The Rose Bowl Half Marathon - Results

Clear blue skies on race morning

The Rose Bowl Half Marathon was on Sunday, February 7, 2010.

My race plan called for an easy start - running 10 minute miles for the first four miles, then bumping the pace to 9 minute miles for the next four miles, 8 min/miles for miles 9,10,11 & 12, and a full speed run for the final 1.1 miles.  Done exactly right, my finish time would have been 01:55:00.

My actual finish time was 01:51:23.7

I arrived and parked my truck at 6:30am. I figured out where the start line was and used the restroom, then quickly got back in the car and ran the heater until 7:30am because it was too cold to walk around (apologies to anyone living where it actually gets really cold).

The race started on time at 8am sharp.  I love it when race directors are organized and start on time!

I lined up about four rows back from the start, and when the gun went off I tried to jog at my 10 min/mile pace.  Dozens of people were passing me, and it was hard not to speed up, but I tried to stick to the plan and  jog. The first mile was on paved road, and slightly down hill. I got to the first mile marker and checked my watch - 8:10.50.  Whoa!  Too fast. Gotta slow down.

Mile 2 - 8:27. Still too fast.  Gotta slow down.
Mile 3 - 8:43. Better, but still need to slow down.
Mile 4 - 9:13. Still not anywhere near 10 minute miles, but the effort on the first four felt really easy, so I let it go and prepared to run the next set of 4 miles at a 9 min pace.

Mile 5 - 8:54.14. Pretty close.
Mile 6 - 9:01.41. Nailed it!
Mile 7 - 9:17.54. A little slow, but this was actually the hardest mile on the course.  There was a very steep trail climb right at the beginning of mile 7, and once I crested the top I had to really pick it up to get the mile done in 9 minutes.
Mile 8 - 9:08.06. Not bad.  Mostly downhill now for the remaining 5.1 miles

Mile 9 - 8:09.48. A little slow.
Mile 10 - 8:00.56. Perfect!
Mile 11 - 8:15.49. Close
Mile 12 - 7:42.82.  By now I'm passing people left and right, but there's a heavy breather right on my tail. I've got just over 1 mile to drop him, but he's sticking to me like a shadow.

Mile 13 - 7:32.13.  I tried to pull away from the heavy breather, but he's still right behind me.
Last 0.1 mile into the Rose Bowl - 0:48.42.

It came down to a sprint between me and the heavy breather as we entered the Rose Bowl and ran onto the grass. I ran fast as I could, but he was able to edge me out and cross the finish line a split second before me. It made for a really fun finish. 

I'm sure without him pushing me (and vice-versa) we both would have been several seconds slower.  Right after we crossed the finish, he turned around and shook my hand and thanked me for pushing him the final 2 miles of the course.

Here's my Garmin GPS info for the race.  I accidentally started my watch again for a few seconds after the race was over, so ignore lap 15.  That's just me standing by my truck.

In the men's 35-39 age group I was 16th out of 54

Out of all men, I was 87th out of 355

And overall I was 109th out of 635

Overall I think it was a great run.  I sort of blew my plan for the first 4 miles, but stuck to the plan the rest of the way.  Since I was able to hit my pace goals, even after a fast start, I was obviously too conservative on the plan in the first place.  My main goal was to negative split the run and I did.  The first half took roughly 58 minutes, and the second half took 53. 

Effort wise, it's exactly how I want to run the marathon portion of Ironman Arizona. The only difference is I don't actually expect to speed up in the Ironman marathon. I just expect the effort to ramp up as I get into the later parts of the marathon, while I try to hang on and maintain my speed.

Next up, Tour de Palm Springs this coming Saturday.

Motivational Movie Monday

Ironman - You Will Do This

The race plan

The Rose Bowl Half is coming up this Sunday, so here's the plan.

First of all, the Pasadena weather report shows a 50/50 chance of rain on Friday and Saturday, but perfect running weather for Sunday with 0% chance of rain. I hope the report is right.

