Rock 'n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon 2017

It's kind of nostalgic that the first race I run after more than two years due to injury, would be the Rock 'n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. My first half marathon I ever ran was this race. And aside from the last 2 years, I have run it every year since then. I completed the race, which I was very happy about. However, I did not train enough and suffered for it.

Overview

The race venue had three races; 5k, 10k, and half marathon. The 5k and 10k were both held on Saturday. There was a 30-minute difference between start times, so you could technically have done both, back-to-back. The half marathon was held on Sunday as usual. I did not participate in either Saturday race, so I'll just talk about the Expo and Sunday.



The Expo

The race expo was at the Philadelphia Convention Center as usual. And per typical Rock 'n Roll fashion, they had a great selection of vendors. This is an important thing to me, even if I don't buy anything. I really like seeing trending running gear and attire. I also use this opportunity to get additional discounts to sign up for upcoming races. Plus I just feel it makes the whole experience that much more well-rounded and enjoyable.

Some of my favorite vendors there were Jaybird and Garmin. I was a bit disappointed from Philadelphia Runner, as I was hoping to score some discounted On Running shoes. Oh well, maybe next time. I got to try out the upcoming Jaybird earbuds, the Jaybird Run, which were AWESOME! I will definitely be choosing these, once they are released in October, over than Apple wireless earbuds.

Other than this, the expo was typical and I score a lot of really cool samples and tried some awesome food.

The Race

The weather was a mixed bag depending on the person. For me, the temperature couldn't have been more ideal. However, the humidity was 80% and the dew point was around 70%. Therefore, it made it near impossible for my body to cool properly during the race. Thankfully the sun didn't pop out until the last mile of the race. Anyway, setup was good as always; plenty Port-o-potties, convenient location for gear check, easy entry into corrals. Some people complained about the port-o-potty lines back to the gear check. However, the grass was really wet and already fairly muddy, so I felt it was very thoughtful of the race coordinator to keep everyone from being covered in mud before the race.

There were tons of people as always, and the corrals were packed. They did a really good job at the staggered start, which is definitely an improvement from the last time I ran this race. Not only that, but for the first time in memory, I didn't experience pushy runners at all. Everyone was in a good mood and very courteous. This was very refreshing and helped keep me motivated as the race started.

The course had a few up and downhills. Nothing too crazy, which for someone who actually trained, would have made this a very fast course. I didn't train much, so all it did was tire me out more, haha. The route was really nice, with only one slight out-and-back, which kept the scenery constantly changing. Plus I love the Philly scenery for the races held here. Plus there was a good amount of bands along the way playing pretty good music.

My Race

I started off at what I felt to be a slow pace. I did this because I didn't want to spend the first couple miles trying to sprint around people. This strategy worked to my advantage, since I felt pretty good until mile 8. However, as I hit mile 8, my legs started to tire quickly. By mile 9 I was struggling. Once I hit 10 however, I was cycling through some of my motivational music, and was able to get myself moving. I still had trouble though because my longest run leading up this was 10 miles, but aside from that one run, I had only done one 8-miler, and then a couple 7's and 6's. Overall I didn't have a great base to handle the latter miles. I still pushed out a small kick at the end to finish as strong as I could.

The Finish Line

Even though I finished later than I wanted to, the finish line was very well organized. There was plenty of water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, and snacks. This was refreshing because so many times races will run out of hydration and snacks for the later finishers. There was free beer (1 per registered race participants over 21) and live music. I didn't stay to enjoy the bands playing, but I definitely got my snacks and drinks. I was bummed there were no food trucks, but that's alright, because I was so dead afterwards I just wanted to get home.

Final Thoughts

Overall a very fun race and I am so excited to officially be back to racing. I will be making sure I am properly trained for my Disney Dopey challenge in January. Hopefully my recovery doesn't take too long from this race, but I'll be tossing in some swimming to help promote quicker healing. Hope anyone else who raced had a great time!

Half Marathon Training - Week 4

A much better week overall from the prior week. However, I still had house hunting and other things comes up, so I did miss a few workouts. Overall a great week for nutrition and exercise though. I even got in more stretching, which I feel is what allowed me to achieve my Saturday and Sunday workouts.

Swimming
I got in a swim this week, which felt amazing. I was extremely tight from strength training on Monday and I felt awesome afterwards. Thanks to this swim I had no trouble with my run.

Cycling
I was excited to finally get in a ride this week on the SRT. I did a run-bike brick and cycling really helped me loosen my left hip after my run. I hope to start getting more rides in, but I'll take what I can get for now.

Running
I got three of my five runs in this week. Although the two runs I missed were easy days, they are still important days and I hope to not miss any for this upcoming week. Overall, each run felt pretty good.

So far it's looking like my easy pace is around 9:30 minutes per mile and my tempo is around 8:30 minutes / mile. This is fine for now, but I am really hoping I can run my Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in September around an 8:30 minutes / mile pace. That would put me around a 1:51 half marathon time, which would be awesome, especially since my best HM is around 1:40.

