VOWS Half-Marathon 3

Third time's a charm??? This morning, I finished my last run before Ironman Longhorn.  Same half-marathon route as the last couple times.  13.1 miles in 1:59:47.  10 seconds slower than last time's PR for this loop.  Not bad at all!

I really didn't know what to expect as my legs were still a little tired from yesterday's long ride.  So I started off the run very slowly, keeping about a 9:30/mi pace.  Here are some of the overall stats from the run:

Looks like I had a 9:19/mi pace at 3.04 miles when I made the U-turn at the end of Park Vista Blvd.  Although it appears that my running speed slowed down for the next 6.59 miles, the time/pace numbers are misleading because as you can see from the chart below, the second "lap" of 3.31 miles included one walk/gel/water break (at time=0:31) and the third "lap" of 3.28 miles included two breaks (at time=0:59 and 1:28).  So my speed actually increased as I went along.

During my last walk break , I figured out that if I really pushed hard, I could break 2 hours for the full 13.1 miles - and so that became my goal.  The pace picked up quite a bit in the final 30 minutes (8:28/mi pace is faster than my half-marathon race PR pace) and I sprinted (well, it felt like sprinting) up the hill to my house and the "finish line" to finish while my watch still said "1:59" on it - unfortunately, no seconds displayed when elapsed activity time is over an hour!

My heart rate was consistently below 160 bpm for the first half of the run, but ratcheted up considerably as my pace and the mileage total increased along the way to the finish.

I am very happy that I completed it in under 2 hours considering Saturday's 79 mile ride in Waco.  I am also very pleased that I started slow and picked up speed throughout the run for a strong finish.  I need to remember to do this for Ironman Longhorn - it appears to be a much better strategy than my standard "start off way too fast, hit a wall, and then slow down & walk continuously in a death-march to the finish" :-P.

Only one week to go until the big race!