At the start with Francois and Susan
This past weekend, I capped off my summer/fall racing season by running the Baystate Half Marathon in Lowell, MA. This was my second half marathon, though after training for Boston last winter, I feel like I have a lot more experience than I actually do.
When I ran my first half in May 2008, I was just learning how to train for a long race, and my leadup to the Run To Remember was really my first try at running relatively high mileage on a consistent basis. I religiously followed a 14-week training program from Runner’s World that had me doing regular tempo runs and long intervals, as well as increasing my mileage from 20 to 37 mpw. I set my goal at 1:45 (8:00/mi) and beat it soundly with a 1:43:17 finish.
This time, I was much less uptight about my training. I spent my summer in pursuit of an elusive 20-minute 5k, and most weeks I ran 40 miles. The half marathon was really an afterthought; I figured I could run it without much specific training since I had a strong base. I was running 12-mile long runs every week, so a 13.1-mile race seemed very doable.
In the weeks leading up to Baystate, I dropped some of the interval work I had been doing and instead did 5-6 mile tempo runs at goal half marathon pace. I extended my long runs from 12 to 15 miles, keeping overall volume around 40 mpw. My tempo runs varied from quite hard to quite easy, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from my body come race day. As the race approached, I tapered by cutting the previous week’s long run to 9 miles, and all runs the following week by about 50%.
I didn’t set hard goals for this race. My recent 5ks had been disappointing, and I wasn’t specifically trained for a half. On the other hand, I had run very well at Reach the Beach last month, so a strong half marathon wasn’t out of the question. I figured I should be able to run under 1:40, and if things went perfectly, under 1:37, but I didn’t stress over the times the way I have for previous races. I built my race plan around a 7:30/mi goal pace, but I left room to adjust upwards if I wasn’t feeling it on Sunday. I didn’t even know what overall time a 7:30 pace would get me.
As race day approached, the weather forecast grew worse and worse. We were expecting a Nor’easter, with rain and strong winds. I briefly considered dropping out, but my friends were still planning to run, I had already paid the entry fee, and, hey, runners run.
We arrived on Sunday morning to surprisingly decent weather. At the start, it was not yet raining, and the wind hadn’t picked up. My plan was to go out at 7:40 pace for the first 3 miles, run 7:30 pace for the next 7, and then give whatever I had left in the last 3.1. I really wanted to go out conservatively because I had gone out too fast in my last few races and crashed hard.
I lined up at the start with my friend Susan, and after a confusing countdown by the mayor of Lowell, took off. Susan went out ahead, and I hung back and tried to stick with my race plan. I ran the first mile in 7:32 and the second in 7:40, about where I wanted to be. More importantly, I was feeling really strong; the pace felt super easy. In fact, the pace felt easy all the way through mile 8. I was easily clicking off sub-7:30 miles, holding myself back for a crash that never came. Around mile 9 I caught Susan, and I started to pick up the pace. By this time, it was raining and the wind had picked up. I considered tucking in behind other racers so I wouldn’t have to break the wind, but I didn’t want to slow to their pace, so I ran by myself.
After mile 10 I wanted to speed up to about 7:20 pace, but I started to feel a twinge in my left calf and was afraid of cramping, so I stayed at 7:30 pace. Mile 12 went by in 7:15, and I flew through the final 1.1, averaging sub-7 pace to the finish. My final time: 1:37:27 (7:26/mi).
I’m really happy with this race, not just with the time but with how I ran it. I paced it conservatively and didn’t give in to the temptation to run faster than my race plan. As a result, I felt fantastic and was able to enjoy the race. I set a PR by almost 6 minutes. I ran a sub-7 last mile. The last 5k took 22:27, less than a minute slower than the last 5k race I ran. And I did all this in a Nor’easter, without much half-marathon-specific training.
Next up: The Gobble Gobble Gobble 4-miler on Thanksgiving Day.
