Step One: Half Marathon

It’s been a few years since I have run Half Marathon races; more than 10 years. Then I was aiming for times of 1hr 30min. Right now my aim was 1hr 45min on a fairly flat course, fairly.
This Half Marathon, the OUTsurance 94.5 Kfm Gun Run, was really about setting a marker from which to work from when I start doing Olympic Distance Triathlons and Half IronMans.
Here’s how I prepared, how it went and the result:

Preparation

I have done many Half marathons in the past; 10 – 15 years ago, and I really never worried about carbo loading. This time I made an effort to stock up in carbs 3 days before the event with massive quantities of pasta and Carbo loading drinks (32Gi Endurance drink). Personally I don’t think that it is very essential for races less than 2 hours in length, but I was experimenting. To be honest I really do not know if it helped. The time when I really needed it my calf was not letting me keep the pace.

Training

You’ll see that I increased my running mileage 50% in the week of Aug 29th – big no no. My last run that week was a 22km, I developed mild shin splints and when that cleared I realized that I had a calf strain – if only I had just done a 10Km instead. After rest slowly picking it up I did the Gun Run.
Besides the Running Cycling and Swimming I also do boot camp 3 times a week; it is a rather mild to moderate 40min workout with buddies. Also I try to exercise in the Gym 3 times a week concentrating on different muscle groups including the core (abdominals and lower back).

The Race

It was a rather packed start with over 2500 participants. I looked around for the 1:45 flag and spotted it 20 meters away. Man it is difficult to keep warmed up and stretched at such close quarters. The Gun went off with a big bang and we were off. Crazy runners zig zagging between parked cars and even running into each other, even crazer runners thinking they can dawdle while others want to pass. I just set my sights on the person carrying the 1:45 flag and tried very hard not to fall behind.
All was going very well. After 10km the field began to clear and I soon found my zone, which was killed by an inconvenient hill, lol, but I was still on track. In spite of the pace for such a distance I was feeling ok, perhaps my heart rate was a bit high.
I think it was one of the sleep declines that exasperated my calf’s condition because up to then I could feel that there was a shadow of a niggle but afterwards it was more pronounced.
At 16km I knew there was going to be a problem, but all I needed was 30min more.
At 19km I had to stop and walk a bit, then it was too late – I was not going to make 1:45.
Soldering on to the finish light with the last few kms at paces of 6:02, 5:55 and 6:44 I finished with an official time of 1:47:47.

Recovery

The only thing that annoyed me about the race – apart from my calf – was the fact that I had to walk over 2km to my car. I did not realize that there was a security check in for bags. If I did I would have had my BioGen RecoverGen shake and ice packs immediately on. In the end I guess that it was a good cool down walk, but I would have preferred to have been lying on the grass with my feet up, lol. While the jury is still out on protein shakes, it was very comforting to down the RecoverGen after the race – knowing that it was packed with stuff that would theoretically help my calf.
For the most of the day I was alternating between ice packs and heat pack with my leg elevated. Lets hope there is a dramatic recovery.

Result

With an official time of 1:47:47 and a position of 487 in 2564 participants, I am quiet chuffed. It is fairly reasonably to belief that I can break 1:40 next year and perhaps get into the top 200. More that that this is a good indicator of my current limits – pace wise. The pace was fast and the heart rate in the top zone 90% of the time – something expected in a race (it’s not a training run). From this I know what my upper limit is for a half IronMan. Also know an important step has been take for that all important full marathon that will be required for next year’s Ironman.