Well, I didn't get my goal time of 1:23:00 (1:24:19 - unofficial), but that's okay. It was a pretty tough course and my place wasn't too bad (35th overall (~8000) and 3rd in division (515)). There were some much tougher hills than anticipated and the steep downhills hurt my time versus helped it -- I had to slow down given the treacherous conditions.
I also didn't feel totally rested, though my legs felt much better. I ended up working hard in the yard the day before and going over to Shelly and Jim's afterwards. So I didn't get to bed until 11pm and woke up around 4:30-5am. I also learned a valuable lesson: don't hold your gels during the race! I squeezed them too tightly, which sapped a lot of energy. Once I had finished both of them my pace immediately picked up and I began passing people versus being passed. I thought my shoes would be a problem, but they weren't at all. My left knee felt good the entire time and afterwards. Of course, my quads were yelling at me throughout the rest of the day.
My splits were 6:10 (Flat 157), 6:16 (uphill then downhill 162), 6:18 (167 - hill!). 6:10 (169 tunnel), 6:28 (169 Lk WA St), 6:20 (169 Lk WA St), 6:40 (169 Lk WA St), 7:07 (168 E. Galen/Madison -- HILL!!!), 6:28 (166 Arborteum - Downhill), 6:31 (166 -- slight uphill & flat), 6:34 (167 flat), 13.14 (170 rolling -- didn't get the 12th and 13th mile splits). I definitely went out too fast, but it was really hard to tell what was too fast. I tried to use my HR monitor to stay around 156-162 for the first couple of miles, but the hills (both up and down) made that very difficult. It was clear, however, that the middle miles were the toughest, both psychologically and hilly. The last two miles were much better, and my pace proved it. I think there's still a bit of hot legs, but the competition seemed to have issues as well. I'm glad this race is over. Now I can focus on triathlon training and not so much on run specific workouts. Speaking of which, I think my time was fairly decent since I hadn't been too run specific. If I really wanted to blow the doors off this race, I'd be running around 60mpw with not nearly the same amount of biking/swimming. All-in-all, I'm about where I need to be for a good race at Ironman Canada. Now I just need to get my bike/swim together!
