I started off writing a race report for the Rock 'n Roll half marathon yesterday and found myself writing about the weather. So please forgive the mashup of two very long and difficult events ...
For those of you in the DC area, I don't need to describe the crap conditions we've endured for training this winter. For those of you basking in the ozone layer-less warmth of a NZ summer, I'll try to paint a picture of the pattern.
Normally DC is fabulous for training. Little snow, bright sunshine, clear trails and roads. Even the infamous 2009/10 winter of Snowmageddon was better than this season because the big dumps of snow were just that - big dumps of snow on occasion throughout the season. And in between, we could run (albeit on Beach Drive which is about four miles long, so a lot of laps) and ride outside most of the time.
This year, I've ridden outside once since I picked up my beautiful new bike back in January. Once. Every week, seemingly, we've had snow or icy rain around Wednesday or Thursday that means the roads are too treacherous on the weekend to ride in the countryside with residual ice on the ground, and the trails aren't plowed so we can't really get in decent miles locally. So rides were changed to 1.5-2 hr spins inside. Eventually, once the Olympics started, we just spun inside on our own in front of an ice hockey game or even curling when desperate. House of Cards helped too. But in total, I'd say I've ridden only about 1/2-2/3rds of what I should have for the long rides. Not good when I have a viciously hilly century coming up in May.
And because spins had to be scheduled often on a Saturday instead of a Sunday, I'd miss running with my running team and end up running with my triathlon team. And a couple of times, my triathlon team held "Red Nose Runs" where you're not allowed to carry a watch, but instead write down your projected time beforehand, and the nearest to their projected time wins. These were typically the longer runs for those training for marathons and were also fundraisers for the Strike Out MS charity that the team supports. So I'd run those because without long rides, I wasn't seeing my tri-team friends hardly at all.
All in all, I've gotten in all my long runs and as a bonus, at the top end of the mileage in the training plan. 18 degree weather never fazed me on the weekend. The balaclava came out a couple of times, but after 10 years of running, I've figured out the minimum layers needed and they start with wool. OTOH, could I get up early before work when the temps were in the 20s and run in the dark for my mid-week runs? Or come home at night and go out to the track later? Not on your life, Nellie. And because we had so many snow days off work, or extra teleworking days to keep us off the roads, I didn't have access to a treadmill. And add to that my natural laziness, it got pretty bad towards the end as the winter seemingly never ended. So, to make a very long winter very short, I got in all of the long runs and seemingly very few of the short runs. And none in the last 3-4 weeks. Pathetic.
The one bright spot has been the swimming. I've gotten in all the long swims on the weekend, up to nearly 2 hrs, aided by my very pregnant friend who kept me honest by agreeing to meet me at the pool and come have coffee afterwards before she had to disappear into Mommyhood for a few years. So if you're pregnant and wanting to keep up the exercise, I'm taking applications for weekend dates between now and June. You do have to be an interesting conversationalist though!
So we arrived at the spring race that I'd ostensibly been training for - the Rock 'n Roll half marathon. On the one hand, my long run times indicated that I could PR, but my lack of mid-week runs and speed work would suggest otherwise. So I set two goals for myself - PR by a wee bit and break 2:05. The latter would mean about a 15 sec/mile improvement which I figured was a stretch given the hill in the middle of the course and the fact that I hadn't sustained anything like that for anything longer than a few miles. And naturally, on Friday I had to admit that I was coming down with a chest cold. Lovely.
Still, the day looked like it was going to be perfect spring (NOT WINTER!!!!!) racing weather and I was delighted to pull out shorts and my coach's fabulous tri-jersey racing outfit. The only problem was that I hadn't used my summer socks in forever, so discovered at the last minute that I had two left socks. In my rush to get out the door, I ended up emptying three underwear drawers on the floor looking for one right sock. I failed and as a consequence, Tina abducted a pair of my wool socks and ate a hole in one of them. Small price to pay I think. But I'm happy to report, because I know you're holding your breath about this - racing in two left socks had no impact on me whatsoever.
The race itself was fairly uneventful. For a rock 'n roll race, there was a disappointing number of bands, but those out there were really good, including my favorite women's taiko band. In comparison with MCM which takes place largely in national parks, the Rock 'n Roll is far more residential for the half and sometimes industrial for the full. So the views weren't as pretty to me, and there was a disappointing lack of marines. I did feel very sorry for the marathon runners as they split off from the half marathoners - the ratio was about 8:1 - it was going to get lonely out there for them.
Of course, my Garmin was short (how come they're never long?), meaning I was running slower than it indicated. So I did have to do some mental math (not my strong suit) to figure out if I was on track for goals 1 or 2. It was wonderful seeing training mates and supporters out there and I ran for a few miles with a PRR training mate who was doing her first marathon - running strong and smart and according to her plan. She got loads of shout outs too for her "First Marathon" t-shirt - neat idea.
The pace definitely told on me though. Roads that I would have said were flat cutting through the DC neighborhoods were definitely rolling and my plan of 30-60 second surges from mile 10 became a plan of surging for the length of an intersection or a few cars parked in a line by mile 12 (aided by seeing my coach at the marathon/half marathon split, though I don't think the look I gave her was one of joy!). I was pretty sure I just wanted to stop and walk, but my mental math was telling me that I could break my PR if I could just keep going. That 2:05 was a definitely possibility, but dammit that mile 13 marker was a loooooooong time coming. Thank god it was a downhill finish.
In the end, 2:04:39 - comfortably breaking my stretch goal and taking nearly 3:30 off my PR. A good day definitely for racing. I'm most proud though of negatively splitting the race by about 20 sec/mile, continuing my practice from MCM.
I'll say that I didn't have the joy or euphoria yesterday that I had with MCM. I don't think that I particularly enjoyed the day, except seeing friends and running with Elisabeth. I know I am under the weather (my voice is gone today and that cold has taken residence in my chest with no sign of leaving anytime soon), but I probably should feel more pride at having PR'd. Still, it is serving as a symbolic end to the off season and a gentle kick in the butt for Ironman training. And it's made me do some research on half marathons following IMMT with the thinking that with marathon training under my belt, maybe there's a chance of PR'ing again, sub 2 hrs this time. If not then, then definitely in 2015.
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