Scotia Half

[AjaxRunner]

After a very disappointing Army Half, hampered by illness, I was determinated to get a result I would be relatively happy with. I've had a strong training cycle and knew I had a significant improvement in me if things worked out well. I took a week off after the Army Half, then got in some quality runs. 3 Long runs at 18, 22 and 20k. Couple of tempo runs and one track session with the Running Room. I was feeling strong and prepared. Against all common knowledge and common sense, I did something new the night before.....steak dinner at The Keg.

Race Day arrived and Mrs Ajaxrunner and I headed out around 7:15 and ended up parking on Dundas roughly a block west of University in front of the AGO. Free parking in Toronto, a nice little surprise. After meeting a friend we found bag check and slowly made our way to the corrals. Lots of signage and lots of volunteers actively engaged in the process, which was nice to see.

I had a couple of goals: PB, beat Ed, get near 1:35, finish in top 10% of all finishers, all men and in my Age Group. With all that in mind, I had planned to go out on 4:35 pace and adjust after the first couple of kms and then monitor continuously. Walking into the red corral, I saw the 1:40 half bunny and the 3:10 full bunny and lined up in between them.

Gun went off and we were on our way. For me this was the first time in a large race that I did not have to weave through lots of other runners, but that may also be since I was lined up closer to the front than I have in the past. Regardless I had a cautious start, starting on a slight uphill may have helped with that as well. First three km went by in 4:39, 4:35, and 4:27. I was feeling strong and the 3:10 bunny was right behind me. Assuming has was running an evenly paced marathon he would get me close to a 1:35 half.

After 3 km, the route goes down Bathurst, which includes a nice gradual downhill, time to let the pace go a little faster, probably running at the same effort. Km 4 through 8 went at 4:22, 4:17, 4:21, 4:23 and 4:21. Now turned onto Lakeshore it was time for the out and back portion. The 3:10 bunny had passed me, running quite a bit faster on the downhill. I figured he would now slow down and I could slowly start to real him in running 4:30 and then stay with him. I did real him in, but just felt strong so I kept going: 4:30, 4:24, 4:20, 4:20, 4:20, 4:18, 4:21, and 4:18 brought me past the turn around and to the 16k mark back at the Princess Gates.

At this point I just decided to keep going, knowing that I could afford to “slow down” to 4:30 or maybe even 4:35 and still reach my goals. In my head I was doing the math at 4:30 pace, but ended up running faster. The next 4 km went at 4:17, 4:15, and 4:20 going over the ramp, then 4:12 going down the ramp. Once I turned onto Bay Street my Garmin started cutting in and out, specially going under the train tracks.

I ended up crossing the finish line in a chip time of 1:32:54, an 8 minute PB, good for 335th overall, top 3.5% of all finishers and top 7% of all men and in my Age Group. Mission Accomplished.

[purdy65]

Well Done! Perfectly paced for the course!

Afraid the Keg dinner would have done me in!!!

Congratulations on a HUGE PB!

The mental math in races keeps me endlessly entertained! I'd be very bored without it!

[Joe Dwarf]

8 minutes off of 1:41, that's hyooge! Well-done.

[Spirit Unleashed]

wow....fast!!!!

[Stampie]

Congrats on a HUGE PB, well done!

The mental math in races keeps me endlessly entertained! I'd be very bored without it!

This is what passes my time as I'm racing the longer distances.

[Ken B]

Excellent report and run! That's a great PB!! Congratulations!!

[barebuns1]

Congrats on the huge pb. great race report.

[Mark.AU]

Congrats! great run and well rewarded.

[Sandra]

Nice one! congrats on the PB!

[Robinandamelia]

What a fantastic race/result, congratulations to you! Huge PB.

[5km]

Excellent report and run! That's a great PB!! Congratulations!!

+1

[La]

Way to execute on the plan! Congrats on the PB!

[Jwolf]

Fantastic result, Justin. I knew you were in good shape for sub-1:35, but you even blew that away.

Happy recovery....

[erinmcd]

Very nice!

[canalrunner]

Awesome. Hard to find that many minutes in a PB at that time.
What are you going to do for an encore?

[orleansrunner1962]

Awesome result -- happy for you! Looking forward to seeing what's next for you!

[AjaxRunner]

Awesome. Hard to find that many minutes in a PB at that time.
What are you going to do for an encore?

Silver Medal at ATB
BQ in Mississauga
HIM (Niagara Falls or Muskoka) in under 6 hours.

Those are some of my fantasies right now

[Jwolf]

Awesome. Hard to find that many minutes in a PB at that time.
What are you going to do for an encore?

Silver Medal at ATB
BQ in Mississauga
HIM (Niagara Falls or Muskoka) in under 6 hours.

Those are some of my fantasies right now

Awesome! Will you focus on running training till may and then switch to tri?

[Jo-Jo]

Awesome. Hard to find that many minutes in a PB at that time.
What are you going to do for an encore?

Silver Medal at ATB
BQ in Mississauga
HIM (Niagara Falls or Muskoka) in under 6 hours.

Those are some of my fantasies right now

Awesome! Will you focus on running training till may and then switch to tri?

Congrats on a great race and nice PB!

I like your encore list

[AjaxRunner]

Awesome. Hard to find that many minutes in a PB at that time.
What are you going to do for an encore?

Silver Medal at ATB
BQ in Mississauga
HIM (Niagara Falls or Muskoka) in under 6 hours.

Those are some of my fantasies right now

Awesome! Will you focus on running training till may and then switch to tri?

I am just going to do it all....and see if my wife still lives at the same address when 2014 is over lol