ING Philadelphia Distance Run Half Marathon Results

It's been a crazy week so I have not had time to post this yet. Last weekend 9/20 I ran my second half marathon!! This one was on my home turf in Philadelphia and I was hoping to set a PR of under 2:05.

My last Half was Virginia Beach 2 weeks prior with a time of 2:08:04. I learned a few lessons on that run and made a few changes for this "training run" getting ready for my Full Marathon in November.

I wore my hydration belt and didn't stop at any water stops. This was great! I train with my belt so why not race with it. I loved not needing to get caught up in the crowd at the stops and I just kept motoring forward.

It was exciting to be in the starting corral and see Ryan Hall running past already heading down the second half of the course. Even more exciting was watching his win later in the day on the internet!

Anyway back to my race :)

It was a great day temp and humidity wise. I felt strong and didn't plan on staying around with anyone in my training group that was running ... but heading off on my own pace. After a few waves of starts I was on my way heading down the Parkway lined with flags into center city to head around City Hall. I've never quite appreciated the building as much as I did that day running past with the crowds. We circled and headed down Market St. and I remember saying to myself It's not everyday you can do this without getting killed!

We looped around and back out of the downtown area headed back to the Art Museum area to do the 8.5 mile loop around the Schuylkill River. These are miles I have done before so I knew what to expect and how far I had to go.

After crossing the Falls Bridge and looking at my Garmin I realized that not only could I make my goal of 2:05 but if I finished these last 3 miles strong I might even be able to get in under 2hrs!

I was hoping I could keep my pace up and do it! I changed my stride and started powering forward. As I got down Boathouse Row there were more people on the course cheering and that helped keeping me going. Can I get some more cow bell please?

So coming into the finish I kept looking at my watch with disbelief. I made the final turn and sprinted as fast as I could (being sure I kept a smile for the camera :) and I DID IT! My offical chip time was 1:57:30 !! I was stoked. My Garmin had me at 1:57:32 so I was hoping it was right and it was.

For those wondering what I did for sports nutrition, here is a recap:

I don't carbo load much before a race but I do conciously eat more carbs then I normally do in balance with protein. I generally stick to complex carbs made of corn or potatoes.

Morning of I do a chocolate protein shake with instant espresso powder in it. I also have a coffee. This not only gives me some energy but It helps me clear out the GI track.

About 30 mins before race time I take 3 Endurolytes.

About 15 mins before I ate a serving of Gu Chomps.

During the race I drink water since I don't need to worry about electrolytes from liquids.

At about 45 - 1hr in I do a Gu Gel and another 2-3 Endurolytes.

At 1.5 hrs I do another Gu Gel.

Post race I hit some protein and carbs at a nice blend, followed by a steak dinner for lunch :)

This worked great for me!

Here is a link to my Garmin GPS Splits

Here are some pics.

Virginia Beach Half Part 2 - Race Day!

The weather was great in the low 80's and low humidity.

I started back a few corrals with a friend that was running as well. This caused me to be a bit slower in the beginning of the race then I wanted I suppose. (might have been a good thing) I also took a pee break and stopped at to many water stops. I cross the finish line with a chip time of 2:08:04.



I am still pretty happy with my time even though I have done better in my long training runs for my full marathon in November. I set a personal goal of 2:15 for my first half so I made it!

I do the Philadelphia Distance Run Half in 2 weeks to I hope to PR and get in around 2:05.

Here are my splits. I did notice I needed to step it up and was not pushing myself hard enough and did a few negative splits the last few miles.
Split Hours:Minutes:Seconds Calories
Summary 02:07:52 13.24 1,763 1,610 09:39 06:57 1,931
1 00:09:28 1.00 85 110 09:28 08:43 143
2 00:09:17 1.00 68 36 09:17 08:28 146
3 00:08:55 1.00 90 90 08:55 08:09 145
4 00:09:24 1.00 98 106 09:24 08:01 147
5 00:09:27 1.00 175 118 09:27 08:01 146
6 00:09:34 1.00 148 166 09:34 07:00 146
7 00:10:13 1.00 128 128 10:13 08:19 143
8 00:10:15 1.00 36 73 10:15 09:17 146
9 00:09:55 1.00 115 63 09:55 08:57 146
10 00:10:15 1.00 50 71 10:15 09:04 147
11 00:10:05 1.00 107 77 10:05 06:57 148
12 00:09:48 1.00 158 191 09:48 08:10 147
13 00:09:06 1.00 355 263 09:06 07:30 147
14 00:02:02 0.24 150 118 08:31 07:30 34

My full Garmin track is here if your interested

Here are a few pics.

