Weather. Best of any of the Nashville races I've done. This is the second half, plus 2 full marathons. Cloud cover, little breeze, little rain. Excellent, just glad I was finished before the sun popped out.
Race. My chip time was 1:44:26. Got the job done. Did get a group around me almost from the time I jumped onto the course. Crowd support was good this year. Little hoarse from yelling trying to get the crowds to yell when we went by. I jumped in behind the 3rd corral, and tried to stay behind the 3:30 marathon pacer. He got ahead of us for quite awhile, but we caught back around mile 11, just before the split for the marathoners and half marathoners.
Excuses. Only one bottle of water before the start. Plan was to drink that bottle and then eat and drink some more before the start. No food. Didn't get a chance to change shoes. I wore my rain shoes, an old pair of trainers that I wanted to change out of before the race. No Succeed. Planned on one capsule before the start, because of the temperature and humidity.
Traffic. This is the only real complaint, but it lead to me not getting to the start on time and all of the other excuses listed. I can't believe someone can design an egress to a stadium knowing the amount of traffic coming in and have only 1 lane coming into the parking lot. Complete bullsh*t. Last year the traffic coming in from interstate 24 slowed around Hermitage Avenue. This morning, just after the 24/40 split, traffic came to a complete stop. I sat in traffic for an hour. I got to that point at 5:30 and didn't get off the Hermitage Avenue exit until 6:30 trying to get to the stadium. Debate in my mind was go to the stadium and wait for the bus, or try and get to the start with all of the lane closures. Chose the stadium.
All in all I had a blast. I'll be back next year. Good call to wear the regular stop watch to monitor total time. The Garmin was good for seeing where we were distance wise. I didn't feel comfortable with the heart rate. According to it I was running tempo pace the entire race. Actually did what I did last year and ran by perceived effort. Uphills were a little slower than pace and the downhills a little quicker. Seems like more downhill in the final 3-4 miles than I remembered. Next year I need to mark on my pace band where the water stops are located.
Post mortem. Still don't know what to make of the heart rate data. I started out at 172, that's because I sprinted from the buses to the meeting spot for the pacers and dropped my bag and sprinted to the starting line. I saw corral 4 coming to the line and jumped in at the start, but evidently I actually jumped in the back of the 3rd corral. I never could get my heart rate below 155. In training 8:00 pace was 145, add a couple of ticks for the heat. I averaged 163, which is tempo pace and hit 170+ a couple times. Some of it is because I waved the pace stick around and gestured with the other arm to pump the crowds for a little noise. Bottom line, the Garmin is a great training tool but I'll leave it at home on race day.
1 comment:
I saw the 1:45 pacers. GREAT Job!
Sorry you were rushed. I think most of us were rushed. :(
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