simultaneously). When warming up, I like to run hard enough to get my heart rate a bit over 170 before going to the line (that's the lower level of tempo effort for me). I feel much better and less sluggish in the early miles of the race when I do this. This time, I ran hard for two minutes but could only get my HR up to the mid 160s. I decided not to worry too much about it, since it was pretty cold. And the last thing I wanted to do was fry my legs before the race. It's a warm-up, not a last shot for self-sabotage.
Did some drills and two strides at half-marathon pace before ducking into the corral at 7:25 for the 7:30 start. Unfortunately, the start of the race was delayed 10 minutes - enough time to say hi to friends, and also enough time to get really cold. Oh well.
Finally, at 7:40 they started the special needs athletes, followed by the rest of us two minutes later.
This race had both a 5K and half-marathon option and both races started and ran together for most of the first 3 miles. This, combined with the slightly downhill start, meant that the race exploded from the start. Even if I had wanted to go that fast, I wouldn't have been able to - my legs were absolutely frozen. So I lumbered forward, reassuring myself that I'd be feeling much less stiff in a few miles.
The course started and ended near the Philadelphia Art Museum (yes, the Rocky Steps), with the first three miles through flat and fast downtown Philly ("Center City") before passing the Museum to run out and back on Martin Luther King Drive. This mostly flat course would be interrupted by one significant hill combo - about 7.5 miles in, we'd climb up an exit ramp before crossing a bridge over to Strawberry Mansion, where we'd climb another significant hill before looping in front of the Mansion. Then back down the hill, across the bridge and down another exit ramp, before finishing the race with more fast MLK Drive.
Given the course, my plan was to ease my way into the race over the first three miles, then try to hit a rhythm up the MLK. When we hit the hills, I'd try to hold an even effort and not waste myself on the hills, before re-establishing a rhythm post-Strawberry Mansion. Once I hit mile 10, I'd try to empty the tank as best I could over the last three miles.
(As always, I was running by feel/effort, and ignoring my watch.)
Of course, the wind could and did throw a wrench into this plan. Supposedly the wind was sustained from the north at 15 miles per hour, but it seemed like it was gusting all over the place during the first few miles through Center City.
Well aware that I would be fighting this wind for the next four miles up the MLK, I looked for a pack. I saw one ahead of me, but despite the fact that I was breathing very easily and felt like I wasn't working hard at all, I couldn't get my legs to turn over to catch them.
Not surprising - when I run races during or immediately after a marathon cycle, I often feel like I'm stuck in a medium gear - I'm not working very hard, but at the same time, I just can't upshift. I think much of this is physical - I'm a rhythm runner, and when I do a lot of marathon pace work, I get stuck in that MP rhythm (and also tired). Some of it is also unquestionably mental - I simply don't care about tune-ups the way I do about goal races, and so I lack fire. I think I also subconsciously/consciously ride the brakes a bit in tune-ups, saving myself for the real deal.
I wouldn't have been concerned about my lack of mojo, except that I really really wanted to catch that pack. And it wasn't happening. Oh well, such was life. I glanced behind to see if there was a pack I could join there, but no such luck. I was on my own.
***
However, once we hit the MLK, the pack I had been chasing splintered, and I was able to start hopscotching. I never had a block for very long, and I had to abandon several of them when they insisted on running in the center of the road, rather than run the tangents. On the winding MLK, that could cost one significantly.
So I ended up by myself a fair bit of the time. Except for "my buddy" - a much taller guy who was attempting to use me. Totally fine - I can't use others as blocks and them complain when it's done to me. However, I'm pretty sure I didn't help him that much.
Running into the wind, I focused on just holding a rhythm (not hard, since I was pretty much locked into that annoying "halfway between half-marathon and marathon effort" place). And relaxing and stretching up. For myself, trying to hunch up and shrink against the wind slows me down much more than the wind does. Far better to ignore my instincts and stretch tall.
I took half a gel at mile 6 and tossed my water bottle. I'd hit the hills a bit after 7 - about the time the sugar and caffeine from the gel would kick in.
The first hill itself was pretty impressive looking - a bit less than a quarter mile, but about a 6% grade. The second hill seemed like the same incline, but slightly longer and a bit curvy. Neither was as tough as they looked (a big confidence booster for Boston), and then we were looping around the mansion. I was surprised how broken up the road was here - I never got a chance to look at the mansion - I was staring at the ground the whole time trying not to trip.
