Recovery, and on to Tri Training

“Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck -- but, most of all, endurance.” -- James Baldwin

This past Sunday I ran in the 3M Half-Marathon for the first time. They say it is one of the faster runs people can do because it is mostly downhill. This year's run started out with a little wetness on some of the roads early in the run. I had one episode of slippage when a rather obnoxious runner cut me off going around a corner, but other than that the dampness was not a factor.

The first 4 or 5 miles went pretty well. After that, the humidity started kicking in because the sun had come up to warm things up. The temps were pretty decent, but I think because of the humidity there should have been more frequent aid stations with water.

With all the training on the treadmill, I had pretty well figured out that the Performance gel buttons and water was going to be my nutrition plan for the run, and I feel like that worked well for me. 

I managed 2:26:41 for the run, which is about 8 minutes slower than the same distance on the treadmill. I feel pretty good about that, given the pounding the body takes on the pavement. I was thinking the Athlete's HoneyMilk folks were going to be at the finish since they had included a bottle in the pre-race goodie bag. Having a cold bottle afterward makes my recovery so much better. Unfortunately they were not at the Austin race, and I could really feel the difference later. The legs got pretty tight, and the left knee got a little stiff. Note to self: pack a bottle in a mini-cooler with the frozen gel bags, and stick it in the post-race clothing bag.

It may be that I need to put cushion pads in the heels of my shoes to lessen the impact. I will work on that going through training.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the result. My finish was about 50 minutes faster than my run in either of the Half-Iron races, so it will be interesting to see how much better I can do with the 70.3 in Galveston in April... training for the run distance as opposed to training for a sprint might just make a difference.

Now it is time for more swimming and bike time. Getting the bike nutrition nailed down will be a big key in the next month or so.

Pedal On!