On Saturday, the Sundown Half Marathon was to prove to be an experience that i am likely to cherish for quite some time to come. My fundamental objective for the race was to run below 2hrs and my stretch target was to run 1:53 (for 2 reasons - 1:53 converts to a Mcmillan sub 4 marathon, and also i wanted to go below 2hr by as much as my current PR was above it 2:06:xx). As it turned out, i ran a 1:55:59. And i am pleased as punch by it !!
I had carboloaded reasonably well having had pasta for dinner on Friday and again as lunch on Saturday. Knowing the traffic snarl that was likely in getting to the race site, i left home at around 4.30pm and after an inordinate amount of time crawling through the Aviation Park Road, i parked my car at 5.30pm. Saw the 10km kick off and then found some of my HM friends who had also reached the venue by then. (The three friends who i met ran 1:30, 1:33 and 1:45 respectively !!!)
My first lesson of the day came from here - i should remember to carry something to munch if i felt the need just before a race. At the start line i was actually quite hungry as i hadnt had anything to eat for more than 3 hours. Other than that, I was feeling quite positive and was excited at the prospect of actually "racing" i.e. putting a solid effort out on the road. My plan was to run the first 2-3kms at at 5:45 pace (advice from Roonz) and then pick it up to about 5:20 and hold it there for as long as i could. About 20 minutes from the start of the race, there was a call for sub 2 runners to move to the front and i sheepishly made my way up there, not knowing if i was deserving of rubbing shoulders with other runners who could stake a legit claim to be there.
The race started right on time at 8pm, and because of the speedy gonzales' around me, i ran a 5:34 for the 1st km, and in fact managed an average pace of 5:30ish for the next few kms. On one hand i was ruing going out too fast and on the other, since i had already warmed up by then, i figured i would keep the pace there and keep going. The first 11km went relatively smoothly, coming in exactly at 1 hour. My scheduled gel break was for the 13km water point and it was from there on that my walk breaks at the water points became progressively longer. I knew i was slipping off my pace target, yet when i wasnt walking, i was running pretty well. ECP can get pretty desolate and i found myself running alone for most of the race, either being overtaken or passing others by but not many running at the same pace as i was. I was steadily going out of gas, but since it had been my plan to push it all the way, i tried to run as fast as i could despite my side stitch at the 17th and 19th km as well as a bit of abdominal ache. Probably if i had to pick the worst point in the race for me, it had to be the 21st km, where with less than 700m to go i was reduced to a walk for a brief 100 metres or so due to the stitch. Sprinted the remaining distance and was super ecstatic to see the clock read 1:56:02 (later found out that my time was 1:55:59, position 186 overall, 153 amongst men).
It was a splendid race for me - i set a target which i thought was a tough but realistic one, and managed to hit it (for most part atleast). I also know that if i can keep my training consistent and not get injured, i will be able to run faster and longer. Which is the whole point of my running anyway. :)
So thats 4 races this year, 4 different distances and a PR in all of them. Will i ever be able to do this again?
Monday, May 30, 2011
Passion Run 25km Race Review
I am just leaving a placeholder here for the moment - will update this soon enough.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Pondering in perpetuity ..
My April running calendar looked like i had hung up my shoes for good. I ran 55kms in the last week alone compared to the 45kms i had run in the 3 weeks prior to that. Obviously this does not bode well for my sub-4hr marathon ambitions at Gold Coast. Since i am trying to make the best of what remaining training time i have, i have stopped looking at my excel training plan for about a month now and decided to just run a mix of tempos, LSDs and general aerobic runs while maintaining a weekly mileage of 50kms atleast. I am kinda hoping/praying that this will atleast get me to a 4:15 finish if not a sub-4 finish at Gold Coast.
I have absolutely loved the last couple of weeks where i have run with my newly acquired garmin 310xt. Its a fantastic watch to have for geeky runners. :) I also did my first run with Team Fatbird as part of Operation Kookaburra, a training program for the GCM. It was a night run of 25kms. I did ok the first 17 and then stopped short of falling flat on my face several times in the remaining 8 kms.
I am at an interesting stage of training - i am wondering whether i should cut my losses and not aim for a sub-4 and just go there and have an enjoyable race outing or if i should go for broke and just go hell for leather. I dont think i will know the answer until i get to the start line. The other thought thats daunting me is that i need to run a 1:53 HM if i want to do a 4hr full .. and i am running a HM in just about 4 weeks time. Find it hard to believe at this point in time that a 5:21pace for 21kms is going to be realistic .. but then again, i didnt expect to run a 4:26 at Tokyo so i will still play my cards.
Note to self - Update this blog more frequently.
I have absolutely loved the last couple of weeks where i have run with my newly acquired garmin 310xt. Its a fantastic watch to have for geeky runners. :) I also did my first run with Team Fatbird as part of Operation Kookaburra, a training program for the GCM. It was a night run of 25kms. I did ok the first 17 and then stopped short of falling flat on my face several times in the remaining 8 kms.
I am at an interesting stage of training - i am wondering whether i should cut my losses and not aim for a sub-4 and just go there and have an enjoyable race outing or if i should go for broke and just go hell for leather. I dont think i will know the answer until i get to the start line. The other thought thats daunting me is that i need to run a 1:53 HM if i want to do a 4hr full .. and i am running a HM in just about 4 weeks time. Find it hard to believe at this point in time that a 5:21pace for 21kms is going to be realistic .. but then again, i didnt expect to run a 4:26 at Tokyo so i will still play my cards.
