ING 1/2 Marathon
Ottawa, May 28, 2006, 10:15am
Short version: It was HOT!
Long version
I got down to City Hall about 8:45am after parking a few blocks
up Elgin (easier to get out afterwards from there). I set myself
up on the Laurier Bridge to watch the marathon winners come in,
and while i waited, i put on my sunscreen and ate a can of
peaches. then i moved over to the Colonel By side of the canal
and cheered on the marathoners who were coming past. i figured
that i had already missed most of the people i knew (Brian
Lawless, Tod Q), but i still hoped to see Brian Green. i felt
fairly good, just some "deadness" in my legs despite the easy day
yesterday. i slowly stretched and read over my mental notes. i
had 500ml bottles of eload and water with me, and i drank them
both pre-race. i took a good long leak in the bushes i noted
that i was well hydrated. good. i saw Brian Green go by, and,
as it was approaching 9:40am, i made my way to bag-drop. then i
shuffled off on a slow, gentle warmup. my HR started in the high
170's, but it slowly came down. i passed Hilda and we
high-fived. legs felt loose. on Bank St i stopped into a Tim
Horton's for my final bathroom break (no lineup as i was a few
blocks from the race start). a final read-over of my mental
notes, and then back to Elgin St where i did a couple of
race-pace strides and then relaxed in the shade and chatted with
Rod, whom I hadn't seen in a long while. now 10:05am i made my
way into the runners lining up on Elgin, and worked my way
towards the 1:45 sign - i wanted to start furthur up than normal
to try to avoid too many crowds. i stood patiently and quietly,
thinking of what i wanted to do in the race, while those around
me were quite animated. i had refilled a bottle with water, and
was carrying that i one hand, and sipping from it.
10:15am, the horn went off, and we didn't move! at least for a
moment. then we started to slowly move, and before the
start-line, we were in a slow jog. across the start line, i
punched my watch, and i was off. i stayed patient in the crowded
runners. some were running quite quickly, zig-zagging to pass,
and others were clearly running alot slower than everyone else.
i was surprised that i had room to run with little jossling by
the time i was around the curve and heading south on Colonel By.
i took regular sips of the water bottle i was carrying, as i
wanted to finish it fairly quickly and chuck it. about the 1km
mark i dumped the rest of the water over my head and tossed the
bottle. now i could get down to business. my pace was good, not
fast, not the 5:17/km that would get me a PB, but i knew a PB was
not in the cards today. that didn't bother me. i just wanted to
run the best that i could today. as a result my attitude was
very business-like and not a happy-relaxed-good mood. as i would
find out, this would matter alot.
as planned, i skipped the first water station to avoid the
crowding. it actually wasn't that crowded. i planned to take
water at all the rest of the water stations, as i knew hydration
was going to be important this day and i had eload in my water
bottle, which i drank regularly. my HR was floating around 173,
higher than for a normal long run, but i was racing on a hot day,
so i wasn't worried about it. my km splits were about 5:22 or so
each, which was good. i felt good. then things got interesting.
at the 5km, right when i hit my watch to record the 5km split,
my left ankle started its ache. this ache had appeared in my
last long run 2 weeks ago at the 13km mark, causing discomfort
and some favouring of the left foot and limping. it got a bit
better if i stopped briefly to stretch and rotate the ankle, and
i was able to run with it. in the last 2 weeks it had appeared
in each run earlier and earlier, so i was expecting it to appear
today, but just not that early in the day. to deal with it i
planned to stop at each water stop for a few seconds to stretch
it out. ok, no problem, i can deal with this. so at the water
stop at Bronson, i took water, and stopped for a few seconds and
rotated the ankle. it felt better. i also noticed that it felt
good to stop, which meant that i wasn't in my groove - when i am
on, it is easier and feels better to keep running. the
temperature continued to go up, and now i was starting to feel
the heat bouncing off the pavement.
i finally got into a groove going up the Hartwell Locks hill.
the spring came into my legs, my pace increased (as did the HR),
and i was now passing people. i was in the zone and felt good.
the ankle was a bother, but not bad. now the race could begin.
also at this time i took 1/2 of my home-made gel - honey,
molassus, salt. i continued in the groove to the 9km water break,
where i again stopped as planned, took water and rotated my left
ankle. i got going again and the ankle was better, but i'd lost
my 'groove'. the jump and smoothness in my stride was gone.
