Instep Icebreaker Indoor Half Marathon
The Instep Icebreaker Indoor Half Marathon is held at the Pettit Center in West Allis,WI. The Pettit Center has been designated an Olympic training site and one of only 12 indoor Olympic speedskating ovals in the world. A two-lane rubberized track circles the speedskating oval and is where the race is held.
I arrived a little after 6AM and groggily made my way through the registration table then shuffled upstairs to the “Hall of Fame” room. After rustling through my gear bag a bit, I opted for a long sleeve dri-fit top under a short sleeve technical shirt to go with long compression shorts. While it is an ice arena, the air temperature is in the fifties, which is ideal – but cool – running conditions.
After gearing up, I made my way downstairs to the track to drop my gear in my allotted space on the eastern wall then positioned my water bottle on the aid table. My warm-up consisted of five laps on the 443 meter track which lasted all of eleven and a half minutes. Regrettably, I was in the men’s room when the National Anthem was played by a gentleman on the trumpet. I did emerge in time to make my way to the starting line with the other competitors in the early (7AM) wave of half marathoners.
No headphones/ipods are allowed in this race which didn’t stop Chris (the Race Director) from playfully sporting a rather large and conspicuous headphone apparatus at the starting line, which was met with a few laughs. (He ditched them before the race started. My guess is he didn’t want to disqualify himself) My friend Dana was lucky enough to be the starter and gave us our final instructions before sending us on our way. The first lap was (without question) a jack-rabbit lap with me rolling through at 6:00 per mile pace. Realizing it as such, I backed off during my second lap then settled into a more reasonable pace by my third lap.
Just so we’re clear, those of us running the half marathon needed to complete 47.7 laps around the track. Each lap was recorded via electronic timing as each of us wore a “chip” around our ankle that recorded us when we passed over the timing sensors taped to the track. I manually kept track of my laps on my Garmin but could also look up at the projection screen that was located at the finish area to see a “live” count of the number of laps completed as well as my last lap time. Mercifully, a mix of music was piped in over the PA system to keep us entertained while we were engaged in left-turn racing.
For the first half of the race, I cruised along at between 7:00 and 7:15 per mile pace. As I made it into miles seven and eight, my pace began slowing and by perhaps ten miles I was pretty much just hanging on with anything I had left. Regrettably, my right achilles got a bit aggravated from the effort and was worsening as the laps piled on. Finally, the PA announcer stated that I had one lap left to run which was a welcome relief. I rolled through the finish line and must have missed a turn as I didn’t fetch my finishers medal or turn in my chip. Luckily, I ran into Dana who collected my chip and returned with my medal before I had the chance to collect my gear bag.
In the end, I managed a time of 1:35:35 (chip) for the half marathon, which was good enough for 20th overall between the two “waves” of half marathoners. (190 total finishers) My time was nearly nine minutes slower than my best for the distance, but I’m not exactly in great shape in mid-January. Hopefully as spring rolls around I’ll be able to round back into form.
Regardless, the Instep Icebreaker Indoor Marathon event itself consisted of the aforementioned two waves of half marathoners as well as a marathon relay and marathon. For those truly looking to over-exert themselves, the Gold Medal Challenge is offered which consists of a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. Register early as all of the events sold out well in advance of this year’s running.
catching up
i guess i got behind a bit in my blogging. essentially, each of these runs were “easy” and i took friday off to get a little more sleep in preparation for the InStep Icebreaker Indoor Half Marathon.
1/18 – 8 miles (afternoon run – MLK holiday)
1/19 – 6 miles
1/20 – 6 miles
1/21 – 6 miles
1/22 – off
MTD/YTD – 114 miles
Odometer – 29,622 miles
going glacial
the wind was from the west, rather than the north, so i opted to head down and out on the glacial drumlin trail. the trail has been plowed (to a degree) this winter and was very runnable with only a few shaded areas that were iced over. the sun was shining and i had my ipod shuffle keeping me entertained. i did see a few walkers and one runner while i was on the trail, but pretty much had it to myself. as i made it back to my house, i opted to improvise another two miles before calling it quits. in the end, i mustered a total of thirteen miles and hit the shower.
MTD/YTD – 88 miles
Odometer – 29,596 miles
workweek rewind
the wee hours of the morning brought single digit temps early in the week then slowly made their way through the teens to the twenties by friday.
1/11 – 6.5 miles
1/12 – 6 miles
1/13 – off (opted to sleep in)
1/14 – 5 miles
1/15 – 5 miles
at this point, i’m opting to focus on being habitual rather than logging big miles every day. not much to report on my morning constitutionals this week but i have noted more walkers and runners out-and-about as the temperatures warmed through the week.
MTD/YTD – 75 miles
Odometer – 29,583 miles
retzer reloaded
after yesterday’s indoor effort, i opted to head just up the road to the Retzer Nature Center for some quality time on the trails. to mix it up a bit, i decided to reverse the one loop course i had run nine days back. the recent 8 inches of snow made the effort a bit slower than my previous effort but it was just as gratifying. they one thing that was memorable from the effort was the look on the faces of other snowshoers as i came clomping by them on a downhill. they were simply hiking with wooden snowshoes while i’m sporting the aluminum racing shoes. the gear makes a big difference…trust me. regardless, i mustered four miles and headed home for a hot shower.
MTD/YTD – 52.5 miles
Odometer – 29,560.5 miles