Race Report: 2008 Vancouver Half Marathon
Pre-Race
Dad and I drove up to Vancouver on Friday morning and spent the day visiting friends. Then we met Matt and his parents for a delicious curry dinner at the Banana Leaf. Saturday morning started with brunch with C&J and then it was onto the marathon expo. We spent about half an hour at the expo picking up our race kits, visiting the booths and picking up free samples. I was impressed that they had lots of chilled drinking water and real glasses (i.e. not paper cups) out to help satisfy the runners’ hydration needs. After the expo we all headed to Stanley Park for the afternoon.
First we drove the Stanely Park segment of the half marathon course so that Matt could see the Prospect Point hill. We also stopped to see the totem polls and to check out a few of the view points. We got to the aquarium and waited in a super long line to get in. I guess a cloudy Saturday afternoon isn’t the best time to see the aquarium! Despite the crowds we had a great time at the aquarium and caught both the dolphin and beluga shows. Of course that meant I had Rafi’s “Baby Beluga” song stuck in my head all afternoon!
The alarm(s) went off at 5am on Sunday morning and I had my usual oats, green tea and banana for breakfast. The weather was perfect for racing. I didn’t check the temperature (would you believe that one channel wouldn’t come in on our hotel TV and it was the weather channel) but I’d estimate it was 8C and partly cloudy. We left the hotel at 6am and after an initial wrong turn (mostly my fault) arrived at BC Place at about 6:20. Between dropping off my bag at bag check and the porta potty lines we didn’t have a lot of time to spare. Matt and I made it over to the start corral and tried to position ourselves correctly. We had decided not to run the race together but lined up together since there was a serious lack of useful pace signs (we only saw 1:30 and 2:30 pacers!). The race started on time and we started to inch our way to the start line.
The plan
I pretty much outlined my plan and goals in a previous post so I’ll just reference that here. The goal was to average 8:23 min/mile and if all else failed just go as hard as possible.
The Race
My first mile came in at 8:45. Given the congestion I was happy with my start but wished that it had felt a little easier. Miles 2, 3 and 4 were the only ones of the day that I would actually manage to do under my goal pace of 8:23 min/mile. I don’t know how to best explain this but I just didn’t have the legs I needed in this race. I was happy with the pace of those 3 miles but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to maintain it. It just felt way too hard. In fact it felt like I should have been racing a 10K not a half marathon. I saw Dad just after mile 4, exactly where he said he’d be, and that gave me a nice boost of energy.
I took a water and gel walk break during mile 5 so all things considered, 8:36 for that mile was pretty good. We entered Stanley Park during mile 6 and hit a few small inclines that slowed me down a bit. Still I hit the half way mark (a quarter marathon?) in 55:34 which was only 34 seconds behind my goal. However, knowing the hill was coming I thought that sub 1:50 probably wasn’t going to happen for me but I though a new PB (<1:51:59) was still a possibility.
Miles 8 and 9 contain the 200 foot climb up to Prospect Point. Two years ago when I ran this race my goal was to run, not walk, all the way up that hill. This year I was in survival mode. I was afraid that if I tried to run all the way up I’d push myself into a place that I wouldn’t recover from. So I instituted a run 200 steps, walk 30 steps pattern. I certainly got passed a lot on the hill but I managed to make it to the top in one piece. Miles 8 and 9 came in at 9:44 and 9:41 which sort of blew the PB hopes out the window.
I should mention that the weather and scenery were beyond gorgeous for the race. Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate that while you’re racing but I did my best to soak it in.
I tried to loosen up and run down the backside of the hill as fast as I could but it still felt slow. By the time I hit mile 10 I was ready for the whole thing to be over. I pushed hard in those last few miles despite the fact that I didn’t feel like my legs were responding to my demands on then to move and all I really wanted to do was stop and sit down. I saw Dad near mile 12 (once again, exactly where he said he’d be) and gave him my water bottle to bring back to the hotel. I was hoping the dropping the weight of the empty water bottle would make running easier! I saw Matt’s mom a bit later and then tried to put the push on to the finish.
