Monday, November 30, 2009

Atlanta Half Marathon


My first half marathon is done, and with the exception of my right knee being wrecked, I am pretty happy with my performance overall. My goal time was 2:30 and I finished with a chip time of 2:31:36 which could have been much better without the knee issues.

I started out with a nice 11:10min/mile pace and things were going great until I hit mile 7 and began what is essentially one long steady uphill climb to the finish. There were several 100-300 ft climbs and one 630ft+ climb between miles 11 and 12, which is where my knee essentially locked up. I think it was mainly due to the combination of hill and running on the right side of the road with a left to right slope that did in my knee. I am use to running on the left side of the road with and opposite slope or on the sidewalk, so that little bit of pressure on the outside of my right knee over 13 miles was just too much.

Nevertheless, I dug down deep and gutted out the last mile. Mile splits were 10:54, 11:27, 11:12, 11:09, 11:29, 10:51, 10:37, 11:41, 11:49, 12:17, 12:25, & 11:07. As you can see they slowly degraded as the up hill sections started, but I am happy that I still had the guts to leg out an 11:07 at the end.


Here is the elevation gain by mile. Time to rest and heal this knee.

Mile Elevation Gain
1 - 44
2 - 32
3 - 22
4 - 44
5 - 68
6 - 19
7 - 0
8 - 144
9 - 98
10 - 628
11 - 404
12 - 1,107
13 - 284
14 - 0

Monday, November 23, 2009

3 Days to GO

Three days until the Atlanta Half. Got my bib# today - #12769, now I just have to pray that my old body doesn't fall apart between now and then. I am having some problems with my left foot and my left knee, but I am hopeful that I can work through it and they won't cause problems on race day.

My plan is to try and maintain an 11:30min/mi pace for the first 11 miles and then do the last 2.1 with whatever I have left in the tank. I am aiming for a 2:30 finish time

Just very short runs this week with a few 20 second strides thrown in to keep loose.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

11/17 - 3x1mi @ 5k

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19018200

1 Mile warm up then 3 x 1 mile @ 5k pace with 2 minute rest periods in between. 3 of the best miles I have run in a long long time. 9:05, 9:37, 9:07. 9 Days until the half marathon.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Garmin Connect - Activity Details fo 11/5 4 x 1 Mile

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for 4 x 1 Mile

Hard run today. My legs felt absolutely dead, but I powered through and ignored the burning desire to quit. 10 Minute warm up then 4 x 1 mile in Heart Rate Zone 4 with two minute cool down in between. 5.40 Miles in 58 Minutes.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for 11/1 Sunday Long Run

10.82 Miles in 2:13:53. I mistimed my turn around and had to run an extra 14 minutes to get back home. I also accidentally hit the lap button on my Garmin and screwed up my preprogrammed laps. Over all it was a good run and I felt strong the whole way.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled