Race Season is HERE

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but there has been nothing exciting going on in training land.  It's been base building these past few weeks and I'm just chugging through the miles.

The exciting news is that race season is actually here.  On Saturday I ran my first half marathon (13.1 miles) in Nisswa.  

Here I am coming down the final stretch.  this was probably the longest stride I had all day!!!  HAHAHA

Even though it was officially a race, it was really a training run for me with a few goals from coach.

1.  Run the whole race (which I did!)
2.  Run a negative split - think finish strong and the 2nd half should be faster than first half (which I did - 2nd half was 18 minutes faster than the first and I ran the last 5k in 35:57)
3.  Practice nutrition - running through aid stations, when to eat and how much etc (which I did).  I had to stop at the port-a-potty at the first two stations so I kind of eased up on water, I should have stuck with it.  Lesson learned.
4.  Feel good after the race (so far so good).  I did a 1.5 hr bike on Sunday night and a 50 minute swim on Monday morning. 

With my watch I was able to upload my HR(red) and pace(blue) throughout the race.  I was definitely in a steady groove the first 4.5 miles.  As my HR started to climb, you can see I had more variations in my pace because I was trying to control the HR by slowing down a bit.  The spike around mile 10 is where I saw everyone in the van cheering...it was a big pick me up!!! The HR was pretty much a lost cause after that point and I was determined to just grind through it.


The downside is that I did get lapped by one person (the guy who won the marathon finished about 3 minutes in front of me).  Going in I knew it could happen, just was hoping it wouldn't.

I'm feeling good going into the Ironman Bike Ride on Sunday.  My first 100 mile ride.  I hope to whip that bad boy out in about 6 hours...yawza!