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| Pre-race selfie with JR. Photo courtesy of JR. |
Washington, DC
Difficulty score: 3/10 (2 for weather, 1 for course profile, 0 for altitude)
After learning that the Rock and Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon, my fall half-marathon of choice for the past few years, had been postponed until October 31 this year due to the Pope's visit, I decided to do the Navy-Air Force Half-Marathon instead. Some members of DC Front Runners that ran it last year spoke very highly of it, from the course to the organization. It was also about three weeks before the Hartford Marathon, which would make it perfect for not only getting me back into the racing mindset after five months of no racing, but also for determining a realistic target time for my upcoming marathon.
One problem, however, was that it was a mid-September race in Washington, DC; this meant that there was a good chance that it would be warm on race morning. And indeed it was; 70 degrees at the start with a 62 degree dew point. Nonetheless, I still didn't experience too much of a slowdown: I ended up finishing in 1:25:55 (6:33/mile). Even though it was about 40 seconds slower than my PR at the Philadelphia Half-Marathon last fall, it still indicates that I am where I want to be in terms of fitness for the Hartford Marathon. Plus, this half-marathon time will give me 71.43 points toward my score for this year's DC Front Runners Race Circuit (age-graded score of 68.03 for a 33-year old male according to the 2015 age grade standards, times 1.05 in accordance with DC Front Runners Race Circuit scoring rules that half-marathon scores receive a 5% bonus). That's a solid start to the 2015-2016 Race Circuit.
Training
My training leading up to this race consisted of six days per week of running during most weeks. The structure of each week was pretty uniform:
- Monday: 4-6 mile recovery run at 9:00/mile or slower to recover from the previous day's long run.
- Tuesday: my one day reserved for faster running for the week. During the first few weeks, Tuesdays were easy runs at 7:40 to 8:20/mile as I was building my mileage back up. After that, Tuesdays became speed workouts with intervals at current 5K pace (5:55 to 6:00/mile) that became progressively longer (960 meter repeats for two weeks, then 1200-1280 meter repeats for the next two weeks, and then 1600 meter repeats). Then Tuesdays became 8-10 mile runs with 4-6 miles at tempo (10-miler to half-marathon effort).
- Wednesday: OFF
- Thursday: mini-long runs of 8-14 miles. Most of these miles were at long run pace (7:40 to 8:20/mile), but I did throw in about 15 minutes of current marathon PR pace running (7:00 to 7:05/mile) into the end of these runs every other week or so.
- Friday: 4-5 mile recovery run at 9:00/mile or slower to recover from the previous day's mini-long run.
- Saturday: 6-8 miles easy (7:40 to 8:20/mile) plus hill sprints.
- Sunday: long runs of 12-21 miles, mostly at 7:40 to 8:20/mile.
I had actually completed the vast majority of my training plan as written, subject to some minor rearrangements to accommodate life and friends. I did have to take half of the second week off and readjust everything else due to a pretty nasty summer cold, but that really did not have too much of an adverse effect on the rest of the training cycle. Unfortunately, I also did neglect the Saturday hill sprints toward the later weeks; although I doubt that would come back to haunt me later, they could have really helped.
During this cycle, I hit similar mileage to that from my training in Chicago. After my initial mileage buildup in June, my mileage was in the mid-fifties to mid-sixties most weeks, with a few reduced mileage weeks (40-45 miles) to recover. My highest mileage week this time was 65 miles two weeks before the half-marathon, which immediately followed two back-to-back 63 mile weeks.
The Race
Even two weeks before the day of the half-marathon, accuweather.com was calling for non-ideal conditions on race morning; a low in the low sixties for the evening of Saturday, September 19, plus the usual humidity. As usual, the week before the race, I was checking weather pretty obsessively. I did want a half-marathon PR and to break 1:25:00, and I felt that under the right conditions, I had a good shot at both. Although I have run half-marathon PRs in worse conditions (e.g. Frederick in 2012), accomplishing that in what was predicted would have still been tough.
