Well the 2012 season has officially kicked off for me. This started with the P.F. Chang ½ marathon on January 15th. I typically use this race as my litmus test for the upcoming season. It’s nice to know where I stand and how much work is ahead of me to get where I want to be this season. With that said, I rarely (if ever) enter a race without thinking/wanting to PR. This race was no different. However, this year with Coach BB on board my pre race thoughts changed. By that, I mean that I received a text the day before the race asking what my ‘race plan’ was. And I was honest, when I said that I did not have one. The only thing I was thinking about my race 'plan' was that I wanted to run as fast as I was able to maintain for 13.1 miles. At that point, he took the opportunity to earn his money and let me know that there was more to running races then just running as fast as you can. He told me to start out about 20-30 seconds slower than my ‘goal pace’ and then after the first 5K pick it up to goal pace and then at the last 5K, KICK. Okay, so now I had a plan.
After meeting Coach BB for the first time just minutes before the race started, the gun sounded. BANG, and we were off. I went out a bit faster than I had intended, which usually happens because of the adrenaline and the faster people around me. But I tried to hold back which probably helped me in the long run. During miles 2 and 3 I was able to pull back a bit more and I was feeling very good. As, I got to mile 3 I made a conscious effort to pick it up just a tad. I did look at my HR and was not surprised that it was running pretty high (low 170’s). This is pretty typical for me when I run. As I approached mile 7 there was a slight incline that continued til the 10th mile marker. I had started to feel the fatigue setting in around mile 9 and my HR was climbing to the upper 170’s now. At this point I took the only gel I had and decided if it was going to be it was up to me… Time to push. The last 5K was a slight downhill and I attempted to use that to my advantage. I was able to take my pace down another 20-25 sec/mile and finished strong (relatively speaking, of course). I was very ‘spent’ when I crossed the line!
As I received my finishing medal I looked up and there was coach BB standing in the finish shoot waiting to check on me and my time. Taking a look at the clock and knowing what I had hoped for, he gave me the nod of approval. I was able to PR by 3:30 minutes and I felt good about that. Mostly because I wasn’t sure I had done enough running leading into this race to be able to PR. Blake was more convinced then I was that the work had been done and it was just up to me to execute. He was right – I guess that is why he gets the big bucks!
I did just barely cracked the top 10 in my AG, but I'll take it. Now I know where I stand and its time to start building for the triathlon season that lies ahead.
