I'm officially on vacation until September 28th!! Well, I have to go into work for a 1-3 meeting today but aside from that, I'm in vacation mode. We're heading to the shore next week for a few nights to get away and relax, which is MUCH needed. I'm so burned out from work right now, it sucks. I went to bed at 9pm last night and slept till 9 this morning. It was fabulous. I could have kept sleeping but I drug myself out of bed and did my last run before the Philly Distance Run (half marathon) I have on Sunday. I'm both excited and nervous about this race. After last weekend's half, I have a good feeling of what I'm capable of. But...I'm not used to pushing myself for longer distances. Sure, I've gone all out for a 5K but that's only 3 miles of discomfort. The whole time you're running you know the pain is almost over because the race is done so quickly after it starts. Pushing myself for 13.1 miles has me a little nervous. One thing I do not want is to go out too hard and fast and crap out. So, here are my 3 little scenarios, each would be a PR (current PR is 1:46:48 at this race last year).
1:40 finish -- 7:38 pace. While this is what I really want to finish at, I don't want to start off this fast. I'd rather start off slower and pick it up after I'm warmed up and feeling good. It always takes me a few miles to get into my groove so I don't want to spend too much right off the bat.
1:43 finish -- 7:50 pace. This sounds MUCH nicer to me. On one of my 6 mile runs this week I ran the last mile at this pace and it felt good. I find it hard at first when I hit the pace, but once I settle in and get my breathing back to normal, I feel pretty good.
1:45 finish -- 8:00 pace. I think this is where I'm going to start off at. I feel confident if I start off at this slower pace I'll be able to pick it up once I get into the race.
Another little challenge on race day is going to be running by myself and keeping myself on pace. It usually happens that I have someone I know running the same pace and we stick together. But Sunday, I'm doing it on my own. I might make up a little pace card to carry with me so I can check from time to time to see how I'm doing. I've never done this before. I usually just check my watch to see my current pace and adjust from there. I'm not good at calculating on the go...
11 comments:
Are you going to be blogging on vacation? Are we going to get to see some awesome pics or what??? :)
Ronnie
have a wonderful vacation and good luck in the HM! You'll do great :)
You're going to kick ass-phault! Oh wait - that's in November... still, I'm sure you'll be great :)
You've so got this woman!!!!
Yay vacation! Enjoy every minute!
Great plans/goals for the HM. I'm with you, nervous about pushing myself for an entire 13.1 miles. I like the idea of starting a little more conservatively. That once, once you start to really push, you're closer to the finish and you're looking at LESS miles to go.
GOOD LUCK!
wowie what a great time for vacation!! relaxxxxxx
good luck on the race, you have certainly put in all the effort!
good luck! doing the math while I run keeps me busy :)
Good luck, I'm sure you will do amazing!
Good luck on the half!
You'll do awesome. I know how you feel about not wanting to crap out early. I make the same mistake every time. I am not good at holding back then doing a negative split. I did a pace band for my last half and I think it helped. My goal was to stay under 8:00 miles the whole way and I just focused on that. I looked at my garmin after each mile beeped to check. I always get into sort of a race coma though and have a hard time calculating. It was good to have the pace band there, (I've printed like a wrist band and "laminated" it with clear tape) but I found myself not really using it. Anyway...I'm babbling! Simply put, you'll do awesome and just have fun.
And have a great vacay. Aren't you wishing you were in Ann Arbor this time of year for football? I can't stand that the game today isn't televised here and I really miss being there for the games..
Good luck at the race - you'll be great!!!!
Heard from lil runner you made a PR! CONGRATS!!!! enjoy your vacation!
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