My initial goal was 3:10, then I readjusted it to 3:05 since training was going well.
On race day, I was hot (in singlet) while waiting for the start, it didn't seems too promising..
First miles felt a little too hard at my projected MP, so I relaxed a bit trying to go to the half below 3:10 pace. I hit a few seconds below 1:34, but by that time the heat was getting me, and I clearly felt I was on the edge. I tried to cool down as much as possible by pouring water on my head as often as possible, but it didn't help much. Mile 16-21 were not too bad, I'm a good uphill runner, but I was spent on the last five, very tight and hot.
Lessons learned (sorry if they can be obvious to you:
- if the race is on road and mostly downhill, I need to
train in the same conditions a significative amount of
time, with race day shoes too. My training has been
almost 100 % on trails or on the track, and I never run
downhills on my DS Racer. End result: the race felt
unnatural and tight on my legs, I never really relaxed
and got a fluid stride, too much bumping.
- I didn't have a real feel for MP during the race, I kept
losing time and accelerate later when I noticed the slip,
so probably I was working harder than I should have. Need
to have more/longer MP work next time (Pfiz has just a 12
and 14 miler at MP), maybe I'll try an 18/20 miler too.
Very nice support from the crowd, met a lot of interesting and good people (including a lady from the Costarica national team), compared a few training notes. Fun overall.
Thanks to wstuart for the threads, it really helped to see what you guys were doing.