Race Report: 2007 Fall Classic Half Marathon
The Short Story
I went into this race without any real expectations (honestly I would have been happy with anything sub 2 hours) and surprised myself by running a new half marathon personal best of 1:51:59. That’s 3:34 faster than I ran in the Victoria half marathon 6 weeks ago! I think I can attribute my performance to a combination of good training, good conditions and no pressure. Note to self: learn to relax, it helps.
Pre-race
I took the bus up to Vancouver on Saturday afternoon with my sister and her roommate Michelle. They’d been down in Seattle at a concert on Friday night. We made amazing time: the trip from downtown Seattle to Broadway & Granville took only 3:10! We had dinner at Earl’s but I didn’t like the sound of any of their pasta dishes so I had a chicken and brie sandwich with a side salad. Perhaps not optimal carb loading but it was tasty and reasonably healthy.
Sunday morning I woke up at 5am. It was only 3C out but it was not raining! I had oatmeal, crackers and peanut butter and green tea for breakfast. I was strangely thirsty so I also drank 1.5 L of water and about 250 mL of Gatorade. I left the condo at 6:15am for the 25 minute walk over to the Student Recreation Centre (SRC). The whole way over I flip flopped between thinking I was over and under dressed! I wore capris, a long sleeved shirt and vest. By the time the race started at 7:30am the temperature had warmed up a bit and I probably could have worn less but it worked out fine.
The plan
My plan (or the closest thing I had to a plan) for this race was run at a pace somewhere between 8:49 and 9:09 min/mile. I configured my Garmin to auto-lap each mile and to display my average pace for the current. I also carried my own water and took scheduled 45-60 second walk breaks every 20 minutes and a gel at 40 minutes and 80 minutes.
Data
Mile Split Cumulative Avg BPM Notes ============================================== 1 8:34.5 0:08:34.5 172 2 8:26.9 0:17:01.4 173 3 8:26.7 0:25:28.1 176 walk/water 4 8:16.1 0:33:44.2 178 5 8:56.2 0:42:40.4 177 walk/water/gel 6 9:05.7 0:51:46.1 181 uphill 7 8:21.5 1:00:07.6 180 8 8:38.1 1:08:45.7 178 walk/water 9 8:29.2 1:17:14.9 177 10 8:22.5 1:25:37.4 175 walk/water/gel 11 8:17.0 1:33:54.4 176 12 9:09.9 1:43:04.4 176 uphill 13 8:12.3 1:51:16.7 178 13.1 42.1 1:51:58.8 181 ============================================== Total 1:51:58.8 Avg pace 8:32.9 Avg BPM 176
The race
My first mile came in at 8:35 min/mile which seemed pretty good. The next 3 miles were all downhill and felt comfortable and relaxed. The first challenge of the day came on a long slow uphill during miles 5 and 6. It wasn’t too bad but I knew it was going to be challenging during the second loop. I tried really hard to keep all PB thoughts out of my head during this loop, stay relaxed and enjoy the race. I wasn’t monitoring my total time but I did see that the race clock was just over 1 hour as I ran past the finish line.
The second loop was the same of as the first but with a shorter out and back out SW Marine Drive. I was feeling pretty comfortable at this point and decided to aim for holding 8:30 miles. My legs started tightening up around mile 10 or 11. That’s always the way it goes with me: my leg strength (and flexibility?) seems to be my limiting factor. It wasn’t too bad until I got to that steady uphill during mile 12. I just tried to keep moving but it slowed me down. I didn’t look at my cumulative time during the last few miles because I was just focused on pace. During the last mile I was pretty certain I was going to PB so I just tried to coast on strong through the finish.
Post race
I was thrilled to see my time but immediately after finishing I got very cold very quickly. I was shivering by the time I got back into the SRC. I hit the food tables and was very excited to see that they had date squares! I love love love date squares and they were the perfect post race snack. I briefly considered smearing peanut butter (hey, I was hungry) on one but I resisted. Three people independently asked me if I was cold (I presume I was pale and visibly shivering) and directed me to the coffee and chili. I went for the coffee and it helped a bit. The second round of date squares helped more!
Final thoughts
This race felt much more comfortable than Victoria did. Of note is that my average heart rate was 5 bpm less than it was in Victoria. I think some of the credit for my new PB goes to the training program I followed for the past 5 weeks. It was a tougher program than I’m accustomed to but it seems like it worked. I guess if it’s good enough for Ryan Hall it really is good enough for me! There’s a good chance I’ll use this program again next spring when I aim to knock my half marathon time down to <1:50:00. That’s right, next time around I’m aiming for the 1:40’s.
