Drake Relays Half Marathon

This morning I ran in the Drake Relays Half Marathon. It was cold and windy but luckily the rain held off until after the race. I got down to the Drake campus an hour early to get some good parking. While out warming up I managed to run into my wife's aunt Lisa who was doing the 5k and a friend from work who was also running the half marathon.

I ended up running extremely well. This was my 5th half marathon but it was the first time that I didn't fade late in the race. In fact I was able to finish extremely strong and record a new half marathon PR. My official time was 2:16:39 which beat my previous PR by nearly 3 minutes (set at the QC Half Marathon last September).

I really liked the finisher medals

A unique route included a lot of roads I had never run on before

All smiles post race

Of course there is a bit of bad news coming out of the race. I've been experiencing some heel and arch pain in my right foot over the past week. Although my foot held up well during the race, it was pretty sore afterwords. I'm not too concerned yet as I went through something pretty similar when I started running a few years ago. At that time I was able to use some Dr. Scholls  insoles to alleviate the issue. I picked up a pair today and my feet are already starting to feel better. Hopefully a few weeks of wearing the insoles will give my foot time to heal. 

For now, it is time to rest up, recover, and get back after it. Only 6 weeks until the marathon and 10 weeks until my first triathlon. 

Update And Burn Out

It has been a couple weeks since my last update so I thought it was time for another post. Since my last post I have completed both a 17 and 18 mile long run and both went fairly well. My marathon is 6 weeks from Saturday, but this week I am focused on the Drake Relays Half Marathon. The race starts at 7:30 am on Saturday and the forecast is calling for cold temperatures with a chance of rain. I'm not anticipating running a PR due to the type of training that I am doing, but I do want to run a strong race.

I'm also hoping that this race will help with another issue that I've been facing. For the past couple of weeks burn out has really started to set in. I think I've finally found my limits when it comes to running. At this point I'm just trying to hang on until the marathon so that I can cut way back on the mileage that I'm running. At this point, I just think the marathon distance just isn't for me. Maybe sometime in the future I will get back into it, but I could very well be a one and done marathoner.

On that note, the miles have really started to pile up. I pulled my total mileage for the year from Garmin Connect to see how I'm doing towards my goals and I was surprised at where I'm at. Not even 4 months in and I'm averaging over 100 miles per month, well ahead of where I need to be to do my part towards our goal of 2,017 miles.

Over 400 miles in

Today marked the end of another pair of running shoes as well. Looking back over the 96 runs that I did in these shoes there were some good memories. These were the shoes that I wore for the Des Moines Marathon Relay, the Turkey Trot 5k, and Leprechaun Chase 10k (actually 5k). 

401.2 miles over 9 months

Newly retired shoes

As I retired these shoes, I noticed that my "new" shoes already have 150 miles on them. With over 6 weeks of training to go, I quickly ordered a new pair of shoes to begin breaking in. I decided to deviate from the trail runners that I have been using for the past 4 years but did stick with New Balance brand shoes. The road running shoes are suppose to have better soles and arch supports. I'm excited to see how well they work for me. 

Getting Sick

I certainly didn't have the most fun training last week. Everything was going pretty well until I woke up Thursday morning with a scratchy throat and more tired then normal. I struggled through my morning workout session on the bike and only made it a couple hours at work before I could hardly keep my eyes open. I spent the remainder of the day at home sleeping. I ended up cancelling my weekly lunch time run on Thursday as well as all 3 workouts on Friday.

I still wasn't feeling well on Saturday but didn't want to skip my long run. I ended up heading out to Saylorville in the early afternoon to get 13 miles in. At about 6 miles in I decided to cut the run short and finished at 8 miles with absolutely no energy left. I made up the remaining 5 miles on Sunday morning and was very glad to be feeling better. It certainly isn't ideal to miss out on any training, but it is probably better to have this happen now then it would be in a few weeks.

It is interesting to me that the longer that I get into this journey, the more that my perception changes. When I started 4 years ago, running for even a mile felt like a long run. A year later I would say that anything over 3 or 4 miles is what I would classify as a long training run. Last year that distance increased to 5 - 6 miles and so far this year, I would say that same threshold for me is around 8 miles. I guess it makes sense when I think about it as my training and race distances have increased consistently over that time frame as well. I guess it is just another way to measure progress along the way. The reason that I bring this up is that starting this week, my mid-week pace run has increased to 8 miles. For me, that takes a little less then 1 1/2 hours which is a considerable amount of time (and effort) to put in on a week day. It is also one of the things that I love about running. No matter how good you get at it, there is always room for improvement.

Weekly Update And Triathlon Training

It was another great week of training although I would really like the weather to improve a little bit. I avoided the rain by running inside on Wednesday night (have I ever mentioned that I hate running on a treadmill). On Thursday I braved the wind and drizzle for a run over lunch with my co-worker, Megan. Luckily there was a break in the rain on Saturday for my long run of the week. I set a personal record for longest distance run for the 2nd week in a row as I put in 15 miles. The run went pretty well although my legs started getting tired over the last 4 miles. 

I am in awe at how fast this year seems to be flying by. With the start of April, I am also starting my in season triathlon training. It is 14 weeks until the Accel Triathlon. With a marathon just a few weeks ahead of that race, I am having to structure my training a little differently this year. My marathon training comes first so I will fit my swimming and cycling sessions around that schedule. I have also decided to hold off on scheduling brick workouts until after my marathon as my legs will be getting torn up enough as is. So here is my weekly schedule up until my marathon:

• Monday
• Swim - Speed Work
• Run - Easy
• Strength Training
• Tuesday
• Bike - Intervals
• Run - Pace
• Wednesday
• Swim - Long
• Run - Short
• Strength Training
• Thursday
• Bike - Sprints
• Run - Easy
• Friday
• Swim - Technique/Drills
• Bike - Easy
• Strength Training
• Saturday
• Run - Ridiculously Long
• Sunday
• Bike - Long
• Strength Training

This is the schedule that I will be following through June 10. Although I'm very excited for my marathon (it is a bucket list item after all), I'm also looking forward to shifting my focus after it is over. Over the next few weeks I will begin planning out my training plan for the remain weeks leading up to my first triathlon.