Da Iz Biz: Race Report: Surf City Half Marathon

Great race and just slightly missed a PR. And by slightly, I mean 30 seconds! It was a good race to come back to 2 years later and see that while I'm not better, I'm not exactly worse. And given that I was running this one a bit heavier, it's definitely good news.

Race Details:
Huntington Beach, California
Run: 13.1mi, loop

Race Summary:
I was definitely nervous for this race. It's the only road running race that I've repeated and so there was a sense of doubt in my mind that I couldn't replicate my PR performance from 2016. I had to take melatonin to calm myself down after my carb loading dinner. But I got to sleep and was well rested for this race. I had my standard race breakfast, got to a toilet and then even the starting line with ease.

After the emotion of the star spangled banner, the gun went off and there I went. This race was one of those where you set your own starting position. You don't submit a time and get placed in a wave. You just show up and start where you feel you should be. That unfortunately leaves many slow runners at the front as they likely don't know that your time is based on when your chip crosses the start and not when you start relative to the gun. So early on, I was weaving through some people, but I made sure not to do too much of it. A director at my company who runs sub 3 hour marathons had mentioned to me that weaving through the crowds eats away at your energy and likely isn't worth it. So try to find a good line and hold your pace. Definitely some great advice!

Because really, by mile 2, most of the slow folks have fallen back and the course thins out. And it was really easy to run my own race. Everything was going really well too. I had a plan to start taking Honey Stinger gels at mile 4 and then every 2 miles thereafter. That went well and I was really able to keep my cadence high and my legs felt great. In fact, I didn't have any challenges on "the hill" at mile 4 and wasn't stopping to walk or jog thru aid stations. I grabbed my water as I ran and went.

Eventually though, the fast start and the blazing sun seemed to catch up to me. By the turn around on PCH at mile 8, I had to mentally push myself to keep up the cadence. It started to get real tough. By mile 10, I had slowed enough to make a difference and that slowing held until mile 12. Now granted, mile 11-12 is right about where the other "hill" sits. And I definitely didn't power thru this one like I did the first one, but I did "run" up it.

By the end, I really had to push my mind to keep me going. Then I saw the mile 12 marker and started to drop the hammer. I mean it wasn't exactly "dropping the hammer" per se, but relative to the last 2 miles, it was much faster and it felt painful too. But I pushed to the finish and even the official race picture of me running there is hilarious!

All in all, a good race despite missing the PR. I've built a good base and have a good idea of my training progressing in a positive direction after a lackluster 2016 and 2017. Hopefully that bodes well for Oceanside and then Chicago!

2016 vs. 2018 Comparison:

When there's 30sec in between finish times, there's not usually a huge difference between the details.

Some notable differences were:

-Calorie burn: fewer calories burned in 2016, likely due to weighing less back then

-Moving time vs. Elapsed time: seems that I must've walked through some aid stations in 2016

-HR: both avg and max were higher in 2016 which is strange, but it's possible since your HR decreases with age, at least by conventional theories

Looking at the split comparison, I was faster for 9 of the 13 splits in 2016. But the margin of difference is so small for miles 1-7 and it's crazy how close the race was up to mile 8, maybe even lump mile 9 in there. After that, there was clearly a struggle bus for miles 10-12. It's clear I was able to pick it up at some point in mile 12 and push to the finish, but that little gap there for 2+ miles was just what I couldn't overcome.

Map and Stats Plot:

Heart Rate Zones:

Ran hard for this one and the heart rate really shows it. Z4 and Z5 for all of the half except 2:10. That's pretty crazy! This one was definitely a Heart Attack Hustle!

Race Charts:
Course Reported Finish:

Not a PR, but sooooooo close... :(

Run:

Nothing too insightful here on the summary. Max cadence of 240 is pretty off the charts, just as the best pace of 5:41. However, max means nothing as I likely held that for all of 5 seconds. The averages are more in line with what I was able to sustain. Cadence of 187 isn't too bad and I'll need to up that if I really wanna get to Boston. The 8:16 is really not great. That def needs to go down. Not sure how I get there though. Aye...

Peering into the mile by mile breakdown, my pace was really good up until about mile 7. Maybe even lump miles 8 and 9 into the good category. I mean sub 8:30 is pretty solid and right around the low 8s in the first 10K as well. But after mile 9, it just wasn't good. I somehow found that extra gear for the last 1.1 miles, but just too much ground to make up I think.

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