1:51:59
Place Race# Name Time Div/Tot Div ===== ===== ========================= ========= ======== ====== 349 6179 Cecilia COTTON 1:52:31.6 44/145 F2029
Sex/Tot Sex City Nettime Pace ======== ====== ================== ========= ===== 127/494 F Seattle WA 1:51:58.8 5:19
The official results are here. Needless to say I’m thrilled (and a little surprised) by my result. A full race report is forthcoming. Possibly even tonight if I get my act together.
Fall Classic training – Week 5 – So I’m running a half marathon in 36 hours
| 12/11 | - | Rest day |
| 13/11 | 5.0 miles | Tempo run (moderate): 20 min, 2.3 mi @ 8:48/8:36/8:24 min/mile |
| 14/11 | XT | 60 min yoga class |
| 15/11 | 4.2 miles | Easy run: avg 9:53 min/mile, 167 bpm |
| 16/11 | 3.2 miles | Easy run: avg 9:37 min/mile, 166 bpm |
| 17/11 | - | Rest day |
| 18/11 | 13.1 miles | Half marathon race day |
| Total | 25.5 miles | YTD: 1,028.6 miles |
So I’m running a half marathon in 36 hours!?!? I have to admit that I’ve had a busy week and I haven’t been nearly as pre-race obsessed as usual. I think that’s a good thing because I’ve decided to try and take a relaxed approach to this race. That’s not necessarily easy for an uber type A like me. But I’ve already set a half marathon PB this fall so the pressure is totally off. Plus no matter how the race goes I get to go to the Canuks vs Flames game with my sister on Sunday night. Of course I still feel the need to have race goals:
- Goal #1: Set a new PB (<1:55:33)
- Goal #2: Go under 2 hours
- Goal #3: Finish the race before Allison wakes up
The race starts at 7:30am so I’m feeling pretty good about goal #3! I am not going to wear a pace band nor am I going to take my km splits. I’ll wear my Garmin and I know that a pace of 8:49 min/mile gets me a new PB and 9:09 min/mile is enough break 2 hours. I’ll be happy to be somewhere between the two. I’m not really sure how hilly the route is but at least it’s a two loop course (11.1 km and 10km) so I’ll know what’s coming the second time around!
The current forecast for Vancouver is ”Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. High 8.” Sounds fine. I can take rain, whatever.
If you’re interested in checking in on race day the results are supposed to be posted here and if that doesn’t work try the Fall Classic Run website.
Fall Classic training – Week 4 – Crazy speed workout
| 05/11 | - | Rest day |
| 06/11 | 8.1 miles | Speedwork: *see details below |
| 07/11 | 3.2 miles | Easy run: avg 11:03 min/mile, 157 bpm |
| 08/11 | 5.1 miles | Tempo run (hard): 3 miles @ 8:25/8:23/8:12 |
| 09/11 | - | Rest day |
| 10/11 | 10.5 miles | Long run: avg 9:39 min/mile, 168 bpm |
| 11/11 | 3.1 miles | Recovery run: avg 10:06 min/mile, 161 bpm |
| Total | 30.0 miles | YTD: 1,003.1 miles |
This was a big week. I have a lot to tell you about! First off you may note that I skipped yoga this week. Last Sunday I thrust my left arm through the arm of my rain jacket and managed to accidentally punch the back of one of my kitchen chairs! I’m such a klutz. It hit just above the knuckle of my index finger. So I tapped into my years of basketball finger injury experience and iced and buddy taped the finger. By Monday morning I had full range of motion but it was a little swollen and a little sore so I decided yoga was out for the week. It would have been too easy to aggravate or re-injure it.
I had a crazy speed workout on the schedule for Tuesday. So crazy that on Monday night I decided I finally had to learn how to program workouts into my Garmin. What a great feature. I was able to program all the segments in by distance or time so I didn’t have to do any mental math on the road. *Here are the details: 1 mi warm-up, 2 mi @ 8:24 min/mile, 5 min recovery, 1 mi in 7:54 min, 3 min recovery, 1 mi in 8:07 min, 3 min recovery, 0.5 mi in 3:57 min, 3 min recovery, 0.5 mi in 3:56, 3 min recovery, 1 mi cooldown. That came in at 8.1 miles and boy was I beat at the end! I actually ran the intervals a bit too quickly which is why next time I will program my goal paces into my Garmin.
On Wednesday I tried to do an easy run keeping my heart rate at less than 165 bpm. It was incredibly frustrating. I felt totally fine but I kept having to stop and walk to get my heart rate down. Grrr. On the plus side, Thursday’s tempo run went quite well. I didn’t track my pace during the run, I just tried to go “comfortably hard.” I was happy to see that my splits were a bit faster than I expected.
