Born Anew in 2022: Shamrock Half Marathon Race Report

Total time 1:25:08 (13.18 miles- long course)

Half Mary Time- 1:24:43 (lifetime PR)

If you had the pleasure of reading my race report after the Waco 70.3 debacle last October, I suspect you were thinking...why does he continue to do this?  He is clearly not enjoying himself, not getting good results, no fun, suffering for no reason...etc.  What is the point of all this?  It's often said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.  Clearly, I was acting insane (for more than the obvious reasons). 

Following Waco, I did some soul searching about my future in sport, and what I would need to do to enjoy myself and be successful again.  I have been on a pretty vigorous self-improvement journey for the last few years.  The cliff notes are that for many years I became obsessed with Kona, and my single minded focus came to the detriment of my relationship with Britt and Sloanie.  I don't have many regrets, but one is that I was not the husband and father my family deserved.  It was particularly painful to come to this realization in the face of having a dad who is a real role model and hero. My failure to appreciate what was right in front of me culminated in me getting on a very expensive flight in the middle of the night to come back and face some hard truths in marriage counseling (of course I was on a training trip).  Since then I have worked hard to become a man my wife and kids can be proud of.  While there is always work to be done, I am proud to say that I did (and continue to) put in the work to become someone my girls can be proud of.  I am closer than ever to my daughters, and I will never let my priorities get out of line again. I show up for them every day and that will be my real legacy.

I have also been working with an individual therapist for my litany of issues including depression and anxiety.  At the end of last year, I came to the realization that two therapists and a medicine cabinet chock full of anti-depressants are simply not enough for this guy!  I need a whole team of professionals with an arsenal of tape of glue to keep me together.  With the support of friends and family, I was able to find an awesome sports psychologist with whom I have been working for several months (Shout Dr. Knackstedt at Virginia Tech).  Our work together has led to several important changes and tools.  I have learned to be kinder to myself, avoid comparisons to my peers and former teammates, and re-learned how to stand tall in the face of suffering.  Perhaps the most valuable practices I incorporated into my routines are a daily meditation (I really like the Calm App) and a gratitude practice.  I keep a gratitude diary on my phone, and each day I write down three things I am grateful for.  It has changed my whole mindset.  I sleep better and feel better, and as a result my body is functioning at a higher level.  I also created a few mantras I use in hard training and racing sessions, "I'm ready for you", "Huzzah", and "Let's F*cking Go".  Simply repeating these phrases helps keeps my head in the moment when I start feeling crappy.

I made a coaching change and hired Matt Hurley who is putting together a great squad at Wyld Endurance.  His training methodology is different from my previous coach, and there is a much bigger focus on lower zone heart rate work, but when we go hard, we go hard.  The result has been that I have been fresher for my hard sessions, and have been successful in making some big strides.  In the first three months of this year, I was able to ride 60 minutes at 360 watts and set a lifetime PR at the half marathon distance last weekend.  Everything feels more in balance and I'm not mentally and physically cooked 24/7.

Our focus in the first quarter of the year has been to get my running more on par with my swimming and biking abilities.  I spent a lot of time increasing my cadence, working on form, and doing run intervals to prepare to run in the low 1:20's.  I feel reasonably confident that if I can get to the point where I am consistently running 1:25-1:27 off the bike I will be in the mix for most podiums at the 70.3 distance. Also, the simple fact remains if I want to run 3:15 off the bike in an Ironman, I need sub 3 open marathon capability.  My run training has gone really well.  A benchmark session a few weeks ago in the lead up to Shamrock Half included 5x1 mile at 6:15 pace on 1:00 recovery with a sixth mile hard at 5:48.  I have been fortunate to have my buddy Joe Strukl training with me every step of the way, and we had high hopes of running toe to toe best times at the race.  

