This past Saturday I officially fired up my 2008 race season and ran the Brooklyn Half. I had originally hoped to do the Ocean Drive Marathon back at the end of March, but that plan was nixed when I managed to really mess up my IT band in mid-January. Since hurting myself, I've spent a bunch of time in the pool and on the bike. I know that the break has definitely taken a toll on my running but I have decided this is the year to be smart and take the long-term approach to racing; With my big races later on in the year, recovery is way more important than maintaining fitness and risking further injury. Anyway, with my leg finally recovered, I decided that it was time to test the engine a bit and get a race under my belt.
As a preface, I'll begin by saying that the Half didn't really go all that well. Nonetheless, I took a lot of lessons away from it and, in that regard, I think that it was a decent race.
As usual, I introduced a little pre-race stress by not registering ahead of time and then cutting my timing really close on race day. I always seem to have a pre-race plan but more often than not I find a way to throw it to the wind... Well, on Saturday I woke up at 6:30. Registration was open from 7:30 until 8:30 and I figured 2 hours was more than enough time to make it to Brooklyn. Of course, the subway wasn't as fast as I had expected and I ended up having to run a decent clip when I reached Coney Island to make it to the registration tent. Oh well, call it a warm-up. Lesson #1: sign up ahead of time.
After registering, I headed to queue up in the second corral. The race was relatively small -- 5000 runners I've been told -- so I could actually see the front of the pack before we took off. There were a few pre-gun comments from the organizers and then we were off. My plan had been to take the run pretty easy and just get a feel for my race fitness at this point in the year. Having gotten a lot of course-specific tips from my SBR buddies and a very detailed race strategy from Lidia, I figured I'd run 7:15s or 7:30s for the first 9 miles and then pick it up once we hit Prospect Park. My legs were pretty juiced from 3 hard weeks of periodization and I could always pick up the pace later. I even decided not to wear a watch so I wouldn't be tempted to gun it.
Lesson #2: Not wearing a watch does not prevent you from gunning it. When we took off I found myself moving a little faster than I had expected... Probably about 7:05s. At the first turn-around I caught a glimpse of a my friend who ran Cross Country for Princeton. I remember thinking, "Hmm, I'm only about 300 m back from her, maybe I'm going a little too quickly." Well, needless to say I wasn't running 7:05s. When I hit mile 4, the clock read 27:45. "Uh oh!" Now, back in my day, I have run 1:30 halfs but I knew my running fitness post-injury just wasn't there and this was probably a little fast for me. "Oh well," I figured... My legs were a little tired from my training but my heart rate didn't seem too high... "Maybe I can hold this... maybe I'll even hit 1:30." Well, by mile 8, things starting falling apart and all I could think about was how I hadn't even hit the hills yet.
Anyway, the race got bad quickly. And the worst part was that I basicaly spent the last 6 miles just flipping out on myself in my head. "Why aren't you running as well as you used to?! Why did you take the opening so fast... everyone said to pick it up at the end and you've just done the opposite?! Why isn't my gel sitting as well as normal?! How does this possibly seem harder than the half at the end of a 70.3?!" (Lesson #3: gels go down much better when you plodding along during a slow run at the end of a tri than when racing a half.)
Once we got into the park I just tried to hold the hills together as well as possible, but I really couldn't get my focus back. At some point, Hillary passed me and gave me a little encouragement which picked me up for a mile or so. Then I ended up just trying to hold on. And of course, as a newcomer to the City and having never run Prospect Park, I had no idea that the race was basically some rolling hills for the last 4 miles. Great...
I hit mile 12 and was really slowing down. At some point, a cyclist passed me and yelled out something like "let's hurry up SBR." It was the kick that I needed. Pulled it together for the last mile and gave a pseudo-decent kick at the end.
I ended up finishing in 1:42. Oh, and then I walked the 0.5 mile to the train shivering because I didn't bring a warm-down jacket... Lesson #4: check a bag with warm stuff.
So, I guess the morning was pretty disappointing. In the end, it was even the time that got to me but that the race just felt so bad. I'm doing my first Ironman this year and to have such a bad half marathon was big wake-up call.
The upside of the race was that I then went home and put down about 70 miles on the bike. The legs were cooked at the beginning but I found a good rhythm by the time I was headed back to the City along 9W. Also, my nutrition went nicely on the bike and I had no problems with the gels/bars at all. By the time I got home, I had a smile on my face and was at least proud that I got out and had a nice ride.
So, I think the take-away from Saturday is that a) my running has definitely suffered from my injury and I'll have to put in more time there but b) my riding is coming along nicely. And, I have a good amount of time until the IM so I'll definitely have a chance to get a lot more racing (road races and tris) under my belt and build up that confidence.
Thanks to Hillary and the unidentified cyclist for race day encouragement and to everyone who gave me pre-race advice... I promise I'll listen better next time!
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