My First Half Marathon, Austin LiveStrong 2011

My First Half Marathon

            February 20, 2011.  13.1 miles.  The LiveStrong Austin Marathon.  Those were the details of what I endured that Sunday in February.  I would like to document here all the steps I took in my lead up to and during my first ever half marathon.  I have been running since I completed the Beach Body Insanity program in early December and have been tracking my running sessions using the Nike+ GPS app on the iPhone.  I started doing this when I read about

Nike and Apple’s pairing on the socialization of fitness and health related technologies.   I originally used the built in Nike+ app on the iPhone using the Bluetooth sensor for the shoes and have even gone so far to buy the Nike+ Remote and the Nike+ Sport Band.  Of all these I think the GPS app does a far superior job.  It is able to track the run just as accurately as the original app but also tracks your run on a map with color coded pace views as well.  I really enjoy the customization you get with the voice cues.  You are able to select when you’d like the voice commands to tell you your running progress -  with my selections being at all mile markers as well as every 5 minutes.  This will come in handy as I talk about the race itself. 

            Until I ran this half marathon the longest I’d ever run before was a decent 11 miles, which I did on January 15^th.  It was this run that made me realize it was actually possible for me to complete a half marathon, a feat that I had before thought to be outside of my body’s ability.  In the runs leading up to the 11 miles, my right knee had been hurting increasingly more and more, and my arches also began to hurt.  It was these pains that seemingly had put that half marathon out of my reach.  During my 11 mile run though, I had been able to overcome those obstacles and only went out that day expecting to run 6 miles and pushed it to 11.   I thought if I could go out and run 11 miles without any prior preparations at all, then if I prepared properly, I could surely tackle a half marathon.   The next evening I registered for the Austin Half Marathon and began “training”.  My training consisted of two 5k’s a week later and again 3 days after that.  The last run did what I deemed considerable damage to my knee and enough injury to make me want to take a risky, but necessary, 2 week running hiatus 2 weeks out from the race.   I wouldn’t run again until Feb. 12^th, 8 days before the race!  I knew if I intended to run on race day and not just donate my registration fee then some serious strategy was needed.  I had figured in order to taper properly, I needed to get in at least one decently long run before the race to remind my body what it was like to run a significant distance.  I ended up logging a 6.5 miler the Saturday before the race which caused some not unexpected soreness - especially since it had been a full 2 weeks since I ran last and most activity except for a good 2 and 1 hour stints on the elliptical a week before.   After this 6.5 miler, I knew I had 7 days to go before race day, and I needed at least 2 more runs in to taper down and to also give me a good exercise to push out some remaining muscle soreness.   I decided I needed more than a 5k, but less than a 10k and ended up splitting it with a 4 miler run on the Tuesday before the race.   This was a pretty painful run because I doubled up on socks since the previous run caused a good blister on my toe.   This also had the unfortunate side effect of giving me a pretty nasty case of shin splints that almost did me in.  I also used a new knee brace that I was trying to experiment with the settings, so it would hurt me the least.  I found out that no matter what I did the knee brace was definitely not going to be a go on race day.  It would always end up hurting me more than the knee would without the brace.  Nevertheless, I now had 4 days until race day.  I was left with the decision to run back to back days (something I’d never done) or take a day off to run on Thursday and then only getting 2 days rest.  Since I normally take 3 days to rest between runs and had never done back to back runs before, I calculated that the lesser of the two evils would be to take a quick and easy 1 mile run on Wednesday right after the 4 miler.  This would pay back in dividends for me by eliminating virtually all residual soreness from the 10.5 miles in the last 4 days.

