Today was a big day. I got up at 5am and started preparing for the Kansas Half Marathon. We got to Lawrence around 6:30 and when we got out of the car, I realized how cold and windy it was. It was about 50 degrees with a 15-20 mph wind. We were starting in the shade as well so I am sure it felt even cooler. I left my long sleeve shirt on until I started and then I threw it to Shari when we started.
I didn't have any idea how I would fair in the race today. I had ridden 60 miles yesterday and ran a pretty tough race last weekend. I decided that I would just run at a comfortable pace whatever that would be (although I had absolutely no intention of walking at any point). During mile 1, I pretty quickly realized that I was going to run faster than last week but not at a 1:40 pace. We hit our first big hill from mile 4 to 5. It was followed by a big downhill which resulted in my fasted mile time from 5 to 6 at 7:13. From here through about 9.5, it was fairly flat and just an out and back route. It was fun to see the winner 2.5 to 3 miles ahead of me as he came back from the route. At mile 9.5, I ran into the biggest test. I turned north and hit a nice 20 mph wind in my face as well as a fairly sharp uphill run. It covered nearly 150 feet over that mile and resulted in my slowest mile time at 8:27. After that hill, it was pretty much downhill and flat the rest of the way. I cruised into the finish and even had enough to sprint at the end.
My total time today was 1:42:57, which is another PR. This is my second half marathon and second PR in 8 days.
This caps off the longest training week in my training plan. I covered 163.18 miles over 12 hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds. Next week is a recovery week as well as my first brick. I am going to ride/run on Wednesday afternoon.
My next half marathon is on May 12th. By contrast, that race has a total elevation gain of 150 feet vs today's race with an elevation gain of 853 feet. I think that sounds like an excellent course to shoot for 1:40.
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