Race Report Miami Half Marathon

Ylan Segal said:

(Part of the plan was also to not try *anything* to eat or drink at the
expo when picking up the number. I accomplished that by thinking
to myself: "No seas Pendejo, no seas Pendejo"😉.

¡Hombre inteligente! Just say no.

Quoted message said:

Av. Pace: 8:10

And with beautiful splits. Nicely done!

Quoted message said:

My polar thinks I only ran 12.53 miles

Wow, I'm vaguely surprised to hear of one of those gizmos being that
far - more than 4% - off. Is that par for the course from this polar?
Is it consistent? What tech does it use for mileage calc?

great race
The alabama triman

http://www.tri-mansworldmailboxofficesupply.com/index.html

"Ylan Segal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

As mentioned here before, this was my first half marathon (and race
report). I neglected to post my last few training weeks, but here it is:

Short Story:
Race: ING Miami Marathon and Half Marathon
Date: January 29th, 2006
Weather: Temp 70F, Humidity 65%, Dew Point 50F, Wind 10-13 MPH ESE.
Result: Preliminary Chip Time 1:47:01. Had lots of fun and felt great
about the race.

Good job for your first. Oddly, I've never run a HM.

Quoted message said:

Longer Story:
The race start time was at 6:00AM, just in front of the American
Airlines Arena. Since I live about 2.5 miles away, I woke up at 4:30,
had some PB&J sandwich with some coffee and left my house around 5:00AM.
Got on the MetroMover, which was completely full of runners and got off
2 blocks from the starting line at about 5:25. Most other runners had to
get off two stations earlier for bag check. However, I had nothing to
check. At the Arena, there were lots of portable toilets and the arena
was open so runners could use the restrooms there (which I did).

I proceeded with a very light warm up and some stretching, and pretty
much just stand around looking at everyone else play around with the
championchip, heart rate monitors, shoelaces, bib number, etc. I had
done all that at home, so I was just sipping some water I brought with
me. At around 5:45 I got in my assigned corral and ate one cliff shot
gel as planned.

Seems like you planned everything really well and that helped you to be
relaxed at the start. Interesting that you took the cliff shot before
running. They normally recommend that you drink a full glass of water with a
gel, which I wouldn't want to so so close to the start. Also, I'm of the
opinion that it primes the fat burning system better if you take your
pre-race nutrition an hour before the race, allowing your blood sugar to
equalize again. Then after you've been running for at least 20-30 minutes,
you're body will handle the gel differently, and you will burn fats more
effectively for the whole race.

Quoted message said:

After reading many race reports here, my plan for the race was: Don't
worry about time, worry about having a good race. I particularly wanted
to avoid starting out too fast and trying to pace myself so I would
still have something left at the end and negative split. (Part of the
plan was also to not try *anything* to eat or drink at the expo when
picking up the number. I accomplished that by thinking to myself: "No
seas Pendejo, no seas Pendejo"😉.

With all that in mind, I ran the first mile with a close eye on my HRM
and kept my HR under control. I have a Polar RS200 with a foot pod that
also measures distance and pace. The error on those things is supposedly
5%. Mile marker 1 comes along and my watch only says 0.95 miles. OK.
Mile 2 comes along and my watch says 1.91. I then realize that my pace
is significantly faster than the watch says, so from now on I ignore the
distance and pace and just focus on keeping the heart rate under control.

Did you calibrate the RS200 for more accurate distance?

Quoted message said:

The first three miles, the course takes you on the MacArthur Causeway,
with all the cruise ships in the port on the right and Palm and Star
Island on the left. The wind was blowing straight towards us, which made
it kind of difficult to get into a nice rhythm. Once on Miami Beach,
though, I found a pace I liked and pretty much tried to stick to that
until mile 8. At that time, the course enters the Venetian causeway on
its way back to Miami proper. I ate the other gel I brought with me.

