Since I never wrote a report for the Liberty Half Marathon I figured I better do one for the LBI 18 miler. So it's 3 days after the fact but better late then never.
You would think by now, at 33 that I wouldn't still be doing stupid things and if one of my athletes did it, forget about it. Being that I was pre-registered I had my number, I thought do I really need another race t-shirt. I opted for no an skipped the race headquarters and headed right to the start. Problem was in the process of skipping the t-shirt I also skipped getting my timing chip, FML. Looks like I'm really doing a training run today I said to my brother Jimmy. Regardless my game plan was to run as relaxed as possible for as long as possible. I did my normal 2 mile warm up run followed by my active warm. 20 minutes from start time I changed into my race gear and made my way to the starting line. Thanks to Rob at Runner's High I was able to rock my new EPT gear.
Even before I forgot my timing cheap I new I wanted to approach this as a progressive Sunday long run. I decided I was going to wear my ipod in hopes that my soundtrack would keep me relaxed early and positive and mentally tough over those final hammer miles. I am continually intrigued by the effects music has on the brain while working out and it's ability to allow one to push at such a higher intensity. The night before I searched through my itunes (had I put in a little more effort I could have planned the whole effort song for song) and dropped about 60 songs into my ipod and hit shuffle. All in all it turned out pretty good, I was relaxed in the beginning and positive and strong at the finish. The follow is the playlist of the tracks that kept me focused for 18 miles in a straight line; 1. days go by - dirty vegas, 2. the sky is not crying - john digweed, 3. arcadia - gabriel & dresden, 4. louder than boom - tiesto, 5. organ donar - dj shadow, 6. afrika shox - leftfield, 7. when the levee breaks - led zeppelin, 8. boogie down - atomphunk, 9. kan kan - spanna, 10. fresh fruit - tiesto, 11. move - christian smith, 12. in white rooms - book shade, 13. charlotte - booka shade, 14. rhythm your life - calling the freak, 15. gravity - grayarea, 16. going down - freddie king, 17. narkotic blue - sasha, 18. big love - pete heller, 19. mandarine girl - booka shade, 20. your are my diamond - tiesto, 21. gebrumn gebrunm - paul kalkbrenner. With my soundtrack in place here's how my run played out.
After averaging 5:56 for 13.1, two weeks ago and not felling comfortable after six miles, I figured 6:00 minute pace was a little over my head for 18. Knowing how I felt last year's 18 and at Newport I knew I didn't want to feel uncomfortable to early and decided that 6:15 pace was a reasonable goal for 18 miles. Early on I may have been a bit to relaxed and opened up with mile splits of 6:25, 6:22, 6:38 passing three miles in 19:26. Not exactly 6:15 pace but I knew I would get there and I knew I was feeling good. Miles 4-6 were 6:13, 6:28, 5:53 running the next three miles 18:34. At the time I thought 5:53 was way to fast and put the brakes on, covering the next mile in 6:33. Turns out the mile markers where off a few times which lead to a few wtf spilts along the way. By 6 miles I was feeling really good but continued to remind myself that 18 miles is a long way and 6 miles in, is way to early to be pulling the trigger. From 6:33 at 7, I went 6:15, 6:04, 5:44 (wtf split), again feeling good but still thinking it's a little early for 5:44 pace (10 miles in 1:02:39). Again, putting the breaks on a little but also off markers leads me through mile 11 in 6:35. At this point I had decided I was close enough to make a run for home and really see what I had in the tank. Miles 12 - 18 were 5:45, 5:54, 5:51, 5:44, 5:40, 5:36, 5:34, running my last 3 miles in 16:50 finishing unofficially in 6th place stopping my garmin at 1:49:22 (starting/stopping as I crossed over the line) averaging 6:04. Besides totally blowing it by not getting my chip I ran what I would consider a great race maybe even one of the best I've ever run in terms of effort both physically and mentally. Looking at my average pace per mile you can get a better look at the progression of my run; 6:22, 6:27, 6:19, 6:22. 6:15, 6:14, 6:14 6:02, 6:00, 5:58, 5:54, 5:50, 5:46, 5:38, 5:39, 5:30.
I think the biggest key to my effort today was the ability to have proper nutrition the entire race. Many thanks to my brother Jimmy for being my pit crew. Jimmy had HEED by Hammer Nutrition for me every 2-3 miles through 10 miles and then switched to Accelerade by PacificHealth Labs. from 11 - 18. Between 10 - 13, I started to get a little reflux but nothing to bad. The only other downer of the day was my continued blistering of my outer right forefoot. It is something that has plagued me throughout my running career. It gets to the point where my foot just burns and become even more painful once you stop and the adrenaline wears off. A blister under calloused skin makes for many uncomfortably runs following hard efforts .
Recovery has been good. Nothing you wouldn't expect from running 18 on the road. I'm keeping my milage low this week to recover from the effort but also to recover from August and September. Thankfully I do have a day off scheduled this week and I'm looking forward to taking it.
