Calgary Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
Calgary Marathon
2C / 36F
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 29m 35s
Overall Rank = 67/2967
Age Group = M3539
Age Group Rank = 14/217
Pre-race routine:

Another PR, but my god the worst after race pain/problems I've ever had. If this happens in IM I'm screwed.

Up at 5:15, 1 poptart, bowl of krispies and tried a big cup of coffee for the first time.

Wore my usual Zoot ultra shorts, zoot energy 2 shoes with socks, under armor with long sleeve tech, then the race shirt over top of that.

Went with race belt instead of pins (not in the bag), and carried 1 gel and car keys in shorts.

Car pooled with some real fasties - Jermey came in 4th, while Oliver came 3rd on the full marathon even with being taken off course by 900m! Fun to listen to their race prep/plans compared to us mortals.

Event warmup:

Jogged to the start from the car, dropped off the bag, potty break and got to the start 30 seconds before gun.

Run
  • 1h 29m 35s
  • 21.1 kms
  • 04m 15s  min/km
Comments:

Not really run focused this year, but my last 10k was 40:47 in the rain, which mcmillan says is within 54 seconds of a 1:30 so I decided to go for it. I had a good taper, and wasn't really worried about it (C race).

Kept the pace below 4:20 for the first 8-10K, then slowly started ramping up to 4:12-4:15 then 4:05 to 4:13 then under 4 for the last 2K.

Ate my gel at about the 11k mark but I DROPPED IT - and had to go back a few paces to pick it up. Also lost a lace, so another stop to tie it, grr was too lazy to put on speed laces.



What would you do differently?:

I thought my pacing was enough to leave me at least a minute or so of margin, but with the 120m extra distance, the aid stations and the 2 pauses it was way closer than I though.
Post race
Warm down:

Bit of water, a snack bag of low salt chips and a small coffee. Drove home to the fam, out for lunch.

Without going into gory details, I was stuck on the potty at least 15 times over the next 5 hours, half a bottle of pepto, didn't feel up to anything until 3pm (went for a 45 min bike ride around the house).

Dunno if it was the coffee, chips, gel or just bad luck but I hope I don't have to deal with this ever again. :(



What limited your ability to perform faster:

Run training/volume

Event comments:

I'm pissed about the timing so far - they switched to a new timing company and they are only sorting by Gun time. I know all about the awards and such but for the average 2000+ users, chip time is what matters. I think a lot of their chips got messed up as there's a ton of bad/obviously wrong readings. Anything that encourages bad seeding at the front is a bad thing for racing!






Last updated: 2011-05-09 12:00 AM
Running
01:29:35 | 21.1 kms | 04m 15s  min/km
Age Group: 14/217
Overall: 67/2967
Performance: Good
Avg HR: 155 Max HR: 173
Course: Relatively flat course, low wind, 3500 ft. Garmin showed 120 extra distance.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %0
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3