Kentucky Sole Time 4/25/15

     I registered for the Kentucky Derby Festival as soon as I found out Trena was one of the ambassadors for the race. I knew a lot of Sole Sister would probably be signing up for it also, which would give me an opportunity to meet some of them. At the time I registered, I was still training for my first marathon, so I only registered for the Half because I did not know if I would want to do another full yet. In hindsight turns out it was a good decision but for other reasons.
     In Late December when Nate (run coach) & I met to plan goals for 2015, I told him I really wanted to improve my Half time by a lot, like as close to sub 2 as I could get. With that in mind he devised a plan with a lot of long slow running days. 5 days a week of running, 4 days of which my heart rate was not to get above 135. One day a week for a 3 mile run, I could ignore the heart rate. That plan was to build my aerobic and run base. It worked at the end of 8 weeks I could run at a faster pace with a HR of 135 or less.
     So in February a new plan was given to me that was the official training plan for the Kentucky Derby a Half. This plan had long slow runs but sped work days and tempo runs. I was so excited. Week one strained my hip flexor, lateral quad and my TFL. No weight bearing exercise. No running, no swimming & no cycling for 2 weeks. Then I was allowed to add swimming & cycling with pool running.
    At 4 weeks the hip was feeling better, so I tried an easy run and immediately the Hip blasted me with pain.  At 6 weeks the hip felt better so I tried an easy run and although it didn't hurt as I was running it did hurt for days later. This cycle continued every week up to 10 days before the Kentucky Half. Now at this point I had my phone call from Brook, as we were discussing the injury and my frustration, she made me promise to rest it for the full 10 days until my Half.
      I flew on the morning of the 24th. I should have arrived in Kentucky at 3 pm but because of 2 delays I did not arrive till after 6 pm. I was hungry, dehydrated and in a hurry to make it to the expo. I met up with my Sisters of Sole Araminta, Magda, & Jackie for packet pickup, they had already got theirs but they graciously waited as I picked up mine, Trena's (who was also having travel hassles) & a friend of Trena's packet.  We  met up with Haewon and took some Sole pics and headed to the dinner place.
     So dinner was at the Troll House Pub under the Bridge, where we met up with Beth, her husband and sister in law. The waiter was from NOLA and was awesome. So the menu didn't offer a lot of good pre-race options for me. I went with pasta as it looked like the lesser of the evils but on race day I decided I should have chosen different. The company was great. It was so fantastic finally meeting these ladies in person after months of just online contact.
     We all called it an early night & headed to the hotels at about 8-9ish. I waited up for Trena to make it on as we were roomies. She made it in about 10ish. We chatted as she rolled her hips. Lights out at 10:30 since wake up was 6 am.
     Up at 6 am got my coffee fix with some water, a protein bar, banana, bathroom, dress, brush the chicklets, bathroom, & mix up the UCAN to swig down. Walked to the race start which was just 3 blocks away from the hotel with Magda & Haewon. Dropped Trena off with the fast crowd, then Haewon stopped at her corral, Magda & I continued on to our corral.
     I wasn't really feeling well for this race. My stomach felt iffy. I felt dry, like I hadn't hydrated enough which was true. I felt sluggish & heavy despite the cool air. At 7:30 the gun went off & a little later the crowd started moving. Just as I passed the starting line, the first raindrops fell and didn't stop until after the race.
     The splits played out like this:
1 - 11:53
2 - 12:42
3 - 11:52
4 - 12:33 port-a-potty break (I paused my watch, idk why because now I don't know my time)
5 - 12:22 hug random stranger giving out free hugs, why not I'm not going to PR today.
6 - 11:48
7 - 11:41
8 - 11:43
9 - 12:08 only hill going up the ramp from under the race track & people stop to walk it. Seriously I have seen steeper wheel Chair ramps.
10 - 11:49
11 - 11:33
12 - 14:33 an emergent Potty stop was necessary! Pasta really isn't my friend!
13 - 10:33 time to finish this
.10 - 7:41 finish line!

Official time of 2:41. Which is not bad considering I had poor nutrition, poor hydration, undertrained due to injury and some potty issues. My first Half took 3:12 when I was run walking, my best Half time is 2:27 when I was trained and healthy. So a 2:41 under not the best circumstances is OK. I still grit my teeth to say that, even though I know not everyone can run a Half marathon without training.

Best thing was meeting some Sisters of Sole for some good conversation, laughs, celebratory drinks! Jackie PR'd, Magda PR'd, Haewon BQ'd, Trena ran 2 marathons in one week! I think Beth's husband PR'd and it kicked off a new training cycle for me with new goals of PR's! I may have to have a rematch Kentucky!

Live Epic

Michelle