~4 miles into the race and questioning if I can keep up with my split through the hills
So once again it came time for my favorite Half marathon event of all time, the Hollywood Half marathon! Before I forget, I followed my Asylum vol 1 & 2 hybrid during most of the training period with my typical rowing workouts mixed in.
This will be my last half marathon for this season since the sprint season has already kicked off for rowing. This race had an interesting race course. Since Hollywood is so busy, they couldn’t get as much space as they have in the past so we were forced to do these loops on side streets every few miles which increased the number of hills on the course (if you don’t live around here you wouldn’t know how many hills there are in Hollywood).
I changed my pre-race regiment to include ~10 ounces of cold coffee an hour before the race and a few servings of Shakeology 4 hours before the race. I’ve always done the Shakeology pre-race and that always makes me feel well stocked up on protein, carbs, and nutrients by race time. I was amazed by the coffee, I felt like I had some extra ‘pep’ to my step.
My goal was to hit a 6:20 min/mile split and hold that for the entire race (at least as best as I can up/down the hills). I listed my splits below and I did a great job sticking to my goals. I ended up running into a guy I knew from a local running club (A Snail’s Pace – Monrovia) and he really helped me kick it harder in the second half. If it wasn’t for him I probably would have stayed with the 6:20; but I ended up with a negative split. Which is always Awesome! Nice way to end the running season for me.
13.1 miles @ 6:16 min/mile pace and 1:22:10.6 total time. New PR!!!
Mile 1 – 6:18.03 min/mile
Mile 2 – 6:22.00 min/mile
Mile 3 – 6:21.00 min/mile
Mile 4 – 6:24.00 min/mile
Mile 5 – 6:17.00 min/mile
Mile 6 – 6:09.00 min/mile
Mile 7 – 6:16.00 min/mile
Mile 8 – 6:22.00 min/mile
Mile 9 – 6:09.00 min/mile
Mile 10 – 6:04.00 min/mile
Mile 11 – 6:04.00 min/mile
Mile 12 – 6:06.00 min/miles
Mile 13 – 6:07.57 min/mile