I plan to break the race down into 4 segments:

Mile 0 - 4 at a 10min/mile, easy pace
Mile 5 - 8 at a 9min/mile pace
Mile 9 - 12 at an 8 min/mile pace
Mile 13 at sub-8 min/mile

That should get me to the finish line in less than 2hrs, but there's a bit of hill climbing and trail running to contend with, so I don't know how well the plan will work in real life.  My PR for the Half Marathon distance is 1:45:48.  I don't really have my eyes on a new PR, but I always like to know the number just in case things are going really well and I want to push it.

According to the official elevation chart, I'll be climbing pretty steady from mile 2 to mile 8.5.  Luckily those miles correspond with my slower pace miles, but the climb could be tougher than I anticipate and might hurt my pace later in the run. The good news is I should be able to lean forward and get some extra free speed after mile 8.5 on the downhill.  Downhill running tends to be tough on the quads, so I suspect I'll feel a little bit of the burn on Monday morning!

Motivational Movie Monday

Don't say you can't

Fear of getting sick

I caught a cold this week. It's not really that bad, but every time I get sick, I worry that it could happen during the critical training period right before Ironman, or even worse, I could be sick on race day.

But with two school age kids, I'm not sure I can really do anything to guarantee I don't get sick. I guess I'll just continue to make sure I'm getting enough rest between training sessions, wash my hands often, keep eating right, and keep my fingers crossed.

Motivational Movie Monday

These guys are so unbelievably fast!

T Minus Ten

Thanks to a reminder from my friend Don, I realized two months have already gone by and it's ONLY Ten months until Ironman Arizona. Time keeps ticking away.

On a more current and pressing note, there's only two weeks until the Rosebowl 1/2 Marathon, and three weeks until my first Century of 2010.

The 1/2 marathon will be more like a training day, not a race for me. My plan is to take it out slow and try to negative split the run. The century on the other hand has PR potential with relatively little climbing, and a large number of participants to draft behind. So I plan to push it a little bit on the ride and see how it goes.

Motivational Movie Monday

Fast before Long

I spent quite a bit of time researching and studying different Ironman training methods and training plans in 2009 to prepare for the training I'd have to do this year. After a lot of reading, listening, and watching, I settled on a 20 week training plan from Endurance Nation.

There are several things I like about EN, but there are two main reasons I selected the plan from EN:

1. I agreed with and liked the way the coaches at EN break down their "Four Keys" to Ironman

• Success on race day is about Execution, not Fitness
• A successful race = a good run. Nothing on race day really mattters until you reach The Line which is normally around mile 18 on the run
• Race within a Box defined by what you CAN control
• At some point your body will want to quit. Be ready to convince your body to keep going with The One Thing that brought you to Ironman - whatever that might be.

2. I also like their idea of going Fast before going Long. The typical outseason guidance is to go long and slow during the off season so you can build a bigger engine—then make that engine faster when it matters: closer to the race. The coaches at EN turn that upside down and suggest spending the winter working on speed, so when you slow down, that "slow" pace is not as slow as it was last year. I like this idea since it's hard for me to do long training during the winter when it's colder and it gets dark so early. But it's pretty easy to make time for interval workouts and shorter, high-intensity work.

So here's how my year is broken down at a very high level:

Nov 23 - March 14 - 16 weeks of Fast training

March 15 - July 4 - 16 weeks of Long training

July 5 - November 20 - 20 week Training plan/General Race Prep

November 21 - Ironman Arizona!

Motivational Movie Monday

Updated Events

I decided NOT to sign up for the 13.1 Los Angeles half marathon, instead I'm signed up to do the Rose Bowl Half Marathon on February 7th.

I'm also confirmed for the Tour de Palm Springs on February 13th and the San Diego Century on May 22.

I am also seriously considering Student run LA 18-mile Friendship run on February 21, and a return to the Cruisin' the Conejo century again this year on May 8, 2010 and the

Motivational Movie Monday

Motivational Movie Monday

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Wrigleys

Motivational Movie Monday

Enjoy the Art of Cycling