For some reason I decided to register for the IRONMAN Timberman 70.3 later this year. I’ve never done a triathlon of any length before, so I decided to jump right in and see how things go. At some point my brain must have switch gears and figured out that I should really put some effort into this, or I was going to be in for a long and most likely not enjoyable day.
One of the first things I wanted to get out of the way was working on the run. I ran track in high school, but I was a sprinter. After high school I ran a little and have even done a few 5K races. Not sure that is the makings of a good half marathon race. In mid-February I started to train for the Willi Whammer 1/2 Marathon on April 26th. I started easy and just kept slowly adding distance and managed to get to the point where I was up to 11 miles comfortable.
Well race day came around and I was greeted to pouring rain and low 40’s for a temperature. Basically I could not have asked for better weather, yeah right. Well I decided to make the best of it and just go out and run. I had originally been targeting a 2 hour time, but with the weather I figured I was going to slip a little on my target time. Most of the hills were located in the first 6 miles of the race. I’m not sure if it was due to the temperature or what, but I really struggled with the down hills. My shins were killing my ever time the road went down and I was just about walking. Fortunately I felt strong on the up hills and flats or that first half would have taken forever. The second half of the run was just a case of keeping a steady pace and try having a little fun, which I’m not really sure that I pulled off that last part.
All in all I was happy with my time even though I missed my target of 2 hours. I’m not sure when the next half marathon is going to be, but I am going to be lining up at a duathlon the following weekend.
Splits:
- Mile 4.2: 0:39:24
- Mile 6.6: 1:02:07
- Mile 9.7: 1:32:32
- Finish: 2:04:48
- Pace: 9:32/Mile