#SIOUX FALLS SKEDADDLE 2021 FULL#

Some hills in the first half, and pancake flat the 2nd half. Also soaked under my running rain coat, since it holds in all the sweat. I think they set the course so it would start at the expo site, and finish just after crossing a railroad track - 13.1 miles be damned! I consider myself really good at running the tangents, and my watch said 13.23 miles. Sleet coming down in the last half mile - good times. Dejection sets in, but I maintain that sub-8:00 pace to the finish. Somewhere around mile 11.5, the 140 pacer and his 4 or 5 followers pass me. New goal established - keep every mile under 8:00 pace. I start getting erratic, hitting 8:10 then speeding back up to 7:30, rinse and repeat. About 9.5 miles in, and it's getting really difficult to maintain that 7:30-ish pace. I'd gapped the 1:40 pacer by a good minute, which I was happy with at this point. I'm feeling relatively good, but at about 8 miles into the race, I make the connection that increasing pace for the 2nd 10k isn't happening.

Picked it up to 7:30-ish pace for 8 miles, and a solid 4-5 miles of that was into an increasing headwind, 10mph up to 20mph. If I could hit the last 5k at 7:00 pace, I'd be super excited, and that would be a half-marathon PR just two weeks after beating COVID.įirst mile 7:49, in the rain, then the rain stopped. Plan was to ease into the first mile, get to 10k at about 7:30 pace, then increase that just a bit for 10k, and race the last mile. I really needed to prove to myself that I was indeed progressing toward that marathon in 8 weeks - a BQ is probably gone at this point, having lost about 4 weeks of solid training at a critical time - but possibly a Marathon PR of sub-3:32 is still in play. Apparently 730 runners were registered, but only 490 started/finished. 6:53am, head out to run to the starting line - 0.34 miles - and it's raining and 36 degrees. Back into the hotel room, where I did my drills in the room - high knees, butt-kickers, high skips. 617am, head out for a 2-mile warmup - and it's snowing like crazy - made it 0.94 miles and didn't want to get my stuff all wet before the race start. Race day morning, wake up at 445am, get coffee, and eat breakfast for 7am race start. Expo for packet pickup, 2-mile easy shake-out run with 3x30 second strides, take-out sushi dinner in my hotel room, sub-par night of sleep (as usual before race day). Success, or crash and burn - at least I'll know where I stand.ĭrove 3.5 hours to Sioux Falls on Saturday.

#SIOUX FALLS SKEDADDLE 2021 FULL#

They were tougher, and my lungs felt as though I'd just run in temperatures of 10-20 degrees.Ĭoach and I decided to run this half anyway, to see where I stand heading into the June 19th full marathon. But both of those just didn't feel the way they felt pre-COVID. Between April 10 and race day on April 25, I'd worked up to a workout of 5x1 mile repeats at ~7:03 pace, and also a 12-mile long run at 8:13 pace. My first run back on April 10, I made it 0.94 miles and I had to walk. Even after the daily fatigue, headaches, and body aches went away on day 12, I knew I still had lung capacity issues (and still do). I was sick for 11 days one day while sick I tried a 30-minute walk and it wiped me out for the entire day. Then, March 30, 2021, I started to feel ill and tested positive for COVID. This would be a massive PR, mainly because I haven't truly RACED a Half since 2017.įor 2021, I'd been averaging 53 miles per week on 5 days running (and two days swimming), which included two speed training days, one long run, and 2-a-days on Tuesday and Wednesday. The intent of this half marathon was to gauge my current capabilities, with an overall target of finishing with a 7:08 pace, which is about equivalent to a 3:15 marathon, and this was a very realistic goal given that 7-mile race at 6:55 pace. So, 18 months of preparation for Grandma's Marathon in June 2021, heading for that BQ time in about 8 weeks from now. So, I re-hired a running coach I trained with in 2017 to work toward a BQ time (3:20 requirement, 3:15 target). Not a PR, but I was really happy with the time and negative split on a self-guided training plan (which included two Olympic-distance triathlons that summer heading into the October marathon). In October 2019, I ran a negative split 3:35 marathon at Twin Cities Marathon.

Most recent race was a 7-mile race in March, finish time of 48:28 (6:55 pace). Runner for 7 years, completed 4 full marathons with a PR of 3:32. | A | Sub 1:36:54 or faster (set a new PR) | *No* | * **Name:** Sioux Falls Skedaddle Half Marathon

Sioux falls skedaddle 2021