Race Recap: Baltimore Half Marathon

Baltimore Half Marathon
October 18, 2014

State: #19 (Maryland)
Lifetime: #48

Another race recap that is very overdue!  Since it was so long ago, I'll keep it pretty short and to the point.

We headed down to the race on Friday afternoon (it was on a Saturday AM) and after checking into the hotel, headed to the expo.  The expo was held at the convention center which is right near the Inner Harbor (which is also where the start is).  Our hotel was maybe a 10 minute walk from the expo (and less to the start!).

The nice thing about this race is that the marathon starts first and then the half joins them in the middle - well, it was nice for us, I am not sure the marathons like us joining fresh when they were at like 17.  I know I wouldn't have!

The half was supposed to start at 9:45, but because there had been a chance the Orioles might have had a home playoff game, so they moved it an hour earlier.  Even an hour earlier, 8:45 was still a pretty nice start time!  I got to sleep in and race - love it.

After a short walk to the start from our hotel, we got in the corrals.  The race isn't huge and the corrals had plenty of room.  The race started promptly at 8:45 and off we went!

Based on the course profile, I knew the race would be hilly.  I just wanted to take it easy and go based on how I felt.  I felt pretty good the whole time and was able to keep my pace faster then I expected.

The course went through a variety of different Baltimore areas and was a great way to see the city.  I admit, I haven't seen much more then the Inner Harbor.  I really don't remember a ton of specifics (this is what happens when you wait 2+ months to write a recap...). 

The course was hilly, but only a couple where really bad.  I just tried to let me legs dictate the pace.  My continued speedwork seems to be really paying off!

The very end of the race runs right by Camden Yard which I won't lie, was definitely something I was looking forward too.  It was a highlight for me!

After finishing and collecting my medal, I made my way to the finishers food.  This was awesome!  They had a wide variety of food and let the runners take as much as they wanted.  The volunteers were really nice and helpful.  Races couldn't do it without the volunteers, so thank you!


They also have a nice finishers festival with food vendors, a beer tent (all finishers got 2 free beers) and bands.  It was a really nice day out and perfect to spend some time hanging out!

Overall, I really liked this race.  It was well run, the course was challenging but not impossible and had a fun post race party.  If you are looking for a race in Maryland, I recommend it!

Results
Official: 13.1 miles, 1:53:00, 8:37 pace
Garmin: 13.32 miles, 1:52:59, 8:29 pace

Training recap week of 10/13 (Wine and Dine Week 2)

How was everyone's weekend?  Sorry for the bit of radio silence, last week ended up being busy at work and you know how that goes. 

I am continuing to do speedwork and man... I both hate it and love it at the same.  But it's necessary to get faster.  This past weekend, I was in Baltimore to run the Baltimore Half Marathon (state #19).  It was a challenging course (who knew Baltimore was so hilly?), but I ended up running my third fastest half marathon.  I was pretty excited and ready to do some more work.  Maybe on a flatter course, another PR is possible?  I'll have a full race recap soon, but I am very happy about the outcome.

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.06 mi, 29:00, 9:28 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: 3 x 0.5 mi repeats (at 7:50-8:00 pace)
Actual: 5 miles total
Paces: 7:43, 7:45, 7:24

These repeats were tough and I ended up doing all above pace.  Thinking I might need to reconsider my speedwork pace. 

Thursday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.02 mi, 29:13, 9:40 pace

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: Baltimore Half Marathon
Actual: 13.32 mi, 1:52:58, 8:29 pace

Sunday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Total miles: 24.41

Total October miles: 68.31

Miles until goal (1,250): 224.59

Training recap week of 10/6 (Wine and Dine Half Week 1)

This was a very busy weekend for me.  I got 12 miles done (in the rain even!) and then yesterday, my niece (with my brother and sister-in-law) came to NYC for the day.  We spent the day playing in Central Park and the Children's Museum of Manhattan.  Let me tell you - 6 year olds are exhausting!  I was so tired; endless energy.

Otherwise, I had a good week of training.  It was nice taking the summer easy, but it's time to get back in the saddle.  I'm starting to incorporate some hill training and speedwork.  Felt good to get some hills done!  Next week is the Baltimore Half Marathon!

Monday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Tuesday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.00 mi, 28:37, 9:32 pace

Wednesday
Scheduled: 5 x Harlem Hill repeats (at 7:50-8:00 pace)
Actual: 4.5 miles total
Paces: 8:26, 7:41, 7:47, 7:51, 7:53

First one was a bit tough, but the others were on pace!  I apparently forgot what that pace up hill felt like. 

