Starting Line for the New Year’s Double Eve Race

New Year’s Double Eve Race

Race Course

I had run one of this leg race series (The New Year’s Double) for my first race of 2016 and so I was very familiar with the course and the production company, The Active Joe. What I had never attempted to do before was run two half marathons in back-to-back days. I felt like I had done plenty of training and that I was prepared physically to run the race. Emotionally or psychologically how I was going to fair on this race was anyone’s guess.

What is nice about the course is that it is practically flat except for a portion where the running trail goes under a road below grade.

New Year’s Double Race Medals

The weather was nice (50*) and sunny albeit a little windy yet manageable for Saturday morning. I wore a lightweight long sleeve shirt and a LiveWire sleeveless shirt, and shorts. My goal was to take it easy, something that I tend to struggle with, and walk some portions of the course if I felt like I was feeling a little tired.

It’s been a few weeks since I ran the race so I can’t recall whether I walked any significant portions of the race.

Since much of the trail is on a fairly wide cement sidewalk, safety is not a big concern where you need to be aware of vehicle traffic on roadways. This allows me to go out and try to just enjoy running

After finishing the race, there were bananas, water, and plain bagels to eat. It was very nice to have something to eat since I had just gotten done burning about 1,500 calories in just under 3 hours. I also picked up a race series medal that I have been working on for 2016.

Splits	Time	Cumulative Time	Moving Time	Distance	Elev Gain	Elev Loss	Avg Pace	Avg Moving Pace	Best Pace	Avg HR	Max HR	Avg Run Cadence	Max Run Cadence	Avg Stride Length	Avg Vertical Oscillation	Avg Ground Contact Time	Calories
1	10:47	10:47	10:43	1.00	1	8	10:47	10:43	9:06	148	167	169	180	0.88	8.2	280	104
2	10:36	21:22	10:30	1.00	23	16	10:36	10:30	10:05	168	175	170	174	0.89	8.3	274	117
3	10:46	32:08	10:39	1.00	—	16	10:46	10:39	9:33	169	176	169	174	0.89	8.4	274	119
4	10:35	42:44	10:35	1.00	—	3	10:35	10:35	10:09	174	178	168	173	0.90	8.4	274	121
5	10:41	53:25	10:39	1.00	—	—	10:41	10:39	10:05	178	184	170	204	0.89	8.3	275	126
6	11:31	1:04:56	11:28	1.00	26	—	11:31	11:28	8:10	178	188	161	175	0.87	7.5	280	134
7	11:29	1:16:25	11:26	1.00	10	13	11:30	11:26	7:04	175	185	158	178	0.89	7.3	285	128
8	11:41	1:28:07	11:36	1.00	13	6	11:42	11:36	10:29	175	186	162	178	0.85	7.4	288	130
9	12:17	1:40:24	12:15	1.00	7	26	12:17	12:15	9:27	170	182	156	176	0.84	7.0	287	120
10	12:15	1:52:39	12:13	1.00	—	10	12:15	12:13	10:43	170	181	158	176	0.83	7.0	290	121
11	12:31	2:05:10	12:29	1.00	—	—	12:31	12:29	10:03	167	179	152	177	0.85	6.7	292	111
12	13:19	2:18:30	13:19	1.00	10	—	13:19	13:19	11:09	165	177	147	179	0.82	6.4	278	104
13	14:36	2:33:06	14:35	1.00	25	—	14:36	14:35	9:02	157	175	135	177	0.81	5.9	275	77
14	4:12.8	2:37:19	4:10	0.40	—	14	10:34	10:27	9:43	170	187	170	177	0.90	7.7	268	38
Summary	2:37:19	2:37:19	2:36:37	13.40	114	113	11:44	11:41	7:04	168	188	159	204	0.86	7.4	280	1,550

New Year’s Double Day Race

I intentionally made myself go to bed around 10:00 PM in an effort to get as much sleep as possible. I woke up at 6:00 AM the next morning and surprisingly, felt decent. I wasn’t as sore as I thought I might be thanks to taking some Aleve to help make sure I got to sleep with as little problems as possible.

Race Elevation Chart

The weather wasn’t what I had hoped it would be — Chance of rain throughout the race with temps in the 50s. Thankfully, it stopped raining right before the race began however I still ran with a raincoat just in case. More on that later.

I started the race and was actually able to run, albeit slower than I had the day before, but I was very happy with the pace I was able to maintain. I don’t recall walking much during the front half of the race except maybe at water stops and down, under, and back up to grade under the road.

Somewhere around mile 8 or 9 it started to run but thankfully it wasn’t a heavy downpour or lasted for an extended period of time. It might have rained (light drizzle at best) for perhaps 15 minutes.

I was very happy to finally make it to the finish line, especially in under 3:00, which was a small goal of mine for the race. I picked up some water, a banana, and a bagel to scarf down as I was starving, plus a plate to mount my two medals I had earned for each of the races. Even after having run more than 26 in two days, I was surprising in little pain. I got back to my truck, finished off my water and took another Aleve and made the drive back home — feeling accomplished in having completed perhaps the second toughest race I had set out to complete.

Splits	Time	Cumulative Time	Moving Time	Distance	Elev Gain	Elev Loss	Avg Pace	Avg Moving Pace	Best Pace	Avg HR	Max HR	Avg Run Cadence	Max Run Cadence	Avg Stride Length	Avg Vertical Oscillation	Avg Ground Contact Time	Calories
1	11:03	11:03	10:55	1.00	—	—	11:03	10:55	9:55	152	173	171	177	0.85	7.7	278	109
2	10:49	21:52	10:48	1.00	14	18	10:49	10:48	10:23	172	178	172	175	0.87	7.9	271	121
3	12:04	33:56	11:56	1.00	—	14	12:04	11:56	10:23	166	176	160	176	0.83	7.1	274	128
4	11:46	45:42	11:41	1.00	—	3	11:46	11:41	9:47	167	178	163	176	0.84	7.2	272	120
5	12:29	58:11	12:23	1.00	—	—	12:29	12:23	11:01	162	177	157	176	0.82	7.0	273	111
6	12:24	1:10:35	12:21	1.00	30	—	12:24	12:21	11:01	164	177	157	177	0.82	7.0	279	117
7	12:28	1:23:03	12:21	1.00	6	10	12:28	12:21	9:33	159	175	152	178	0.85	6.9	314	96
8	13:03	1:36:06	13:03	1.00	13	9	13:03	13:03	10:51	158	174	150	175	0.82	6.7	329	96
9	12:56	1:49:02	12:35	1.00	6	23	12:56	12:35	7:01	153	171	148	179	0.84	6.7	307	77
10	12:46	2:01:48	12:46	1.00	—	13	12:46	12:46	10:53	157	171	152	178	0.83	6.9	321	90
11	14:06	2:15:54	14:00	1.00	—	—	14:06	14:00	9:13	147	168	139	176	0.82	6.3	303	64
12	16:04	2:31:58	16:01	1.00	10	—	16:04	16:01	11:01	137	168	125	177	0.80	5.5	284	48
13	15:34	2:47:32	15:31	1.00	23	—	15:34	15:31	14:40	135	143	123	143	0.84	5.7	474	32
14	4:27.6	2:52:00	4:22	0.33	—	13	13:39	13:22	9:55	137	167	135	176	0.87	6.3	410	14
Summary	2:52:00	2:52:00	2:50:43	13.33	102	102	12:54	12:49	7:01	155	178	149	179	0.83	6.7	304	1,223