San Jose Rock n Roll half marathon race report

Today was a beautiful day for a half marathon: clear skies, 60 degrees at the gun and no breeze at all in San Jose, CA. By 10am, I'd completed my longest run ever, beaten my goal of two hours by a comfortable margin and had my first ever medal around my neck for finishing a race.

I woke up before my alarm, was out of bed and dressed by 6am in time to gulp down a chocolate Ensure, a banana and half a PowerBar. Since my last few races have all been triathlons, it was nice to only have to walk out the door with my shoes, shorts and shirt and not a big bag of stuff for all the transitions.

I left the house in plenty of time to make it down to park in the HP Pavilion parking lot and walk over to the very crowded starting area in downtown. It was only 53 degrees (F) when I shut off the car, and I almost wished I'd worn my long sleeve shirt. By the end of the race, though, I was plenty glad I'd gone with short sleeves, as I was warm by the time I'd gone 10 miles.

The Elite Racing folks put on a well-organized race, and it was nice to see 10,000 runners out and about early on a Sunday morning in Silicon Valley. The bands every mile or so were a nice touch, but you could only hear a snippet of 40 seconds or so of any given band, so next time around I think I'll be wearing my iPod to help with my pacing.

When I registered for the race, I guessed I'd be able to finish the race in 2:05, and for that I was assigned bib #6089 (corral #6). When I picked up my race packet, though, I knew I'd be faster so I moved up in the pack to corral #4. I'm glad I did so, as there were fewer folks to pass as the race went on. Thanks to the disposable RFID chips we'd each been issued with our bibs, our timing was tracked in real time (and not gun time) from start to the 5K, 10K, 10-mile and finish lines.

After checking my gear bag with 20 minutes to the starting gun, we crowded into our corrals. It was nice to have all the bodies packed around if for no other reason than the warmth of the group. With 2 minutes to go, the gun went off to release the wheel chair racers and When the air horn went off, we began walking towards the start line, and I finally crossed the start line a good 90 seconds after the horn went off and got up to a decent pace by about half a mile into the race.

While I've been getting some good training runs in, I didn't expect to fall into the pack with a sub-eight pace quite so quickly. I was aiming for sub-nine to hit my 2 hour mark, and sub-eight was aggressive, so I had to force myself to slow down a bit for fear of sputtering later on in the race.

As we passed the two-mile mark, I realized I needed to pee. Cripes. Not a gotta-go-now-alarm, but a gotta-go-soon feeling.

Since there were plenty of porta-potties along the route, it wasn't for lack of opportunity to go, but how much time it'd take to go. I figured if I could hold on until the 10K mark, the crowd would be thinned a bit and it wouldn't be too hard to work my way back up. For every minute I spent off course, I was giving up five seconds per mile pace. I decided not to risk it and just keep running.

I crossed the 10K mark in PB time (52:27) and probably should've taken that as a sign I was running too fast. By the time I got to the 10 mile mark at ~1:26, I was well within a sub-two-hour pace and unless I blew up with three miles to go, I was going to make my goal.

Miles 10, 11 and 12 were tough for me, and I wound up walking at the water/Cytomax tables, and my pace slowed to around 9:30+ over the last 3km.

However, I got my adrenaline kick in the last half mile and picked things back up. With just 100m to go, the relief and happiness washed over me. I heard my wife and kids call out to me and new that they were just as happy as I was.

After finishing the race, I rushed through the refueling station in search of a restroom and you could hear my sigh of relief from a mile away.

My first half marathon's in the bag. Next time I'll be sure to empty the bladder before stepping into the corral.

I can't believe I'm going to be doing another half marathon after swimming 1.2 miles and riding another 56 on the bike.

Live Results from San Jose Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon

My good friend Matt points out this cool tool where you can follow any race participant's progress in real time:

http://www.liveraceresults.com/LiveElite/Default.aspx

My bib number is 6089

My first half marathon: how I've trained

By this time tomorrow morning, just twenty four hours from now, I'll be walking around the finish area of the San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon as a newly minted half marathoner.

I'm excited to run, and only a little bit nervous about it, if only because I think I've done a good job training for the race by following my six-week plan to about 90% compliance.

I learned over the summer that unless I actually write down on my calendar the exact training session for the day, I'll get lazy and decide not to decide what to do (run? bike? swim? both? all?) and the day will get away from me.

Prior to signing up for the half marathon, the farthest I'd ever run in one go was 7.1 miles. Knowing that my goal for 2009 is to complete a half Ironman (or as the marketers now call it: an Ironman 70.3), I decided to end my 2008 season with a half marathon just to prove to myself I could do the distance. I signed up seven weeks in advance, so that gave me time to plot out my schedule to slowly increase my weekly long runs from 7 miles up to the 12 mile run I completed last Sunday in advance of tomorrow's 13.1 race.

