Going With The Flow

Long Beach Half Marathon

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Location:

Salt Lake City,UT,United States

Member Since:

May 08, 2011

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Unaided -  
17:16 OktoberFAST 5K (10/11)
17:23 BAA 5K (4/12)
37:10 Memorial Day 10K (5/11)
1:17:03 Long Beach Half Marathon (10/11)
1:17:21 USA 1/2 Champs - Duluth (6/12)
2:49:01 Philadelphia Marathon (11/11)

Aided -
16:52 Fight For Air 5K (6/11)
17:08 Provo City 5K (5/12)
1:17:52 Top of Utah Half Marathon (8/11)
1:17:54 Utah Valley Half Marathon (6/11)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Run consistently as I get back to 100% health. Stay patient!

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Have fun training and racing.

Sub-17 5K
Sub-1:17 Half Marathon
Quality for the Olympic Trials in the marathon

Personal:

I am originally from Knoxville, TN and moved to SLC with Jake in 2010. I started racing in 2011 and had some great success before a major injury hit me in July 2012. I had athletic pubalgia surgery in May 2013...then again in Sept 2014 and am still trying to get back to my old self. Although running is my true passion, I love doing pretty much anything active outdoors - backcountry skiing, backpacking, biking, etc. 

I've been running for the Saucony Team since 2011. I enjoy representing the brand and really do believe they make the best shoes :)

I work as a Quality Engineer for BD Medical in Sandy.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Skinning Miles (1000ft ~ 2.5 Miles) Lifetime Miles: 912.35
Hiking Miles Lifetime Miles: 10.50
Total Distance
73.20
Saucony Kinvara 2 Miles: 8.00Asics Speedstar Miles: 33.00
Night Sleep Time: 62.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 62.00Weight: 114.76
Race: Long Beach Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:17:03, Place overall: 2
Total Distance
15.00

1:17:03!

I was a mess yesterday. I was sporadically confident and questioning my abilities throughout the entire day. Basically, I was driving Jake crazy with my mood swings (but I'm a girl, so what can he really expect?). We walked around Long Beach a little but didn't want to wear ourselves out, so mostly spent the afternoon/evening watching college football. Fell asleep ~8:30pm, the usual these days.

Woke up at 4:25am wide awake. I tried to just stay in bed, but the adrenaline was already pumping. We turned on the Chicago marathon live streaming for about an hour while we were getting ready which was surprisingly relaxing to me. I always wish they would talk about people besides the front pack, though.

Our hotel was only a couple of blocks to the start line, so we ran a mile warmup there. The sunrise was absolutely beautiful and the mass of people was quite impressive. I've never been to a big marathon before with 25,000 people. It's exciting.

I put myself in a position right behind Jake for the start. The announcer was having trouble sorting out the elites with the other runners, so I just had to laugh when he said "If you paid for your shoes, please stand behind the rope". Haha I can't believe I'm considered elite - what a thrill.

Gun started and I got into what I thought was a sustainable pace. Mile one was 5:45. The start is always fast, so that was fine with me. I was running with another girl through miles 2 and 3, but I got really frustrated when I came in the second mile at 6:41. Even though I knew it wasn't correct, I hated the fact that the mile splits weren't correct and spent the next five minutes questioning how fast I was really going. I didn't trust any of the splits after that (and I'm pretty sure a few of them were off). I had to just go by feel. Mile 3 was 4:50. Funny how I was so focused on racing that I couldn't even do the math to figure out how those miles evened out. I tried several times too, and yes I am an engineering nerd.

The girl next to me dropped, and mile four pretty much set the stage for the rest of the race. 5:51. I caught up to a couple guys running together and decided to tuck in behind them and let them pull me as far as I could stay with them. Mile 5 and 6 were 5:47 and 5:42, respectively.

Sidenote: I love being the first girl. People get so excited yelling "FIRST GIRL!!" and it really pumps me up. I tried to feed off the crowd as much as I could.

Miles 7-9.5 were along the beach, but I was so in tune with the race that I had no idea that the ocean was less than 50 yards away. 5:48, 6:17, 5:56. That middle split just made me mad because there was no way I ran 6:17. My guess is that miles 6 and 7 were a little short. Who knows.

The guys I was running with edged ahead and then I ran solo. We hit the turnaround and started a very gradual uphill for the next 1.5 miles. Miles 10 and 11 were 5:56 and 6:04. I didn't slow too much, so that was uplifting. The course got pretty lonely here with not many spectators.

Another sidenote - Jake and I read this article about improved performance with foul language. If you say swear words as a method to tolerate pain (especially for women and when curse words are not in the typically vocabulary aka me), there is an increased threshold. So guess what I was doing at this point?! lol

Mile 12 was 5:57. And then I heard "There's a girl right behind you!" Well crap. That is not what I wanted to hear. She passed me right at my weakest point and I just couldn't get myself to go with her. I wish that I had that super competitive personality. 12.5 to the end was a great downhill. Mile 13 was 5:55. I saw the clock ticking 1:16:54...55....56 and I was soo close to breaking 1:17. Four seconds too slow. Ahhhhhhh! [Updated: they added 2 seconds to everyone's time after the fact.]

Despite getting beat at the end and barely missing sub-1:17, how can I be unhappy with a 50 second PR? It's still hard to get over not breaking the tape and missing the time that I keep replaying in my head. I am so excited about my performance though! I did go out a little fast and slowed during the second half. I still feel like I ran a great race. The guys that I ran with for 5 miles made a huge difference in my mental attitude. I ran hard and strong.

