Race Report: 2007 12Ks of Christmas
Back in October I received a free entry to the 12Ks of Christmas for volunteering at the Dawg Dash. I sent in the entry and decided that I’d make running the race a game time decision dependent on my recovery from the Fall Classic half marathon and the day’s weather. The recovery was no problem and it wasn’t raining on Sunday morning so I decided to go for it.
I didn’t really check out the route beforehand but if there’s one thing I remember from running the Kirkland Half Marathon in May it’s that Kirkland is hilly. I made up a little song to psych myself up about it: When I say Kirkland you say Hills: Kirkland!Hills! Kirkland! Hills! That worked for the first kilometer.
I had no real goals for this race. I hadn’t specifically trained for this distance although I had kept my mileage up since the half four weeks ago. I figured going under an hour would be pretty cool but might be slightly out of my reach. I decided to try and pace 5:00 kilometers anyway because I like nice round numbers.
My splits were consistently inconsistent: if the kilometer was predominately uphill the split was slower than 5:00, if it was predominately downhill the split was faster than 5:00. Along the way I achieved and unofficial 10K PB of 51:00. I’ve only ever run one 10K race and it wasn’t an “A” race (see: Race Report: Dawg Dash 10K 2006) so my official 10K PB of 54:02 is a bit out of synch with the rest of my PBs. I finished the 12K in 1:00:48. If the course hadn’t been as hilly I might have been able to break and hour but that’s just speculation. I’m still really happy with my result and thrilled that I finished in the 90th percentile for my age group!
I’m done with speed for a while. My plan is now to move into base training mode. That means trying to build my aerobic base by doing lots of slow running and cross training. The next race on my calendar is the Vancouver Half Marathon in May.
Data
km Split Cumulative Avg BPM Elevation ============================================= 1 5:22.9 0:05:22.9 159 uphill 2 4:54.4 0:10:17.3 170 downhill 3 4:45.7 0:15:03.0 178 downhill 4 5:24.1 0:20:27.1 186 uphill 5 5:13.0 0:25:40.1 186 uphill 6 5:13.3 0:30:53.4 186 uphill 7 5:33.1 0:36:26.5 184 mixed 8 4:43.2 0:41:09.7 182 downhill 9 4:47.2 0:45:46.9 183 downhill 10 5:03.0 0:50:59.9 186 mixed 11 5:03.8 0:56:03.7 184 mixed 12 4:44.5 1:00:48.2 185 mixed ============================================= Total 1:00:48 Avg pace 5:04 min/km Avg BPM 180 Place overall 203/937 (78th percentile) Place in gender 75/587 (87th percentile) Plane in age group (F2529) 16/156 (90th percentile)
Race Report: Matt’s Personal Half Marathon
On August 20, I started a 16-week program to take me from not running to completing 21.1 km at a go.
Week 16 ended and there was no race, real or imaginary. Instead, I went to Vancouver, to start the holiday season with friends. This made for a longer than planned taper (and one, unlike the original, that included many drinks).
Imaginary race-day was pushed to week 17, at the end of which I came to Seattle to see Cecilia.
Dawn came gray to Seattle. The morning was cool, overcast and windy. My route, repeats of a loop of Green Lake, 5.15 km of flat, beaten gravel. Attitude, poor. Wind and being off-plan bother me. But as with anything, success, though it may elude the swift and wise, often goes to the prepared. I had done the work so figured, even in my grumpy morning state, that this should be OK.
Today’s plan was to run the 13.1 miles at about 9:00 a mile (5:35 a km), at a heart rate (HR) below 172 beats per minute (BPM). (My HR varies. Some days I knock out 8:20s at 162 BPM, others, not so much.) Today, I turned out 8:44s at 168 BPM, and if one was to graph it, because one has the data, the tools and the goodwill of a statistician, it would look like this:
(The blue line is the pace and the read line is the HR.)
Qualitatively, the four loops and the last bit went like this. I started too fast, but settled in and felt that all was well. By loop two, I relaxed and kept a steady pace. About half way through loop three my joints began to speak to me. Predictably, loop four was tough, but I was sure I would make it, so I picked up the pace at mile 12, running it in 8:33 and mile 13 in 7:39. Then, all that was left was a short surge to the end. Cecilia was there with a warm coat and a surprise.
Cecilia volunteered for race support and it helped a lot. She kept me in the game with Gatorade, food and moral support.
My unofficial half-marathon time is now 1:54:28. The new plan is to relax for the holidays. After that, to start training again, for an official half marathon this time.
Matt