Scotia Bank 1/2 Marathon Race report: whamo

blankaty blank is a bit how i am feeling right now.
legs are tight, my stomach is feeling a bit like it doesn't like my lunch.
and i am fricken tired.  i am going to go home and have a long ass sunday afternoon nap.

so, to start off my race report, i would like to mention these three things, which help explain how i am feeling right now. these aren't excuses. they are just facts which play into today's truth.  and, i recognize them.

  1. my last 4 stand alone 1/2 marathons: 1:46/1:47/1:46/1:48.  notice the theme?  all within a 2 minute spread.
  2. wind forecast this morning: 10am (race start): 54km/hr, gusting to 67. 11am: 46km/hr, gusting to 63..  12pm (just after the finish): 45km/hr, gusting to 58.  notice the theme here? f'in WINDY!
  3. i had a 3.5hr brick yesterday. it was hard.
first off, i think my nutrition was pretty much right on the ball.  spent the last 2 days doing a bit of carb loading (and...weighed myself this morning.  i have been losing weight!  even with the not so clean eating as of late during paper writing weeks!), and hit my race morning nutrition well.  last year, i remember getting a headache at about km 17...  this year, i was on the edge of nutrition.  i burped up once, but i think that was because i drank a gatorade too quickly.

anyway, first 11-12 km were good.  great, in fact.  wind sucked ass, but, in general, i was feeling good.  I came through the 10km mark at 48 minutes, which was maybe too quick, but, i was feeling good.  a little tight, but, i had a girl that i was pacing with, and both of us looked at each other and said "1:43?  sounds good! let's do it!"  the way it was going, i was sitting in the middle of my tempo zone, and felt like i could keep it going like this till the end.  I even had some buffer to break the 1:45 time.



then: whamo.  side stitch at km 11.5.  WTF!?!? (at that point, i had to let my co-runner go.  boo...)  i had to stop for a moment and stretch it out.  and... that kinda felt like the turning point.  we then had just over 2km on the far side of the olympic bassin, and the wind was like a bitch from hell. it definitely went through my head "why do i pay to do things like this?  really?  this is NOT fun."  my consistently sub-5min kms fell to 5:20's.  mentally, i was struggling a bit. and, then, what i thought was going to happen far earlier, hit at about km 15.  the legs started feeling the workout from yesterday.  the hamstrings and glutes just felt like rocks.  and, i kept on thinking "yes, you can still do it.  you can run 5min kms.  you can still break 1:45."  but, then, there it was.  5km to go, and i look at my watch, and, it was goign to be pretty impossible to get 1:45.  and, there was the mental wall.

whamo.  defeat.  you are, once again, going to be in that 1:46 range.  shit.  i might as well quit now.  i might as well take a moment to walk when the wind comes up.  i might as well stretch these hams out.  today, i am not PBing.

and, that was hard.  i was pissed at myself for breaking to my mental thoughts. i was pissed at the wind for breaking my pace. i was pissed at mary for putting me through such a hard workout yesterday. and, i just felt sad.  i SO BADLY want to be able to get that sub-1:45.  i know think i am capable of it.  so, why can't i get it!?

but, i what i was happy about is that i know the wind really played a part in my result today.  and, i do think that i could've broken 1:45 if there was no wind. i also had a big training day yesterday, so, i know my legs were tired from that. i was happy that i had nothing left at the end of the race. i was happy that i was able to steadily increase my HR through the race, showing that i starting off easy.  i was happy that weekends like this make me stronger for my upcoming 70.3 in hawaii in june.  but, when push comes to shove... that is about it.  i am not thrilled.  just sayin.

it kinda makes me loathe this distance (when i used to love it!) because it makes me feel like i am at this block, and just.can't.improve.

so, that being said.  here are my numbers: (not that you care.  but... you know.  as triathletes, we are nerdy like that, and LOVE analyzing numbers...)

chiptime: 1:47.39. Avg HR:176 max 184
Gender place: 131/764 (top 17%) Age group place: 25/134 (top 18%)
KM 1&2: 9:32.20/ avg HR 163
3: 4:35.41/ 167
4: 4:28.45/ 170
5: 5:13.77/ 171
6: 4:48.95/173
7: 4:57.37/ 174
8: 4:32.6/175
9: 5:14.73/176
10:5:01.0/176
11: 4:54.56/177
12: 5:03.89/177
13: 5:19. 68/179 (this km was the beginning of the breaking point!)
14: 5:21.73/179
15: 5:14.72/180
16: 5:23.0/180
17: 5:18.32/180
18: 5:25.49/182
19: 5:26.08/182
20: 5:39. 32/180
21: 6:09.86/182 (DAMN that wind during the last km... there was NO "sprinting to the finish"!  it was like a WALL that you just pushed against for the entire km.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hmmm.... looking at your splits, you may need to reconsider the strategy going out. Look at doing a negative split, so that you have some gas in the tank for the end. It takes a lot of will power to hold back at the beginning when you have this huge wave of people zipping by you, but you will feel the gratification as you pass them all towards the end. I have been doing this strategy for all of my races for the past year, and as a result, had huge successes in pacing and hitting time targets. Heck, I even hit 1:43 at First Half because of this approach. Also consider taking in a gel 15min before the race, then 35min, and then last one @ 1:15 to keep the energy levels high. Have fun with this! - Angela

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