Successful Defense!

Today, I defended my master's thesis. It went pretty well, although I did get some challenging questions from my committee. I have a few minor edits to make on my written document, and once I submit it to the graduate school, I will be officially done with my master's degree.

Updated Race Results

The results from the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon are now posted on the web, although I think they will be updating them through the rest of the week so that they can keep adding people who didn't wear timing chips. In my post yesterday, I stated that my official race time was 1:49:24, and that was the time by the race clock. They've now posted our chip times, and mine was 1:48:57. The chips time you from start line to finish line, whereas the race clock starts from when the gun goes off. So if I compare my chip time from yesterday to my chip time from November's race, I set a PR by 1:40.

Post-race pic

From l-r: Brittnie, me, and Christina after the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon yesterday. Brittnie and Christina are senior Exercise and Sport Science majors at UNC. The three of us also spend many hours exercise training participants at Get REAL & HEEL.

Race recap, and barely a new PR

Yesterday was the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon, which is my second half marathon race. In the days leading up to the race, I was feeling a little worried because the weather report was calling for thunderstorms all day on Saturday. The race website said that the race would still go on in the rain, but that it would be postponed or cancelled if there were thunderstorms. As it turned out, there were no thunderstorms on Saturday morning, just very overcast skies and a slight drizzle. However, the temperature was already above 60 degrees and it was really really humid. That said, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to set a PR because I didn't want to run into a situation where I'm halfway through the race and I have to stop and walk b/c I'm really dehydrated. When I ran the half in November, the weather conditions were completely different; it was about 20 degrees cooler, clear skies, and dry. I didn't stop for any of the water stops on that race, but yesterday, I did grab water at several points. My official race time was 1:49:24, which is a 1:13 better than before, so I did end up with a PR, but not by much. In hindsight, I kind of wish I had run harder, but at the same time, I don't know if that would have been a good idea. I guess it's better to come out of it feeling good physically with some fuel still in the tank rather than injured or ill and mad for being too aggressive.

So now I enter maintenance mode, at least for the next couple months or so. I will keep doing a mix of easy and long runs along with tempo runs and some speedwork to maintain fitness. My next race is the Blue Ridge Relay at the beginning of September, so I'll probably start seriously training for that race at the beginning of the summer. I'm part of a team with about 12 other breast cancer researchers from UNC Hospital. Training for that race will be a bit different because while each individual leg is not terribly long, the total number of miles I'll run in a 24 hour period will be slightly more than a half marathon, and it will be in the mountains (hills and altitude effects!).

But for now, I rest and enjoy a big bowl of ice cream.

Training summary-Weeks 11 and 12

These past two weeks were my last hard weeks before the race, with weekly mileages in the 40-45 mile range, and long runs of 13 and 14 miles. Since we are now in that time of the year where the weather can't decide if it should be like winter, spring, or summer, deciding what to wear when I go for a run has been slightly challenging. For example, last Wednesday I went out in shorts and a t-shirt and came back pretty sweaty. But on Sunday, I had to wear leggings, a fleece pullover, and gloves because it was overcast, drizzling, and only about 40 degrees.

When I was training for my first half, most of my training happened in the summer and fall, when it was still pretty hot out. I remember thinking how I couldn't wait until it got colder because I was sort of assuming that running in the cold would be a lot easier than running in the heat. Now, I'd have to say that if given the choice of running in 80-degree weather or 30-degree weather, I'd probably pick the latter. However, I have found that it is really hard to run fast in the cold, just like in the heat.

This week is my final week of training, as the race is this Saturday. I have 3 short runs and 1 final tempo run. If all goes well, hopefully I can report a new PR!

12 weeks down, 1 to go.