Strength
I only got in one of my two strength sessions. I loved my Monday session even though the DOMS was extremely bad. As a matter of fact, it was so bad I was having trouble walking on Tuesday. Sadly, I didn't swim or do any stretches, which I think dramatically slowed recovery. Thankfully I did a swim on Wednesday though. I had no excuse for missing the other strength session, since it was a short benchmark test. I technically had three sessions, but the third was too intense to fit in with my running over the weekend, so I pushed it to the following Monday. This isn't so bad since it was scheduled for Sunday anyway.

Nutrition
Overall I did pretty well with my nutrition. I still snack way too much, but crazy schedules don't really seem to allow me to get any sort of schedule. I did not do as well as logging either. I kind of wish there was a way to have MFP remind me to enter everything each night. I know I can set regular phone reminders, but it's just one of those things I wish an app offered but doesn't. On a positive note, I have added a reminder for this, just not via the app.

Final Thoughts
I think this was a pretty good week considering all of the life stuff trying to get in the way. I have been getting myself more active as well. I hope to keep this progression and to always work towards more consistency. Hope everyone else is doing well.

Half Marathon Training Starts

Although my Disney Dopey race is about 6 months away, I need to race a half or full marathon before October 3rd in order to make sure I am not put in the last corral, which would mean well over an hour or two delay for race start, which is no fun at all. So, I took the plunge and am signed up for the Rock 'n Roll Philly Half Marathon.

Training
My training plan starts today. I am coming off a full week of consistent exercise and mostly consistent healthier eating. To top things off, I feel GREAT! I was concerned that putting this much stress on my body would cause some issues, but none of them have surfaced. Therefore, I am fairly confident in my 13.1 training plan.

The Plan
I will typically be running 5 days per week. I know in the past I have expressed that you can get away with 3 days a week and have great results. However, I really need to start improving my speed if I ever want to make Boston before I am 40.

I'll typically be doing 2 easy days, 1 speed day, 1 tempo / pace day, and 1 long day. This type of plan is similar to what I used to drop my pace many years ago by over 2 minutes per mile over a 16 week training plan. I don't expect those kind of results here, but I am hoping for at least a 30 second per mile pace improvement in the end.

In addition to the running, I will still be working on 2-3 strength sessions per week, as well as fitting in some swimming and cycling. I don't really expect any gains or intense swimming sessions; although I will be using my swims to help speed up recovery.

Cycling is a different animal. I still need to be riding, but running for now will have to take priority. So the plan is that when I have time AND feel good, I'll go on for rides. However I won't be doing a ride before a run on that same day.

Final Thoughts
Overall I feel really confident with my training plan and I can't wait to continue this momentum of consistency. Good luck to everyone on whatever training or races you have planned.

Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon - Race Review

I am going to try and be unbiased here, as I just hit a new PR on this race and feel like a million bucks. That aside, this is the 2nd time I have done the race, which is also the 2nd time that the formerly named Philadelphia Distance Run has been under new ownership with Rock 'n' Roll. So, this was the 2nd time I have participated in the Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. The race was just as enjoyable as last year.

Parking & Pre-Race

Parking is always a pain, so I recommend getting to the race at least 1-1.5 hours ahead of time, unless you have someone dropping you off. Or, if you are hardcore, you can just jog or bike over. The port-a-potty lines are always an adventure, but moved along pretty well this year. From what I noticed, it seemed like they had a considerable amount more than last year. They also have a VIP port-a-potty area, which you can either purchase a pass or if you got $150 or more of merchandise from any of the sponsors, such as Brooks, then you got a free pass. My wife and I qualified for the free pass, and stupid me, I forgot them...so we used the regular port-a-potties. Not a problem, they were well stocked this year with toilet paper.

Pre-Race in the Corrals

Getting into the corrals was a lot easier this year. There wasn't any security to see which corral you were entering, so technically it was first-come-first-serve despite what corral you should have been in. This was only moderately annoying because there were a lot of walkers and slow runners who went in the early corrals, which made running around people more of a challenge. I was a lot slower last year and in corral 18, instead of corral 5 this year, so I didn't really have to worry about this issue then. Still, it wasn't a really big deal.

Everything felt very organized and it didn't feel chaotic at all; just a lot of excited energy from the runners as you would expect. The weather was perfect! A nice chill in the morning and cool at the end of the race. Although it did feel a lot warmer after the race with the sun out in full blast. Fortunately, this race usually falls on a gorgeous days every year, so I expected good weather.

And We're Off!

It took about 5 minutes for Corral 5 to get to the starting line after the horn was blown. However, corral 17 for example, took 30 minutes to get to the starting line. This was because the later corrals had multiple corrals together. The first part of the race through the city in regards to the roads was a lot better this year. There had been road work last year and tons of uneven road and potholes to avoid. However, there were a ton of ignorant spectators and locals who felt they could just cross the race coarse and runner's were the ones who had to go around them. This is the first race where I saw this situation as bad. The Pittsburgh Half in May had some people like this, but nowhere near as bad. I have to admit that when I saw a 250+lb clydesdale runner take out some kid walking across the street with this headphones on, I got a nice laugh and only hoped that the runner was not hurt...the kid cursed at the runner...while the other runners cursed at the kid to get off the race course.

