I was inspired to sign up for the Flying Pig this year after watching the Boston, NYC and LA marathons on Universal Sports last year. I did last year's Heart Mini and kind of felt like running the Pig, but I was behind in preparation so I knew it wasn't the best idea.
This year I am trying to be more mindful of running form, breathing and heart rate. I know I can't maintain the pace I run the Heart Mini for an entire marathon. I wanted to collect data on the effort and use the race as an endurance speed workout. This year I have done even more speed work, and even running on a local High School track to get clean times (no interuptions from traffic and pedestrians), I pretend I'm a pro from Kenya!
I think I ate too big of a breakfast only 2 hours before the race. Perhaps morning of the Pig I will eat something like Garden of Life's Raw Meal (it's a gluten-free, vegan raw meal substitute packed with calories and protein, think oatmeal in a cup). I didn't feel like downing a gel in the first hour. I'm also thinking about using Infinit during the Flying Pig.
I didn't leave myself enough time to get ready before the race. I bike commuted down to warm up my legs and didn't want to get there too early. I found myself nervously trying to adjust iPhone, gels, etc on the starting line. I didn't get to do a pre-stretch before the run because I ran out of time!
I lined up with the same Bob Ronker's pace group as I did last year. What a great service! I've used them 3 years now, unwisely I typically run with a pace group beyond my abilities! It would have been smarter to run with a 3:10 pace group and to gauge my pace for the Pig at a 13.1 distance...
The pace group was great. It's like a road cycling race where I just try to hide in the group as much as possible. This year I was feeling pretty good. I just kept hanging in there, where last year I was popped out the back and trying to chase before the 10k mark! The weather was hot, and my heart rate was really high. Often too high. I think my zone 5 starts around 164 bpm, my marathon pace would ideally keep me under this, but during the Heart Mini I was typically around 168 and hitting 171 going up hills. I was getting overheated a bit, so I took a page out of the 2006 Floyd Landis ride of "superhuman" redemption and started dumping water over the top of my head.
At the 15k mark I started losing heels a bit. I found myself off-the-back too often and having to really work downhills to keep up. The fastest 2 miles that Strava recorded, was actually in the end of the race! The route took us over into Newport and by the time we hit the Taylor Southgate bridge I was really hurting. But the Ronkers pacers were super cool, two came back to help me bridge back up into the group! Then they slapped me on the ass and sent me heading for the finish line! Thanks to them I got a sub 1:30!
But I'm really hurting today. Despite a recovery drink, lot of hydration, an ice-bath, compression socks and anti-oxidents I am really hurting! I once again bit off too much!
For the Pig I need to run some race pace recon runs of the first 10 miles of the race, and really keep up my core and arm workouts.
5k split 21:10
Pace at 5k: 6:50
Rank: 54
10k split 42:16 (New PR, old: 42:53/6:55 Pace)
Pace at 10k: 6:50
Rank: 52
15k split 1:03:29 (New PR old: 1:04:34/6:57)
Pace at 15k: 6:50
Rank: 48
13.1 final: 1:29:38 (New PR, old: 1:31:47/7:01)
Pace: 6:50
Overall Rank: 53
Division: M35-39
Division Place: 9th!
(I beat last year's 71st place and 10th in Division!)
Splits:
1 6:37 6'37"/mi
2 13:32 6'55"/mi
3 20:21 6'49"/mi
4 27:05 6'44"/mi
5 33:49 6'44"/mi
6 40:41 6'52"/mi
7 47:25 6'45"/mi
8 54:05 6'40"/mi
9 1:00:57 6'52"/mi
10 1:07:43 6'47"/mi
11 1:14:35 6'52"/mi
12 1:21:29 6'54"/mi
13 1:28:15 6'46"/mi
Best Efforts recorded by Strava:
400m: 00:01:19 (new PR, better than 400m run on track!)
1/2 mile: 00:03:02
1k: 00:03:47
1 mile: 00:06:22
2 miles: 00:13:20
5k: 00:20:51
10k: 00:41:57
15k: 01:03:02
10 miles: 01:07:37
20k: 01:24:10
Half-Marathon: 01:28:57 (different than finishing time?)
Last year's Heart Mini write up:
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