Can finally post what I did at the La Jolla half this past sunday now that my Garmin info is uploaded:
2012 La Jolla Half
The race starts out at the Del Mar fairgrounds/horsetrack and ends in La Jolla cove running along beach neighborhoods and up and down Torrey Pines reserve. There are 3 major hills including a 420ft climb up Torrey Pines which is pretty challenging. That climb lasts about 2 miles from 5.5 to 7.5. After that it's flat and downhill, with a final hill right at mile 12.
My plan was to go out at 7:45 so my first mile was pretty slow. This was due to a crowded start and I also had to stop to get a rock out of my shoe. After that I tried to pick up the pace but you can't get into a consistent groove really until mile 8 because of the hills. Miles 8-12 I pushed myself a bit, trying to make up the lost time from the previous hills. I may have gone a bit too hard during this stretch because I was hurting going up that 120ft hill at the end. Was able to sprint to the finish though.
The marathon training has made a huge difference in my endurance. Legs weren't tired at all, I was going up against my ability to maintain cardio more than anything else. Once I knew I wasn't going to PR (around mile 11) I gave up a little bit mentally. Kind of wished I had pushed harder to come in under 1:45. The good thing coming out of this race is I think if it weren't for that last hill at mile 13 I could have PR'ed even with the big hills in the beginning. As a fitness test and tuneup race I give myself a B+.
I recently set my auto-lap to 1.01 because someone said to do that to account for error. Not sure if that is right?
Summary 1:45:10.2 13.21 7:58
Splits:
1 8:11.6 1.01 8:07
2 7:42.8 1.01 7:38
3 8:14.5 1.01 8:10
4 8:29.9 1.01 8:25
5 7:27.8 1.01 7:23
6 9:57.6 1.01 9:52
7 8:27.1 1.01 8:22
8 7:52.1 1.01 7:47
9 7:24.4 1.01 7:20
10 7:56.6 1.01 7:52
11 7:05.6 1.01 7:01
12 7:48.6 1.01 7:44
13 8:07.2 1.01 8:02
14 :24.6 0.08