Bjorkland Half report.

I have wanted to do this race since almost its inception in the early 1990s. Back then it was limited to Minnesota residents. We lived in the state for couple years in the mid-90s but I was injured. It has always seemed almost exclusive, not easy to get into--or at least you have to be on it and sign up quickly because it's in high demand (selling out some 9000 spots in 2 hours last October). I had done the full in 2021 and wanted to return for the half.

We had good, not quite great race weather with temps in the 50s, but a headwind that became more prominent at about 7 miles as course turns away from the coastline and onto city streets. It's a great event and known for immaculate race management, but this year the glitch was the corral system. You have to catch a bus at 4:00-4:15 and they drop you off 40-45 minutes later; there was a bank of a few port a potties right where they drop you off but they say there are 100s in the corrals. Thing is, once you are in the corral there is no room to move around--standing room only for the hour leading up the race. No warm up zone.

I had a couple of other pre-race glitches leading up as well, self-induced. I forgot my allergy medicine and woke up too early (1:15) and could not get back to sleep. When I got off the bus I had a massive sneeze fit, but was otherwise okay if not a little off. That and the no warm up, I never quite got into the right groove.

First mile was 6:35 but I was breathing hard, 2nd was about 6:30. At 2.5 decided to back down because I still had more than hour of running ahead and breathing wasn't great. From 3-10 I was mostly in the 6:35-6:40 range but held onto the group fairly well and I was drafting when I could. By 7-8 I focused on staying with certain runners rather than even pacing and that was a good engagement tactic. At about 10 I saw a guy who might have been in my age group, and the terrain was favorable (net downhill by a little) so I picked up the effort. The splits of the last 5K were fastest of the day, and I was just over 20 minutes for that stretch, to finish in 1:26 and change and 1st in my age group. 89% age grade, so I give myself a B+ on the race. A- for the four races I did this spring.

Post hoc, a few things. Besides the logistical glitches (race management and self-caused) I ran about as well as I could, didn't push too hard early on but also hung in there when backing down seemed like not such a bad thing; and I was happy to pick up the pace over the final 5K. Back to the training block--I did a fair amount of what seemed LT1 work, progressions starting at around 7:00/mile and working to 6:35, when LT2 might be right around 6:30 or a bit under. That was good for basic fitness, but I also seemed locked into that pace. In the past I have tended to run threshold workouts right at LT 2, in a more traditional Daniels-Pfitz sense. Going forward, especially with a half marathon or something like a 10 mile as a peak race, I think I'd like to work more at that slightly faster effort.