Race day weather roulette finally settled on low(er) humidity (70-80% humidity) but temperatures in the mid-sixties during the days immediately preceding the half-marathon. At that point, I accepted that there was a good chance I would not run a PR, and that I should simply use this as a diagnostic for my Hartford Marathon plan; if I was able to run somewhere between 1:25:00 and 1:26:00, that would bode well for Hartford. Fortunately, the race started at seven in the morning, so I would begin at what should be the coolest part of the day and hopefully be finished before the temperatures really started to rise. And besides, at least we would have lower humidity, unlike in Philadelphia last year.
Except that actual race morning conditions turned out quite a bit worse than what was predicted, and was probably even worse than the weather in Philadelphia last year. I woke up at around 4:00 am, about an hour before my alarm was to go off, and checked the weather, noticing that it was 73 degrees outside. I didn't fall back asleep because I was so cranky that conditions were going to be noticeably warmer than predicted; at this point, it was likely that the temperatures would not even go below 70 during the race (and actually, according to my uploaded race results at garminconnect.com, the temperature at the start was 70 degrees).
After my pre-race preparations, I took a taxi down to the start line near the Washington Monument after deciding against dealing with the Metro. With just my keys in my back pocket and my trusty SpiBelt containing my license, some cash, and my debit card, I bypassed bag check and met up with a few members of DC Front Runners before lining up at the start.
The Navy-Air Force Half-Marathon featured a slightly new course this year, due to the construction on the Memorial Bridge that prevented us from running to and around the circle near the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery. The course consisted largely of one segment along the perimeter of Hains Point followed by an out-and-back segment along Rock Creek Parkway (very similar to the Cherry Blossom 9.39-Miler that I ran this past spring, with an additional segment down Rock Creek Parkway added on). In general, this was a relatively flat course. Most of it was either along the Potomac or shaded, which I expected would prevent it from getting too warm during the race.
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| Map of the Navy-Air Force Half-Marathon course for 2015, from the website. |
But from Mile 2 on, I began to settle into around a 6:30/mile pace without much more pushing and was able to keep this pace for the next nine miles or so. These miles felt quite a bit more comfortable than the initial mile did. During these few miles, I found that I was passing quite a few people. I ended up running behind this girl named Jess for the next several miles. I decided not to make any moves just yet but instead, to just focus on hammering out these 6:30 miles.
Miles 7 through 10 (6:31, 6:31, 6:29, 6:27): Now we were beginning the out-and-back segment along Rock Creek Parkway, which was wide, was somewhat curvy, and featured a few mild rolling hills. I tried to hug each of the curves as I ran, but I failed and ended up covering more distance than I would have liked by stupidly going back and forth between the two sides of the road. Meanwhile, I was still running behind Jess for this segment of the race. She would break away from me on the downhills, but I would catch back up to her on the uphills. On the way out, I continued holding my 6:30/mile pace.
The turnaround point was placed about a quarter of the way up a very large and steep hill leading up from Rock Creek Parkway up to Woodley Park. I was thankful we would not run up the entire thing, but still, what we did run up was quite substantial, and I was sure not something anyone would have liked to see at Mile 9 of a half-marathon. Right before the hill, I passed Matt from my dance troupe; I knew he was running as I caught a glimpse of him at the start, but I had no idea he was this far ahead. Seeing him gave me an extra boost of adrenaline which helped me up the hill, particularly thanks to my competitive, Type-A side that refused to let him do better than me in this race.
Jess slowed down noticeably as we were both going up the hill. I wanted to pass her, but then decided against it, realizing that we were not going that much slower and that I still had four more miles to go; not blowing all of what I had left on this hill was a good idea. But after we reached the turnaround point, I took advantage of the downhill and broke away from her. I began accelerating and she could not respond.
I took advantage of my momentum to start speeding up for a small late-race surge, but at the same time, I held back so that I would avoid an implosion during the last two miles. On my way back down Rock Creek Parkway toward the Washington Monument, I got to see many other members of DC Front Runners. Seeing your friends on the way back is one thing I like about out-and-back segments.