The biggest crowd was assembled coming off the causeway and entering
Downtown (mile 10 marker). There were more people there than at the
finish line and were cheering loudly. I got caught up in the excitement
and my HR started going up, so I slowed down a bit. Once I hit mile 12
though, I started passing lots of people and was waiting for the split
between the marathon and half-marathon runners. Once I hit that, about
0.5 miles from the finish, I just gave it all I had and managed to
finish with a good sprint (and quite out of breath).

So, the preliminary results posted on the website show:
Chip Time: 1:47:01 (Gun time: 1:48:13)
10 K split: 51:21
Av. Pace: 8:10
Place: 54 out of 229 in Age group (25-29 yo)

I don't have splits at exactly the mile markers. My polar thinks I only
ran 12.53 miles, so I adjusted accordingly. PM = Polar Miles

Just curious, but why didn't you punch it on the true mile markers?

Nice even race though, congratulations.

-Tony

Quoted message said:

PM Miles Time HR Pace HR%
1 1.05 9:10 152 8:46:04 80%
2 2.09 8:51 143 8:27:54 75%
3 3.14 8:38 154 8:15:28 81%
4 4.18 8:40 156 8:17:22 82%
5 5.23 8:41 157 8:18:20 82%
6 6.27 8:35 155 8:12:35 81%
7 7.32 8:38 156 8:15:28 82%
8 8.36 8:34 158 8:11:38 83%
9 9.41 8:31 157 8:08:46 82%
10 10.45 8:29 157 8:06:51 82%
11 11.50 8:02 159 7:41:02 83%
12 12.55 8:12 160 7:50:36 84%
12.53 13.10 3:57 180 7:07:43 94%
1:47:03

As expected the course was pretty flat. The temperature was a little
higher than I would have liked, but since I live in Miami I am used to
the conditions and they didn't bother me. Overall, I am pretty happy
with the race: I had no equipment issues, I stuck to my plan and didn't
do anything real stupid. I had some plantar pain for about 2 miles, but
it went away walking through a water station. So, smiles all around!

Thanks for reading!

--
Ylan

"The universe is not required to be in
perfect harmony with human ambition"
~ Carl Sagan

Tony S. said:

"Ylan Segal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Good job for your first. Oddly, I've never run a HM.

Did you just jump from a 10K to a Marathon? Is this common? I thought
that a HM was a more reasonable goal for me and involved less chance of
an injury.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I proceeded with a very light warm up and some stretching, and pretty
much just stand around looking at everyone else play around with the
championchip, heart rate monitors, shoelaces, bib number, etc. I had
done all that at home, so I was just sipping some water I brought with
me. At around 5:45 I got in my assigned corral and ate one cliff shot
gel as planned.

Seems like you planned everything really well and that helped you to be
relaxed at the start. Interesting that you took the cliff shot before
running. They normally recommend that you drink a full glass of water with a
gel, which I wouldn't want to so so close to the start. Also, I'm of the
opinion that it primes the fat burning system better if you take your
pre-race nutrition an hour before the race, allowing your blood sugar to
equalize again. Then after you've been running for at least 20-30 minutes,
you're body will handle the gel differently, and you will burn fats more
effectively for the whole race.

The water really doesn't bother me before running. I usually drink a
full glass just before going out the door for a run, so this wasn't
really different.

I wouldn't know about the fat burning business, but I will definitely
give it some thought and experiment a little. For my long runs, I had a
piece of toast and some fruit (not a lot) before going out and then a
gel about 1 hour after starting. I figured I would do the same thing,
but substituted the gel for the fruit because I thought it would give me
more "punch".

Quoted message said:

Did you calibrate the RS200 for more accurate distance?

As I mentioned on the other post, I did not calibrate beforehand. Of
course, now I have a pretty good calibration factor 🙂

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I don't have splits at exactly the mile markers. My polar thinks I only
ran 12.53 miles, so I adjusted accordingly. PM = Polar Miles

Just curious, but why didn't you punch it on the true mile markers?

Well, I had the polar set to "Auto Lap" feature. It records laps when it
hit a mile. If I punched the lap when I hit 1 mile, I would have needed
to turn off the feature while running in the next 0.05 miles, so
everything would be nice and neat. Turning off the feature is not
terrible hard, but it does involve navigating through some menus. I
decided against it. Next time around the auto-lap will be off.

