My official finishing time at the Toronto Goodlife Fitness Half Marathon on Sunday May 6, 2012 was 01:34:21.
That puts me 34/281 in my category (male 40 to 44) and 158/2091 in my gender (male). This is my second best half marathon finishing time; behind the same race from May 2011 (1:31:35) and a just ahead of the “Run for the Grapes” from Sept 2011 (1:34:32). So, no PR… but it was a sunny day, a good race and if nothing else, it was very good practice for 21.1kms I will be running at the end of the Ironman 70.3 I am training for.
I know exactly why I didn’t PR – I make a rookie mistake (the mistake I try to drill into the heads of all the runners I coach) – I went out too fast.
My goal was to run 4:20-ish for the first half and then pick up to 4:10-ish in the second half. A decent negative split. Instead, I don’t know why, my first KM was 3:55. Then 4:15 (better) and then 3:56 (worse). Around then we ran up the longest and steepest hill on the entire course and my heart rate hit Zone 5. I knew I would blow up if I didn’t get my heart rate down so I backed right off for half of the hill and consequently did a 4:51 km. I managed to get my pace back under control but I couldn’t get my heart rate back into Zone 3 and my time payed the price. The rest of the race I clung to a 4:25/km pace.
Nutrition
Dinner
- Small sirloin steak
- Boiled sweet potatoes and beets with salt and olive oil
- Kale and avocado salad
- Dark chocolate and fresh blueberries
- Sipped water throughout the evening
Breakfast
- 5 Extreme Endurance
- Big glass of water
- Small cup of coffee
- 1 pack of 7Systems
- 1 Banana
- 2 scoops of LivingFuel SuperGreens in water
Race
- 1 GU Roctane (Blueberry Pomegranate) 10 minutes before the race
- 11km – 1 GU Roctane (Vanilla Orange)
- 17km – 1 GU Roctane (Vanilla Orange)
- A few sips of water at nearly every Aid Station
So, I guess when I get right down to it, I am a little disappointed but not too terribly. It was a good race and I did better than I thought I was going to as I passed the 5km mark. All in all it was a decent day and I feel like I am finally getting tougher and a little better at entering and staying in the “pain cave”.