Miles 11 to the end (6:22, 6:24, 6:18, 1:37 for the last 0.27 miles): The last part of the race was flat and fast with very few curves and turns. However, it was also much more exposed than the preceding miles. I could feel the effects of the warmth; I wanted to go faster, but even 6:22/mile felt like it was close to the limit of what I had in me. As I was running these last miles, I was doing math for what I had to run for the remaining portion of the race; a PR was not likely, but sub-1:26:00 was possible.
At this point, I was in a no-man's land of sorts. I was passing people, but I was running by myself, and by the time I rounded the turn off Memorial Bridge and back on Independence Avenue, the next person was about one hundred meters in front of me. But at least there were still plenty of people around so it didn't feel too lonely; in addition to the runners on their way north on Rock Creek Parkway, people were still heckling on the sidelines, including Grace and Angela at around Mile 11.
I did manage to speed up a little on the last mile. The very last stretch of the race along 15th Street was a very noticeable downhill. I took advantage of this downhill and pushed it to 6:08/mile pace. As I was running, I kept looking at my Garmin, watching it tick past my PR with about 0.1 miles to go and hoping that I would cross the finish line before it read 1:26:00.
After crossing the finish line, collecting my medal and water, and watching JR finish, I met up with some of the other members of DC Front Runners and checked my result. I did not hang around too long; after all, I had preparations for the DC Front Runners anniversary party to complete.
Thoughts and Next Steps
My main objective for Hartford is to not only qualify for the Boston Marathon, but also qualify by a large enough margin so that I will not have to worry about whether I actually can get entry through the standard registration process for 2017. I would like to run Boston, especially after two years in a row of qualifying but not making the cutoff. I'm most likely out for 2016; even though as of now, I have not yet received the official notice, I'm pretty sure that being one minute and twelve seconds below my qualifying standard will not be enough for me to make the cut given the increased number of registrants so far and the higher number of qualifiers in some of the larger marathons such as Chicago and Boston this past year.
Fortunately, I will be 35 on the day of the Boston Marathon in 2017, so the Male 35-39 qualifying standards now apply to me, even though I will only be 33 on the day of Hartford (I love my March birthday!) That means I would qualify with a 3:10:00 now rather than a 3:05:00; given my half-marathon time and my mileage during this training cycle, I know I have a good chance of running Hartford in 3:04:59 or better, which would be great since it would allow me to submit my application to Boston 2017 during the first week of registration. But at the same time, 3:04:59 is no longer a hard threshold like it was the past few years. I now have some wiggle room; I could run Hartford in 3:07:00 or so (three minutes faster than my qualifying time) and still stand a very good chance of getting in.
So provided that the weather on race day cooperates, I would like to run 3:04:59 or better in order to be able to register during the first week of registration; based on registration numbers from recent years, this would give me a very good chance of being able to toe the line at Hopkinton in April 2017. If I run a PR (3:03:47 or better), that would be even better. Otherwise, if I am able to run a 3:07:00 or better, I would be fine with that; although I would have to wait until the second week of registration, that would likely still be a large enough margin for me to be accepted.
Thus, my race plan is to settle into around a 7:00 to 7:05/mile pace over the first three miles and then to stay very close to that pace for the first 30K of the race. If I am feeling strong at the 30K mark, then I will pick it up slowly (I learned from Chicago to gradually accelerate rather than just to suddenly drop my pace by 15 seconds per mile; I'd be able to run a stronger late-race surge that way). Otherwise, I will try to stay at that pace. This plan will get me very close to 3:05:00, or may even possibly result in a PR, depending on how well my surge after the 30K mark goes. Given my mileage, my time in the Navy-Air Force Half-Marathon, and my experience level, I should not have a problem running at a 7:00 to 7:05/mile pace (2.15 times 1:25:55 is 3:04:43, or 7:03/mile pace; the factor of 2.15 is based on my mileage and my experience at the marathon). This race plan may even be somewhat conservative given that the half-marathon was run under non-ideal conditions. But that's okay, since my primary goal really is to qualify for Boston by five minutes or more.
And I need to learn how to run tangents better. Based on this race and the DC Half-Marathon this past spring, whenever I make a conscious effort to hit the tangents, I end up covering more distance. Perhaps I should just not worry about running tangents so much?
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