            I was now ready to plan my schedule out for race day.  Since I had taken a Spectracell lab test a couple months ago, I started taking self-prescribed supplements.  These supplements were Vitamin C, CoQ10, Chromium, Vitamin B12, and an extra omega 3-6 which is just great by itself.  In the week leading up to the race I doubled up on my dosages and later decided to triple the dosages on race day to prepare my system for the pounding my legs were sure to endure.  I also had extensively planned for my race day pain by logging in the notes section of the Nike+ GPS app all the pains that I had experienced during my prior runs.  Through this I knew that during long runs my arches hurt on both feet, both hips started to hurt (the right much worse than the left), I developed shin splints (which were a new symptom possibly from the weight of the two socks), and the “widow-maker”, my dreaded right knee was now in pain.  My ace in the hole as a chiropractor was of course my knowledge in how to treat sport injuries and myofascial injuries as well.  I had performed some INTENSE self therapy using the Graston technique on my knees, my arches and both hips to counteract the impending pains I knew I’d experience.  I did this on Tuesday and again the Saturday before the race.  Race morning I also used the Kinesiotape (KT) to tape up both anterior arches of my feet, the tibialis anterior muscle, the front of both hips, the iliopsoas muscle on the right, and did a SOLID KT on my right knee that essentially gave me a knee brace with the tape.  I had also planned on further shoring up my bum knee with a good brace of flextape around the KT on my knee.  This would ensure that any, and hopefully all pains, had been addressed properly to cement my completion of the race and not have to DQ myself due to injury. 

            So far I had my running training accomplished, my injury preparation planned for, and now all that was left was to plan out my diet pre-race and my vitamin schedule.  I addressed dehydration by returning to my weight loss water goal of 1 gallon of water a day 3 days before the race.  This would hopefully fend off any muscle cramping and also decrease post race soreness.  Since I had been doubling up my vitamin dosages, I packaged up my vitamins in date and time labeled packs.  I would take 3 dosages of Vitamin C 3,000% RDA, 3 doses of Vitamin B12 66,666% RDA, 2 doses of Chromium 500% RDA, and 3 doses of my omega 3-6’s and 3 doses of my CoQ10.  I also added in a prophylactic 1000 mg of ibuprofen to split before and after the race in order to fend off post race pains.  I then packed a bottle of a mixed protein shake and greens drinks to get carbs, protein, and energy to replenish my lost nutrients after the race.  I also purchased 2 GU gel carb packs to consume during the race, one w/ caffeine, and one without.  I would consume the caffeine pack last as the coffee pre-race was enough to carry me until then (this was only noted the morning of the race that one had caffeine and one did not, thanks Corrie J).  I decided it best to take them at the 10k mark, at the15k mark to help me get over a “hump” and then again prior to a “wall”.  I also planned on getting in a cup of black coffee pre-race for the caffeine to act as an ergogenic aid on top of the vitamins.  Pre-race carb load was planned for the night before at the wonderful Italian restaurant Buca di Beppo.  I had an order of salad, plain spaghetti with marinara on the side with grilled chicken and some chocolate birthday cake because who can resist cake???  I had been extra vigilant of not consuming any dairy for the 24 hours prior to the race to ensure I wouldn’t come down with some IBS.  I planned on eating a delicious kolache race morning to load up with simple and complex carbs at 5:00 am and a banana, which I’d eat at 6:00 am for the simple carbs.  I then took my vitamins with water at 6:15 am, so I could have the B vitamin load in my system, followed by a small cup of straight black coffee at 6:30 am.  This planning, theoretically, should prepare me for a run of a lifetime. 

            Gun goes off!  Following a few short speeches by an Olympic medal winner, and the one and only Lance Armstrong, a quick fireworks display signals the start of the race.  My estimated completion time based off of my 11 mile run was for a 2:15-2:20 time.  This would give me about a 10 minute per mile average, which after my recent knee pains seemed very possible.  I knew starting out that I needed to be sure to PACE myself to not get too caught up in the excitement of the start only to be burnt out later.  I wanted to run a 9:30 min/mile pace.  Starting out I tried my hardest to run slow, but at the 5 minute Nike+ update I got a voice update that I was pacing an 8:30!  There was no way that was going to play out well, so I slowed my pace down drastically hoping I could get it back to my normal pace between 9:12 and 10:00.  This worked out ok as my 1-mile split ended up being a 9:02.  Although this pace was still considerably fast for me, it didn’t feel too bad as I was still feeling a pretty good rush from the caffeine and the vitamins, and I felt at a pretty good pace.  I finished mile 2 at 8:59 which was still a little faster than mile 1 but ended up corresponding to one of the downhill portions of the race.  Miles 3,4,5, and 6 all ended up being a pretty good pace of 9:21, 9:40, 9:22, and 9:21 and equated to the greatest elevation climb of a little over 200 vertical feet bringing me to the highest elevation on the course at 752 feet above sea level.  At the end of mile 6, I was feeling REALLY good and had not felt one pang of pain or had one setback with my pacing.  I was really feeling like this was going to be a cakewalk for me.  I had never run with water or energy packs when I ran at home.  However, I knew I’d need them for this race, and this was when I took my first energy pack.  It tasted really good and definitely gave me a quick burst of energy.  I used the next water stop to grab a drink of water to wash my mouth out.   One thing I really like about the Nike+ app is that along with the 5-minute audible cues and the mile cues it also announces the halfway point which it did for me at 6.55 miles into the run and at 1:02 in my race.  It was at this point, I was really thinking if I paced myself I could actually run in under 2:00 hours if I held my pace.  I wouldn’t try to quicken my pace, but I felt it was definitely in sight. 

