In their final test before toeing the line at the Olympic Marathon Trials on February 3rd, several ZAP athletes will compete at the Houston Half Marathon this coming Sunday, January 14th. Andrew Colley, Tyler Pennel, Tristin Van Ord, and Josh Izewski will all compete once more prior to the Trials.
The team has been training in Tallahassee, FL since January 2nd to put the final touches on their marathon prep in a warmer climate. With the Trials taking place in Orlando the team favored training in a warmer, more humid climate compared to going to higher elevation or staying in Blowing Rock through the cold winter.
Since arriving in Tallahassee the team has been training at a high level across the board. The marathoners competing in Houston will be racing hard, but doing so on tired legs. They completed a marathon specific long run 10 days before Houston. In that run they covered between 21-22 miles and had blocks of 5 miles at marathon effort, 4 miles run a few seconds per mile quicker than the 5 mile block, a progressive 3 mile piece that started at the pace of the 4 mile piece and finished a touch quicker than half marathon pace, and a 1 mile piece close to 10k effort.
They were all excited to compete and have one race in addition to the Trials, but with the timing of Houston, it was important to be able to train hard leading into the race.
The Houston course is renowned for being fast and always boasts world-class competition. This year is no exception. Even in the middle of marathon training, it’s possible we some PR’s from the crew this coming weekend. Here are the numbers to watch: Andrew: 1:02:23, Tyler: 1:01:44, Josh: 1:03:16, Tristin: 1:12:31, Annmarie: 1:12:09.
The race will be live streamed here (scroll to the bottom to view all the options). And live results will be available here once the race begins.
Prior to the Houston Half, Ryan Ford and Amanda Vestri will drive to Gainesville, FL Friday afternoon to compete at the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Track Invitational. They will both be competing in the 3k as a tune-up to the US Cross Country Championships the following weekend in Richmond, VA.