An eight month emphasis on enjoying life outside of running really helped to whet my appetite to get back into it. I redirected my focus back to run training when the decade turned. This started with Tabata intervals on the bike and eventually up the Manhattan Bridge 2-3x/wk to get my cardio back. Also did 5x mile intervals to get a feeling for the pacing six days before the race. And that was about it running-wise to help me prepare for the race. Below are my mileage totals since the 09 NYC marathon.
November: 61.95 incl. 09 NYC marathon
December: 39.20You can see why I wasn't expecting too much heading into the 2010 Manhattan Half because of the minimal running. I was curious, however, to test the P90X conditioning I endured. So I decided to push myself to get as close to the 7:00min/mi pace. My pace chart for the race went as follows:
| Split | Time | Distance | Avg Speed | Avg HR |
| 1 | 0:06:58 | 1.01 | 6:56 | 162 |
| 2 | 0:06:55 | 1.01 | 6:52 | 172 |
| 3 | 0:06:48 | 1.01 | 6:46 | 171 |
| 4 | 0:07:05 | 1.01 | 7:00 | 172 |
| 5 | 0:07:02 | 1 | 7:02 | 173 |
| 6 | 0:06:52 | 1 | 6:53 | 170 |
| 7 | 0:07:00 | 1 | 7:01 | 170 |
| 8 | 0:07:03 | 1.01 | 6:58 | 172 |
| 9 | 0:06:47 | 1.01 | 6:45 | 171 |
| 10 | 0:07:14 | 1.02 | 7:05 | 173 |
| 11 | 0:07:08 | 0.99 | 7:14 | 175 |
| 12 | 0:06:57 | 1 | 6:55 | 174 |
| 13 | 0:07:03 | 1 | 7:03 | 178 |
| 14 | 0:00:47 | 0.13 | 6:18 | 180 |
| Summary | 1:31:46 | 13.18 | 6:57 | 172 |
I was surprised that I was doing sub 7's the first 3 miles, and going gradually faster at that. I finished the first loop with the mile marker reading 42:00. That was good because I knew I had some leeway having started in the back of the blue corral. I felt pretty decent so I thought I could push slightly harder in the second loop. So I did. But my effort wasn't translating to faster mile splits. Bummer. I'd have to push even harder. I drew into the thousands of P90X push-ups I did by using my upper body to power me up Cat Hill, Harlem Hill and the west side rolling hills. I think it worked. The mile 12 marker read 1:24:13. Lost about 13s, but it's now GO time. My goal for every race is to do a sub 6:15 final mile. This one didn't even come close - 7:03.
My official time was 1:31:41 (6:59 min/mi), a PR by about half a minute on a much tougher course. I was definitely ecstatic about my first sub-7 pace half for the first race of the year after months of taking it easy!
Breaking down the race effort, I think that P90X did a lot to help me stay conditioned. The three weeks of Tabata intervals helped me to get my cardio back QUICK, which is why I absolutely love Tabata workouts. The mile intervals helped me to feel the pacing. If there's anything that can be improved upon, it's the last 2-3 miles. In the past, I had a better ability to pick it up. Yesterday, it annoyed me to get passed by so many. Ugh. But I know that will be fixed as I up my mileage.
I'm hoping this is a good omen for my 2010 season. I'm definitely much more excited about running again hope to set more PR's.
