Double Bellybuster at the Oakville Half Marathon
Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:58 pm
Did this one as a weekend excursion with fellow Maniac Cupcake Girl, who had a great Milton Women's Triathlon on Sunday. So Monday it was my race in the Oakville Half Marathon. This was my second shot at a sub-1:40 Half Marathon result. My PB was a 1:40:43 in August 2009 - in that race, I had taken almost six minutes off my prior PB so I foolishly thought that another 44 seconds would be fairly easy to take off next time out. But in March 2010 at the Chilly Half, I blew up 15K in trying to maintain the necessary 4:44/K pace needed for a 1:39:59 result. Later I realized that I attained the August 2009 PB when it was a race I trained toward. Like March 2010, this Oakville Half was just a warm-up race in Marathon training and I likely lacked the necessary speedwork for a Half PB. With that in mind and a mild case of food poisoning Saturday, I didn't go into this one very confident of a PB but thought I would start out at the necessary pace to make it a possibility.
Nice day, well organized course and route, looked like it would be enjoyable race regardless of outcome. I noted that the water stations were every 3K - being a 21K race and having a prior blowup at 15K last time out, I was thinking of this one as seven 3k stages in assessing whether I could hit my goal 4:46/K needed for a PB - or in a stretch, 4:44/K for a 1:39:59.
First 3K - this was the easy part. Went out slow enough to not blow too much energy if was not in shape for my goal but quick enough to keep it in sight. Was very discouraged to see the 1K marker 6 minutes from the start line and 150 metres too far and the second and third K markers with the same apparent error. Could the starting line gate and timing mat rushed out in the 2-3 minutes available after 10K runners went by have been that far off?
4:46, 4:47, 4:47 (GPS Race to-date pace - 4:47/K)
3.01K to 6K - Started to pick it up a little bit here as I was warmed up, felt good and knew I needed to keep 4:44/K possible but knew a blowup at 15K could happen. Did not know if stomach could handle gels today.
4:42, 4:42, 4:48 (Race to-date pace - 4:45/K)
6.01K to 9K - a bit of uphill in the 7th and 8th K, the only northbound running of the race, which was away from the lake and possibly the only significant uphill. Much of the offsetting decline was in the 9th K. Gelled before the 9K water station, knew I needed to test the stomach to keep up, and possibly pick up, the pace. With a slow 3K stretch here, the toughest running to come, and the 150K marker offset remaining consistent, I did not think my goals were achievable without picking up the effort a bit over the remainder. So knew I needed to risk a blow-up here again and push.
4:47, 4:52, 4:40 (Race to-date pace - 4:46/K)
9.01K to 12K - pushed the effort here and got a solid 3K stretch. Felt strong and gelled for the second and last time before the 12K water station. Got the Garmin pace for race-to-date down to 4:44/K, so was good for 1:39:59 only if the 150 metes marker offset would go away.
4:41, 4:34, 4:39 (Race to-date pace - 4:44/K)
12.01K to 15K - pushed the effort here and got another solid 3K stretch. Decided I was not going to rely on an accurate course length and knew I needed to run the back half around LT level to go sub-1:40.
4:38, 4:43, 4:41 (Race to-date pace - 4:43/K)
15.01K to 18K - some uphill here beyond the Third Line (17K & 18K), I knew this had to reverse before the end so did not get too fussed and kept some gas in the tank.
4:39, 4:44, 4:42 (Race to-date pace - 4:43/K)
18.01K to 21.1K - started to open this up increasingly through this stretch as I realized I could keep each increase up.
4:36, 4:25, 4:32, 4:04 for 0.26K
(Full race pace - 4:40/K for 21.26K)
(Official pace - 4:42/K for 21.10K - 1:39:08.3, PB by 1:35)
The course may have been long. I make a point of running tangents and counted 21.26K while most finishers had around 21.30K. Which is fine, the beautiful weather and fast course made up for it.
A great event. Saw Taxman the Maniac at the finish as well and he also had a strong result...for him, it would be a miraculous result for the rest of us.
Nice day, well organized course and route, looked like it would be enjoyable race regardless of outcome. I noted that the water stations were every 3K - being a 21K race and having a prior blowup at 15K last time out, I was thinking of this one as seven 3k stages in assessing whether I could hit my goal 4:46/K needed for a PB - or in a stretch, 4:44/K for a 1:39:59.
First 3K - this was the easy part. Went out slow enough to not blow too much energy if was not in shape for my goal but quick enough to keep it in sight. Was very discouraged to see the 1K marker 6 minutes from the start line and 150 metres too far and the second and third K markers with the same apparent error. Could the starting line gate and timing mat rushed out in the 2-3 minutes available after 10K runners went by have been that far off?
4:46, 4:47, 4:47 (GPS Race to-date pace - 4:47/K)
3.01K to 6K - Started to pick it up a little bit here as I was warmed up, felt good and knew I needed to keep 4:44/K possible but knew a blowup at 15K could happen. Did not know if stomach could handle gels today.
4:42, 4:42, 4:48 (Race to-date pace - 4:45/K)
6.01K to 9K - a bit of uphill in the 7th and 8th K, the only northbound running of the race, which was away from the lake and possibly the only significant uphill. Much of the offsetting decline was in the 9th K. Gelled before the 9K water station, knew I needed to test the stomach to keep up, and possibly pick up, the pace. With a slow 3K stretch here, the toughest running to come, and the 150K marker offset remaining consistent, I did not think my goals were achievable without picking up the effort a bit over the remainder. So knew I needed to risk a blow-up here again and push.
4:47, 4:52, 4:40 (Race to-date pace - 4:46/K)
9.01K to 12K - pushed the effort here and got a solid 3K stretch. Felt strong and gelled for the second and last time before the 12K water station. Got the Garmin pace for race-to-date down to 4:44/K, so was good for 1:39:59 only if the 150 metes marker offset would go away.
4:41, 4:34, 4:39 (Race to-date pace - 4:44/K)
12.01K to 15K - pushed the effort here and got another solid 3K stretch. Decided I was not going to rely on an accurate course length and knew I needed to run the back half around LT level to go sub-1:40.
4:38, 4:43, 4:41 (Race to-date pace - 4:43/K)
15.01K to 18K - some uphill here beyond the Third Line (17K & 18K), I knew this had to reverse before the end so did not get too fussed and kept some gas in the tank.
4:39, 4:44, 4:42 (Race to-date pace - 4:43/K)
18.01K to 21.1K - started to open this up increasingly through this stretch as I realized I could keep each increase up.
4:36, 4:25, 4:32, 4:04 for 0.26K
(Full race pace - 4:40/K for 21.26K)
(Official pace - 4:42/K for 21.10K - 1:39:08.3, PB by 1:35)
The course may have been long. I make a point of running tangents and counted 21.26K while most finishers had around 21.30K. Which is fine, the beautiful weather and fast course made up for it.
A great event. Saw Taxman the Maniac at the finish as well and he also had a strong result...for him, it would be a miraculous result for the rest of us.