Ming!!!

This morning I pounded out 13.1 miles in the Queens Half-Marathon. The heat was lugubrious, with a start time temperature of 86, and the assurance that it would hit 90 degrees during the race. Despite it all, I made a decent showing. I did the half-marathon in 1:40:46, which equates to doing 7:42s.

Here are my unofficial results per Garmin, which I forgot to stop after I finished (but it may have stopped on its own when I finished):

Unofficial Race Results per Garmin

As you can see from my splits, my performance started to diminish inside the 5th mile. There, we were faced with concrete streets and slight rolling hills, plus limited cover from sunlight which drove up the body heat a bit. My performance really started to deteriorate around the 10th mile, even though I took in water and Gatorade nearly every station. Around mile 10 I had a PowerGel with 1x caffeine. Per the splits, it didn’t seem to help me unless its payoff is 2 miles later when it may have helped me sustain increased speed as I tried to catch up to two fast girls, one of whom took a bathroom break then caught back up to me!

I never caught them but I finished just behind them. Last year I did “this race” in 1:27:30, or 6:40s. The thing is, “this race” last year was a) in September, b) substantially cooler, and c) on a completely different course. That course was quite a bit hillier but I was in two months’ better shape, too. It’s good to note I pulled off a 6:35 first mile in this race, but I couldn’t sustain it very long. Heat heat heat. I decided I’d tried for 7:05s in this race, or maybe pulling a 1:35. Neither happened, but that’s okay. The heat made me take a minute longer per mile relative to last year’s race (which isn’t a fair relation because I’m not in that kind of shape yet).

I ran shirtless for this race–my first time doing a race without a shirt. There were no problems to report. I do wonder, though, what the difference might be between running mit oder mitaus a shirt. Does the sopping wet shirt keep me cooler and allow me to perform better? Or does the wetness weigh me down? I can’t say. But I did feel freer and more comfortable without the shirt.

And I saw Ming in this race! Ming is an Asian guy with glasses and a ponytail on the Warren Street team whom I saw walking one race last year who eventually beat me. I’d asked him how he finished so strongly and he said “hillwork,” and explained what he did. Around the 10k mark he moved ahead of me. I eventually caught him and talked to him, then (as expected) he left me in the dust a little bit later. It was cool to see him.

As for injuries, nothing to report. My left calf is still very sore but not when I run!–just when I walk. No stabbing ankle pain. I imagine the heat allowed me to “warm up” those areas. I started off this race tipping the scales at 180 lbs., but I ended the race 5 lbs. lighter. That seems pretty standard when I run this distance in this kind of heat. I’m glad I got this race over by 8:45am because I had heard it was supposed to get up to 98 today with a heat index of 103. Egad! Apparently now it’s “only”going to get up to 94.

Gonna take a nap with circulation socks on to recover. I had coconut water and chocolate milk, plus some yogurt with granola and agave nectar for additional protein. I also popped some ibuprofen and 1,500mg magnesium to deal with any restless leg issues. (I also took my morning vitamins upon getting back home.)