Upside Down And Inside Out.

This is for the week of January 21-27.

I think there is a song about that.  Oh yea.  Diana Ross.

Anyways, this week was a bit of a mess with stomach issues.  Stomach issues at night, stomach issues in the morning...I was really upset when I couldn't do my favorite Faster Finish Workout (the 20 min out/back - negative split.)  Monthly Lady Issues happened on Saturday night, and by Sunday, I was truly upside down and literally inside out. I had accidentally worn my sports bra inside out for Manhattan Half Marathon.  I went into the race not rested, but rather exhausted.

Coach wanted me to go 8:00 which is my target Marathon Pace for Boston (3:30) this year.  But me, being the stubborn old b!tch that I am, decided that my Marathon Pace will be 7:48 (3:24) no matter what.  Because you know, PR.

The race day started super early for me, at 5AM.  My race day rituals include pooping at least 3 times, getting nervous, dry heaving, ingesting performance enhancers, tying-untying-tying my shoes, then finally some form of warm up. 

Sunday, January 27 was a cold (sweet) day, starting temperatures just barely around 20F.  It had snowed Friday, so there were still snow left on the ground.  The NYRR MCs did a FABULOUS job of scaring me with “oooooo  look out for the ice on the ground, especially near the water stations!!”  I hate slipping and falling…

The race started slow, with bunch of peeps bunched up as usual and people generally being slower than necessary, I guess, to warm up their legs.  I was forced to slow down.  But by the time I hit Cat Hill, I let my legs get up to 75% effort – which is marathon effort.  I went up the Cat Hill so smoothly, I immediately got nervous.  Am I going to die by round two??  (That's the scary part of this course.  You always need to keep in mind where you're going to be for the second lap.)

Once I got over the Cat Hill, I settled into a comfy 75% effort.  Not too fast, not too slow.  Enough time to think about all my body parts, form, neighbors, etc.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see anybody funny looking.  When you have so much mental room to think about so many things, an odd thing starts to happen. 

For Example: 

“OMG why is my left foot hurting??  Do I have a stress fracture???” and

“OMG I have to pee.  Should I stop here?  Should I go here?” 

Strangely, both issues resolved by mile 12 and didn’t come back even after I finished the race. I didn’t  have to go pee after all.

This run, my performance enhancer of choice was Powerbar Gels.  These are great for sub-zero winter running because they don’t freeze or congeal.  I really don’t care to know what makes them not freeze, but it’s probably the same antifreeze fire retardant good stuff they’ve put in Gatorade…  I broke into my Tangerine Gel at mile 6, because everybody around me did too. 

Split	Time	Distance	E-Gain	E-Loss	Avg Pace
1	08:01.1	1	0	0	8:01
2	07:47.0	1	36	0	7:47
3	07:37.3	1	6	54	7:37
4	07:47.6	1	73	63	7:48
5	07:53.7	1	55	0	7:54
6	07:42.1	1	27	60	7:42
7	07:47.6	1	0	19	7:48
8	07:47.4	1	36	0	7:47
9	07:38.5	1	0	27	7:39
10	07:51.5	1	73	77	7:52
11	07:57.3	1	47	0	7:57
12	07:41.6	1	25	59	7:42
13	07:43.9	1	32	46	7:44
14	01:16.7	0.18	0	0	7:02
Summary	1:42:33	13.18	410	406	7:47

I'm not sure if it was the tangerine anti-freeze or what, but despite my fear, I did not die on my second round at the Cat Hill (red number is Cat Hill).  In fact, it felt pretty good!  At halfway into mile 10, I decide that I want to finish strong, so I took a little breather at mile 10 and 11, not going as hard on the big hills.  Could I have gone harder on the hills?  Probably...but I wasn't going for a PR, so why bother, right?

It was, however, the fastest 13.1+ that I did in Central Park.  Not too shabby.  My only concern was that my legs did feel a bit spent after the race, and it took me probably more effort to do the 2 mile prescribed cool down than the whole race.  I was also a bit annoyed that I was so off the tangent. I need to work on that so that I don’t end up running another 27 mile marathon.

Overall, I came 7th in my new age group and gave me a bit of a confidence boost. I’m sure it will be shattered in a day or two again, though!