Saturday, April 1, 2017

Circular Logic (Half) Marathon Race Report

1:55:37 for me today, which is a PR by 1:20.

Is it terrible that I'm not thrilled with this? I really feel like I could have done better--I tried just running by feel and I don't know if that was good. I wasn't really pushing either (worried about my leg) and I just wasn't feeling it mentally today to gut out a fast hard race--never got that "I'm going to die because I'm running so hard" feeling--I feel like I know how to pace in a 5k but after 9 half-marathons I still don't know how hard to push the whole race. I got a side ache (I NEVER get sideaches!!! but I swear this one was cosmic justice for telling my daughter to run through one on Wednesday and just focus on her breathing) during mile 6 and the rest of the race just sucked.

My legs were really cold and felt stiff & I couldn't get my Gatorade bottles off my belt bc the cold made the plastic less flexible and the squeeze release didn't work. Took one Honey Stinger at mile 10 or so but I think it was too late to help. The good news is that my leg (suspected tibial fracture; appointment with ortho next week) didn't start aching until about mile 12. Ran another couple miles with the kids so it was 16ish total (older kids ran solo and DH ran the rest). And the kids had a blast so that's good!

Anyway, a PR is good, but not a race I'm really proud of. Splits 8:52, 8:43, 8:35, 8:33, 8:38, 9:11 (sideache here and felt like I was barely staying upright), 8:56 (sideache still terrible), 8:44, 8:51, 9:02, 9:10, 8:51, 8:41, 50 seconds for the .1. Avg pace was 8:50. Looking over my splits, it seems like the ache came from the 8:30s miles, but they felt so easy!! Grrr. Stupid running by feel.

My legs were really cold and felt stiff & I couldn't get my Gatorade bottles off my belt bc the cold made the plastic less flexible and the squeeze release didn't work. Took one Honey Stinger at mile 10 or so but I think it was too late to help. The good news is that my leg (suspected tibial fracture; appointment with ortho next week) didn't start aching until about mile 12. Ran another couple miles with the kids so it was 16ish total (older kids ran solo and DH ran the rest). And the kids had a blast so that's good!

Anyway, a PR is good, but not a race I'm really proud of. Splits 8:52, 8:43, 8:35, 8:33, 8:38, 9:11 (sideache here and felt like I was barely staying upright), 8:56 (sideache still terrible), 8:44, 8:51, 9:02, 9:10, 8:51, 8:41, 50 seconds for the .1. Avg pace was 8:50. Looking over my splits, it seems like the ache came from the 8:30s miles, but they felt so easy!! Grrr. Stupid running by feel.
Anyway, 152.5 for March, 16 for April, and 498.7 for the year. Hopefully I
'll get more miles in April but top priority is getting this tibia thing under control, so it's possible I may not run again this month. ðŸ˜¬ðŸ˜­




And afterwards I had the WORST post-race pain I've ever had. Never again will I have a pelvic and spinal adjustment days before a PR race!! I literally could not stand or walk by the end of the day, and that was after foam rolling and stretching for about an hour right after I got home. My right leg was just totally dead from the hip down and I couldn't lift it up at all. It was so bad--my abs literally felt like I'd just given birth and were all worn out from contractions--I was super nauseated from the pain and had to take some major ibuprofen before I could sleep. The side ache makes a lot more sense now--I guess I was running that race using muscles that have been lazy for months if not years!! Fortunately it's a lot better today and just normal post-race stiffness.

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