Hartford 1/2 Marathon RR 2014

52 miles for the week. 2 days off and a crappy day at the races.

October 6th (Monday): Off. Normal day at work. Over to the Recovery Room for beers and food with some co-workers for someone's birthday.

October 7th (Tuesday): 5 miles (33:35) in the morning. 5.5 miles (39+) with Will Koons and Pete Rowell along the cinder section on the Zim Smith bike path.

October 8th (Wednesday): No morning run. A relaxed 5x800 track workout down at UAlbany to test out the calves and not be too taxed for the weekend. 2.5 mile warmup. Some strides. 2:28, 2:24, 2:22, 2:26, 2:23). Cruised and legs felt decent. Shorter intervals, but a step in the forward direction. 2.5 mile cooldown.

 Electric stimulation. Every bit helps with recovery.

 Rocking out (aka hearing protection for the airplanes overhead).

October 9th (Thursday): 3 miles (NT) in the AM. 7+ miles (48:04) in the PM.

Dinner of champions.

 

Baked potato topped with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

Salads are important too!

October 10th (Friday): Work until 1pm or so. Busy morning with training and running around to finish up my stuff before heading out for the weekend. Home to pack up quickly and hit the road. Some major traffic hit throughout the entire ride. I was pounding Gatorade the entire day and thought I could make it to the hotel without having to stop for a bathroom break. I almost peed while I was driving. I pulled off at some random exit in Connecticut, but it was one without any gas stations right off the highway. I continued to drive as I am literally squirming in my seat doing the pee dance. It is very difficult to hold it and drive standard at the same time. Eventually found a random side neighborhood to park my car on the side of the road and empty the overfilled bladder.

Prepped with high visibility gear.

October 11th (Saturday): Early wakeup. Sat in bed and slowly woke up. Made some instant oatmeal with the coffee maker. No spoons. Improvised and used wooden stirrers. Changed up and relaxed before heading out for a short warmup around the block with Megan (eventually winner of the half marathon). 3 mile warmup total (loops + the jog to the starting line). Felt good, but I was in for a rude awakening. Splits will speak for themselves:

Mile 1 - 4:59 (off the pack and feeling okay)
Mile 2 - 5:04
Mile 3 - 4:58
Mile 4 - 5:09
Mile 5/6 - 10:30 (30:41 through 6) - not so good and settled in to that pace through the course
Mile 7 - 5:16
Mile 8/9 - 10:35 (not getting any faster and the course has some rollers
Mile 10 - 5:12 (some downhill and maybe some chance to get out of the funk)
Mile 11 - 5:23 (just kidding!)
Mile 12 - 5:27
Mile 13.1 - 5:43 (5:11 pace and somehow salvaged something for the end)

Time: 68:19. Only 39 seconds off my PR, but felt not all that great. Pictures will be a witness of the true feeling. Rainy and 40 degrees did not help.

The rest of the day was recovering and driving over to Leominster to hang out with Sarah, Bob and my parents. Homemade dinner that was bomb-diggity!

Early on. 

 

Tongue out. Feeling okay.

Look of exhaustion.

October 12th (Sunday): Up to drive over to Boston to watch the BAA Half Marathon. Sarah (my sister) and her friend were running it. Trotted around and spectated. Home at a decent hour back in NY.

That's a new one...