msfitrunner

I ran Colchester Half marathon for the third time on Saturday.

After the first time I ran it, I said never again.  I did it again.

After that time, I said never again.  Then I found out what the female course record was.  I was 40 seconds off.  I ran it again, this year.

Third time’s a charm.  The first and second time were charming as well, in a slightly masochistic, let’s run the hardest half marathon around kind of way.  I just can’t stay away.  There’s something rewarding about running a challenging race for no other reason than to take on a challenge….in the dead of winter, in New England.

I would imagine in the list of things you don’t want to hear the race director announce before the start of a half, one of them would be “make sure you stay to the left or the right, I’m not really sure which, during miles such and such….there’s chicken poop all over the dirt road”

hmmmm.  this is a first.  so, we’re not sure if we should run on the left or the right, maybe somewhere in the middle is safe, but either way, we’re running through muddy chicken poop.  This race just got so much better.  Let’s do it.  Chicken poop was a blessing though, because they had previously thought it was a human waste spill, in which case they were going to lengthen the course to 15 miles.  Only in Cow Country, CT.  No thank you to 15 miles.  13.1 miles of misery is sufficient for me for one Saturday morning.

It is a conglomeration of hills, all hell-bent on destroying the already weary winter runner.  The race has a nickname, “tough as nails”.  I could come up with a few other nicknames myself, I’m sure.  Quite honestly, it’s more the placement of the hills that is a killer.  they are everywhere.  and then there is the grand finale of 2 miles uphill to the finish.

It’s all about expectations for this race.  I expect to not PR, but to get a good sense of where my training is at.  I do expect to PR the course.  I expect that the hills will still be exactly where they were in previous years.  I also expect that every single runner will be running up and down the same hills.  We are all in this together.  Kumbaya.  I expect that since we are running in the middle of winter, there will likely be unpredictable road situations; ice, potholes, chicken poo (a new one, but I’ll add it to my list now), wind, tractors pulling out in front of you with said chicken poo falling off the back, you know, the usual suspects.  I expect to run my best and not worry about what anyone else is running.  I expect to feel pretty darn tired trucking up those hills and to NOT look at my watch…at all.  I also expect to know that I have put in some good workouts and mileage, and I deserve a decent race.  I expect that although hills suck the life out of you, there IS an END point to them all.  They will not go on forever.  I also kind of expected (hoped) to set a new course record.  The current one had been standing for 10 years.  It was time.

It was a gorgeous day.  40 degrees at the start which meant tank top and shorts for me.  There was some wind, but nothing terrible.

I’m terrible about doing strides, etc. before a race.  In that, I don’t do them.  They stress me out.  I’d rather stand there nervously at the start, just in case they happen to start the race 10 minutes early.  You never know.  Even watching those fast guys do the strides right before the start of the race kind of stresses me out.  I want to to kindly say, will you please just line up and wait patiently for the horn!  but I don’t.  I just turn my head and try not to watch those silly striders.

two of my three at the start.  the middle was doing her thing at gymnastics.

And then we were off.

I completely went into cruise control on this one.  It’s a really small race, and I usually have no time goal for it.  I had a general pace idea.  I tried not to look at my watch because that would be doom and gloom for the most part.  Every now and then I would glance down.  This is a funny race to think about “racing”.  I think it’s because there is always an impending hill and climb waiting just around the corner.  It’s near impossible to get into any sort of rhythm.

There were about 550 runners.  I passed a few guys within the first two miles, and then that was it for most of the rest of the race.  There were two guys right ahead of me from miles 2 – 8.  I stayed right behind them.  That’s when I kind of zoned out and just stayed there with them in sight.  They were probably 10-15 seconds ahead.  They were running a good pace.  I knew I was running a sustainable pace.  I would creep up on them on the uphills and then they would break away.  I can run hills fairly well thanks to a ton of winter hill running, but I recover so sloooow from them.  I think I go into survival mode on this race.  I also know that the last two miles are really difficult.  As is the one massive dirt hill at mile 6 and the more massive hill at mile 8.  then the others in between.

In the middle of mile 8 hill, about a 3/4 mile long steep hill, one half of the duo in front of me stopped dead in his tracks and started dry heaving to the side.  I felt bad.  I also thought, please keep running, your brighter than the sun orange shirt was greatly distracting.  then I thought, wow, he’s really working hard to be dry heaving like that.  I’m not working that hard to start dry heaving, maybe I should run faster?  What’s wrong with me.

