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Island Girl Half Marathon - Run


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Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 18m 29s
Overall Rank = 75/159
Age Group = 30-39
Age Group Rank = 31/
Pre-race routine:

Not exactly ideal. A latte and then getting myself and my kids ready for an excursion to Toronto Island. I didn't eat and i didn't make a bathroom break
Event warmup:

Nothing too much. I could warm up for the first few kilometres. Once we were on the island we walked over to the start area, my sister and i got our kits and we went to the bathroom. Pretty sweet that since it was a women's race they converted the men's room temporarily to a women's rest room.

The race was on Toronto Island so we got there in time for the 9 am ferry and we got parking pretty easily which was nice. We picked up race kits, my sister (who was doing the 5k) and I hit the bathrooms. I breastfed Logan before lining up for the race.
Run
  • 2h 18m 7s
  • 21 kms
  • 06m 35s  min/km
Comments:

So this was my first race in over a year. I really should not have committed to this but i didn't want to quit because i wasn't fast. I knew i would be pretty far from my PR (1:50 set in 2010 or 2009?) and even from breaking 2 hours. Something i could do handily before. Anyway, i don't think that is much of a big deal - i have to be where i am today and I just wanted to run so that it didn't hurt too much. My longest run of 1:45 in training really hurt and i knew my fitness wasn't great.

I planned to make it a sort of long training day. I set my run walk interval to 8 and 1 and planned to run a conversational effort for as long as i could. If i needed to walk, or take a bathroom break, so be it. After the half way mark i could assess the situation. I packed one gel and planned to live off the aid stations otherwise.

I stayed in back and it was pretty small field. The gun went off and i was very happy with my ability to moderate the effort. I stuck religiously to the intervals. I hopscotched with some ladies and started to pick out those that i eventually wanted to pass. The morning was hazy humid and it was going to be a warm day for this time of year. The island has some really stunning views of the lake and the city and i tried to make sure i appreciated that. It was hazy on the first loop and we couldn't see the CN Tower clearly yet. As we made our way to the Hanlans end it seemed a ferry had let off so quite a few people were biking and walking on the course which was fine. Around the half way i crack my gel and took a cup of water. I carried the cup with me for while and a kind gentleman on a bike offered to take my garbage (I kept the gel).

The sun was coming out so it was getting hot and i was feeling good. I dropped a few ladies i had been passing back and forth with walk breaks. After that half way i wanted to pick up the pace but the diaphragm cramps were threatening. I told myself to hold back to the 16k mark. 12 km was too soon to push it. After the 16 k i decided to run to the aid stations, foregoing my walk interval so that i could walk through the station and get down my hydration and nutrition. There really wasn't one at the end and i was able run the whole last three km. I had a great negative split.

Oh and for most of the race i used my vivoactive set to just show the countdown on my run walk interval and getting a lap split every km. that way i wouldn't worry about how fast or slow i was going. worked really well.
What would you do differently?:

I executed well given my circumstance.
Post race
Warm down:

Found my family - Darren had gone off to his work thing but my sisters were with the kids. We went back to the ferry.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Being 4.5 months post partum.

Event comments:

This was the last year of this race but it is a lovely venue for a race. Really can't beat the scenery of the island. It was a bit subdued, probably not as much effort put into it. I could have used one more aid station. And the weather was really nice so by the time i was finishing there were tons of people on the island not for the race and crowding up the road (but there are no cars)/




Last updated: 2016-12-12 12:00 AM
Running
02:18:07 | 21 kms | 06m 35s  min/km
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/159
Performance: Good
Course: Two loops of the main road on Toronto Island. There was supposed to be a boardwalk loop but it was changed because of the flooding earlier this year.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2018-08-09 3:23 PM

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Master
4117
20002000100
Toronto
Bronze member
Subject: Island Girl Half Marathon


2018-08-10 9:07 AM
in reply to: #5247732

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Pennsylvania
Subject: RE: Island Girl Half Marathon

Nice work, it sounds like you are overall happy with your effort, realizing that having a baby and being busy with 2 young-uns limited your training for the race.  It sounds like a beautiful venue, too bad they are no longer going to be holding the race there.  Great job with the pacing and negative split, congratulations!

2018-08-10 9:11 AM
in reply to: melbo55

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Master
4117
20002000100
Toronto
Bronze member
Subject: RE: Island Girl Half Marathon

Thanks Mel, this is from last year but i realized i had basically written up the report in my training log and I like to go back and read my reports. Also could help some new mamas and their transition back. 

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