So this time in the half marathon is a good indication for an OTQ in the marathon in 6 weeks. If I can get a little more endurance in this next training cycle, I have a shot. During the race, I got a muscle twinge in my hamstring (which has happened two other times in the last 4 weeks) so that makes me really worried. If anyone has recommendations, I would love to hear them. I want to be 100% healthy going into Philadelphia.

Spent the afternoon walking around Long Beach, eating brunch with Jake's family and eating ice cream. I'm so proud of Jake for his amazing performance of 1:05:43. He has an even better shot at the OTQ in 6 weeks! Long Beach is beautiful.

 


 

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(41)
Total Distance
5.60

AM - Recovery run on the boardwalk and out to the lighthouse at Long Beach, 4 miles. I AM SO SORE. I must've worked hard yesterday. An ice bath this evening may be necessary.

PM - I was planning 4-5 miles easy this afternoon, so Jake and I headed out with the post-race shuffle. Hamstring does not feel right. After about a mile, I decided to abort plan A and just head home. I'm hoping this is nothing serious and will feel better in a couple days. Michelle suggested a PT doctor, so I'll probably call him tomorrow. Stick + massage + ice + heat for tonight.

Saucony Kinvara 2 Miles: 4.00
Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Total Distance
0.00

AM - Cross training. 30 minutes on the elliptical and 12 minutes on the exercise bike. My legs needed the morning off from the pounding. My hamstring feels a little better today but still needs some help. I have to say, I really enjoy cross training sometimes. 

PM - More cross training. 30 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes on the elliptical. It is beautiful outside, and I was not happy to be stuck indoors. I want to enjoy all the warm running weather because I know it's not going to last much longer! Physical therapy early tomorrow morning. 

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00Weight: 114.80
Comments(3)
Total Distance
8.60

AM - Physical therapy this morning. He said it was probably just a mild strain in my hamstring at this point. He gave me some exercises, as well as instructions for ice, heat, massage, and no stretching. I can do that! Fast intervals are probably out of the question for now, but this next month is mostly about marathon pace so that shouldn't cause major problems. We'll just see how it goes. Attitude speeds up the healing process!

PM - 8.6 miles with Jake around Sugarhouse and Millcreek. I started off really slow to make sure nothing hurt and slowly made my way to 7:45-8 min mile pace. I'm content with running easy all this week as long as I can put in some miles.

Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00Weight: 114.50
Comments(6)
Total Distance
11.00

AM - Thursday JAJA Run (Jake, Andrea, James, and Allie). Ran from Sugarhouse Park to Sunnyside, up to Wasatch Drive to the bike path and then back down to Sugarhouse. It was a pretty nice route - we ended up with about 11 miles.

My hamstring didn't bother me at all during the run. I wore compression shorts, and I think they made a difference. I can still feel an aching heat sensation (similar to all week) most of the time.

Question - does anyone know of a good sports massage therapist?!

PM - 60 minute escort bike ride to keep Jake safe on his run.

Finish video and a couple more pics from the race on Sunday. I was SO close to the winner!


Asics Speedstar Miles: 11.00
Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00Weight: 115.00
Comments(10)
Total Distance
11.00

AM - Easy 4 mile run. Short workout this1 afternoon.

PM - Short(ish) tempo run on the track. 2 mile warm-up, 4.5 mile tempo, 0.5 mile cool-down. This workout was totally dependent on how my hamstring felt, and I was relieved to find that marathon pace felt pretty good. The initial plan was 5k tempo, but I decided to keep going. 6:15, 6:19, 6:15, 6:15, 3:06. The last lap I started feeling a little too much vibration in my hamstring for my comfort so stopped there. Overall a good workout. I'm going to get some high quality compression shorts this evening!

Jake and I are doing a long run tomorrow on Rail Trail in Park City (~7:30 pace, 22-23 miles) if anyone wants to join. Let me know!

Weather forecast 10 Day for SLC looks AWESOME!

Saucony Kinvara 2 Miles: 4.00
Night Sleep Time: 9.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 9.00Weight: 115.00
Comments(3)
Total Distance
22.00

AM - Longest run ever today! And, of course, Jake and I chose it to be at 6500 ft and gradual uphill on the way back, Why do we do this to ourselves?? Anyway, the run was actually a great course. We started at Park City High School and jumped on the Rail Trail for about 6 miles. We then had a 4 mile loop with rolling hills that we did twice, then ran back on the Rail Trail. Added a little extra at the end to get 22 miles in 2:43:35 (close to how long it will take me to run the marathon). 

I was feeling pretty rough at 17 miles, but that was mostly due to a miserable headwind ~15 mph. There was definitely no wind on the way out which makes the headwind totally unfair! The wind slowed us down about 20 seconds per mile for about 5 miles.  We stashed a powerade bottle at mile 18, and it's amazing how everything changes with just a sip. I got a little more life back into me for the remainder of the run, although I was still pretty tired.

Best part of the run - my hamstring didn't bother me!!! I went to SLRC last night desperate for some compression shorts for the long run. They didn't have my size but suggested the L/XL calf sleeves to use instead as my thigh sleeve. I am pretty sure the calf sleeve saved the day today. I didn't feel any jarring at all! And it made me feel good that I was little enough to put something meant for the calf on my thigh :)

We went to Wasatch Bagel and Grill for breakfast, and I couldn't even finish 1/3 of my plate b/c I had no appetite. That means lots of ice cream later!

Beautiful day outside! I hope everyone is out enjoying it.


Asics Speedstar Miles: 22.00
Night Sleep Time: 10.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00Weight: 114.50
Comments(6)
Total Distance
73.20
Saucony Kinvara 2 Miles: 8.00Asics Speedstar Miles: 33.00
Night Sleep Time: 62.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 62.00Weight: 114.76
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