Did I Stick to the Plan?

Last night I had a quick post about my race plan. Today was the race so let’s see how well I did sticking to the plan!

I did lay my clothes out, foam roll and I was in bed by 10:30 as I wanted to be. I slept pretty well, waking up a few times, as is typical the night before a race!

My alarm went off at 7am and I got up and got stuff around as planned. Breakfast was a banana with some yogurt and a little granola, and a bit of peanut butter. I drank at least 18oz of water. My morning routine was pretty simple, just making sure I was dressed, had my nutrition and hydration, and my post-race clothes. I headed out just after 8:30am, drinking my Generation UCAN smoothie on my drive as planned. I got to the Plaza of the Rockies parking garage (after winding around some streets due to closures for the race!) and within a few minutes I had my race number. I chatted with some Pikes Peak Tri Club members who were also running, and also ran into a few Team In Training athletes. Packet pick-up was indoors, which made it very comfortable! No complaints on indoor restrooms before a race as well.

I did a few dynamic warm-ups inside, and then about 10 minutes before the start I headed out for a quick jog warm-up with Nate from the Tri Club. Local races are a lot of fun because there are a lot of friendly and familiar faces out there.

At 10am the whistle blew and we were off! My goal was to get to as close to a 8:00 min/mile pace for my 5 minute run segments and then walk. And that’s what I did. I probably started off a bit too fast (the downhill start didn’t help that). 20 “intervals” of 5 min walk and 30s. I sipped at my bottle (filled with Tri-Berry Nuun) and got water at a couple of the aid stations.  I had half a gel with around 3.5 miles to go. I hit the finish line at 1:50:31, average pace, 8:24 minutes per mile. My 5 minute run segments ranged from 7:53-8:26 paces. My target was 8:00-8:15 paces. So I’d have to say it was a success, as I was only a little more than 2 minutes over my half-marathon PR, a race for which I trained a lot more!

See the splits here on Garmin Connect. Here’s the GPS file on TrainingPeaks.

My post-race events went mostly to plan, though a slight deviation. The gear check wasn’t at the finish, so I had to walk a few blocks to Jack Quinn’s to get my jacket, which had my car key. Then I had to go back to my car in a garage a block away, grab my dry clothes and walk back to Jack Quinn’s to change. But once in my compression tights (under my jeans) and some snacks in my belly I was quite happy. The post-race celebration was a nice social with some Tri Club members (two of whom PR’d significantly) and some friends and a $5 JQ breakfast plate of eggs, toast, potatoes, and bacon along with a $3 pint of Odell’s 5 Barrel Pale Ale.

So a little bit of race-day planning made for a successful day! For more details on the race, check out my full race report.

Did you race this weekend? How did it go?