Putting Pieces Together

    So, putting all the pieces together, bit by bit, race my race. Saturday morning I ran my first half-marathon. It was the Wildwood Trail Half, a trail run up in Forest Park. It was a wicked steep course, an out an back, and the first 3/4 mile was all up. A helluva warmup. I did power walk the steepest uphills, because I can walk them faster than I can run them, and with a lot less energy expended. It was a beautiful morning for a run, cool but sunny, the air crisp and sweet. The trail was all under the canopy of the forest. Forest Park is the largest forest within the boundaries of any city limits in the USA.

    The furthest I had run before saturday was 10 miles. I knew I could run the 13.1 miles, if I just found my pace and stuck with it. It is hard to not want to pick up the pace and run a bit harder, try to catch and pass, not get caught or passed. But I am in the final phases of specific training and I am more interested in understanding my pace, finding what works for me, knowing what I need to do to cover 70.3 miles under my own power, than I am with PRs, placing, or even just beating out some other penguin schmuck like myself. 

    The half-marathon was the next step. I needed to feel what it would be like to cover the distance, spend the time inside my own head, feel the aches and pains that would rear up to impede my progress. My energy felt good, my lungs felt great, my muscles felt strong. I ran well, slow and steady, up hill and down hill. Lots of uphill and downhill. Lots. It was a trail with almost no flats, and the trail sloped sideways, so my feet and ankles were working overtime. The absolute toughest challenge was how hard the downhills were on my poor knees. The last 4 miles or so were mostly down hill, and some of it damn steep. I had an easier time running up those hills than I did running down. But I ignored the pain and focused on form, keeping my tread light, my head up, shoulders back, and my arms relaxed. It was a great run for me, I even had energy left to put up a negative split, and make the last mile my fastest. Crossing the finish line was a sweet victory, but just another piece to the puzzle.

    Now that all the pieces are in place I am ready for my tuneup race. Next sunday I will run my first Olympic distance Tri; 1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run (that's .93 mile swim, 24.85 mile bike, 6.21 mile run for us 'Mericans). Basically half the distance I will be covering in 6 weeks. I am looking at this Tri as a nice workout, and a chance to see how well I can execute. I plan on pacing myself as if it were the Long Course Tri I will be doing. Much as I paced myself in the half-marathon, I am not out to set PRs, but to see if I have learned to drive the vehicle that I have spent so much time building. I am excited for sunday, these are distances I regularly cover in my workouts, it will be a good day. To add to the fun, this is the anniversary event of my first Tri, where I damn near drowned, and was literally the very last person out of the water. That was Sprint distance, I am doubling that this sunday, it will be a good yardstick to see just how far I have come in a year. Damn, I am excited.