Training
I had the Syracuse half on the calendar since last fall (even before that, but it was delayed due the pandemic and scheduling issues) and started the training block over the final days of 2021. The goals were to help our team win the age group title and keep us in the running for the national Grand Prix for 2022, and to run a 90% age grade.
It was a good build-up going from the 50s to low 70s, while mixing in cross country skiing once or twice a week from late December through mid-February. Also added some short workouts on the spin bike to add a bit of volume to get some blood flow to reduce soreness between training sessions.
I also did six weeks of double threshold sessions, starting at 10-15 minutes marathon pace type work in the morning and then 10-15 minutes of threshold to 10K effort hill reps in the afternoon. By the end of that phase the workout were 30 minutes of progression reps, and about 15-20 minutes of hills in the afternoon. I stopped the doubles in early February, once my long runs got into the 2+ hour range, and shifted to a more marathon-type training mode, focusing on long run and mid-long runs every week, with some tempo training worked in.
Another thing that made this training block a bit different was that I did not have any actual races or race effort time-trials. I did a 10K at threshold effort in January (39:45), a 20K xc ski race in February, and intended on 5K tune up on the weekend the half but that turned into a 3.8 mile tempo/fartlek due to poor course marking in an event where everyone ran off the course.
Pre-race
Arrived to Syracuse Friday afternoon with Adam, one of my teammates, and we drove the course on Saturday. I’m glad we did that, because it’s nice to know what’s ahead on race day. Off schedule from the travel, I woke up at 3 AM (1 AM Colorado time) but did get in about 5 hours of sleep ahead of that so it wasn’t too bad. There were heavy rains Saturday night, but we hit it just about right with cool (mid-40s), damp and cloudy, but with a steady wind.
Race Day
Wore half tights, t-shirt, under my singlet, arm warmers, and gloves. I probably didn’t need the arm warmers but if it had rained they would have been useful.
Settled into 6:20s for the first 2 miles (including big uphill). 5K split was 19:20. And 10K was 38:18. I averaged 6:10s through 7 or 8 miles on the rolling neighborhood streets. This was on goal pace, but also at that feeling where it’s comfortably fast but you are also wondering if you can hold it. I avoided any big surges. Tried to tuck in on the stretches with the headwind, but also set the pace a couple times. There were about a 4-5 of us trading places.
There was a long downhill at 7.4 to 8.4 miles and that was just over 6:00 pace–it probably would have been faster but was into a headwind. Miles 9-11 were flat and not too bad although I was also just trying to hang on. 15K was 58:08 and 10 mile just over 62.
Our pace started heating up with our pack of 3 after mile 12, and that was a 6:00, fastest of the day. I was hanging on pretty well, but with just about 200 or 250 meters to go, my nemesis dry heaves started acting up and I had to slow just to finish. I’d spend the rest of the day with a bad stomach.
Post-race
Cheered my teammates in (they did 1:26 and 1:29) and we did a couple miles for a cool down. They headed inside and I had planned to do another 5-10 minutes but got dizzy so stumbled back to the convention center for food and the awards.
We won the team title by several minutes (top 3 score, based on total time) and we have a strong lead in the series. One or two more wins and we can lock up the title this year. That was number one goal. Added bonus was a 90% age grade and 2nd overall for that (only three men from all age categories did that on Sunday). So yeah, the trip was worth it and some wooziness was a decent trade-off.
rrunnin234 