6/19/11

Patriot Half

I did this half iron yesterday in Freetown MA. AKA Middleboro, Lakeville area.  It was my 5th one and I had very high expectations. Perhaps they were misplaced. I know I have the capability of going under 5:30 in the half. I thought that with my experience and finally  figuring out my stomach issues I would go under 5:30. Compared to Timberman here is how I did.

Place at Patriot :  (7/28 AG 45-49)   (189/505 OA)

TOTAL Time 
Timberman 5:46:17 (Wavy, Hilly, Challenging)
Patriot: 5:49:10 (Not wavy, not very hilly, HOT)  (+3:07) 

      
TMBR: swim 45:34
PTRT swim 43:03 (- 2:31)  Good.

TMBR Bike: 3:01:43
PTRT Bike :3:00:34 (-1:09)  Ok.

TMBR Run: 1:52:54
PTRT Run : 2:00:36 (+8:18)   Crappy
 
TMBR T1 3:32
PTRT TI 2:50 (-:48)  Great!

TMBR T2 2:34
PTRT T2 2:09   (-25) Good.

My thoughts about this race:

I've been coaching myself and getting healthy by listening to my body on a daily basis.  I trained less hours in order get healthier.  Sometimes in order to get healthier you have to take a step back.  By getting healthier I mean - on top of low iron (Ferritin stores) I have had other personal issues that are being corrected. Those issues are too personal to get into on this blog.

My swim was steady.  I was doing the 2 beat kick and stayed straighter than I have been in the past. I felt good in the swim. Despite less hours I was able to get in an extra swim each week with a swim group. This appears to have paid off.  Swimming is a skill that does not come quickly.  It is developed over time. I'm a rather new distance swimmer so I'm happy with my small improvements.

My bike was steady.  I wanted to do 19 mph in order to save myself for the all mighty run.  I  managed 18.7.
The first loop was 19 MPH.  The second loop was under that. Instead of watching my speed I watched my HR the entire time. My HR remained in the 3.8-4.4 range.  Reaching 4.4 on the hills. On average I was 144 BPM.  I am not sure if that was too high or too low. I do know that it felt like a rate that I could hold for 3 hours or so.  In my Garmin this means I road on average in low Zone 4 but in Training peaks it says I was in my Endurance zone. ??

Although I am now healthier my running speed has suffered severely over the past 4 months.  When I look back at the hilly REV3 run,  I did that in 1:55, I did Timber run in 1:49.   I failed to give myself credit for those runs. Not anymore. The Half Iron run is FUCKING hard. I get chocked up crossing the finished line at every single one.  I only got chocked up after 2 of my 15 marathons. That says something about how hard the half is.  

The run at the Patriot was not completely flat but was not all that hilly either.  My first two miles were 8:21 and 8:25.  3rd Mile was 8:35.  I realized that my plan of 8:00 MPM or less was not in the cards early on. My revised goal was to run 8:30's.  Which also soon went out the window.  I totally lost it at about mile 8. The heat was paramount in my demise.  There were so many people walking at this point I decided that if I could just jog I would come in at a reasonable time compared to those walking. That became plan D.   One of the tables had salt tabs which I was grateful for.  I also drank Coke at least 3 times. I think this helped.  I managed 9:00s.

All I could think of at this  point was how hard it must be to run the full. I give so much credit to Mary and  all of you who complete the full. I really wonder if I have it in me. I reached a point yesterday where all I wanted was for this to be over and I only had to run 13.1.  One foot in front of the other. That's how I kept going during those miserable miles. 

SO - with that said. I will take a week of rest and start up marathon training next Monday. My plan is to see what I can do with my running for the next 3 months. I'm not going to put up these high expectations for now.  I want to enjoy myself while setting new goals.

Here are a few photos from race day that Kathy took.  She is so supportive and puts up with me.  
Happy Father's Day!






10 comments:

Running and living said...

Melissa,
Congrats! I concur with you on the run. For me, the heat was the issue. I vomited 5 times, and could not get my HR below 190. I ran 30 min slower than my HM PR, and had to bribe myself to finish. I think you need to take the heat into consideration when you judge your run. Yes, the course was not that hard (though there were plenty of hills), but the heat was unbearable. Rest up!

Jennifer Harrison said...

Congrats Melissa!!
You could do the full - just have to train for it properly and you would! Good luck w/ your run training! (And the HR zones in your garmin are generic ones).

Kim said...

So glad I was able to talk to you after the race. I think you did awesome given the conditions... that run was a deathmarch and I am so damn sunburnt (and still dehydrated)! You absolutely can go 530... 90 degrees and no shade definitely was a killer. Congrats on hanging in there and you did great!

speedy said...

Congrat's Mel. Half irons are HARD (I'm so lazy, I've only done 2 of them) . Recover quickly and let's do some runs together!!

GoBigGreen said...

I agree that i think that half mary in a 70.3 is HARD! I cry at the finish all the time. And i dont plan on that!
Enjoy the rest and as JH says, you can do a full I think we just need to lower or run expectations:) I hope!

Bert said...

Clearly the heat played a major role in the 8-minute run differential. Gotta make some allowance for that... Good luck with the marathon training, goal race?

GetBackJoJo said...

Heat is a big fat time suck!!! You did great. The conditions or Timberman were perfect, so you can't really compare the two runs....

Linda said...

Good job! There really are so so so many variables so you should be happy given the conditions. :) And you can just do Patriot again next year! With me!

Unknown said...

You did better in four out of the five sections of the race. Since the conditions were different (the heat) for the run you really can't compare the two races. Overall it looks like you improved quite a bit. Excellent job.

Unknown said...

COngrats! Isn't it funny how we just keep setting our expectations of ourselves higher and higher? That's why just finishing got you so emotional! I'm sure you could do the full with hard training...not that you weren't training hard before!!
Rest up, it sounds like you have a lot more ahead!

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