Saturday, December 4, 2010

The night before

The race shirt and bib
Just a few thoughts the night before my first half marathon.

This might be the most relaxed I've been before a race. I think it's because my recent leg/knee pains caused me to back off my training the past couple of weeks, so I've also backed off my goals for this race. I was thinking of trying to come in under 2 hours, but I doubt that I have the stamina for that right now. So I'm really just going into this race tomorrow with the idea of taking it easy and just enjoying it. No matter what, it's an automatic PR, right?

But, I do still have a few time goals in mind:

Easiest goal: 2:24:00 - I feel like I should be fully capable of finishing under 2:24, which is about an 11min pace.

Mid-level goal: 2:17:00 - About where I expect to finish, with an average of about a 10:30 pace.

Hardest goal: 2:11:00 - Averaging 10min/mile - a good effort for a race that I'm planning to take easy.

Another positive is that my leg pain has just about gone away. I got to talk to a sports medicine doctor at the expo today. He seemed to think it was tendonitis and gave me some good tips for stretching and strength exercises, and recommended post-run stretching (4-5min) and icing (no more than 15 min). He also thought my new shoes might be the culprit. It's disappointing, because I really like those shoes.

The only thing causing some anxiety at the moment is the weather forecast for tomorrow morning - 35 degrees and 10-15mph winds, making it feel like 30 degrees. It's hard to dress for this temperature range. I know I'll be freezing at the start and sweating by mile 4. My plan is to layer - two shirts, short sleeve under long sleeve, and a zip-up sweat shirt hoodie as a third layer that I can ditch along the run if I get too hot. I'll also have long compression pants under shorts, a knit cap, and gloves. I'll probably be out of the gloves and hat by mile 8. The gloves are too nice to ditch, so they'll go in pockets. The hat might get ditched, so I'll pick one that I don't mind parting with.

So that 's it for now. Being at the expo today really got me mentally ready to run. Can't wait to run this thing tomorrow!

2 comments:

  1. Way to go. Saw you hit the 'hardest goal' you had listed above. Proud of you!

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  2. Thanks! I didn't even realize that until I read your post.

    ReplyDelete