Quoted message said:

Nice even race though, congratulations.

Thank you!

--
Ylan

"The universe is not required to be in
perfect harmony with human ambition"
~ Carl Sagan

[apologies if you are seeing this double; I had some trouble posting this]

Charlie Pendejo said:

Ylan Segal said:

Av. Pace: 8:10

And with beautiful splits. Nicely done!

Thank you!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My polar thinks I only ran 12.53 miles

Wow, I'm vaguely surprised to hear of one of those gizmos being that
far - more than 4% - off. Is that par for the course from this polar?
Is it consistent? What tech does it use for mileage calc?

The polar people sell it as an advanced accelerometer sensor, not a
pedometer. I don't have access to a track near home, so I never
calibrated it like the manual suggests. The first few times I used it, I
mapped my run with google earth and checked against what the polar
said: The distances were pretty close (like to within 0.5%) so I called
it good and didn't bother with anything else.

As far as consistency goes: It was very consistent. All real miles were
measured at 0.95 or 0.94 "polar miles". I expect that once I put this
newly calculated calibration factor it will be very accurate, or at
least accurate enough for my needs.

--
Ylan

"The universe is not required to be in
perfect harmony with human ambition"
~ Carl Sagan

"Ylan Segal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tony S. said:

"Ylan Segal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Good job for your first. Oddly, I've never run a HM.

Did you just jump from a 10K to a Marathon? Is this common? I thought
that a HM was a more reasonable goal for me and involved less chance of
an injury.

I started with running laps for soccer in high school, then ran orienteering
meets, which is the equivalent of running somewhere between 10 miles and a
HM, though it's in the woods and on trails. Then I did a bunch of random
road races in the 90's, 10k's mostly and some other odd distances. I think
had my goal been a marathon I would have run a HM first. I ended up doing an
ultra before a marathon, but I had run some orienteering-like events before
that which were 6-8 hours of running and hiking.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I proceeded with a very light warm up and some stretching, and pretty
much just stand around looking at everyone else play around with the
championchip, heart rate monitors, shoelaces, bib number, etc. I had
done all that at home, so I was just sipping some water I brought with
me. At around 5:45 I got in my assigned corral and ate one cliff shot
gel as planned.

Seems like you planned everything really well and that helped you to be
relaxed at the start. Interesting that you took the cliff shot before
running. They normally recommend that you drink a full glass of water

with a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

gel, which I wouldn't want to so so close to the start. Also, I'm of the
opinion that it primes the fat burning system better if you take your
pre-race nutrition an hour before the race, allowing your blood sugar to
equalize again. Then after you've been running for at least 20-30

minutes,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

you're body will handle the gel differently, and you will burn fats more
effectively for the whole race.

The water really doesn't bother me before running. I usually drink a
full glass just before going out the door for a run, so this wasn't
really different.

I wouldn't know about the fat burning business, but I will definitely
give it some thought and experiment a little. For my long runs, I had a
piece of toast and some fruit (not a lot) before going out and then a
gel about 1 hour after starting. I figured I would do the same thing,
but substituted the gel for the fruit because I thought it would give me
more "punch".

I think this kind of thing is more important in a marathon, where you want
to make sure your metabolism is primed for the longer distance.

-Tony

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Did you calibrate the RS200 for more accurate distance?

As I mentioned on the other post, I did not calibrate beforehand. Of
course, now I have a pretty good calibration factor 🙂

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I don't have splits at exactly the mile markers. My polar thinks I only
ran 12.53 miles, so I adjusted accordingly. PM = Polar Miles

Just curious, but why didn't you punch it on the true mile markers?

Well, I had the polar set to "Auto Lap" feature. It records laps when it
hit a mile. If I punched the lap when I hit 1 mile, I would have needed
to turn off the feature while running in the next 0.05 miles, so
everything would be nice and neat. Turning off the feature is not
terrible hard, but it does involve navigating through some menus. I
decided against it. Next time around the auto-lap will be off.

