Overcoming setbacks - lesson #1

Yesterday was the three month pre-anniversary of my first marathon. To celebrate, I ran my second half-marathon of the year. Actually, if I count the half marathon at the end of the Mooseman Half Ironman, it was my third HM of the year.

The Richmond Half Marathon was supposed to be my test of a different race strategy than the Parks HM in September. If, dear reader, you recall, that was a race that started hot and finished very hot - not ideal conditions for a long distance race at all. I also ran the whole thing, for the first time since I'd gotten injured at the beginning of the year, if only to prove that I could. The wheels basically fell off around mile 6 and I got slower and slower, but in the end I was pleased witht eh race for a lot of reasons. Yesterdays race was supposed to be my baseline for run/walking a race - could I go faster than if I ran the whole thing? I also planned to run solely on two pieces of data on my fabulous forerunner - my heart rate zones and my average overall pace. The aim was to stay in Z2 for the first few minutes, and then spend the next 9-10 miles in Z3, going to Z4 for the last 30 minutes (the body can only consistently stay in Z4 for about 90 minutes and it HURTS - and I certainly don't have the psychological and physical strength to do that). And by watching my overall pace instead of my "at the moment" pace, I was hoping to avoid some of the panicing that I've had before about 'meeting my goals.'

So, you can see why I was bummed when I switched on my forerunner the night before and it switched itself off immediately. No joice. Crap. No way to charge it overnight since the race was away from home. OK. Plan B - stick with my ordinary watch and just try to run on perceived effort. Sigh. All that planning down the drain.

Mark reminded me that I could well have equipment failure at Placid, and suggested that I break the race into three four-mile portions so I didn't worry too much about mile fluctuations. That proved good advice and although I slowed a little in the last third of the race, the wheels never fell off and I PR'd by nearly ten minutes. Yeah! I stuck to a 9/1 run/walk and found that perfect.

But despite everything I've written, the day really belonged to Mark and all the other marathoners who coped with 70 degrees (in November!) and 20 mph winds and finished 26.2 miles. It was Mark's first marathon and as of now, he's pretty anti-marathons, but he's still pleased that he finished the thing and I'm so proud of him. And he learned a lot of things that I can benefit from in February.

And strangely enough, I'm looking forward to my attempt next year. I know that it's going to hurt like hell and I'm going to want to quit several times, but I'm looking to crossing the finish line and the sense of accomplishment. My celebration dinner will be Jaleo, I think.