The race was the Ole Man River Half Marathon in New Orleans. It’s an up and back course run entirely on the Mississippi River levee. I thought it would be a nice race with views of the river. It didn’t work out that way. For one thing, except for the first (and last) 100 meters or so you can’t see the river. Plus, it was ungodly hot on race day.
What a difference a day makes. Race day (Sunday): The temp at the start of the race (8:00 a.m.) was 71 degrees with 75% humidity. By the end of the race it was close to 80. The next day the temp didn’t climb above 50 degrees until around noon.
My goal is to run under 1:30:00 in the Mardi Gras (half) Marathon at the end of February. I decided to run this race to test my fitness and see how close I am. Despite the temps, I decided to go out at goal pace (6:52 m/m) and see how long I could hold on. My watch either can’t recall splits, or I don’t know how to work it, but here’s what I can remember.
The first mile I ran at what felt like a comfortable pace. I was surprised to see my split was 6:24. So it’s hot, and I started too fast. In other words, I’m in trouble. After mile one I slowed down a little and maintained a pretty good pace up to the turnaround at the 6.5 mile mark. I hit the half way point ten seconds ahead of my goal pace, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I basically struggled back running progressively slower each mile. At the ten mile mark, I walked for a minute. I walked for another minute at the 11 mile mark. I tried to run the rest of the way, but I had nothing left. At about the 12.5 mile mark, I walked for another 30 seconds, before finally running to the finish. I ran the out in 44:50, and the back in 51:30 for a final time of 1:36:20.
Bottom line is that I didn’t adjust for the conditions. Plus I trained too many miles on the treadmill and hadn’t stayed acclimated to the heat (as previously discussed). The good news is that I still got a six minute PR, and since this race had Weight Classes, I took second in the 190-210 pound weight class and won a nice mug.
I’m disappointed that I had to walk, but if I hadn’t taken a few walk breaks, I probably would have either not finished or ended up walking the entire last mile. Overall, believe it or not, I gained some confidence from this race. I have some work to do, specifically get off the treadmill and hit the roads and work on pacing, but I think I have a good shot at reaching my goal in February.
Thanks for reading,
Bart