Note to self - Update this blog more frequently.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
The Tokyo Marathon experience
Actually i started writing the below very shortly after the Tokyo marathon, and then subsequently never got around to completing it .. i hope to though.
It’s only been 3 days since I ran the Tokyo marathon. Yet the euphoria of the experience is yet to diminish although the severe cold cough that i contracted during/after the race is trying to do just that. Nevertheless i wanted to write this race report while the experience was still fresh in my mind and i can recall most of my fluctuating emotions as i journeyed through the 42.2kms (and a bit more).
Going into the race, i was feeling nervously excited about what was to ensue. This was my first marathon where i was coming to the start line in a half decent physical shape. Yet i had slacked for 2 full months (Nov/Dec 2008) before putting in 2 very decent months of training in Jan and Feb this year. Therefore I saw this race as a fairly decent baseline of my performance at this point in time. My target was to clock between 4:30 and 4:40, both of which I saw as re....
It’s only been 3 days since I ran the Tokyo marathon. Yet the euphoria of the experience is yet to diminish although the severe cold cough that i contracted during/after the race is trying to do just that. Nevertheless i wanted to write this race report while the experience was still fresh in my mind and i can recall most of my fluctuating emotions as i journeyed through the 42.2kms (and a bit more).
Going into the race, i was feeling nervously excited about what was to ensue. This was my first marathon where i was coming to the start line in a half decent physical shape. Yet i had slacked for 2 full months (Nov/Dec 2008) before putting in 2 very decent months of training in Jan and Feb this year. Therefore I saw this race as a fairly decent baseline of my performance at this point in time. My target was to clock between 4:30 and 4:40, both of which I saw as re....
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Redemption
This morning i wasnt sure i wanted to get up and go run. After i brushed my teeth, i thought may be i should just climb back into bed and do this LSD on Sunday evening like the way i had done last week. Thank god i didnt. Today, was easily one of my best days at running, be it training or racing. I ran 24kms at an average 5:52 pace which by itself is not very special but for a couple of things unique to this run.
As usual, my running friends and i started together but within 2-3 kms i couldnt see any of them nearby, as they are all very fast compared to my speed. And to boot, I hadnt particularly got a good nutrition fix yesterday so the first 3-4kms were so laboured that i wanted to turn back after running only 4.5kms. But i decided to push it just a little more until it became uncomfortable enough for me to stop running and turn back.
Around the 6-7km mark, i suddenly found a rhythm that made it very easy to maintain a 5:45ish pace. It just happened, i didnt consciously do something to feel that way. So i kept the run up and thought i would go it until i reach the toilets at upper seletar reservoir which is where everyone stops for a water break. Once i reached the toilet, i figured since the gate (the u-turn point) is only 1.2 kms away, i would run till there, come back and then take a water break. And then it suddenly occurred to me that since i was running a good rhythm, i should try to keep it up and see just how long i can go without stopping. So on my way back from the gate, i skipped the toilet and just tried to keep a steady pace going.
And as it so happened, i ran the first 21.1 kms of my run today non-stop - no water break, no walking. And i ran it in 2:01.xx which is my new PR for a road HM. Learning to drink on the run is a good benefit in having done that. So this was my longest run ever to have been done non-stop. I took a couple of minutes off at this point to catch my breath and then restarted the run, reaching MR in about 2:23ish for the 24.2km distance.
From how the run shaped up, to how it finally played out, i am really pleased with this. 2011 has been off to a better start than 2010 and i only hope that this continues for the rest of the year. I think i have a legitimate hope now for running a 4:40-4:45ish at Tokyo - whether or not that happens is a different proposition altogether.
As usual, my running friends and i started together but within 2-3 kms i couldnt see any of them nearby, as they are all very fast compared to my speed. And to boot, I hadnt particularly got a good nutrition fix yesterday so the first 3-4kms were so laboured that i wanted to turn back after running only 4.5kms. But i decided to push it just a little more until it became uncomfortable enough for me to stop running and turn back.
Around the 6-7km mark, i suddenly found a rhythm that made it very easy to maintain a 5:45ish pace. It just happened, i didnt consciously do something to feel that way. So i kept the run up and thought i would go it until i reach the toilets at upper seletar reservoir which is where everyone stops for a water break. Once i reached the toilet, i figured since the gate (the u-turn point) is only 1.2 kms away, i would run till there, come back and then take a water break. And then it suddenly occurred to me that since i was running a good rhythm, i should try to keep it up and see just how long i can go without stopping. So on my way back from the gate, i skipped the toilet and just tried to keep a steady pace going.
And as it so happened, i ran the first 21.1 kms of my run today non-stop - no water break, no walking. And i ran it in 2:01.xx which is my new PR for a road HM. Learning to drink on the run is a good benefit in having done that. So this was my longest run ever to have been done non-stop. I took a couple of minutes off at this point to catch my breath and then restarted the run, reaching MR in about 2:23ish for the 24.2km distance.
From how the run shaped up, to how it finally played out, i am really pleased with this. 2011 has been off to a better start than 2010 and i only hope that this continues for the rest of the year. I think i have a legitimate hope now for running a 4:40-4:45ish at Tokyo - whether or not that happens is a different proposition altogether.
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