The Course

You can see the course map on the Rock 'n' Roll Philly page if you want to see the full details and elevation map. Overall, this is a very flat course. However, it ends on an uphill, which sucks. Not only that, but the last couple miles are in almost full sun, which combined with the uphill makes this a very challenging end-course. But, the rest of the course is fine. The only hard turns are in the first few miles through the city. Once you are get out of the city and onto Kelly Drive, it opens up for the rest of the race. There is a slight turn at Falls Bridge, but the road is very open and you make more of a gradual wide turn than a sharp turn. And then it's West River drive to the finish at the Art Museum. Overall, a scenic and very enjoyable race.

One thing I love about Rock 'n' Roll events is that you get music all throughout the course. This year was awesome. No country music (I don't like country, sorry)...but lots of jazz, a drummer, and other groups. Plus, there were they occasional speakers setup playing some decent tunes. Annoyingly the race starts with Eye of the Tiger...which is a song I would prefer to hear towards then end of the race when I need that last bit of motivation to speed up and complete the race. Oh well, they'll figure it out one of these years.

Finish Line Goodies

I think a lot of people complained about the finish line food and drink last year, because there was a LOT more this year. I am angry that Philly races don't seem to give out Philly Soft Pretzels anymore. I know it's not cheap...but seriously, this is a Philly race...I want a Philly Pretzel...and I don't want to pay for it. Sorry, I guess I am spoiled by the past. But, it's expected, as races have grown so large. The race this year was sold at 22,500 people. The race-day overall count was 25,209. Not sure how that works out. Anyway, they had lots of versions of chocolate milk (wish they had chocolate almond milk since I don't like dairy before or after a race), lots of Gatorade, water, Herr's products, bananas, bagels, and more. It was a good spread...I just wish I had a bag to put it all in. My arms were full of stuff.

Right after the finish line you got your race completion medal (in my picture below) and got a finish line photo.

The After Party

The beer garden is impossible to find just like last year. Very annoying and not clearly marked to be spotted over the crowds. Gotta love a free beer after a race though. They also had a "Merch" area. Why Merchandise is being called Merch now is beyond me, since Merch sounds like something you need to see a doctor about;

Me: Hey, did you know I got merch from the race
Friend: Oh man, that sounds painful, you should get that looked at...I hope there is medicine for that

So, the main band to perform was Walk Off the Earth. Sorry, this type of music is not my taste. I either want old school AC/DC style rock, STP, Green Day, or some old or new school hip hop or dance music. Thankfully, for me anyway, there was no country music playing on the race course or anywhere else. I am not a fan of country music, sorry everyone. Anyway, I didn't stick around for the concert, but I read that people who do like that music thought the performance was good.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable race and I highly recommend it. Congratulations to all of the other runners who completed the race!

Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon - Expo Review

As with last year, Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon Expo was held at the Philadelphia Convention Center; one of my preferred locations for expos in Philly. Sometimes the races use the stadiums or other venues, and they are always too crowded and packed. Parking in the garage was $17.76, hah. However, if you just park a couple blocks away at a lot, you can get away with anywhere from $10-$12. This is what I did.

I was a little surprised security was so light, as last year there was a lot more. Also, there were a lot more vendors and giveaways last year. You can go this link to see the vendor list. Also, the speaker events were not as interesting and useful this year. You can see the list of speaker events at this link.

As usual, you walk in through the archway to the race bib pick-up area. The line for my corral had no wait, so I got my bib after showing photo idea and handing over my signed race waver. From here I picked up my tech shirt, then my swag bag. You can see the pictures below.

After this, we proceeded into the usual Brooks Zone. It's basically a very large area dedicated to Brooks, since they are a major sponsor. They had a fun zone called Brooks Run Happy Island. Below is a video of a guy riding a shoe; good times.

After you leave the Brooks area, you are off to the other booths. I stopped at all of them, got some free stuff and samples. Nothing really exciting for me this year as I pretty much have all of the running gear I need now. I did pick up some compression long sock; 2 normal pairs and 1 reflective. With the weather starting to get cooler, they will be helpful since my outside runs will start being in complete dark for AM or PM runs, as the days are getting shorter. Other than that, my wife got a pair of compression socks as well, a free visor, GU's, and some other running items. We both got medal hangers and I got another magnetic bumper sticker from Gone for a Run, one of our favorite vendors for non-running running items. Last time we got bib binders and some other magnetic bumper stickers.

Despite there being a good amount of vendors, it was a lot less than last year, and a lot less packed. Last year the whole hall was filled with vendors and there was a lot of food and handouts. This year there was no food, a large amount of the hall was empty, and most vendors were stingy with handouts.

However, still a good time and I highly recommend going to the expos so you can at least get discount vouchers or fill out surveys to get free gear...it all comes in handy. Plus, a lot of vendors will offer high discounts at the expo; not as many discounts this year, but still some plenty of them. It also gives you a chance to try out gear so you can consider it for your next race or training.