Quoted message said:

Nice even race though, congratulations.

Thank you!

--
Ylan

"The universe is not required to be in
perfect harmony with human ambition"
~ Carl Sagan

Quoted message said:

The polar people sell it as an advanced accelerometer sensor, not a
pedometer. I don't have access to a track near home, so I never
calibrated it like the manual suggests. The first few times I used it, I
mapped my run with google earth and checked against what the polar
said: The distances were pretty close (like to within 0.5%) so I called
it good and didn't bother with anything else.

As far as consistency goes: It was very consistent. All real miles were
measured at 0.95 or 0.94 "polar miles". I expect that once I put this
newly calculated calibration factor it will be very accurate, or at
least accurate enough for my needs.

My Fitsense FS-1 uses the same technology. Once I calibrate it, it's
pretty consistent, although I have to recalibrate it if I switch shoe
models (the pod sits differently on my foot), or if I get enough
faster or slower that my stride changes much.

Best way to calibrate it is to run a course that you know is accurate;
at least a mile is best. If there's a certified 5K course that you can
run safely and you're confident is accurate, that'd be great. I'm
lucky to live near such a course on a bike path, so every few months I
head over there and double-check the Fitsense calibration.
--
Brian P. Baresch
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Ylan Segal said:

Once I hit mile 12
though, I started passing lots of people

Ain't that a good feeling :-)

Quoted message said:

PM Miles Time HR Pace HR%
1 1.05 9:10 152 8:46:04 80%
2 2.09 8:51 143 8:27:54 75%
3 3.14 8:38 154 8:15:28 81%
4 4.18 8:40 156 8:17:22 82%
5 5.23 8:41 157 8:18:20 82%
6 6.27 8:35 155 8:12:35 81%
7 7.32 8:38 156 8:15:28 82%
8 8.36 8:34 158 8:11:38 83%
9 9.41 8:31 157 8:08:46 82%
10 10.45 8:29 157 8:06:51 82%
11 11.50 8:02 159 7:41:02 83%
12 12.55 8:12 160 7:50:36 84%
12.53 13.10 3:57 180 7:07:43 94%
1:47:03

Now that is a damn fine bit of even pacing, particularly for a first
attempt at the distance. Looks like you did everything right,
congratulations!

steve common said:

Ylan Segal said:

Once I hit mile 12
though, I started passing lots of people

Ain't that a good feeling :-)

Sure is!

Quoted message said:

Now that is a damn fine bit of even pacing, particularly for a first
attempt at the distance. Looks like you did everything right,
congratulations!

Thanks! I am pretty happy with the way it went. I think that the fact
that the race is so close to home is really a bonus. I slept in my own
bed, had breakfast in my own kitchen, and practically raced on my
"backyard". I guess that when you travel to a race, one most deal with
hotels, restaurants, parking and other stuff that just distracts you.

All in all, it was a good weekend: 18 holes of golf on Saturday, 1/2
marathon on Sunday.

--
Ylan

"The universe is not required to be in
perfect harmony with human ambition"
~ Carl Sagan

Ylan Segal said:

steve common said:

Ylan Segal said:

Once I hit mile 12
though, I started passing lots of people

Ain't that a good feeling :-)

Sure is!

Well truth be told, he was in his car when he "started passing lots of
people".
I don't know if I could "pass a lot of people", it seems just passing
one would rip my [censored] wide open.

Ylan Segal said:

As mentioned here before, this was my first half marathon (and race
report). I neglected to post my last few training weeks, but here it is:

Short Story:
Race: ING Miami Marathon and Half Marathon
Date: January 29th, 2006
Weather: Temp 70F, Humidity 65%, Dew Point 50F, Wind 10-13 MPH ESE.
Result: Preliminary Chip Time 1:47:01. Had lots of fun and felt great
about the race.

[]

Quoted message said:

Thanks for reading!

--
Ylan

"The universe is not required to be in
perfect harmony with human ambition"
~ Carl Sagan

you're welcome.

It was a nice report and well run race.
thanks and congratulations on the good time.
Ed