Saturday’s long run was a steady 10.5 miles which, as I posted about yesterday, brought my year to date mileage up to 1000 miles! I was supposed to do this as a race-simulation long run and pick up the pace in the last 4 miles. However I felt like I’d done a lot of fast running on Tuesday and Thursday of this week and I wasn’t sure that I had another 4 fast miles in me. I was just as happy to coast on through.
Next week is a taper week before the half marathon in Vancouver next Sunday. I love love love the week before a race. I get to go totally organization crazy and make lots of lists: a packing list (since the race is out of town), a race morning packing list, a race morning time lime, a race plan, a pace band, a nutrition plan. So much fun!
Fall Classic training – Week 3 – An experiment of one
| 29/10 | XT | 60 min yoga class |
| 30/10 | 7.1 miles | Speedwork: 8x800m (~1:05 walk), min 3:57, max 4:09 |
| 31/10 | 3.0 miles | Easy run: avg 10:00 min/mile (treadmill) & yoga class |
| 01/11 | 7.0 miles | Tempo run (medium): 5 miles @ 8:41/8:36/8:35/8:27/8:22 |
| 02/11 | - | Rest day |
| 03/11 | 12.0 miles | Long run: avg 9:54 min/mile, 172 bpm |
| 04/11 | 3.1 miles | Recovery run: avg 10:24 min/mile, 153 bpm |
| Total | 32.2 miles | YTD: 973.1 miles |
I have a confession to make. I train at a ridiculously high heart rate. My long run on Saturday was done at an average of 172 bpm. That’s 88.7% of my 2007 maximum recorded heart rate of 194 bpm. I hit that during my 23:19 5K personal best in September. I ran my last half marathon at an average of 182 bpm (93.8% of max). During the 5 tempo miles I did on Thursday I averaged 181 bpm (93.3%). Runner’s World tells me I should be doing long runs at 65-75% of max, tempo runs at 87-92% and a half marathon race at 85-88%. That would mean not going over 145 bpm on a long run. Frankly, that’s impossible, I’m usually at 150 after a few minutes of running. A few things could be going on here (1) 194 may not be my actual max heart rate, (2) since I usually feel pretty comfortable on my long runs I may just run at a high heart rate or (3) I may just be training wrong.
On Sunday I opened myself up to the possibility of number 3 above. I did a flat recovery run with the primary goal of keeping my heart rate below 165 bpm. I had to look at my Garmin every minute to adjust my pace but I resisted all temptation to look at the clock. I didn’t want to have any knowledge of my pace. The run felt pedestrian but I managed to do 3.15 miles at an average of 153 bpm. My pace was 10:24 bpm which is frankly faster than it felt. So I’ve proved that at least over short distances I can get my heart rate to stay relatively low. That’s good to know.
Dr George Sheehan is often quoted for saying “each runner is an experiment of one.” As a statistician I find this very appealing. Sure, there are general rules that apply to training but only you can figure out what works for you. That takes experimentation. I’m not going to change anything in the next two weeks before the half marathon. I probably should get a good estimate of my resting heart rate though so that I can calculate my heart rate reserve. Maybe I really do need to train slower in order to race faster. I’ve definitely got some things to think about!
Fall Classic training – Week 2 – Race-simulation long run
| 22/10 | XT | 60 min yoga class |
| 23/10 | 6.2 miles | Speedwork: 5x1000m in 5:12/5:23/5:16/5:05/5:09 (1 min) |
| 24/10 | 3.0 miles | Easy run: avg 10:00 min/mile (treadmill) & yoga class |
| 25/10 | 6.0 miles | Tempo run (hard): 2.5 miles @ 8:56/8:25/4:03 |
| 26/10 | - | Rest day |
| 27/10 | 4.2 miles | Easy run: avg 9:54 min/mile |
| 28/10 | 9.0 miles | Race-sim long run: 1-6 avg 10:13 min/mile, 7-9 avg 9:00 min/mile |
| Total | 28.4 miles | YTD: 940.9 miles |
This Sunday I did my first Race-simulation long run. The instructions were to run 6 miles at a comfortable pace (50-90 seconds slower than half marathon goal pace) and then 3 miles at half marathon goal pace plus 20-30 seconds. So for me that meant 6 miles at 9:30-10:10 min/mile and then 3 miles at 9:00-9:10 min/mile. I was in Victoria this weekend so Matt and I ran most of the run together. We did the first 6 miles at an avg of 10:13 min/mile which was a little slower than the goal but it was a pretty hilly course so that’s understandable. Then we picked up the pace. Ouch. I managed to actually average 9:00 for the last 3 miles but it took a huge effort. My legs felt heavy (I blame the early hills) and it took a lot of concentration to force myself to keep up the pace. I guess it’s good training for last few miles of a race.
