Today, I ran in the Royal Victoria Half Marathon. The course is gorgeous (mostly along the ocean) and the event is extremely well run—from package pickup to clothing dropoff to timing chip return, this is a stellar race. The race is also motivating because there are so many spectators; Victoria knows how to host a race. I encourage you to consider running this race in 2010!
My goal for this half marathon was to run it in under 1:20. If you’ve been tracking me on dailymile.com or Garmin Connect then you know that I’ve not been too diligent training lately. I’m letting myself rest, relax, and find a life rhythm here in Victoria. I will renew my focus on training again in the next couple months, ramping up in November and then getting focused in January 2010.
Today, I placed 34th overall (which includes the elite runners). 1639 people in total participated in the 1/2 marathon. Next year, I hope to run a <1:17. Also, I placed 9th in my agegroup (men 25-29). Results are here.
I did a few things different at this race. I fueled on a light breakfast at the advice of Amy Golumbia, a world class mountain runner & nutritionist. I don’t think skipping a heavy breakfast hurt me at all.
Because Laura joined me for this race (she ran the 8km. Way to go!), I got out of the house a little later than anticipated; my warmup before the race had to be cut short. After dropping my clothes at the change tent, I made my way to the starting chute, right near the front.
I was feeling pretty strong over the first 5-6km and then settled into things until around the 13km mark. I passed a number of people in the first 13km. I started feeling fairly heavy around 13-14km and got passed by someone. I decided that I’d try to have a Hammer Gel to get some calories in me. At the next aid station, I grabbed a Gatorade instead of a water, which was a risk. I’ve read never to mix gels and energy drinks, so, until today, I never had. My risk turned into a mistake (an unnecessary one). Although I was struggling before, I suddenly became extremely and painfully bloated. It seemed that all my energy was just sucked right from me. My pace dropped significantly and I was passed by three people that I’d been holding off.
Things got worse, so I decided to slow down to walk a little bit (for about 20-30 seconds) on km17. I was listening to some pro athletes commentate on the Ironman yesterday, and one of them was saying that sometimes stopping briefly can help you regroup and get back in the athletic groove. Essentially, I realized that top level athletes let themselves stop and this freed me to do the same.
I’m very glad I did. I managed to regroup and come back with a pace that I hadn’t had since ~km15. I managed to catch a few of the people who passed me when I started walking.
The last 1600m of the race was excruciating for me. I had hoped to give a final and full push in the last mile, but all I could do was hold it together. With less than 200m to the finish line, I had someone sprint past me. I worked to stay with them, but my body didn’t seem to have the go that I needed.
I think more mental commitment might have allowed me to hold the sprinter off, but I was hurting pretty bad in this race, so I feel okay about my time.
I wore my Garmin today so I could track my heart rate. Check out the map of the race, my km splits, and heartrate HERE.
Also, I want to thank SOLE for providing me with custom moldable footbeds and performance socks. They worked perfectly and allowed me to focus on my race, rather than worrying about the comfort of my feet.
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Yesterday, I spent a good portion of my day watching the