With that as a back drop, I traveled to Virginia Beach last weekend for the Shamrock Half Marathon.  Going into the race I felt a lifetime PR was going to happen, it was just a matter of by how much.  Looking at the data from the last three months established my threshold heart rate was about 163 bpm.  We have been able to determine I can hold that HR, but if it begins to approach 165 bpm I get into trouble FAST!  The plan was to hold 6:20 pace with a heart rate cap of 163 for the first 10 miles and then get after the last 5K.  I took a Maurten Gel at miles 3, 6, 9, and 11.  I wanted to be in a position to dictate pace rather than be in survival mode.  I did not set any arbitrary time goals.  Instead my focus was on execution and hitting benchmarks.  To quote Sher-Pa, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.  Process and execution, not times or placing.

On the day of the race, we had excellent weather conditions.  The wind was manageable and the temperature was warm.  It ended up being about 60 degrees which was way warmer than my training prepared me for, and I don't think I was well acclimated.  It wasn't a huge factor, but probably contributed to me running slightly slower than I could have.

 

Mile 1- 6:20, 153 HR

Mile 2- 6:24, 161 HR

Mile 3- 6:27, 163 HR

I honestly expected the first three miles to come off easier than they did.  I was hoping 6:20 was going to feel like easy speed, and my heart rate would stay below 160.  It became immediately apparent that the race plan needed to be modified as my HR was already at threshold, and the pace was slightly slower than I was expecting.  The good news was even though I didn't feel good, I did feel I could control pace in the mid 6:20's and decided the prudent move was to hold steady with hopes I could drop pace on the home stretch.

Mile 4- 6:27, 162 HR

Mile 5- 6:28, 163 HR

Mile 6- 6:26, 164 HR

Mile 7- 6:25, 164 HR

Mile 8- 6:24, 164 HR

Mile 9- 6:26, 164 HR

The middle section of the race takes you out into Fort Story which is pretty quiet.  The base is closed to the public so the only crowds are from service members.  It is nice that some of them come out and watch and it's good to thank them for their service.  Joe and I were running step for step until about Mile 8 when he dropped back.  I don't think he was feeling as good as he hoped either.  I did my best to stay consistent with the small group that had formed in my area.  By the time I reached the end of Fort Story, I knew there would be no miraculous 6:00/mile last 5k.  But, the tools I've learned with my various therapies allowed me to roll with the changed circumstances and make the best of what my body was giving me on the day.  Although the pain level was starting to ratchet up significantly, I went to my mantras and kept my mind on each mile as it came.

Mile 10- 6:30, 164 HR

Mile 11- 6:28, 165 HR

Mile 12- 6:33, 165 HR

Mile 13- 6:37, 165 HR

I was deep in the pain cave the last few miles. I was audibly grunting trying to keep it together.  I just kept repeating my mantras, and despite blowing up a little, I didn't really blow up all that much.  Last year I would have folded like an accordion, but this year I welcomed and embraced the pain and challenged myself to keep on pace as best I could.  There were definitely long sections where I was running with my eyes closed as though I could somehow shield myself from lactate if I wasn't able to see... the silly games we play to keep moving as endurance athletes.

I can't be mad at a PR, but I know it wasn't my best day.  In my de-brief with Hurley, he thought the most likely scenario was 1:23, and I agree, but for some reason it just wasn't there on the day.  Danny 2022 is choosing not to focus on the negative, and instead I am taking pride in the fact that I am faster than I've been at 40 years old.  As I told my therapist today, I have the encouraging feeling that I still have many PR's in front of me, and my age has not yet robbed me of the ability to be faster than I ever have before.  I know father time is undefeated and at some point lifetime PR's will no longer be possible, but not today, not today.

I am excited for the coming months.  Next up is a little vacay with my beautiful bride in April, and then Chatty 70.3 in May followed by Roanoke 70.3 in June.  I am super excited for this season and I feel like things are again moving in the right direction.  I am ready to prove myself ready and capable to compete at a high level again.  If all goes well I will be racing Chattanooga full in September.  As always, I welcome any feedback and thanks for reading!