Keeping The Streak Alive….

Written by Jesse. Posted in Race Reports

Yup, this is a race report! I haven’t done one in a while. Having said that, I did the baystate half marathon this past Sunday and thought I’d post about it. This is a flat fast course for the most part.

The day before wasn’t the best in terms of preparation as I decided to rip a hole in the house and install sliding doors to the back yard. On race day, the gun went off and I dialed into my goal race pace based on my recent aerobic training metrics (QT2 Z1 pace). This had been predetermined before the start to be 5:39 on the garmin. I held onto this through mile 3 where the pace started to slide a bit due to a stiff head wind. The weather was 38 degrees, windy and rainy…..just nasty…..typical new england. By mile 6 my average pace was 5:42 on the garmin (after the 3 miles of head wind). Following that, I ran pretty steady through 12 and had a 5:43 pace on the garmin. The last mile I was able to pick it up and crossed the line with a 5:42 average pace. I had a distance of 13.18……so ended up with a 5:45 pace recorded in the results……1:15:13…another PR at the half distance!

This is my 6th open half marathon (ever) and my 6th PR….keeping the streak alive! To reiterate just how aerobic our sport is, I’ll point out that the last time I ran faster than 6:30 pace in training was back in June on this day: HERE. Again, for those geeks out there or for those with too much time on their hands, here’s my garmin file from the race: HERE. Average HR was about 4 beats above threshold HR, which is about right (we typically figure 5 beats at half marathon). I’ll note, HR becomes a great metric to pace your day when hit with heavy winds, hills, or heat like this race. You’ll notice how consistent I tried to keep HR throughout the day once calibrated by expected pace through the first few miles.

I’m getting ready for IM Cozumel (in 5 weeks), and things are going quite nicely…..

In other news, I’m viciously preparing season plans and setting athlete meetings in preparation for next season. Its going to be another great one……

-Jesse