Other than that it was a pretty standard week of training. I struggled a bit with Thursday’s tempo run. I think I might have actually been a bit dehydrated! I’m watching my water intake pretty closely now just to be on the safe side. Oh and yoga is kicking my butt. Seriously, I consider myself to be reasonably fit and flexible yet I spend class trying to figure out how it is physically possible for people to be in these poses. My teacher is wonderful though. She calls us all beautiful at least five times per class and I’m a sucker for that. I think I have a lot to gain by being there so I’m going to keep it up. Maybe I’ll even start to improve!
Fall Classic training – Week 1 – Survived!
| 15/10 | XT | 60 min yoga class |
| 16/10 | 5.8 miles | Speedwork: 6x800m in 4:14/4:09/4:07/4:03/4:05/4:04 (1 min) |
| 17/10 | 3.0 miles | Easy run: avg 10:00 min/mile (treadmill) & yoga class |
| 18/10 | 6.0 miles | Tempo run: 4 miles @ 8:42/8:34/8:20/8:10 |
| 19/10 | - | Rest day |
| 20/10 | 11.0 miles | Long run: avg 9:50 min/mile |
| 21/10 | 4.0 miles | Recovery run: avg 9:57 min/mile |
| Total | 29.8 miles | YTD: 912.5 miles |
I survived the first week of my new training program. Having week 1 clock in at nearly 30 miles is a new experience for me but I think all in all it went pretty well. I’m still adjusting to running in autumn weather. Sunrise in Seattle is at about 7:30 am right now and last week we had typically raining and windy weather. On Wednesday morning I looked outside at 6:15 am and I just did not want to deal with running in the cold, dark, windy and rainy conditions. I could probably handled 2 of the 4 but not all 4. So I immediately came up with a plan B and got myself into school by 7:30 am so that I could do an easy 3 miles before my lunch time yoga class. I did the same thing on Thursday and did my tempo run at lunch. Although that was because I had an important meeting with my advisor at 9:30 am and not because I whimped out of running in the morning. That seems to work OK and I’ll probably keep that schudeule up for the rest of the quarter.
I finally broke my Green Lake habit on Saturday morning. Since moving into the neighbourhood at the start of September I’ve been doing all my long runs around Green Lake which means they’ve been almost pancake flat. This time I did a big loop through Ravenna Park, across the Montlake bridge into to the Arboretum, along Interlaken Blvd, across the Eastlake bridge to Burke Gillman trail, up the Stone Way hill and finally back along Green Lake to home. The hills definitely look more out of my legs than I’m used to but I think it will be good for me.
I’ve now broken into the 900′s for my year to date mileage. I anticipate breaking the 1000 mile mark sometime during week 4 of this training program. Breaking 1000 was one of my goals for 2007 so it will be pretty exciting when I get there!
Up next: Fall Classic Half Marathon
The Victoria half marathon two weeks ago was a huge success for me (race report). I built my weekly training mileage up to 30 miles/week and took 4:23 off my personal best. Now I want to build on that success and the best way for me to do this is to keep up my training and run another half marathon in November. Specifically I’ll be running the Fall Classic Half Marathon in Vancouver on November 18. The start line of this race is about a 10 minute walk from my sister’s apartment so how could I not run it? Since I’m not running Seattle this year (due to my desire to not be in Seattle for the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend) this seemed like a good substitute. Plus I get to hang out with my sister and recover from the race by going to a Canucks game that night.
For the last year I’ve been using the Runner’s World Smart Coach generator as the basis for my training programs. However, a few months ago Runner’s World had a half marathon edition and it featured a half marathon program designed by Ryan Hall’s coach Terrence Mahon. (For you non-runners Ryan Hall set a new American record in the half marathon running 59:43 last January). Here is a brief plan description and the week by week chart. I figure, if it’s good enough for Ryan Hall it’s good enough for me!
In addition to a weekly long run and a few easy runs I’ll be doing both a speedwork session and a tempo run each week. The program also features “race simulation” long runs where you do the later miles at near race pace. That’s definitely taking it up a notch for me. It’s a 10 week program but since I don’t have that much time before my race I’ll be doing weeks 1-4 and 10 (the taper week). I’ve already completed week 1 (more on that in another post) and so far its going well. I’ve picked a race pace goal of 8:40 min/mile for no better reason than it’s a nice round number and just a bit quicker than the 8:49 min/mile I averaged in Victoria.
The final course map for the Fall Classic isn’t posted yet but it will be a 2 loop course (11.1 km then 10km) which will be a new experience for me. I read a few fellow runners’ race reports from last year and it sounds like it’s a moderately hilly course. Hopefully a few hilly long runs will help me prepare for that. It also sounds like they had horrendous weather last year. That’s OK, I’ve chosen to race in Vancouver in November, I’m expecting it to be cold and wet. Still, I’m looking forward to it. Right now I’m not too concerned about setting a new PB. I’m just excited to have a target race.