The coaches have often talked about your Triathlon Layers - the longer you have done this sport, the quicker you are able to get back on the wagon and the quicker you can recover from the load. This applies to the day by day training as well as throughout the different phases of triathlon training.
I have posted about my hesitations (and anxiety) about this event before. Its not news that this wasn't my A-Race nor was I aiming to achieve a PB. It took me 3 years to get below the magical 2 hour mark for a half marathon. I am a realist, if I finish this run injury-free and under 2:15 I would be over the moon considering I felt like I ran like a waddling duck for the last few weeks.
I never let loose my injuries or illness before events (excl shin splints prior to Ironman - I had to come to terms with it quick). I had a small cold during the week and for the last 2 or so weeks, I have had issues about falling asleep (still do), all that aside, I knew that I could manage it and run a half marathon by Sunday.
Saturday, I ended up having a sleep in (more of a lie in bed scenario due to the inability to have a good sleep) until about lunch time when my parents called me to join them for Yum Cha. Who could resist yum cha? No one! After lunch, I went to a friends house as we had planned on doing some filming for training video for Tri Alliance. I then stayed for dinner with them which was great as one of the couples was also running her (first) half marathon the next day.
On Saturday night, I packed my things ready for the run on Sunday. What I have been doing lately is packing my morning training clothes into a pillow case and stuffing it under my doona so it stays warm when I put it on (genius - I know!) Due to my inability to fall asleep over the last few days, I took some sleep-aid and that knocked me out some-what. Luckily I woke up at about 5am and wondered why my alarm hadn't gone off and I realised I set the alarm on for 4:45pm instead of 4:45am the night before....whoops!
Anyways, I hopped out of bed like a ninja, put on my clothes and then made breakfast (porridge with dates) and ate it in the car on the way into the city. Luckily I was there early enough that I got my usual parking spot behind the Melburnian Apartments (one of my earliest projects).
There was the usual toilet stop, bag drop etc. This time around, I wasn't too stressed about the bag drop as I carried my fuelbelt with me on the run. Mentally, I had planned on doing this event as a long training run day and so carried a fuel belt with me for hydration and nutrition and didn't rely on the on-course supply. The down side is that I carried extra weight on me. Similarly to last year's write up, I have broken it down to distance and what I remembered.
0 - 2km - I was probably running faster than my comfortable pace but I was trying to dodge obstacles along Flinders St and through Southbank. I heard the Tri Alliance cow bells along Southbank (they are very distinct) and that's when I saw Paddy & Lisa.
2 - 3km - this was a weird part of the route which I think is new, we ran past the boat sheds and I remember someone nearly colliding with a boat trailer.
3 - 4km - A run through the tan, slightly uphill. I remembered opera singers and a violinist.
4 - 5km - I remember taking my first gel for the day around here where my calorie alert went off around the 25-30min mark. Funnily enough, it was outside of McDonalds.
6 - 7km - The run up Anderson Street was great. My legs were still OK so I overtook a few people who were walking.
7 - 9km - I really liked this part of the run as you could see the runners on the other side of the road and I recognised a few familiar faces.
10km - Saw my friend Lidia there cheering. 2nd gel consumed around here.
11 - 13km - My legs were starting to struggle here. I had ran non-stop and only realised it then so mentally, I was pretty chuffed.
15km - my first walk for the day, it was about 10m as I couldn't swallow my gel properly whilst trying to run along the slight incline through the Tan.
17km - I had to do a run-walk up Anderson St as my knees did not want to lift any higher. Juliet (one of my old TA buddies) ran past me and gave me more encouragement. She is such a great role model too (having done several Ironman events herself). Coke was consumed from this point onwards.
18km - Ouch. As this was the started to hurt. I knew that my technique was starting to fall into pieces so I decided to slow down and take everything back to basics - straight posture, elbows back, higher knees, land correctly.
19km - 21km - When my pace slowed down from concentrating on my technique, the 2:00 pace runners came past. At first, I thought they were just annoying runners who did not shut up (they gave encouragement but at the 19km mark, it just sounded annoying). When they ran past me with their balloons and calling out the remaining distance and time, I decided to get suck it up and ran with them. I knew that they started behind me so there was no way I could get below the 120min mark but I needed the encouragement for the last few km. I ran in front of them and stepped on the gas. In my mind, all I thought about was.."all you have to do is a 2km....1km...... run today..then its back to bed!" so I increased my pace (what I thought was awesome ended being around the 5:50 - 6min/km) all the way to the end.
21.1km - I didn't recognise anyone from the squad at the finish line (unlike last year) but did see Tim Guille who was commentating. Said hello/good bye and then went through the thoroughfare to pick up my medal, showbag (with a paper in it!) and then it was straight to the car.
As it is the middle of winter, there was no need for me to buy bags of ice (and a slurpee) from 7-11 as I have the bay to soak in 1 min from my house. Mentone beach was perfect - clear water, very small swells, very cold water - cold enough that my teeth were chattering.
Thoughts on the day...
- I didn't look at my pace the entire way through the run, I just focused on technique and getting through the distance rather than trying to meet an expected time.
- Nutrition was spot on. I did feel fatigued and sore from the 16km onwards - it could be due to fitness levels rather than nutrition. Consumed 3 gels and about 80-100ml of coke over 2:03.40, based on the Garmin, 1176Cal burnt.
- Must learn to overcome anxiety/hesitations about events like this and not have too high of expectations on how I should be performing and remeber to enjoy the day.
- Whilst during the midst of the half marathon, I did smile and thought how lucky I was to be able to do this.
- 2:03.40 is not bad at all.
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