Rain or Shine the Road is Mine

Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8 Men

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Woodland Hills,UT,84653

Gender:

Female

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

Unaided:

5K - 17:11 (track Pre-kids and at BYU) (1998)

10K - 35:48 (track Pre-kids and at BYU) (1998)

Painters' 1/2 Marathon 1:22:42 (race time 1:21:39 adjusted to true up to 13.1) (1/08)

Aided:

St. George Marathon 3:00:41 (2007)

Ogden Marathon 3:02:18 (2nd place) (05/08)

1/2 marathon - Hobble Creek 1:17:14 (8/08)

10K - Deseret News 10K - 35:02 (7/08)

Short-Term Running Goals:

10K - sub 37:30 flat

5K - sub 18

Make the effort to find races to compete against more elite ladies.

Proposed racing schedule 2008 (feel free to provide feedback):

May 17 - Ogden 1/2 marathon

June 14 - Provo River 10 Miler

July 4th - Freedom Festival 10K

July 24th - Deseret News 10K

August 9th - Provo River 1/2 marathon

August 23 - Hobble Creek 1/2 marathon

Sept 6 - Spanish Fork 1/2 marathon

Oct 4 - St George marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

Run St. George 2008 in 2:50 or less, gauge whether an OT time is in my future.

Personal:

I used to run for BYU, but only after trying out three times and finally walking on, so I was never a star. However, it was wonderful to run with great people and under Coach Shane. When you run with fast people, you can't help to improve! I graduated BYU in 1998, and didn't run a race until 2002, after having my second child. My hiatus and other crazy life commitments have made my competitive running suffer, but the last couple of years I have tried to get back into it the best I can. I have been married since 1996, to Paul Lowry, who is a runner himself. I have three boys (my three rascals), ages 8, 6, and 4.

Miles:	This week:	28.54	Month:	63.98	Year:	63.98
Asics Stratus 2.1 (purple) Lifetime Miles:						276.92
Mizuno WaveRider (aqua) Lifetime Miles:						404.19
Brooks Defyance (blue) Lifetime Miles:						203.46
Mizuno Precision (yellow) Lifetime Miles:						399.44
Saucony Type A2 Racers (red Baby) Lifetime Miles:						81.29
Brooks Defyance #2 (blue) Lifetime Miles:						181.46
Mizuno WaveRider #2 (aqua) Lifetime Miles:						41.20
2009 Driving Miles Lifetime Miles:						55.00

Sat, Aug 25, 2007

Race: Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:28:42, Place overall: 8, Place in age division: 1

Easy Miles Marathon Pace Miles Threshold Miles VO2 Max Miles Trainer 1 Miles Trainer 2 Miles Racer Miles Total Distance

3.40 0.00 13.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 16.50

I ran about a mile before the race at a very slow pace to wake my legs up. Had Ibuprofen before the race because my legs are still sore. I did some good stretching. I met a couple of guys that are on the blog. It's always nice to meet people face to face.

The Top of Utah is a great race, superior to Hobble Creek because there were plenty of buses toward the end and plenty of bathrooms at the top, and even bathrooms along the route (fortunately I didn't need one, but just knowing it is there is comforting).

My low level goal was to be under 7 minute pace. My higher goal was to break 1:30, which meant being quite a bit under 7 minute pace. I didn't think that I could beat my best ever 1/2, 1:28:51 at 2006 Hobble Creek just because the course is not as down hill.

My strategy was to be at about 6:45 for the first 6-7 miles so that I could use that under 7 minute pace time on the remainder flat miles if I needed to go slower than 7 minute pace, so that I could average 7 minute pace or better.

1 - 6:40 this was a good start, but I could feel the jolt of starting into a fast pace, it took a couple of miles to feel comfortable

2 - 6:50

3 - 6:40

4 - 6:47

5 - 6:36

6 - 6:40 I took 1/2 a gu at 5.5 miles

7 - 6:30 last good downhill mile, got flat after this mile

8 - 7:01

9 - 6:54

10 - 7:00

11 - 6:56 feeling tired but strong. This mile had some uphill in it, at this point I knew if I stayed strong I would break 1:30

12 - 7:24 suckiest mile, there was some uphill, sun in your face (thus sweat in my eyes). I was headed for a 7:40 at first but just told myself if I could finish with a split of under 7:30 I would have a good time, so the second half of mile 12 was faster than the first half

13 - 6:36 crested the hill and went downhill. I think I could have pushed this last mile about 10 seconds faster but just didn't feel like it at the time. I was happy to decrease my time so much from the prior uphill mile. I guess I was still a little weak.

.1 not sure, I measured the course a little short (13 miles and 89 feet). They had the timer right at the corner and I stopped at the timer, only to see the finish line around the curve ahead about 10 yards away, this probably added a couple of seconds.

So the course is not as fast as Hobble Creek, but I ran it faster! And with sore legs! This is an overall 1/2 marathon PR for me and I am very happy with it overall.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00

Comments

From Jon on Aug 25, 2007 at 13:56:46

Good job on the race today, with a PR. It was nice to meet you at the start. Are you in Logan?

From Cody on Aug 25, 2007 at 14:06:42

Nice job Michelle

It was great to meet you and talk a bit. Sub 90 mins is a GREAT time. See you at St George?

From Sasha Pachev on Aug 25, 2007 at 17:17:05

Very good run. Congratulations on a PR on a slower course. I have to do some thinking on what it is worth (the add it to the predictor), but it is very obvious right now that your increase in mileage has paid off.

From Brent on Aug 25, 2007 at 19:24:01

Congradulations on the PR, awesome time.

From Sasha Pachev on Aug 29, 2007 at 16:18:43

I have now added this to the predictor. It says assuming 55 miles a week sustained overtime you will run 3:05:26 in St. George. So in other words, your threshold is good enough to run a 3:05, and if you do not, barring illness/injury/muscle breakdown it would be due to the fuel system failure. The best way to train your fuel system is frequent medium long runs with a marathon pace tempo in the middle. Since your threshold is already there and will not go away, your training focus should be primarily on those types of workouts. How many times a week can you go 15 with 10 in the middle or at the end at 7:20 flat pace equivalent? Do you think you'd be able to handle that twice a week?

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