My training routine has been to run four days a week:

• Tuesday: 4- or 5- mile intervals
• Thursday: 3-mile intervals
• Saturday: 4-mile pace runs
  
• Sundays: long run, adding one mile to distance each week

My results are that by taking it easy in the training, I stayed relatively injury free. I'm now capable of running my half marathon below the 2:00 mark I'd dreamed of when I started (and I think I might get to 1:50 if all goes well).

As I've built up my base level of fitness (a year ago, I couldn't even do a 10k without having to walk chunks of it), I've now been able to start concentrating on technique, and that's really helped me keep from getting bored out on the road.

And I've learned the power of ice baths to keep the pain down on the day after my long runs, too. Last weekend's 12-miler was a great reminder that I have to make sure to fuel up on Saturday (I ran slow because I hadn't eaten enough day before) and ice down on Sunday (I was sore Monday morning).

So, today I'm taking it easy, watching what I eat and that I eat enough, and already looking ahead to my final event of the season: the olympic-distance SF Triathlon at Treasure Island on November 8.

Come Tuesday, it'll be time to get back in the pool and replace long Sunday runs with open water swims in the Bay.

Registered for the SF Triathlon at Treasure Island

Ok, that does it. I'm officially registered to end my racing season on November 8 by doing an Olympic distance tri (1.5km/40km/10km) on Treasure Island. (See the race details here)

Hard to believe it's just over six weeks away. My first half-marathon is just 10 days away, so then I'll have to turn my training focus back to swimming (and biking) and get a wet suit for the race.

I'm nervous about the swim, yet confident I can finish race. It's just a matter of how long it'll take me to do so.

Anyone else going to be there?

finish season with an olympic distance tri?

I'm feeling good about my training for the Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon next month, but I have to admit the run-run-run training schedule is rather monotonous compared to the multi-disciplinary approach to triathlons. On top of that, I can sense a certain degree of complacency already (overconfidence?) about my being able to finish the distance, so I'm finding my motivation is lagging these days.

I feel like I need a bigger challenge that's closer in than next year's Vineman Ironman 70.3, so I'm seriously considering signing up for the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island which takes place on November 8.

It's an olympic distance tri (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10k run), so it would be my longest race ever, unless I completely blow up on the half marathon.

I've done all the sport distances in isolation many times, so it'd be a matter of stringing it all together in one long event. Yes, I'd be racing to finish, not to place.

And it seems a more fitting end to this first season of fitness to end with a triathlon instead of a half marathon.

I think I've just talked myself into it... now to double-check I've got the training time before plunking down the $150 reg fee. Will post later to let you know I've done it.

Looking ahead to my 2009 events

I can't believe I'm already looking ahead to 2009's competition calendar, but just today I was approached by several folks asking if I'm interested in doing a variety of extreme activities in the new calendar year.

The offers ranged from the Mayors Marathon to the 199 Relay to climbing Mount Shasta or repeating Mt Whitney.

With so much to choose from, I've got to prioritize.

And top of my list is the Vineman Ironman 70.3 which takes place July 19, 2009 (my 12th wedding anniversary, btw, luv ya hun).

Registration opens on November 1, and they'll only take the first 2000 entrants.

I'm so ready to plunk my money down.

And then build the rest of my schedule around preparing for it.

I'm so excited already!

It's all about the running now

At the beginning of 2008, I set a resolution to run 40 miles in the first four weeks of the year. It took some work, but I met the goal. My longest run back then was 4 miles, and even getting to that distance was a challenge.

Now, in just the last half month since my last triathlon, I've run over 40 miles as part of my training for the Rock n Roll San Jose Half Marathon coming up October 5, with my longest, a 9.3 mile run, coming last Sunday as I participated in the Nike+ Human Race 10K.

Over the next month, my training schedule has me putting running four times a week: 5 mile easy runs on Tuesday and Thursday, a pace run on Saturdays and a long run Sundays. This Sunday I'll be doing a 10-mile run and then add a mile to my long runs each week until I top out at half marathon distance the week before the race.

My biggest pleasure? The fact I actually enjoy my long runs and can go for 9+ miles at a sub-8:45 pace without stopping. Folks who know better say that I shouldn't be worried about finishing the half marathon... if I can do the 9-milers, I can complete the race. Now I'm focused on finishing the race in under two hours.

It still astounds me that a year ago I was struggling to be able to make it on a three-mile loop around the neighborhood without walking for stretches at a time. What a difference a year makes!