Rachel's Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon Race Report
Training Recap: This race was to get revenge on my season that went up in flames. I had a hip injury from March until June/July that made my running essentially non-existent. Early July brought a bike crash that made me withdraw from Chattanooga. I put the Indianapolis Half Marathon on my schedule as a way to end my season on a high note, and hopefully rediscover some of my running fitness. Of course, must give props to Coach Rich for talking me out of the full. Bad momentary lapse of judgment there…
Overall, training was good. I didn’t follow any one plan, but made efforts to get a long run (10-14 miles) progressively getting faster throughout, a couple 4-5 mile runs, one or two runs that were either tempo, mile repeats, or track workouts. I had a couple bad weeks, and didn’t get the high mileage I had originally planned, but the conservative approach helped prevent injury. Minor aches/pains popped up but all subsided pretty quickly. I had also had grand plans of keeping up bike/swim fitness, but that didn’t happen either.
Week of Race: The week of the race turned into a super-taper. I was planning running short (3ish miles) Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but ended up with just a 3.5 miler on Wednesday. My legs had felt pretty beat up all through the prior week, so more rest was best, and I had a lot going on at work making it tough to get in even a short run. I indulged in a massage on Tuesday evening at Chicago Recovery Room (great massage!). I got pretty anxious looking at the weather forecast leading up to the race, as it was going to be COLD!! In another month that wouldn't be a big deal, but I haven't run in anything below 45 since last year.
Race Weekend: I worked a half-day and then took Megabus to Indianapolis. My fantasy of being able to run in shorts and a t-shirt was dashed by all the snow I saw out the bus windows, and the wind that was making the bus sway a bit too much for my comfort level. I was trying to carb up all day, oatmeal with banana and peanut butter for breakfast, quinoa chili for lunch, and of course, that handful of candy corn was totally intentional. I got in to Indy at 5:30pm. I met my friends I was racing with at the hotel (Omni Severin) and we went to dinner at PF Changs. Had some fried rice for the carbs, realizing that everything there was going to be somewhat greasy regardless of if it had "fried" in the name. We went to the expo and picked up the packets. Walking outside was another eye opener to how cold it was going to feel in the morning. I went to bed worried about the weather as well as a sore throat I'd had all day, but was still able to get a decent night's sleep.
Race Morning: Woke up at 6:30. I was worried, as I didn't feel that usual race day energy. I felt groggy but didn't want to have coffee. My sore throat was definitely becoming a cold, and I felt pretty stuffed up. I started to have those thoughts of "just do it like a training run" but kept telling myself that I owed it to my training self to see how hard I could go, regardless of the circumstances. I ate a homemade cliff-type bar and downed a bottle of water. I ended up wearing my warm tights, Underarmour mock turtleneck, gloves, and a jacket I planned to toss along the route. My friend also gave me handwarmers. We were just a few blocks from the race start, which was convenient. Let the hotel at 7:25 for an 8am start. We checked our bags, got in a very short warm-up (should've planned ahead better), had a gu, and lined up.
The Race: We moved pretty quickly once the gun went off, crossing just 2 minutes after. There was a lot of zig-zagging around folks to start, tough to find my stride. The first few turns were very tight. I was not focused on pace at all because of this. I ended up being near the 3:30 (marathon) pace group, and hung near them for a bit. Despite a somewhat detailed pace plan, I was running mostly on feel. My first mile was spent mostly frustrated at the crowd, but I was shocked at how quick the mile marker came. My Garmin was about 0.07 miles ahead, but seemed to be accurate after this point. Around 1.5 miles the course got less crowded and I was able to find my stride. My left quad had felt off since we started, I think just stiff from the cold. A longer warm-up could probably help this. I skipped the first couple of aid stations, didn't feel the need to drink in the cool weather. I was ahead of the pace group by mile 2. My pace was faster than I planned but comfortably hard. I was having doubts about keeping the pace by mile 3, but also didn't feel like I was crashing and burning. Based on the later miles, I probably should've gone out more conservatively as I had planned. I ditched my jacket after a couple miles, and one of my gloves came off with it. I tossed the other one a few miles later. Towards the end I was wishing I had kept them on.
The cold was significant. It took until mile 6ish to really feel warmed up. The miles to this point weren't easy, but I was hanging in there. I took a gu right before mile 5. It had been suggested to just do one gu, but I had trained with 2 without a problem and based on how groggy I felt that morning, I figured the caffeine could help. At the aid station I walked just about 15-20 steps and was running again. That mile was slower but since I wasn't stopping at every aid station I wasn't too concerned.
