Thursday, April 4, 2019

Half Marathon

I recently completed the Mike to Mike all-american-marathon. This was my first half marathon in a long time- since 2010 I think when some friends and I ran the Battleship Half Marathon. I didn't take any pictures but wanted to record some lessons learned.

I followed Nike Training Plan pretty closely-I signed up for the race early and felt like I trained pretty well for the race but had some second thoughts as the race day approached. My biggest concern was that the longest I ran before the race was 11 miles. As I got close (and during the race) I wished I'd gone the whole distance before hand.

If I had run farther, I think I would have realized my nutrition shortfall. I've been eating very high protein, low carb. I really feel a lot better eating than way- I feel like my blood sugar levels remain stable throughout the day instead of going up and down, but... I don't think I had enough carbs in my system to push past the 90 minutes of running. And I hadn't practiced consuming any during the race so I didn't have any race day. I really crashed. 

I also started out way too fast- 8:20/ 8:30 for the first couple miles. James had told me to take it easier at the beginning but I felt really good. and the race start/ crowd helped me not notice the hills. but as I got later in the race I realized my mistake. I ended up doing a bunch of walking during the last couple miles. My original goal was 8:50 pace but I didn't train hard enough for 8:50. I think if I'd started slower and had some carbs, I could have made 9ish but I'll train and run smarter next time.

I am so thankful that I can run. It's been almost 10 years since the orthopedic surgeon said I wouldn't be able to run anymore bc of my knees. Now they feel good!

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