dang it. now onto Riverside Dr. and Heron, and the noise and
heat from the cars and traffic was not pleasant. my ankle was
hurting, but it wasn't getting anyworse, so i decided to just
live with it for the rest of the race, and not stop to stretch
it. i was not feeling particularly very good and was already
thinking in survival-mode. i wasn't thinking and paying
attention, and i missed the 10km to take my next split. into the
Vincent Massey parking lot, and the turnaround could not come
soon enough. "where is it?" mentally, i was not in good place.
finally i made the turn and took another split at 11km. i was
surprised to see i was still less than an hour into my race. and
racing was what i was doing. i was going as hard as i thought i
could, and was uncomfortable as a result.
to the Heron Bridge, and i had it in my race plan to work that
hill, so work it i did. i powered up it, passing people
regularly, and my HR climbed into the 180's - not good. i
crested the hill and continued my high effort pace to Prince of
Wales. my HR did not come back down, as it stayed around 181,
which is zone 3 for me. not good at all.
at i turned onto Prince of Wales, a spectator was cheering us on
"You look good!" I replied sarcastically "yeah, feeling like
crap, but looking good!". i was working very hard, HR was way up
there, and I was starting to wonder if i could maintain this. as
i made my way up Prince of Wales, i entered one-km-at-a-time
mode. i focused solely on getting to the next km marker. a good
race survival strategy. i took the rest of my home-made gel. it
tasted particularly bad, but i think that was my overall physical
deterioration affecting my tasting ability. i also started
experiencing some heat-related symptoms. i started getting a
little light-headed, as i could feel my face getting very red (my
head doesn't sweat very well, so i know i am starting to overheat
when my face gets red), and i started to feel a little weakness
in the legs. my legs felt fine otherwise, not sore from the pace
i was keeping. the 13km marker came and went, and then km 14 at
the Arboretum, and i melted. at the water station i took water,
and then kept walking. i told myself, "I'm done. I'm done!",
and i started to contemplate how to get to the finish line. i
felt like walking it, but that would take a long time. i started
running, at a slow training-run pace, deciding to try to get to a
point when i felt good again. my HR came down to 170, which was
good.
i passed the 15km marker and took another split. around Dows
Lake and down the canal from Bronson to Bank St. i started
feeling a little better. HR stayed down in the low 170's, my
ankle wasn't bothering me, my legs felt good, and I started
feeling interested in the run again. crowds were now constantly
lining the route, and the support was encouraging. i passed the
16km and noted that i could still make a sub-2hr time. my
spirits started to lift, and i mugged it for the photographers at
Bank St. i FINALLY got to a happy state going around Lansdowne
Park, and it was some spectators that did it. a group was
singing "ooohhhhh laaaaaayyyyy, oh lay, oh lay, oh lay"
repeatedly and loudly, and i joined in as i ran past them.
finally, i was relaxed and running freely. no surprise that my
pace picked up slightly.
past Pretoria Bridge i was into the last stretch, the crowd was
several rows deep and loud, and my pace and effort picked up
more. i flew to the finish line. one person increased her? pace
to match mine, so i just kept on increasing my pace until i left
her? behind. i crossed the finish line with raised arms! i had
conquered and won a tough battle!
splits and stats
================
1:56:06 chip time
1:58:03 gun time
1387/6651 overall
989/2946 men
190/513 Men 35 - 39
0-5km 27:02 5:24/km HR 173 avg
5-11km 32:33 5:25/km HR 175 avg 181 max
11-15km 22:48 5:42/km HR 177 avg 182 max
15-20km 28:09 5:37/km HR 174 avg 182 max
20-21.1km 5:36 5:05/km HR 184 avg 187 max
post-mortem
===========
- why "dead" legs pre-race, considdering the easy day i'd taken on saturday?
- glad i was able to run with the sore ankle and not let it
bother me mentally;
- even though i was not racing forr a specific time, i was still
'racing' this race, and that is what cost me. i was trying too
hard. it wasn't until i "let go" in the Arborteum and was fully
committed to 'just run' that the juices started to flow and i was
able to run freely to the end. this was the state-of-being i was
trying to create at the start of the race, but if you put effort
into creating this state, it won't happen. in order to get
there, you can't be trying to create it, you can't force it.
- i am not used to running in the heat yet. although i have a
history of good runs & races in the heat, they are all later in
the summer. here in Ottawa we haven't had much heat yet, and the
weeks prior to the race were cool and wet, so i was just not used
to the heat. so again i was running too hard/trying to hard in
the conditions;
- happy with the way i ran the lasst 5km of this race, and my finish;
- happy with my effort - i worked VERY hard, did not quit, just
made adjustments and adapted as i went along;
- my quads were surprising sore poost race and even until
Thursday, despite an ice-bath Sunday afternoon and lots of
stretching and cycling this week in recovery;
(
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