Half Marathon Test

Saturday I ran my first timed event in almost 7 years. The inaugural half marathon in Oakland. Course had slight hills...not much really. Maybe a minute or so added to the time, at most.

Anyway, goal time was 1:53 in order to have some confidence I could run 2:00 off the bike in Tahoe. I've since made an adjustment to that goal time in order to account for altitude. I've run at Tahoe a lot, and I never really "feel" the altitude in terms of shortness of breath or anything. However, at any give perceived effort, I've found that I'm running ~20sec per mile slower than I think I am.

This is consistent with the ~5% adjustments to qualifying times the NCAA uses for distance running events at altitude. The data backing that adjustment was arrived at with some careful work, so it makes sense to expect that 5% slower pace.

So, my goal time is 2:06, provided that I can run an open half marathon in 1:53. Drum roll....

I ran 1:54:30. Missed it by a bit.

But...I did not push the pace at all. Just didn't feel like suffering, so I didn't. I left at least a minute or two out there. My HR stayed in the 142-148 range the whole first half (my "all-day" running HR is 145). I picked up the effort a little bit in the second half into the 155-160 range (I've done half marathons averaging 165).

I honestly feel I could have carried on another hour at that pace.

So, I'm going to call the test a success.

I have a lot of work to do in the next 4 weeks. Athletes doing big volume can start their tapers somewhat early. Since I'm doing barely enough volume to warrant even driving up there, I have to keep my training rolling right up to 5-7 days out.

On another subject, I tried on my Size 4 DeSoto wetsuit yesterday. The one I bought when I weighed 160 pounds. Yes, that is correct. It does not fit.

So I went down to Sports Basement and reserved a rental Blue Seventy for the event.

Getting old and fat suuuuucks.