Race Residue and Winner!


Yep, still a heel striker.  I love how all the men in this picture (including my husband, #236) have good lean and foot strike and then there is me, with my short legs, overstriding as usual.  Hard to break old habits but I'm trying!  


I've been thinking a ton about my race.  Although this wasn't my peak race and not even a race I was really that invested in, my training right now is something I'm serious about.  I think that whenever we race during a time that we are serious about our training, we tend to replay the race in our heads at some point.  Races seem to have a residual effect on me.  I almost always find that my races leave me with some kind of lesson, feelings of euphoria, regret, or "what I will do differently" thinking.  I'm calling this my Race Residue.  


My race residue this time was a mixed bag.  I met my goals: to have fun and be strong! This makes me happy.  I almost miss the race, if that makes sense.  But I also spent quite a bit of time last night replaying the race in my head and being really hard on myself for my stupid dead stop at mile 8 for water.  This might have been different had I not had the next 4 plus miles as an incline but after that stop, I had such a hard time picking up my sub 7/7 min pace.  The pack of men we were running with had taken off and we were left alone in the woods for miles of solo running when we needed that push of having other runners the most (at least I was left once my husband took off).  I'm so glad my husband took off to run his own race because I was just not feeling it to power up that long incline at a sub 7 pace like he did. After my stop, I was doing good just to be running a 7:15/7:30 pace.  So my reflections and questions for myself:
*  Did I really need that drink?  Probably not!  What was I thinking?
*  I need to figure out a plan for fueling and hydrating if I'm going to take my racing to the next level.  I've never really used anything in a half marathon.  This time I took out a GU  but in my marathons I used maybe one GU for the entire race.  
*  I must figure out a better plan for drinking at the water stations without losing time!  When I slowed down from a 6:50ish pace to almost a stop, I killed who knows how many seconds AND it was very hard to get my legs working again.  
*  I'm ready to possibly consider figuring out a pace plan.  I hesitate to do this because I think I've found success in running by feel.  This might be what I need to break 1:30 in the half!
*  Thinking of racing shoes again.  
*  I'm still happy with my race and I am excited to be learning!!!  These kinds of races make us BETTER runners. Just putting this out there so I don't have a bunch of people thinking I'm depressed about my race.  Ha!  Just the opposite..I'm happy and REFLECTIVE.  I do this with most things in life...I take what I can from my experiences (good and bad) and I LEARN from them! 


Here is the map of my race for those of you that missed it in my race report (I added it later).  The green shows the elevation gain and the blue is my pace.  Note how consistent my pace is for the first half and how all over the place it is after that spike at mile 8. 

The pain in my legs today is a good sign that I worked hard and PUSHED myself!  I have not been this sore in a long time.  In fact, after my recent 10k and 5k, I hardly felt sore at all the next day and just bounced right back.  A half marathon, this half marathon has done a number on my body!  Enough about my race.  You can read the full race report if you really want to know more.  Glad so many of you enjoyed my squatting picture and didn't let it offend you!  I was a little nervous about posting it.  
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And now for what you all scrolled down to read anyway. The WINNER of the Nathan Hydration Belt is..........


Congratulations Heather!  Please send me an e-mail with your address so I can get this sent to you!  amandaodum (at) hotmail.com
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1.  Do you find yourself with "Race Residue" that you live with for a day or two after your race?  

2.  I registered for the Nike Women's Half Marathon.  We still have 4 spots in our group for any of you that want to enter.  Obviously, the group part is just to register with the group but you don't have to hang out with us or anything...it is just a chance to get in.  Let me know if you're interested and we'll send you the code.  If our groups gets chosen then you'll just be charged the entry fee and you're in!  Should be a great event!  I've heard so much about it.  

Amanda

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