This was my first time running a “prep” race before a marathon. The intent was to practice pacing, see how my recovery regime was working, and get a little competitiveness out of my system before the marathon race. My last two marathons I got caught up in the racing aspect and went out too fast too soon to hit the wall hard. I had a 20-miler two days before this 15k prep race so I got to see how quickly I could recover.
After a cup of cheerios drizzled with Honeystinger gel, I left for the start line sipping some yerba mate. I had planned out what I wanted my splits to be beforehand. I didn’t hit a single one. My legs weren’t sore, but they were tired. The race also had 3,800 feet of elevation change that I didn’t expect. My hopeful splits are on the left; my actual splits are on the right.
| Mile 1 | 6:50 | 7:04 |
| Mile 2 | 6:45 | 6:37 |
| Mile 3 | 6:40 | 6:34 |
| Mile 4 | 6:30 | 6:32 |
| Mile 5 | 6:20 | 6:34 |
| Mile 6 | 6:20 | 6:50 |
| Mile 7 | 6:20 | 6:51 |
| Mile 8 | 6:20 | 6:41 |
| Mile 9 | 6:10 | 6:36 |
| Last .3 | 1:30 | 1:57 |
| Total Time | 59:45 | 1:02:21 |
As I said, the course was much hillier than expected, but no major climbs – just constant up and down.
I may not have hit my goal time, but I still feel like it was a productive race. Not a PR but it was a good effort on tired legs, and I was still happy with a 6:41 average pace coming off of a long run. The finals results were 5th overall and 1st female (it was a tiny race). I think this was beneficial for my marathon training, but we’ll find out soon!
