Chips and Salsa Half Marathon & the road to NYC (Week 11)

Race week! Half Marathon race week that is, and it's at altitude, so it doesn't really feel like a race, but it fits in perfect for my marathon training, as I wanted to get in about 13-15 miles at marathon pace. Granted, this half marathon wasn't paced perfectly like workout, and money was on the line, so I raced it to a certain degree...

Well, the week starts off pretty easy with some mileage and one workout of an 8 mile continuous tempo run on the river, then a few regular mileage days followed by the Sunday extravaganza!

The workout on Wednesday was good old fashion tempo run of 8 miles. The pace was pretty even, for the most part, and the splits were (5:33, 5:22, 5:15, 5:26, 5:17, 5:16, 5:24, 5:18). That left me pretty tired for a few days, but with just enough energy to be ready to go on Sunday... The Chips and Salsa half marathon has turned into a classic meeting place for me since I've moved here. It's been a great experience and usually pays top 3; which I've come in 3rd the last two times I've run it in 2008 and 2010. This time, I was looking for a bigger check and a faster time; hopefully the better time would come first and the check would just follow. And it did, as I ran away with the victory and lead our Track Club to a 1-2-3 overall sweep! The Dukes Track Club ran a great race that day as Kris Houghton put's it best in our Dukes Track Club Blog. I have my splits as follows (5:06, 5:00, 5:06, 5:09, 5:14, 5:16, 5:07, 5:15, 5:25, 5:21, 5:26, 5:06) and one mile in there is missing...? Well, I finished with a time of 1:08:22, and good enough for that 1st place victory, a nice check, and a sweet metal plate made in Turkey!

Week 11

Mon - am. 10 miles easy

Tue - am. 10 miles easy / pm. 4 miles easy

Wed - am. 8 mile tempo (5:33, 5:22, 5:15, 5:26, 5:17, 5:16, 5:24, 5:18) total 12 miles / pm. 8 miles easy

Thur - am. 8 miles easy / pm. 12 miles easy

Fri - am 8 miles easy / pm. 6 miles easy

Sat - am. 12 miles med / pm. 4 miles easy

Sun - am. Chips and Salsa 1/2 Marathon 1:08:22 / pm. 6 miles easy

Total: 116 miles