Naples Half Marathon - 1:34:43 - PR!

Another great day. Another great race. Another pleasant surprise. Ran for a half hour yesterday with some accelerations mixed in and my legs were, well, dead. I had a nagging knee throb and an aching ankle.

Needless to say, I tossed and turned last night with the "expectations" of a PR working me over. I really wanted to do well in this race and to "validate" my triathlon training. If I could beat 1:37:54 without running nearly as much as I was running in 2006 when I PR'd, that would certainly validate this new tri training. But the nagging aches and pains and dead legs were creating doubt. At one point yesterday, I thought that maybe the smart thing to do would be to pack it in, sleep in this morning and start fresh on Monday.

But I set the alarm for 5:00 AM and did what always happens on race morning. I woke up at 4:56 with no need for the alarm. Downed some coffee, yogurt and banana and off I went. New tradition. Find a hotel about 5 miles from where the race venue is and do you your business in the hotel lobby bathroom. No lines. Hotel lobby bathrooms crush the 7-Eleven or even the Starbucks bathrooms...nice light, rarely any remnants from past users and in this case, some good reading material.

Got to downtown Naples with some time to warm up. Put in a good half mile warm-up with a couple accelerations. Legs felt good. I can always count on Race Day Adrenaline. Went to the starting line and after an awesome Star Spangle Banner, the gun goes...Great race vibe here. About 10 men and women Kenyans and 20 other out of town elites tow the line up front. About 1,300 total racers. Flat course. 50 degrees at the gun which is unusually cold for Naples.

Went out in 6:45 mile 1. Felt good...Miles 2-4 were "flat" but I stayed right at 6:55-7:00. I had my mind set on 10 miles of putting time "in the bank" which meant sub-7:15s all the way. I held strong through Mile 8. At about Mile 9, I started to struggle a bit. It was a scary struggle because last week in the River, Roots and Ruts, I felt strongest at Mile 9.

So now the pyschology comes in. I say to myself, "one more 7:15 this is a guaranteed PR." Mile 10 was about 7:17 and I hit the 10 mile mark at 1:12 flat. I knew I had it. A 24 minute 5K for 1:36 would be a slam dunk...

Mile 11 and 12 hurt because I kept pressing and it was straight and into the wind. Those were two endless miles. Picked it up a bit for the last 1.1 and just LOVED seeing the clock turn to 1:34...I know I had 1:35 broken easily...Some quick mental math and I knew if I picked it up a bit, I could beat my PR by MORE than 3 minutes.

Hit the finish at 1:34:43...PR!

This is 3:14 faster than my previous PR which I did with T-Bart in 2006.

Absolutely thrilled by this time and effort. This is a complete validation of my triathlon training. I have been spending about the same amount of time training but the running results are getting better and better. My body is feeling stronger. My endurance is unbelievable. My speed has improved. The diversity of training between swimming, biking and running makes all the difference in the world.

The swimming delivers active recovery and helps maintain my weight and good cardio. The longer bike rides build the engine. Two hours at HR 130-140 strengthens the overall core and builds up the leg muscles. The running tunes up the engine and builds both the cardio and the core. The mixing and matching of the disciplines minimizes the chances of over-work and injury.

I feel a major difference when I hit mile 9 in these longer races. Instead of thinking, "my God, get me to the finish line, I am done..." I feel solid from a cardio and strength stand-point. Still need to add the miles on the bike. But I am a true believer in multi-sport training for overall strength, speed and endurance!