Shamrock'n Half-Marathon Report

Rickshaw · Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 2:09 pm

My training plan called for a marathon "dry run" today: 17 miles with 14 at my intended marathon pace, wearing my marathon clothes and shoes. In the past I've always done these dry runs alone on my regular training route, but Pfitzinger suggests doing them as part of an organized race if you can, so you'll have aid stations, crowd support, and everything else you'll get in your goal marathon. So I drove the two hours to Sacramento for this morning's Shamrock'n Half Marathon.

The weather could hardly have been worse: 40 degrees, raining, and strong winds. Flags were snapping in the wind. The moment I stepped out of my car, I wished I'd brought more clothes. I ended up running a 4 mile warm-up (to get a total of 17) wearing shorts, a running shirt, a fleece jacket, a windbreaker, a hat, and gloves, and I was still cold at first. I did the first three miles easy, and the last one at something like MP or faster, and finally started to feel warm.

For the race I decided to ditch the hat and both jackets, leaving only the gloves as extra protection against the weather. Luckily the rain diminished a little to a drizzle by start time, but the wind was still pretty bad. No matter, once I was moving I was warm enough.

This was NOT supposed to be a race, but a training run. My goal was to lock on to my intended marathon pace of 7:25 and ride it home, which should have been a strong effort, but not a race-level effort. That was the plan anyway. The miles unfolded like this:

1. 7:15 Too fast! Need to slow to 7:25.
2. 7:02 Slow down.
3. 7:07 Brain to legs: I said slow down.
4. 7:04 Hello legs? Take it easy down there.
5. 7:17 Moving in the right direction, but still too fast.
6. 7:17
7. 7:12 OK, I give up.

Through all those miles, I felt pretty comfortable. The pace wasn't exactly easy, but I definitely could have gone harder. I was breathing at a relaxed 3-3 pace much of the time.

8. 7:22 More headwinds now, starting to feel it.
9. 7:13
10. 7:26
11. 7:26
12. 7:09 Now I'm racing.
13. 7:09
Finish 1:34:52, 7:15/mi pace

I was amazed at how much difference it made to run behind someone else when going into the headwinds. The first couple of times I ducked in behind another runner, they seemed to immediately slow down significantly, and I was annoyed. But then I realized they weren't slowing down at all, it was just that my effort level was so much less with them as a wind break, it only seemed like we'd slowed way down.

My new lightweight racing shoes were great, and got me through 17 miles with no troubles at all. Now I'll dry them off and hide them away until Boston.

Overall I'd say this was a pretty good result, despite the fact that I totally failed to contain myself and stick to MP. I definitely ran slower than I could have if I'd raced it all-out, but faster than I think I could have sustained for 26 miles. Given that, it looks like my intended marathon pace of 7:25 (roughly a 3:15 finish) is about right.