Indy Monumental HM Race Recap; Or, I'm Going to the Trials!

Hey blogosphere, sorry for the month-long hiatus. I got a little-stitious in the lead up to Indy Monumental and was worried that I was doing a little too much talking (well, writing) and not enough training.

This is the race report I posted on reddit recapping the race, so I thought I'd re-post it here as well.

Hey reddit! I'm mostly a lurker here, but I raced Saturday morning in Indianapolis and wanted to share. The TL;DR: I ran 1:04:33 for the half marathon, which qualifies me for the US Olympic Marathon Trials in LA this February. I also got 3rd overall, which was pretty cool, too. So anyway, here goes...

But first, a shout-out to the staff at Monumental

Those guys know how to put on a top-notch race. It's so refreshing to here the rhetoric coming out of the organization that says, "we're trying to be a professional event; we understand that most people want a fun event, but we also understand that some people want to come and race the damn thing; we're going to have drug testing and a fast course and large, competitive fields." In this era of mass participation, it's surprisingly (and disappointingly) rare to see or hear that from races.

Prelude to race day

I had run some fairly mediocre races in late-September, perhaps overestimating my fitness just a bit. At the time I felt really strong, but not fast. I had been doing lots of long, stamina, lactate-threshold type of workouts; I felt like I could consistently run 5:0x pace for a long time, but I couldn't crank any faster than that. So I spent most of the month of October running a combination of high quality and high volume with a little more focus on anaerobic speed. I entered race week in a great training rhythm, feeling faster and smoother every workout.

...and then I got sick the Monday of race week. Not the kind of real bad sick, but the kind of 85%, good enough to run and eat and work but bad enough to feel just tired and lethargic. I was a little nervous, but I figured I'd try to rest as much as possible this week and give it a shot on race day.

Ok, now on to the race

Woke up to near-perfect conditions for long-distance racing: temps in the mid-40s with a very slight breeze; much nicer than last year's freezing cold and very windy race day. Monumental had set up pacers for all of the OT standards (men's & women's half and full), so after a fairly crowded start I found the pacer in the first quarter mile and tried to settle in to the race.

Ok brief disclaimer: I don't race with a watch. I tried not to look at the clock. I don't have any fancy splits or data or anything like that for you. I've found that, paradoxically, when I race for time, my time actually suffers; but when I go out and just compete, time takes care of itself.

I also subscribe to the two-mile rule from Once a Runner -- you never really know how you're feeling until two miles into the run (or race). Case in point: I felt good but not really that great during the first two miles of this race. Not as smooth as it should have been that early. But the longer the race went on, the more relaxed and comfortable I became with the pace.

So anyway, there was a fairly large group of us running up front with the pacer (maybe 15-20 or so?) until about the 5 mile mark, when the race started to split up. A pack of four eased out in front of the pacer, five (myself included) with the pacer, and then I don't know what behind that.

10k to 10 mile

One of the first major splits where I did think about the clock was the 10k; we were about 30:35, so just slightly under OTQ pace, which was perfect. From 10k to 10 miles is where I've struggled in past halves, so I prepared myself to suffer during this stretch. But then, a weird thing happened: I wasn't suffering. I was feeling good. Mile seven: relaxed. Eight: easy. Nine: ok now I'm actually starting to get impatient. I suppose were were slowing down a little bit, but I was still surprised how under control I felt at this point. The pacer dropped at mile 9, so we were on our own to he finish.

Final 5k - let's race!

As I felt more comfortable than expected late in the race, my plan changed from "just survive at 1:05 pace" to "get competitive." I kept telling myself to stay patient, don't go too early. During mile 10, with 5k to go, it was time to let loose and really start racing.

Our pack of four had strung out a bit at this point, and up ahead the pack of four had become two individual runners; we swallowed up one of the original four and another must have dropped out. I found myself able to switch gears and for the first time since before mile 5 I felt like I was pushing. I worked my way to the front of our original four and then set my sights on the two runners up ahead.

Most of the final 5k is a long straight downtown to the finish. When you're on a roll it's a great perspective and makes runners up ahead feel more within reach (but I suppose when you're struggling it must feel interminable). Setting my sights on second place, I could feel him coming back -- slowly at first, and then in larger chunks as we neared the finish. Here I was also checking the clock at every mile marker, trying to calculate if I was under 1:05 pace.

The first half of the last mile continues the long straightaway, but the second half consists of a right turn west for a couple blocks, a left turn south for a block or so, and finally another right to the finish. By the first right turn I had made psychological contact with 2nd place, by the left turn I had physical contact, and by the final right turn I was all-out kicking him down. I pulled even with about 200 to go, and then...he just shifted gears and blew me away by two seconds. That's how it goes when you don't have natural leg speed.

TL;DR:

So anyway, I finished 3rd overall in 1:04:33, which is nearly a minute PR. I accomplished my main goal of qualifying for the Trials, and then finishing in the top five was a real nice bonus.