At the end of 2024 I made a post on LinkedIn about what a rollercoaster the year had been towards the end, three jobs in two months, schedule, responsibility level, commute, and an entire industry change near the end – through all of that, I was able to keep myself in a fairly steady training routine. I went out this weekend with a goal of not just breaking a time barrier that I’ve been stuck on for 2 years for the Half Marathon Distance, but trying to shatter it. That time that’s been lingering is an Hour and 52 Minutes, and I was shooting for 1:45. This was the race that I’d hit that barrier in, and this was the race I was dead set on breaking it. Everything was in my favor to do so as well, it was 45 degrees and sunny at the start, the course is (mostly) flat – aside from one hill coming into the park, and a diabolical little hill near the finish line. On my way from home to Rochester I had a MetRX bar, and a High Carb Mix Tailwind, so in a rare instance I actually consumed a good amount of calories before hitting the start line, and was pretty well fueled. The days leading up I was sure to get my water in, and carb load strategically.
I went out of the gate a little slower than my target time, my plan was to run negative splits, but the way the course was laid out this year with some downhills and straightaways early on I kicked it up the next couple of miles, and was on a really good track to beat even my target time. I speedwalked up the hills, and turned on the jets downhill to make up for that uphill with less effort; while I was walking up at close to a 13 min pace, I was barreling down at 6:30. I had a couple of hiccups – at Mile 4 I realized that I was probably a little too hydrated, and killed about 30 seconds with a quick restroom stop; at the end of Mile 7 I had an issue with opening one of my Electrolyte Gels, so I stopped at one of the aid stations and fumbled with that for probably 40 seconds, mile 10 was a little more uphill than it looked, and I had some calf soreness setting in, but when I saw the sign for Mile 11 I knew that I had to kick up the pace on the river, so I ignored it and started to speed up again.
At the Syracuse Half in 2023 I was in a similar situation, on track for a PR, and I’d hit this same point, I was in the final miles where it was starting to just plain hurt from going so hard for so long and I started walking, this led me to tie my previous record at the time of 1:55. Did I want to walk a little bit and ease up, absolutely, but the finish was so close I couldn’t let up this time, so I pushed harder. I made the turn on to Main St. towards the finish line, and started sprinting. It must have just been when I looked, but I looked down at my Garmin. It had me ripping at a 5:30 pace in that final 100 yards – at this point I was locked into pure tunnel vision and was starting to struggle to breathe a bit, but I made my goal time of 1:45.
Now that I’ve set my one PR, it’s time to start focusing on the next, the full Marathon, where I’ve been stuck. I’d been hovering at 4:15 up until last year, when I was finally able to kick it down to 4:07, but based on finally hitting 1:45 in the Half, it’s time to break that 4 Hour Barrier. I have a realistic goal of 3:59:59… just get me across, but a stretch goal of 3:45, which is an 8:35 min/mi pace. Knowing I can average Sub-8 for 13 Miles, this absolutely feels doable, but as long as I keep training it the next few weeks.
T-Minus Four Weeks
Roving On 