David's RnR San Antonio 13.1 RR
San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon Race Report
Prologue
I went into this race after a 12 week run only focus block with the primary intention of running faster and building up a little durability in the process. The last triathlon of the season occurred back in August when I raced IMMT and had a great race. I knew that I had a really strong foundation to work on building speed to take with me into the Out Season and ultimately into next season of racing.
After a brief period of recovery and some random runs, I jumped into the 12 week half marathon plan. My starting VDOT was 42.6 based off a 5k test of 22:50. I followed the plan really trying to minimize any of the work-outs. Over the 12 weeks I watched my 5k pace drop and my final VDOT test 4 weeks out from the race was up to 45.5 which gave me permission to go after my original goal of 1:39:59. 10 days out from the half marathon I ran a 10k turkey trot, tied a PR, and felt great which confirmed my confidence in going out to run a great race in San Antonio.
Weekend preparation
I always forget just how simple it is to get ready for a running race and not having to worry about setting up a transition area.
On the morning of the race we drove to the race, dropped off gear check bags, walked through the hordes of people trying to get to the starting corrals (too many people for two narrow of a passage way, with spectators in places that just made things more complicated). Got to corral 2 about 2 minutes before the gun went off for the elites. Ultimately I timed my arrival perfectly and didn’t have to wait around too long to try to stay warm.
My plan for the race was to run the first 3 miles at 7:40, then next 7 at 7:30, and final 3.1 around 7:20 which would get me in around 1:38 and also gave me a little wiggle room as there was a hilly section from mile 5.5-7. This plan seemed to be right in line with my VDOT predicted HMP of 7:34/mile, the EN plan to start a little slower than expected, a SWAG modification based off of the recent turkey trot and the hope to negative split. I had talked about this plan with Matt Aaronson and Bruce Thompson, both of whom I had trained and raced with this year. They added one more suggestion to the plan – to go out and try to surprise myself. More about that later.
Race morning had temps predicted to be in them mid 50’s with overcast skies and a wind coming from the north. The first 5.5 miles ran into the wind, 1.5 miles of hills and cross wind, 4 miles downwind, 1 mile cross wind and then the final mile back into the wind.
First 3 miles (not autolap but lap button hit at the mile marker/clock) were 7:27, 7:14, 7:45 (Garmin had this a little long). Regardless, of the weirdness at mile 3 I was still on the exact pace that I was looking to run. I felt really good, was running smoothly, and running a tactical race in sticking behind people so they could push the wind out of the way. I was also trying to straighten out the course as much as I could. Mile 4 was 7:07, not quite sure how I ran that fast. Mile 5 was 7:26.
The first part of the plan was going perfectly. I hit the hill and only slowed a little, mile 6 was 7:35 and with the rolling terrain of mile 7 I was through in 7:26.
At this point I did a quick assessment of how I was feeling, I was just ahead of my target, knew that I had the wind at my back and had a long slight downhill a head of me. I decided to take my plan, through it out the window, and use it as a “do not go slower than” instead of a rate limiter. I was just over halfway done with the run and was going to race the rest. I saw a photographer and decided to try and throw down the EN sign...need to work on that.
The miles started to fly by – 7:11, 7:04, 7:10 brought me to mile 10. 7:20’s for 11 and 12 with a few more turns and the course flattening out a bit. I was focused, a man on a mission and couldn’t really tell you much about the course at this point. Dropped the pace again for mile 13 of 7:15 and then the pace of the final 0.1 was 6:30.
I crossed the line in 1:36:09 for an average pace of 7:21 and crushed my old PR by by 3:55. That was good enough for 229/11803 Finishers, 36/746 in age group
Epilogue
Overall, this was a great race. I executed a great race and when I realized things were going along quite well, made some real time modifications and raced. I managed to run a pretty straight line though the course with my garmin giving me a distance of 13.17. I have acquired a new life-time high VDOT of 47.2 which just means that I have a great starting place to get even faster during the out season. Looking forward to consolidating and improving this speed to take into the races next summer! Thanks to everyone for your support during the season at the races and in the forums.
Comments
Congrats! That's a tremendous accomplishment. Textbook EN improvement - RnP should put your story in a commercial. When I joined, I seriously doubted my vDOT would ever increase much, if at all. 5 points later, I'm as big of a believer as you probably are right now. Looking forward to seeing where you take things from here.
Mike
P.S. Seeking run advice from Matt and Bruce was a very wise move.
Outstanding job. Very well paced, and strong mind set from the preparation thru to the finish. You should have gained gobs of confidence not only from the result, but also from demonstrating the value of your training. VDOT of 50 is in sight, no doubt, if you keep up the work.
@ Mike - Definitely a believer. I am definitely spoiled that I live so close to Matt and Bruce and get to train with them intermittently - it's wonderful to learn from their experiences
@Al - Confidence is definitely boosted in several domains. Not only did I convince myself that I could actually run faster, but that my body could survive 12 weeks of 5x weekly runs and not crumble in the process.
@ CoachP - Epic indeed! As much as the team has been great for the training there really has been an incredible amount gained in knowledge on how to execute. I still think there is a ways to go until I finally nail the perfect race, but getting closer and learning something new every time.
@ Scott - Thanks!
From a racing perspective we can still get you some extra sec/mi via footwear, but you know that and we need to finish that discussion.
Next step is figuring out what you're going to do on the bike. If you're in town for the holidays maybe you can swing by and we can hatch a plot for that. Perhaps Bruce can come over too.
Cheers,
matt