2009 White Rock Half Marathon

2009 running goal was to complete Huntsville 50-mile trail race, which was canceled by economy. Paul Smith recommended “Runner’s World” Smart Coach: “you only need 17 weeks to train for a marathon.” Back spasm prevented the idea. I resorted to Plan C: running a 1:40 half marathon. 100-minute is a nice round number.

_Tools
14-week program: Thursday fast run, Sunday long run. I substitute most easy runs with cross training.
Garmin Forerunner 305 was indispensible.

_Race Plan
Set Garmin’s virtual partner to 7:36 pace. Ignore everything else. Stay within 300 feet of the electronic pacer for 6 miles than play by ear.

_Aggressive training
I was skeptical whether the training program was right for me. I seldom ran faster than 8:00 pace. The tempo runs and speedworks seemed more intense than calves could recover. “Give it a chance,” I kept telling myself.

My confidence bottomed 1 week prior to the race. It took legs longer to recover from the final 5x1600 than what seemed reasonable.
What did I expect with 14 weeks? Garmin freaked out that week for the first time. Without the battery-powered device, I couldn’t pace to save my life. The 100-minute goal felt fragile.

_Erratic Pacer
To my relief I saw the 1:40 pace balloon at the start. I decided to follow the human pacers. It was easier to follow the group moving at the same speed than fighting the crowd alone. It’s difficult to keep any constant speed at first mile of an event with 20000 runners.

To my dismay, the balloon started at 8:50 pace and picked up speed slowly. Around mile 3, the pacer started what felt like surges. Soon the group dwindled down to 5, including the 2 pacers. I struggled by mile 7. I was unprepared for sub 7:15 pace going toward the highest point of the course.


[dropped by 1:40 pace baloon]

_Support
Biff showed up at mile 8 as promised. He knew I was in trouble and set a more moderate tempo. My heart rate dropped below 90% as the pace balloon disappeared. By mile 10 I recovered enough that we gained on the 1:40 pace balloon.

[focusing on not losing Biff]

Biff left the course after 4 miles. Paul came out with his SLR and skates and kept me company throughout Katy Trail. It was helpful to have friend lying to my face about how good I looked. I hoped the hot spot at bottom of each foot wouldn’t blister. This oversized shoe theory wasn’t working out.

_Extra Distance
I thought I was home free when GPS said mile 11. I had 17 minutes to run 2.1 miles. Then I noticed the mile-11 marker; the GPS was 0.25 miles off. I panicked yet legs wouldn’t turn faster. I seemed to be the slowest person on the trail. I focused on staying with each passing runner with no success. “I’m so getting my ass kicked.”

[struggling while topless guy and really short girl passed me]

Paul continued to shout encouraging words. I recalled having too much left in 2007’s event and the sub 7:00 final mile. I reached the finish arch as legs refused to sprint. GPS says 13.35 miles in 1:40:00.45. Avg/max HR of 86 / 92%.

Official time is 1:39:54, exactly as Runner’s World program eerily predicted.

_Post Race
Except 1 calf cramp immediately after the race, walking hasn’t been an issue. This is a far cry from previous 3 running seasons. I want to believe I’m better conditioned; somehow I feel I could’ve gone a little harder.