Cheers!

Tom

Rock N Roll Virginia Beach - Friday & Saturday

As I work my way toward my full marathon goal in November I decided to complete a few half marathons along the way to help prepare me. I wanted to treat these as training runs and not worry about times to much. I decided on doing Virginia Beach as I had heard it's a great race. This race turned out to be an amazing weekend.

It was the Labor Day weekend, my birthday weekend and my first half marathon. What could be better right? Well I got invited to stay at my friend Donna's house AND my friend Jane flew in from Texas to run with me! We ran both our first half marathons together. What a blast.

The weekend started with a visit to the race expo on Friday at the VB Convention Center. There were lots of give-a-ways and vendors. $50. VB Half Marathon Tech shirts ... no thanks. I'll appreciate the one that came with my registration :)

We walked around and tasted a few sports nutrition products and took some fun pictures at the mock finish line. I wish I ended with the time on that clock of 2:03 :) More on my finish time later.

Donna bought The Stick
since she had tried mine at the house earlier. I love that thing for warming up the muscles before a run and for working the lactic acid around after.

The energy drink on the course was Cytomox and they had samples of that available. It's a bit sweet to me full strength.

After the expo we went to the beach for a little bit to check things out. The weather was just amazing. People had warned me this race is normally pretty hot and humid. Well this weather was in the 80's and not to humid. I was loving it!

We left the beach and did a few errands. I picked up a Virginia is for runners shirt I had seen someone at the Expo wearing at the Running Etc. store and hit Trader Joe's.

Donna and her husband Randy were great hosts. We ended up going home and having a relaxing dinner and a chocolate cake for my birthday. Thanks guys!

Saturday we planned on going parasailing but the company never called us back to book the time. After a morning warm up run and a great breakfast including BACON :) we decided to take a flight down to the Wright Museum in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Randy and Donna have a 6 seat Cherokee plane and Randy our pilot flew us to First Flight Airport. What a nice day. Jane was a little worried about being in a small plane but she did just fine. I've been in small 4 seat Pipers before so no problems here.

Smooth take off and landings ... thanks Randy! While on the ground the monument for the Wright Brothers had a quote on it that really hit home for Jane and I. It summed up our feeling about getting to our goal of running a half marathon. "Achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith"

We walked around and saw the spot where the first attempts at flight took place. There were stone monuments marking each distance they were able to achieve. We visited the museum briefly and made our way back out to the air strip to take off again for Virginia Beach.

After getting back to the house we got ready and head out to the beach to check the race area out and have dinner. We decided on a Greek restaurant that looked good and was right on the beach. We ate outside and the weather was gorgeous. As we sat there we saw a bunch of people parasailing. We took a picture and said we would label it "Not Us" Donna had a shrimp dish. I had a gyro platter and Jane the gyro sandwich. Nice balance of carbs and protein. We also had some hummus. YUM! After we hit a custard stand and enjoyed some desert before heading home to get some rest for race day! Stay tuned for my race report up next. Cheers! Tom

Simple drills can clean up your running form, efficiency | Active.com

Simple drills can clean up your running form, efficiency | Active.com

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Welcome to Running and Gluttony!

Hi there and welcome to my new blog! My name is Tom B. and I live just outside of Philadelphia PA. I'm on a quest to complete my first marathon this year in November - The Philadelphia Marathon. I'm training with a group called USA Fit Philly on Saturdays for my long runs. I'm more than half way through this training and will be doing a few half marathons in preparation. I'm also a foodie! I love food and love to photograph it and talk about it. In this blog I will document my training and running adventures as well as my love of food. Eating well has sure been a great benefit from all my training. So subscribe to my post feed and check me out from time to time. Cheers! Tom