Royal Victoria Marathon - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Victoria, British Columbia
Canada
Royal Victoria Marathon
7C / 45F
Sunny
 		Total Time = 1h 25m 31s
Overall Rank = 45/4266
Age Group = 25-29M
Age Group Rank = 11/187
Pre-race routine:

Nine days out from the race did my last long run. Doing a long run 9 or 10 days away has proven a successful strategy for me. The week leading up to the race:
Monday: 14 km (moderate run)
T/W/T/F: 10.6 km (easy runs)
The last Friday before the race was colder than usual, and I almost tweaked my hamstring. Luckily I nursed it with a hot water bottle and got it to loosen up. Friday and Saturday I was careful not to over eat or over drink. I was probably about 170 lbs on race day.


Event warmup:

Ran back and forth along a road near the start line for about 8 minutes, most of it was below race pace. Focused on breathing, and made sure my throat wasn't going to phlegm up.

I stayed at a hotel close to the start line, so that made it possible to stay inside and keep warm.
Run
  • 1h 25m 31s
  • 21.1 kms
  • 04m 03s  min/km
Comments:

I made my way to the start line, and tried to pick a spot such that about 100 people would cross the line ahead of me. Looking at the website results from last year, I was confident I would finish in the top 100. As I was standing around, I saw a 40 year old guy that looked like a decent runner, so I asked him what his expected time would be. He said 1:24-1:26. He told me he did the race a few times before. Just before the gun started, he said, "By the way, I'm going to go out fast on the first kilometer". I'm glad he told me that so I didn't try to keep pace with him. He did go out fast, but I still had him in my sights. Then around the 14 kilometer mark I passed him. But at the 18 km mark he passed me back as I was fading a little bit. As he passed me he touched me on the elbow and said, "let's go". That really helped as I was able to keep a 4:00 min/km pace for the next 3 kilometers. At this point my hamstrings were fried and I wasn't able to keep pace on the slight incline a kilometer out from the finish. At the finish line I found him, shook his hand and told him thanks.
What would you do differently?:

A lot of my training was done around the seawall, which is flat. I think finding a place to simulate the low rolling hills would be a good idea.
Post race
Warm down:

Hot shower/bath and stretching.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Experience. After the 3/4 mark, I started to beat myself up mentally.

Event comments:

The post race activities didn't really exist. As far as I could tell, there were drinks/food, but that's about it. The cookies tasted cheap. Better cookies required!

Overall thought the race was great. Had the post race stuff been better I would've given it a 5/5.




Last updated: 2008-08-14 12:00 AM
Running
01:25:31 | 21.1 kms | 04m 03s  min/km
Age Group: 11/187
Overall: 45/4266
Performance: Good
I missed some lap markers, hence some are grouped (e.g. 1,2,3). Pace (min/km) HR Avg. 1,2,3 4:03 174 4,5,6 3:57 176 7 4:06 173 8 3:52 173 9 4:04 175 10 3:53 172 11 4:10 174 12 4:06 174 13 4:14 172 14 3:59 174 15 4:05 173 16 4:10 172 17 4:19 172 18,19 4:00 172 20 3:57 174 21.1 4:35 174 ------------- Average Heart Rate: 174 Max Heart Rate: 179
Course: Course has low rolling hills. I found it more difficult than I thought I would. Total Ascent: 123 meters
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
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] 4