Half Marathon History Lesson

So as I said before when I have an upcoming race I like to go back and review my past races and training. Since I'm running the Brooklyn Half on Saturday, I figured it was time to give myself a history lesson on my past halfs. Saturday will be the 10th half marathon I've run (it really seems like so many more but that's it). The previous 9 have all been in New York City: I've run the Staten Island half twice, Brooklyn twice, the Bronx twice, the New York City Half in Central Park and Times Square twice, and the Manhattan Half once. My times have looked like this:

Staten Island October 2005: 1:33
Brooklyn April 2006: 1:29
Bronx July 2006: 1:31
NYC Half August 2006: 1:26
Brooklyn April 2008: 1:27
NYC Half July 2008: 1:27
Staten Island October 2008: 1:28
Manhattan January 2009: 1:23:52 (PR)
Bronx February 2009: 1:27

I'm not sure what that all means but of those races I am most proud of NYC 2006, Manhattan 2009, and Staten Island 2005 in that order. The most disappointing of those races was Staten Island 2008. NYC 2006 was one of the most unexpected PRs I have ever had in running and not only did I significantly negative split the race but it was one of the easiest races I have ever run. It was really the first half I ran where I had the benefit of some marathon training in my legs and where covering 13 miles was no longer a long run for me anymore. I was also very relaxed in that race and wasn't really planning on running it that hard until I felt so great since I had raced a 5K and 5 miler hard the previous two weekends. If I could go back and re-create the feeling I had running that race that day in every race I ran I would do so gladly, I think I have only come close once in a longer race, which was the 15K PR (56:53) that I ran this past March, but even that felt like more of struggle. I gained a lot of confidence from that half (in retrospect probably a little too much for the marathon that followed that November) and I think I learned a lot about running in that race and what kind of training works best for me, even if it wasn't something I fully realized at the time. When I decided to focus on training for the Manhattan Half this past January, I looked back at what I had done leading up to the NYC 2006 race and followed some similar principles with doing a few 14-18 mile runs in the six weeks or so leading up to it and racing a hard shorter race two weekends before. As I set a nearly three minute PR in the Manhattan Half (despite, or perhaps given my penchant for cold weather racing on account of, about 8-12 degree temperatures). I was very pleased with that race but it definitely wasn't unexpected in the way NYC 2006 was. My third most proud half marathon moment was my first just because I had no idea what to expect and it was the first time I had even run 13.1 miles and perhaps (I didn't keep a running log then) the first time I had ever run more than 10 miles. Given that, the 1:33 I ran in October 2005 may have been the most impressive time of all the halfs I have run.

As I hit my 10th half marathon this weekend I guess I'm becoming a bit more of a veteran at this distance (though I know many people have run that many in a single year or 10 or 20 times that many in their lifetimes) but more so than ever I feel uncertain about what is going to happen in this race on Saturday and how my body will respond. For starters, I have never raced this soon after a marathon before, much less a race this long. I've been a bit tired on my runs but my larger concern is that my left hip has been feeling a bit too stiff for my liking (yes that old injury that always causes problems one way or another) and that I tried to do some speedwork in the form of 1 minute hard intervals (stupidly I might add) last week and the middle of my right hamstring has been a little tight ever since and has seemed to fatigue when I hit the end of my runs---that has been getting better with each run since my silly speedwork adventure last week though I'm not sure I can say the same for my hip. I'm so used to my hip being stiff though at various times that I have to admit that I think it won't be much of a problem in the race (hopefully not famous last words), it's just going to be a matter of soreness afterwards and having to be a little carfeul in the upcoming weeks. I don't know that I've ever gone into a race before where the # 1 overall goal on my mind was to come out as healthy as possible but that's kind of how I feel about Saturday, though I don't think the thought will cross my mind if I end up having a good, better than expected day, it will just be if I am struggling that I will probably opt to coast in. The reason I feel this way is because I would be annoyed at myself that I have pushed a little too hard post-marathon and this race kind of falls into no man's land since I'm not going to be in better shape than I was when I ran the marathon a month ago or in the weeks leading up to it and I'm about to embark on training for shorter races, so this race isn't really a goal race nor is it a measuring stick or building block for my next training cycle. It's kind of just there--- in a way the end of my marathon cycle but also removed from it at the same time---and that's why I don't really have a goal for it other than to come out healthy.

Having said all that I'm going to go to the line with the idea of racing it in mind, I'm just not sure at all how things will unfold. In the six half marathons I have run since I got serious about them, I've felt strong and done well in two of them (NYC 2006, Manhattan 2009) and felt dead and beaten up and just coasted in or struggled at the end of four them, in three of those four I came in with almost identical times between 1:27:27 and 1:27:32 and the other (Staten Island 2008) I had one of the most miserable side stitches and three mile finishes to a race I can ever imagine and ended up in 1:28:12 when I was on sub 1:26 pace for about 10 miles. So you throw that all together and I feel like there is a good chance I will end up running in the mid 1:27s again on Saturday, but as I said I really have no idea what to expect. On the flip side, I don't think it's totally impossible that I could have a good day and squeak in a PR. I ran a 1:23:52 in January in ice bowl conditions and I was clearly in better shape than that by March and April, and my 15K and 10 miles time projected to a 1:21 half or so. I feel a bit beat up and tired right now without a question and I may feel the effects of my hamstring or hip out there (in which case I will probably slow down) or just a general feeling of not having recovered from the marathon but if I was actually in 1:21 shape in mid-April, how much of that fitness and freshness could I have lost? Possibly a lot since I did run a freaking marathon, but maybe I have held onto just enough so that I can still nab a slight PR or a sub 1:23. The three times I have PR'ed at the half marathon in the past have all been a little unexpected and by almost 3 minutes. I don't think a 1:20 is in the cards by any means, but I guess we shall see. It could be ugly, it could be pretty, but it will most likely just be "blah" and I'll try not to hurt anything in the process so that I can re-focus things for the summer. Stay tuned....