Pacing Silverman race
On Nov. 7th I will be doing the Half Silverman in Henderson NV. It is only my second half. First one was in August, Mountainman in Flagstaff. I have ran the course twice now for my long runs. The first mile or so is downhill followed by a looooong uphill. I understand the +30 concept and how to pace myself on the rest of the run. Worked great for Mountainman (except for the cramping). I also run the first 1.5 miles out and back for my short get off the bike runs. That first mile I just let myself go and tend to run 1 to 2 minutes faster pace than my LR pace. I have tried to practice slowing down but it feels like I am expending more energy trying to hold back. My plan is to let myself go on the first mile. Then will do the +30 or most likely +60 on the uphill portion. The rest of the race I am going to let myself fly down the downhill portions and run at marathon +30 pace on the uphills. Then when I hit the 10 mile mark which is about 3/4 of the way down the biggest hill really lower the hammer and push myself. By the wa
y the running portion is my weakest part. The graph doesn't show all 13.1 miles as just after mile six I would have had to run along a street with no street lights (it was still dark out) and I did not want to become somebody's hood ornament. So I ran up a running trail which cut off about a half mile. I am also not sure where the exact turnaround is between mile 7 and 8 so I was guessing. Feedback from the Haus would be appreciated. 
Comments
I did Silverman Half last year in my Team EN infancy. That run is tough and it is tough to pace EN style. The hills are so steep and long, it's hard to do the "first 3, next 7, whatever you have left". The coaches have a theory about run hills. Whatever time you lose going up them, you can easily make up for going down as long as you don't have any issues running downhill. That being said, if you don't count that first mile, the course is up, down, up a lot, down a lot, then up to the finish.
If I was doing it again, I would run the first downhill without regard for pace. Starting on the first uphill I would go MP+45-60" then use the first downhill to see how you feel. Did you feel completely cooked at the top where you felt like you couldn't run downhill to make up the time going downhill? Based on that, I would plan the next uphill accordingly. You want to have plenty of gas in the tank when you start the long downhill which, don't forget, starts after the turnaround when you go back the way you came and make your way back to the top of that street on the hill. Once you reach the top on your way back, start picking up speed and carry it with you all the way down to the Green Valley Ranch. There is one uphill on that stretch but it's pretty short. Once you get down to Green Valley Ranch you are going back uphill again and around through the District then you are going uphill again until about mile 12.7 where it is flat to the finish so plan accordingly knowing there is more uphill at the end. I would probably slow down the last half mile or so of the downhill so I could try and push through the hills to the end.
And don't forget. Do not cook yourself on the bike which is really easy to do with such relentless hills. If you do, it doesn't matter what your run plan is. You will be hanging on for dear life.
Hope this helps. Say hi to the three sisters for me.
Thanks for the info. I have a 90 minute run this Friday and am going to run on the course. Then Sat. I have my race rehearsal, so I will do the whole ride then run 6 miles of the course. So that should give me a pretty good idea how it is going to feel.
Thanks