After a summer of long, disciplined, slow, measured training runs this summer, tomorrow is the Quantico half marathon. Technically, the mileage is part of the overall training plan for MCM, but there is just no way I can treat this as another slow training run. I want to get out there and see what I can do and see if all these LSD’s* have really done anything or not. I’ve done my traditional “day before the race” breakfast out, had my pasta for dinner, clothes & gear are laid out and ready to go, and the “pre-race” playlist is going on iTunes.
I’m pretty darn stoked for it, but there is a little part of me that wonders if I’ve forgotten how to just go kick it. Seriously – all my runs this summer, I have been SO good and done them “right”** – I hope I don’t just automatically fall back into it, LOL.
They say the course runs fast, but I know it’s not as flat as Va Beach was last spring. However, I have run 9.3 miles of tomorrow’s course with the 15K in June, so I know what to expect for the bulk of the run.
It will be very interesting to see if I can beat my time from Virginia Beach (2:39:01). I did the 15K (9.3 mi) with a pace of 11:05. If I am under 2:45, I will be quite happy (12:46 pace), but if I can somehow pull out a sub 2:30 (11:27 pace), I will be on top of the freakin’ world. Thing is, I realized today that it might not be completely out of the realm of possibility. Tomorrow’s weather conditions will meet or beat what we had in June, I know the bulk of the course already, I know where the water stations are going to be, so no having to guess on that. I will be following my same “race plan” I had for the 15K which is walk the water stations, run the rest – with the temps, there is no need for preventative run/walk to avoid heat issues. There is a double hill somewhere on the course, I think it will be around mile 8/9 – that one I ran the hill, walked the flat and then ran the second hill – I think I’ll do that again, since the walk in the middle allowed me to be able to run and get off that second hill a little faster.
Regardless, it’s gonna be a gorgeous day to get out there and have a good time and be a sexist pig and enjoy all the eye candy.
* LSD = Long, Slow, Distance
** Keeping HR strictly in the “aerobic” zone. Not as easy as it sounds, but I did my first half with only a couple weeks of HR based training under my belt, and I felt it really improved my run, so we’ll see what continued application of it gives me.