AM... 21.2 miles. Ran the Park City 1/2 Marathon, and then tacked on another 8 miles after to get in a "long run" for the day. We got on the road a little later than I would have liked and as a result, I basically go no warm-up in at all. That was actually OK by me, as I figured it would help me stick to the race plan. The plan was to run the uphill portion of the course (which climbs from 6400ft at Kimball Junction to almost 7000 in a Park City neighborhood) close to 6:00 pace. The course is an out and back, so the plan was to open up the pace on the way home and negative split the race and get a fair threshold run in as well. Sasha asked at the start if I wanted to trade off on the lead, but I knew they would be going faster than I wanted--so stuck to my plan. Out of the gate, Sasha, Jeff and Bob Thompson took the lead. I basically sat in 4th place until around mile 5, when I finally caught up to Bob (I had been closing the gap for about 3 miles). Bob and I hung together up the steepest hill section of the course, and then on the way back down as well until we crossed Old Ranch Road (around mile 10). Once we crossed the 10 mile mark, I started to run fairly hard for a couple of miles a) to try to drop Bob and b) to continue to increase my effort for the planned workout. I accomplished both a and b, and was very pleased with my effort. This course is fairly tough and is not conducive to running fast at all. The 600 foot climb at the PC elevation factors in, as well as all of the 90 degree turns (and these are true 90 degree turns) in the first 3 and last 3 miles of the course. Despite these factors, I ran almost exactly as I wanted--out in close to 6:00 pace and back faster. The thing I was most happy about was that I was able to throw in some faster miles, and they were on the downhill section of the course that was more gradual (so in theory I was doing a little more work than gravity). This is a great sign as I felt very comfortable and controlled--much better than at the Garden of Eden race two weeks ago. I wound up finishing 3rd overall, behind Sasha and Jeff. It was a good day for Wasatch Running Center, as we went 1-3-4-9-10. After the race I hydrated a little bit, and then got out for another 8 miles to hit 21.1 for the day. Here's the whole race breakdown... Mile #1 - 6:07 (still warming up--temps were 41 degrees at the start!) Mile #2 - 5:51 (tried to make up for being a little slow on mile 1) Mile #3 - 6:05 (Bob is starting to come back to me)
Mile #4 - 6:00 (still gaining on Bob) Mile #5 - 5:59 (almost there) Mile #6 - 6:19 (caught Bob, but the climbing is starting to get tough) Mile #7 - 6:47 (the steepest section of the course) Mile #8 - 5:36 (we're on our way down) Mile #9 - 5:42 (holding steady, but dodging a lot of oncoming 1/2 marathoners) Mile #10&11 - 11:10 (I missed the 10 mile marker, but judging on effort I was probably around 5:39 and 5:31, give or take as I started to build pace to break Bob) Mile #12 - 5:18 (I had broken Bob a little on 10 & 11, so surged pretty hard in some of the blind turn areas to build a lead) Mile #13 - 5:33 (almost there, and still very comfortable and controlled)
.1 - 26 (total time 1:16:59, 5:52 pace--great training run for SGM!)
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