Today was the New Albany Walking Classic. It was difficult but I completed the 1/2 marathon in about 3:47. That was around a 17.3 minute per mile pace. The first 7 miles were a breeze, averaging about 15.5 minutes per mile. Around mile 9 the sides of my upper thighs/hips started hurting. The last 4 miles were very hard for me. I had to modify my stride a lot to ease the pain. Obviously my pace slowed a bit, but I got done. My goal was to do it around 17 minutes per mile, so I wasn't too far off my target.
Ed walked with me. He breezed through it with the exception of getting the back of his one heal rubbed raw. That is a carry over from his Ironman 3 weeks ago.
Doing a little analysis, I know two things that contributed to my slower pace on the second half. First, I really didn't train properly. I didn't put in the long miles recommened by standard training schedules. My excuse is that life got in the way too much. The second factor was our pace on the first half. It was much faster than I normally walk. I think I pushed too hard for that and stressed my muscles in an unfamiliar way. Next year if I do it, I'll follow the trainig schedule closer and I'll have Ed go on a few training walks with me. His normal stride is fast, which should help me along.
Now, I'm going to get the newspaper, put my feet up, rub them down with lotion and relax the rest of the day.
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