Queens Half Marathon - 9/23/07

Wow, what a difference a month and a half makes. I went from one of my worst races during the Nike Half (based on pace, feeling throughout and food preparation) to one of the smartest run races I have done in a very, very long time. I'm not sure if was the weather (sunny, cool, and low humidity), proper eating beforehand, a new and fun course or the strict adherence to my stated pace, but it all worked together for me today (time of 1:44:40; 7:59 pace per mile).

I tried to learn from all of my mistakes from the Nike Half and turn them into a more prepared race this time. Before the Nike Half, I really didn't eat much at all except for a PowerGel (since the bagel places weren't open that early in the morning) and I think that that really hurt me the most during the latter part of the race. Therefore, I made sure that I was well nourished this morning. I had a plain bagel with peanut butter at around 4:50AM (the bus was at 5:00AM at the NYRR to take us to the starting line) with a bottle of Gatorade and then saved the other bagel with PB for about an hour before the race started. I did my usual stretching beforehand and then it was off to the starting line.

As far as pacing goes, I have never been very good at it but I knew that if I was ever going to get better at races that I would have to learn to discipline myself and stick to a pace. Going into the race, I felt that an 8:10 or 8:15 pace would be good and realistic to stick to. However, I wouldn't know until I got a couple miles into the race. The starting line was a bit crowded so my first mile was at 8:39, but I wasn't too concerned since I knew the streets would open up in a little bit. As for the second mile, I forgot if there was a downward hill or I was just overcompensating, but my second mile was at 7:42. At that point, I knew I had to stabilize my pace if I was going to be strong for the latter part of the race. Although the first two mile times were a bit up and down, they averaged out to about an 8:10 which is right around where I was looking to hit. For the next 6 miles, to my very pleasant surprise, I was able to hit about an 8:02 mile pace almost exactly for the next 6 consecutive miles (8:03, 8:02, 8:03, 8:03, 8:08, and 7:56). I couldn't believe it. For the first time in a race, I was thinking with my watch, instead of my head or how I felt. I was feeling great throughout the race at that point. No matter how I was feeling or if I wanted to start to go faster, I made sure to stick to my plan no matter what. I was making myself hit as many 8:02 mile times in a row until about mile 11. At that point, I allowed myself to go all out if I felt I could do it. I ended up doing miles 9-12 at an 8:03 pace (with mile 12 being about a 7:44 or 7:45 pace). I let it all out for the last 1.1 miles and ending up running it a 7:22 pace. There definitely is something to finding a pace you are comfortable with and sticking to it no matter what. There is a reason why you came up with the pace in the first place. Don't try and change your plan on a whim during the race unless there is a very good reason for it. This was an extremely controlled race for me and I was glad to finally do it. My breathing really didn't get heavy at all throughout the race, and my muscles felt good afterwards. Although there were other factors that contributed favorably today, I felt that the controlled and even pacing was the biggest positive factor.

I found out from talking with others today at the race that they didn't like the course, but I really liked it. This was my first NYRR race outside of Manhattan so I was just glad to run on something that wasn't Central Park. I think it definitely does help when the views are different and you don't know exactly where you are going. It keeps your mind wandering a bit and makes it more of an adventure. It was run on the streets of Queens and there were a lot of turns on the streets which I think helped me mentally since I wasn't constantly looking at tons of people in front of me in a straight line for miles at a time. There were a bunch of rolling hills throughout the course. Since I wasn't familiar with them, I made sure to take them a little easier than I was going at the time since I didn't know how long they would last.

My pace for each third of the race (it's weird, my watch got all of the mile splits, but when I saved them the last few were erased. Luckily, I knew my time for the last 1.1 miles as well as the overall time so I was able to back into my time for the last third of the race):

Miles 1-4: total time 32:26 (8:06 pace)
Miles 5-8: total time 32:10 (8:02 pace)
Miles 9-12: total time 31:58 (7:59 pace)
Last 1.1 miles: total time 8:06 (7:22 pace)

First 8 miles: total time 1:04:36 (8:04.5 pace)
Last 5.1 miles: total time 40:04 (7:51 pace)

This was a breakthrough race for me. It taught me the power of pacing and what it can do for you. It prevents huge variations in your mile times that can wear you out physically and mentally. In addition, it allows you to focus on one mile at a time and prevents you from getting too far ahead of yourself (the LTR pacing groups taught me this and gave me some much needed practice). Hopefully this will teach me not to just "wing" a race, and to have some sort of tactic in mind (not every race, of course, just the longer ones). I don't know if the stars aligned today or what, but I was in a zone that I never felt before. I just felt like I could just keep running for miles and miles (kinda like Forrest Gump). Whenever I am having a rough running stretch, I hope I never forget that feeling and remind myself that it is possible. Overall, I was very happy with my time and the fact that I was finally able to run a controlled and disciplined race in which I felt very relaxed and comfortable throughout. I will definitely use this race as a model of things to do moving forward. It was a great mental lift for me and got me excited about what I am capable of doing in future long races.

Thanks and happy running!