Long Branch Half Marathon 2012

My annual Spring Half-Marathon is my biggest test of where I am at, running-wise, each year. Due, I felt, to some strategy errors the past two years, my times had been slipping a bit from my seven-minute a mile average I had been at since my late 40's. This year, at 53, I was bent on reversing that trend, and did, finishing in a time of 1:31.46, a 7:01 average. It was good for 104th place overall in the field of over 6000 at the Long Branch Half-Marathon May 6th, and fifth in the (189 person) 50-55 age-group. My heart rate was 58 just before the start, and 165 at the finish (about 98% of my max). All good! I feel for a race to be successful, three main elements must be in place: First, your training base must be sound, with equal parts distance, speed, and tempo. Second, your head must be into it, that day. In other words, other problems in your life can't be superceding the race that morning! Third, you must have a realistic goal, and a plan to get there. Concerning the first element, I felt my training this year went well, helped in part by the unexpectedly mild New Jersey winter. I was able to get about 75 percent of my running outdoors, which most directly simulates the stride and breathing needed on race day. Because I wasn't over-reliant on the treadmill, I didn't mind it when I had to stay indoors, and got most of my speedwork done inside. A new one that I threw in this year was: 10 miles on the treadmill, starting at a speed of 7.6. and ending at my race pace of 8.6. I changed the grade from 0 to 3 through every quarter of each mile, and inched the speed up .1 each mile. I did it twice, and that was my longest runs of the 5-month training period. I don't think I'll go longer than that on the treadmill (have to stay somewhat sane!), but, hopefully can get a few 12 or 13-mile training runs outdoors this summer. The second element may be the hardest to control, and I've been in races where my mind was a million other places (or on one over-riding problem), and just couldn't get focused on the task at hand. Luckily, I was "in a good place", and the race seemed relatively important in the scheme of life. Finally, I broke the race down to 5-5-3. Two five-mile races segments that I wanted to hit in 35 minutes (or just a shade less), and a final three-mile stretch, that feeling good or bad, I couldn't totally ruin the day's efforts. Luckily, I found two other guys going exactly the same pace as I, and we went stride for stride through 10-plus miles. They had slightly more ambitious goals, and I resisted the temptation to stay with them, fearing that if I pushed it too much, I could end up tweaking my bothersome right Achilles. I still felt like I was working hard, but the last three were slightly slower than the first 10. Still, I didn't totally screw up my pacing like I had in last year's race, and finished looking slightly better than death! Now, I'm on a little "running hangover." While I've gotten a few enjoyable outside runs in, it's cross-training time, and I can't look at a treadmill. But at least the memory is a positive one, and we'll see where we want to take it from here!