Then down the hill, across the bridge, and down another exit ramp back onto the MLK. The downhill was almost steep enough to force one to brake, but not quite. Some people went flying down it, but I decided not to. I still had about 4 miles to run and I really didn't want to risk injury in a tune-up race. Plus, this was a good opportunity to practice going down a hill with as little damage to the quads as possible (more Boston prep).
And my legs were still in that annoying medium gear, so I really didn't have much choice.
Back on to the MLK, do a 180, and then we were heading towards home. The wind was now mostly a tailwind or crosswind, which helped me pick up the pace some. (I finished my gel, and that helped also.) People were starting to fall apart, so I passed quite a few.
Once I passed 12 I started pushing (but not very well), and when we hit the final uphill to the museum, I emptied the tank as best I could (also not very well). I wasn't breathing very hard, but just couldn't turn over. I'd be frustrated, except I know this is how it goes.
And then I approached the finish line, saw the clock, and realized I was going to break 86. I was utterly shocked. I had run 85:43 in Houston 9 weeks ago - an all-out, fully tapered, peaking effort on a very fast course in good weather (with significantly less wind). This race felt much more like a tempo, and while this is a decently fast course (could be really fast without the hill) and the weather was not bad, it was not the same set up for a great day that Houston was.
And unlike Houston, where I was utterly spent at the end of the race, and just hanging on the last 2-3 miles, I was fine. Breathing normally, no issue jogging back to my hotel post-race, and I felt like could have gone out for a few more miles afterwards, maybe even doing some MP work.
(Of course, I didn't actually try this, since it would have been phenomenally stupid, so maybe I'm just kidding myself.)
Splits were:
Mile 1: 6:43
Mile 2: 6:36
Mile 3: 6:48 (a good part of this mile had a very bad headwind)
Mile 4: 6:32
Mile 5: 6:36
Mile 6: 6:37
Mile 7: 6:40
Mile 8: 6:58 (uphill)
Mile 9: 6:19 (downhill)
Mile 10: 6:26
Mile 11: 6:26
Mile 12: 6:21
Mile 13: 6:19
last .11: 0:37
Split another way, I ran the first 5 at 6:38, the next 5 at 6:35, and then split 19:40 for the last 5K (6:20 pace, tailwind-assisted)
Final time 85:56.
I still can't believe I ran that fast today on somewhat tired and dull legs. I fully expected to see 87 on the clock, maybe high 86.
(and no, I don't believe the course was short)
Other notes:
- The majority of the runners in this race were from Philly - I can't figure out why so few of them could run the tangents on the Parkway.
- Wore my Vaporflys for this race. I don't wear them very often - I wore them for Houston, and then for the second half of my first 20 miler. They felt good today, especially up and down the hill, so I'll definitely go with them for Boston.
- I'm still really shocked to come so close to my PR, on a day that felt like I wasn't running very well or very hard. I don't think this is because I'm peaking too early - if I was peaking, I'd feel much less tired and much sharper, and I would have been able to leave it all out there. But I'm feeling really good about Boston (and the hills there - a friend told me that the Newton hills are similar to what I ran today, just slightly longer. And 16 miles in, rather than 7.5).
- The snow held off for the race, but started to fall on the drive home, which took a good deal longer than it should have.
- I really recommend this race as a Boston tune-up. It's well managed, at the right time of year, and fairly fast. The hills are just right, in terms of timing on the course and size, to both prep and build confidence for Boston. (caveat cursor - I've never run Boston)
- I ended up second masters female to Abby Dean - a very accomplished Philadelphia runner. I don't like being second in general, but if I have to be second, I'll happily be second to her.
- (I've edited this post to correct a previous error: what I thought was the Ben Franklin Parkway was actually Martin Luther King Drive.)
Your Boston is going to be awesome :)
ReplyDeleteOh wow, we're both running our first Boston this year, that's crazy. I wish I'd known about this race beforehand, it seems like it would have been more fun than running around in the rain all weekend down south. Awesome job, you're running so dang strong. You may have mentioned this elsewhere, but what's the goal for Boston?
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