Around mile 6.5 I started to have a bad stomach cramp. I focused on my breathing but it didn't seem to help. I kept telling myself it would go away, which was true, just not until mile 10 or 11. I did take a few water stations and walk a few steps for some temporary relief (more psychological) and it was definitely getting tougher mentally. I kept telling myself that this is where I build mental toughness. Looking at my splits I significantly slowed from miles 7-10 but kept going. I focused on a mile at a time, and made even smaller goals of something in the distance to focus on. It didn't help that we had a headwind for much of this either.
I took my second gu around mile 10 and focused on how soon it would be done. I had had to pee for the second half of the race, but the feeling was intensifying. Even with just a few miles to go I considered stopping at a porta-potty I was so uncomfortable, but made myself keep running. Looking forward to peeing became the big motivator to get to the finish- whatever works, right?
My plan had been to empty the tank in the last mile. I didn't seem to have any kick, though my splits show a slight acceleration. The last mile seemed to go on forever. I was sure a quarter of a mile had passed, only to see less than a tenth. I was ready to be done. Once the finish line was (finally) in view, I tried to kick it up a notch, but didn't have much left. I guess that is a sign of a good race?
The end result was a 1:42:44. Unfortunately I didn't accurately remember my prior PR so I missed a PR by 22 seconds. However, I am very pleased with this result. I've had a rough past two years and am working back to the runner I use to be, so this is a big step in the right direction. That PR had been set in 2012, when I was 15 lbs lighter, a whole lot less stressed, and running 40ish miles/week. In comparison, last February I ran a disappointing 1:55 half marathon, so the improvement this year is very satisfying.
Here are the splits. * indicates I was slow moving through aid station to get in a gu:
|
Mile |
Pace |
|
Mile 1 |
7:22 |
|
Mile 2 |
7:50 |
|
Mile 3 |
7:29 |
|
Mile 4 |
7:36 |
|
Mile 5 |
7:56 * |
|
Mile 6 |
7:45 |
|
Mile 7 |
7:51 |
|
Mile 8 |
8:31 |
|
Mile 9 |
8:00 |
|
Mile 10 |
7:43 |
|
Mile 11 |
8:16 * |
|
Mile 12 |
7:34 |
|
Mile 13 |
7:36 |
|
Mile 13.1 |
7:18 |
Post Race: Besides really having to pee, I felt pretty decent after the run. I got my post-race food, met up with my friends, and we went back to the hotel. Then my stomach began revolting. The rest of the day was spent largely in the bathroom. It was reminiscent of some of my worst Crohn's days, but I was pretty certain it was all race related. I have had issues in the past after high intensity longer runs, but never to this extent. Were the gu's to blame? The PF Changs? Just a cost of running hard? By the time I went to bed I was feeling much better, and woke up Sunday starving. Time to replace calories!
Thoughts: Overall, quite please with the result. Indy is a nice city, and the race is well organized. It doesn't have the big crowd support of the Chicago Marathon but besides the crowds at the start, no complaints. I think if the weather had been 10 degrees warmer it would've gone even better. Some things I learned and want to improve on:
1) I've made gains in mental toughness but need to keep working on this with tough training runs.
2) Nutrition- try to not be so freaking sick in the future. I'll play around with pre-race nutrition and nutrition on the run.
3) Pacing- need to be conservative at the start. I don't like to be a slave to the Garmin but need to train myself what a slower pace feels like even when I have race day adrenaline.
4) Heart Rate- I need to start consistently wearing my HR monitor (which means finding out how to not be chafed to death by it) and learn to utilize that data.
I'll be doing another half-marathon at the end of the Outseason and want to break 1:40. I think it is doable, though this is the Winter Half Marathon in Chicago so bad weather could complicate things, but I'm ready to give it my best shot.
This race got me a Vdot of 43, my highest, and the zones look scary. But scary makes you fast, right? I’m starting to feel like a runner again, and that makes me happy J
Thanks for all the advice and support! Love this team!
Comments
Good strong finish, bodes well for future efforts. I think the slowish miles 7-10 might be helped by more training - getting a good result in a HM probably does require 40+ miles a week, with weekly long, tempo, and interval sessions. The OS provides those three sessions, but not all the volume. To make sure you add in the long run volume via the HM hack.