            The second half of my race was pretty easy going as it began with a pretty steady decline down hill.  Miles 7 to 8 went from 762 ft. -561 ft. of elevation which would mean a faster split for these miles of 8:54 and 9:13.  At mile 8, I used the water station to get more electrolytes in me because I knew I’d need them at this point.  The middle miles of 9, 10 and 11 actually ended up being a much slower pace as I had begun to feel a pain in my right hip that started bugging me.  However, I had found a good pace, and these mile splits showed it as they were 9:51, 9:51 and 9:50.  Mile 9 was another designated carb gel point, and I quickly dispensed of the caffeinated gel pack.  Mile 10 I washed it down with water and again at mile 11, I chased it with Gatorade.  Mile 12 rounded a pretty good sized hill with a good descent, so this picked my pace up a bit and ended up giving me a split of 9:07, the best mile time since the beginning of the race.  My overall time was also at a 1:52 overall, meaning if I was able to finish this last mile in less than 8 minutes I could pull out a sub 2:00 hour half marathon.  It was a stretch for sure but definitely a goal to reach for.  That was before the dreaded Lamar bridge hill.  This was the point where I encountered the most walkers, and the point where I had to really dig deep and pump my arms for all it was worth to keep my pace down to a course slow 9:52 min/ mile.  Whew! I had 1.1 miles left to go.  It was mostly all downhill from here and the part with the densest fans of the course.  I could hear the announcer yelling the results over the intercom as the runners crossed the finish line.  I was practically sprinting at this point and actually reached my fastest time of the whole course.  As I’m writing this I realized that this also corresponded to the only point in the run that I felt a good cramp pop up in my right calf.  My pace during this portion of the run was a blistering 6:59 per mile!!  I had to drop my speed, so I wouldn’t cramp out at mile 12.5.  However, I still pushed the pace out super hard and really tried to push through my stride to finish out strong.  I didn’t really know where the finish line was, and there were actually several turns right at the end. But I could hear the announcer, so I kept pushing faster because I didn’t know if the end was behind the next turn or the next.  This ended up helping me in the long run because my 13-mile split was a course high 8:02 per mile! The last .1 miles was a coast for me, and my total time ended up being a 2:02:27.  I had finished my first half marathon!

            I finished the race feeling really good, but I definitely needed to have a good stretch.  I ate a banana with water, protein, Gatorade and my pre mixed protein/ greens mix immediately.  I then had another bottle of water to make sure I re-hydrated.  My left arch had begun to hurt just a tad towards the very end of the race, and my right second toe started feeling like it was getting a blister.  But that was about it.  My knee didn’t hurt at all even after I’d just given it a finale of a last mile with an 8-min/ mile pace.  Overall, I think my planning leading up to the race had been spot on.  I think I made good diet choices, good ergogenic aid choices, and the only thing I’d do over again if I had to would be to not take such a big break in training before the race.  In my case with my injury, it was kind of a must.  Hindsight being 20/20, I think that’s the only place that left something to be desired as far as overall race preparation goes.  It was a great run for me.  I felt great doing it and really feel like I achieved something.  If you had told me a year ago that I’d have run in a half marathon and completed it, I would have said you were crazy!

This entry was posted on 3. March 2011 at 21:18 and is filed under Exercise, Graston, Chiropractic, Kinesiotape. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.