Race Report: The Trailbreaker Half Marathon

Well I ran it, in 3:07:59 (Garmin time) finishing last in my age bracket and 2nd last among men. The wind was not that bad as it turns out, and it barely rained at all so that was all good. Had a few glitches along the way and before the start but otherwise smooth sailing.

My glitches:

• My Bluetooth headset for music would not pair with my phone, so at the last minute no music for the race, which was frustrating, no idea what was wrong with it.
• I was overdressed, had to much on and was hot most of the race until I saw my daughter and gave her some of my stuff. Felt better immediately
• My Garmin worked fine all race but for some reason would not recognize and download here at home, after about 100 downloads with no issue, the one download I really want, no go! I was able to copy the splits from the watch, but no map of the race route for me.
• My fueling plan went awry when I ate a Cliff Bar at mile 4.5 which proceeded to give me GI distress until mile 7.5 when I found a rest room. I would estimate this little snafu cost me 15 minutes.

My positives:

• I was calm at the start plus I felt properly fueled, my hydration was fine, and it remained so throughout the race.
• At no time during the race did I think about quitting, although the GI distress made me very uncomfortable for about 20% of the race.
• My first six miles were 12:04, 12:30, 14:00, 14:23, 13:09, and 13:56. A little faster then I would have liked, but I was very comfortable.
• Mile 12 was 14:07 so I still had something left in the tank.
• I am writing this about 12-14 hours after the race (insomnia) and while my legs are tight, I have no other issues physically.

 The Trailbreaker  

• Getting numbers and chip was a breeze, the start was well organized.
• Race runs the first 2-3 miles and last 2-3 miles on sidewalks in the business section of  Waukesha, which was awkward at times.
• The trails we ran on were nicely paved and clear so that was fine.
• I would personally would have liked to see a few more aid stations, there were only 3 for a total of 5 on the out and back race course.

Future plans

• I start the Fox Valley marathon training on the 22nd of this month, with a slightly different program, three runs a week, Wednesday, Friday and the long run on Sunday. With some weight training in between.
• Two intermediate goals are out there, the Highland Park Half marathon (June 2), and the run portion of the Wacounda triathlon (July 28th)

New Race Focus

Upon careful reflection I have decided to do the South Shore Half Marathon on the 7th and use the Trailbreaker the day before. Primarily for logistics reasons, its just easier to do it on Sunday rather then Saturday. I do reserve the right to change my mind again based on weather, wind, cold and or other circumstances.

5 Weeks Until my First Half-marathon

Well today's a rest day after the 8 miler yesterday, I am feeling pretty good, no soreness at all. Although I think I ate to much yesterday in response to the giant calorie burn of the run.

The next few weeks I will average 18 miles (long run 6 miles), 22 miles (long run 10 miles), 20 miles (long run 8 miles) and 14 miles (long run 5 miles) follows the race week, where I do 7 miles of short days leading up to the race on April 6.

I am also putting a sprinkling of weight training into the program twice a week generally on Mondays and Wednesday. I will have a more organized program of weight training during my 20 week program leading up to the marathon I intend to run. Right now I am looking at a program that will have runs a week (Tuesday, Thursday and long run Sunday). The weekly mileage peaks at 37 miles, currently my thinking will is to use light weights on Wednesday and then work on legs on Friday, giving me a day of leg rest before the long run. Then on Saturday I would do some stretching and pylometrics, although I might do this on Mondays.

The running portion of this is the prime importance, so if I need rest it will come out of the weight training portion of the program.

So this week the program is:

• 60 minutes on Tuesday at an easy pace
• 40 minutes on Wednesday
• 50 minutes tempo run on Friday
• 30 minutes on Saturday
• Long run of 6 miles

So the total for the week, should be between 18-21 miles depending on my pace during the week.

Todays long run

I ran a solid 8 miles at a nice slow pace today. Woke up at 5:00 am and had two slices of toast with cream cheese and then a Gatorade G1 series prime, and was on the treadmill at 5:35. I also had two G2 series Gatorade drinks which I sipped at the mile marks. Sadly I ran out around mile 7, but since I only ran 8 it was not so bad.

I ran at a 16 minute mile pace for the first half, and a 15 minute mile pace for the second half. A negative split! The negative split is always my goal in these runs, even though these are long slow base building workouts.

I also monitored my heart rate on the treadmills heart rate monitor. I was steady in the 120's all the way out to about mile 5 when it drifted up to about 135 by the end of the run. So today, overall, was quite positive, with 33 days to the half-marathon I am comfortable in the knowledge that I can run 13.1 miles, my time might not be as impressive but I do have some speedier short runs coming up this week. Capped by a long run of 6 miles next Sunday and then a 10 miler the Sunday after that, and then I back off my miles in preparation for the half on April 6th.

Post race, I have some soreness in my left arch, which I am treating with some ice and then will stretch out the arch using some arch exercises I just found online.

Trailbreaker Half Marathon

So I finally pinpointed a half marathon to point towards. I decided on the Trailbreaker Half marathon in Waukesha, Wisconsin on April 6.

There is approximately 9 miles of improved/asphalt trails (including the Fox River Trail & Glacial Drumlin Trail). The trail is subject to only gentle grades with the scenic views of the historic City of Waukesha, the Fox River and the Kettle Moraine scenery of southeast Wisconsin countryside. The trail crosses city streets and country roads.

It seems pretty low key and without a massive amount of people plus its a 930am start so we can drive up. Also if weather or injury pops up, it has day of race registration as well.

As a back up there are a couple of other half marathons the week afterwards relatively nearby as well.