There were a few miles on dirt roads, including miles 9-10ish, that were still iced over.  That was a cautionary stretch.  give or take a mile.  I was a tad nervous running on that.  I was still behind the other half of the duo that I had been behind for awhile.  By mile 10, we were just feet apart and then we started leapfrogging to the finish after mile 11.  I knew I was 8th place behind him.  Somewhere in mile 12, he questioned whether or not this climbing was ever going to end.  I said yes…at the finish line.  It gets worse before it gets better.  I was just ahead of him at mile 13, and then he surged ahead to the finish in the last .1.   I do this all the time.  In my head, I’m all la dee da, I’m sure he’ll end up cruising ahead of me to the finish, so I might as well not even push it.  Why?  I’m confident I could have put up more of a fight.  Next time.

There he is…there I am…back there…wait for me!  We had so much fun playing on those hills, remember?!

I finished.  5 seconds behind him.

8th overall.  1st female

1:21:59

(note to self – do not wear a long tank with short shorts.  I was adjusting my shirt up and my shorts down the entire race)

I kind of really wanted sub 1:22.  Got it by the skin of my teeth.

New female course record by 1 minute and 40 seconds.

I PR’d the course by over 2 minutes.

Top 3 Males were:

1:12:01, 1:14:21, 1:17:08 (51 year old!!)

Top 3 Females were:

1:21:59, 1:24:16, 1:25:08

I did a 1.5 mile warmup before the race and cooled down with another 1.5 miles to make 16 for the day.

I’m not sure about the elevation gain on this race, but I think it’s in the ball park of 1,000,000 ft.  I mean, 1000.

 I got what I wanted out of the race.  I had fun.  I enjoyed it.  I got a sense of my fitness.  I went into this with almost 50 miles for the week, not terribly high, and 3 previous weeks of 80+ miles.  I finished the week with 73 miles total.

FUELING

I don’t fuel during half marathons

I had a scoop of Generation UCAN, half of a homemade gluten free breakfast bar and an iced coffee about 2-2.5 hours before the race.  That was plenty.

I have no affiliation with Generation UCAN (I have no affiliation with anyone or anything in regards to running for that matter, totally unbiased)  I stumbled on UCAN at my local running store, and I LOVE it.  Super easy on the stomach.  I used it for my marathon as well.  It’s great.  I’ve used other products and this works really well for me.

I brought my Vega Recovery and a Protein drink for right after the race.  So important.  I really believe the fueling (or lack thereof) post race can seriously effect the recovery time.  I had a banana and a couple orange slices right at the finish and my drinks after my cool down.  Then I hydrated for the rest of the day like it was my job.

SPECTATORS

The husband and the kids weren’t planning on watching this one.  My middle had a gymnastics meet that morning, and my husband had to do a medium long run, so the morning was a little busy before the race.  I was able to work it out the night before to get my daughter taken care of after her meet so that he could come with the other two.  A friend of mine also showed up to watch – that was fun.  I also got to meet some people that read this little corner of the blog world.  I am really sorry if I get your names wrong.  I forget a couple already, but thank you for saying hi, Tessa,  Sarah (?) from Oakland and Kristen.

POST RACE FOOD

They put on quite a feast after this race, for everyone, not just runners.  They also brought in a ton of pizza.

It really is a great race.  It’s super tough, but everyone is in the same “tough” boat.  It only costs $14.  There is gatorade on the course and gels before the race if you want to grab some.  It’s usually really cold, and you can wait in the school until minutes before the start.  Amazing post race food and massage.  I’ve never done the massage, but I’m sure those that do, enjoy it.

It was a good way to start a year of racing.  I hadn’t raced a half since September and only did a last minute 3.5 mile race in the beginning of December.  This was a good ice breaker.  I have another half in a few weeks.  It’s not totally flat, but it’s not hilly like this.

I’ve recovered well, and quickly, which is a nice bonus.  I did 10 miles on Sunday, 13 miles total (9am + 4pm) on Monday and a pretty hilly 12 miles today.  It’s nice to be able to jump right back into the training plan after a race.  I have a long tempo this week and a long run this weekend.  Boston is coming, and so is spring!  Counting down the days….

Do you prefer hill work or speed work?  Or neither??

What’s the hilliest race you’ve run?

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