Thursday
Scheduled: 3 miles easy
Actual: 3.04 mi, 28:46, 9:28 pace

Friday
Scheduled: Rest
Actual: Rest

Saturday
Scheduled: 12 miles long run pace
Actual: 12.02 mi, 2:00:09, 10:00 pace

Sunday
Scheduled: 2-3 miles easy
Actual:2.5 mi, 24:32, 9:48 pace

Total miles: 25.07

Total October miles: 43.91

Miles until goal (1,250): 249.00

2 on Tuesday

I mentioned last week that I had joined Oiselle's The Flock and my race singlet came this past week!  It also came with one of Oiselle's Spike drawstring bags.  While I am really excited to race in it, I won't be wearing it for Tower of Terror - the draw of a costume at runDisney races is too much!  I do have an Oiselle tattoo to wear for the race.  But I will be wearing it for Baltimore!

 

I just started reading Outlander (I know, I am seriously behind!).  I've only just started it, but so far I'm a big fan.  It's a huge book (close to 800 pages on my iPad) and just book 1 of a series... so basically I've got a lot of reading to do.  Anyone else read it?

2014 Goals - Mid Year Check-in

We are officially halfway through 2014 (holy cow is it going by fast!) and similar to last year, I thought I'd do a check-in on how my goals for 2014 are coming along.

Complete the Dopey Challenge 
This is a pretty obvious goal as I spent most of 2013 preparing for this.  I can't believe it is only 8 days away!
COMPLETED
It was nice to start the year off completing a goal right at the beginning.  In case you missed them, you can read my recaps here: 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon, Final Thoughts.  It's been almost 6 months and I still have trouble believing that I did all that and how well the marathon went (second fastest at the time, third fastest post Grandma's).

PR in the Half Marathon 
My current PR is a 1:51:52 set back in 2010.  I ran a 1:55:03 this past September, so I am hoping to make this happen.
COMPLETED
We can check this one off the list!  I set a new Half Marathon PR at the Nike DC Women's Half with a 1:50:04.  Since I reached it, wouldn't it be fun to get under 1:50 sometime in the fall?  Challenges are good for you.

Check 5 states off my list 
I've already got 3 states on the schedule (Kentucky, DC, Oregon).  I have a couple of ideas for the other 2 states and will let you know once they are finalized.
ON TRACK
3 states down and 2 to go.  Eugene is already on the schedule and since we are talking 50 States, I can tell you all that as of Monday, I am officially registered for state #5 for 2014 - Maryland.  I'll be running the Baltimore Half Marathon on October 18th.  

Race a marathon 
I am not running the Disney marathon with a time goal with Dopey going on, so I would like to actually race a marathon in 2014.  I already have an idea for a race and will let you know once it's been decided.
COMPLETED
As you might remember, I just raced Grandma's Marathon during which I set a new marathon PR (which wasn't even a goal, so I feel extra good about this one).

Run 1,250 miles total 
I ran a total of 1,145.77 in 2013 according to my Garmin, but I did a lot of my Jan-Mar weekday runs on the treadmill (without my Garmin) and they are not counted in that number.  So I think this doable.
ON TRACK
As of July 1, I have run 689.90 miles or 55.19% of the way towards having this goal completed.  I'm a little ahead, which is good since I won't be training for a marathon in the fall and won't be putting as many miles in.  I have to do about 93.35 miles a month, which I think is  (probably) doable.  Got lots of halves to train for so it should be fun for the second half of the year!  This was always a stretch goal, so if I come close but don't reach it, I'm okay with it.

Commit to core work 
This is one area I have definitely been slacking on.  I really want to get back to this and to get it started, I am taking part of the Athleta 30-Day Plank Challenge.  You should join me!
SLACKING
There had to be one I wasn't doing well in right?  I started off well, doing the Plank Challenge for the first week (wow, it's sad that I just said 1 week was doing well).  Then Dopey came up and I didn't want to do anything that would interfere with that and then I just didn't go back to it.  I would do some ab work here and there, but nothing major.

This is one I definitely want to work on for the rest of the year (and I'm adding stretching in.  Man, am I inflexible).  So to help me accomplish those goals, I am going to be doing PiYo for the next 60 days (I officially started this Monday).  PiYo is a fast paced yoga-pilates combo from Chalene Johnson and Beachbody (the company that does P90X).  It's low impact (which will be good for my knees and joints) and focuses on core and flexibility, two things I am in desperate need of improving.  Moving foward, you'll see PiYo included in my weekly training recaps.  I'll still be running, so some days it will be doubles, but I think committing to this will help me get faster in the long run.  For most of the 60 days I'm doing PiYo, I won't be doing any speed work so it'll mostly all be easy runs.  I might throw in a couple of tempo runs to change it up, but not at race pace or anything.  Just slightly faster.  {Side bar: in case you are wondering, I bought and paid for PiYo myself.  I'm not being sponsored or anything - although that would be nice, right?}

Not too bad half way through!