Post Race
I finally crossed the finish line in 1:54:00. That was 4:01 off my goal #1 and 2:01 off my personal best. I have to be honest, I felt horrible after I finished. Mentally I was disappointed in my result and physically I was spent. I made my way though the finish corrals, down into BC Place, picked my bag and had a bit to eat. I really wasn’t interested in most of the food but I did force myself to eat half a banana and a cup of chocolate pudding. I also swapped the size medium shirt I’d got at the expo for a size large shirt. I met Matt and his parents at the “Family Meeting Area” and then sat on the floor for about 15 minutes getting my wits about me.
Matt had a super race (1:41:44 for his first official half) and was in much better physical and mental shape than I was. We walked (slowly) back to the hotel for showers and then went to brunch with my Dad. It wasn’t until I got three blueberry pancakes with syrup into me that I felt mentally better.
Now that I’ve had a few days to reflect on my race results the disappointment of not achieving my primary goals has faded. I ran this race 16:42 faster than I did two years ago and that’s a huge difference. However, I’m still left with the following concerns: (1) I averaged 184 bpm which is ridiculously high; (2) I didn’t feel I had the leg turnover that I needed; (3) I got a little down on myself mentally during the race and (4) Hills continue to be a big challenge for me. I’m going to have to address these over the coming weeks.
Data
Mile Split Cumulative ============================ 1 8:45.1 0:08:45.1 2 8:13.3 0:16:58.3 3 8:18.2* 0:25:16.5 * averaged since I missed mile marker 3 4 8:18.2* 0:33:34.7 5 8:36.5 0:42:11.3 6 8:34.4 0:50:45.6 Half 0:55:34.6 7 8:36.0 0:59:21.7 8 9:43.9 1:09:05.6 9 9:41.0 1:18:46.6 10 8:31.9 1:27:18.5 11 8:47.0 1:36:05.5 12 8:45.4 1:44:50.9 13.1 9:09.1 1:54:00.0 (a 8:19 pace) ============================ Total 1:54:00 Avg pace 5:24 min/km, 8:42 min/mile Avg BPM 184 Place overall 1298/5595 (76th percentile) Place in gender 462/3583 (87th percentile) Place in age group (F2529) 108/643 (83rd percentile) (places are based on chip time and include walkers)
1:54:00
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Final Place Bib Chip KM Place In Sex Place In Division No. Gun Time Time Pace - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1298 462/3583 108/643 Female 25-29 7908 1:55:41 1:54:00 5:25
The official results are here. I didn’t have my greatest race and I wasn’t able to break 1:50:00 but I did pull off my second fastest half marathon ever. I’ll post a full race report later this week.
Half marathon training – Week 12 – Time to Race!
This morning I did my last training run before the Vancouver half marathon. My focus is now on arriving at the starting line as well rested, fueled and hydrated as possible.
I’m really curious to see how I do in the race. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, this year I’ve been doing my easy and long runs at a significantly slower pace and lower heart rate than in years past. This has been a constant source of frustration to me and unfortunately to this point I’ve seen no improvements in my training pace at a fixed heart rate. A good race would go a long way in encouraging me to keep up with this style of training.
I usually set three goals going into every race I run. This time I’ve set five goals mostly because the first three, while all meaningful, are based on very close finish times.
- Goal #1: The dream goal – <1:50:00
- Goal #2: Take 20 min of my 2006 time – <1:50:42
- Goal #3: Set a new PB – <1:51:59
- Goal #4: Beat 2 hours – <2:00:00
- Goal #5: “Whatever your 100% looks like, give it”
The last goal is borrowed by a Nike ad (I found a picture here) which I admit is a little lame but it sort of stuck with me and I think it will be good to carry with me if things go badly.
My plan for the race is to try and maintain a pace of 8:23 min/mile for as long as I possibly can. I expect the first mile to be slow due to congestion at the start and I know I won’t be able to run that quickly up the Prospect Point hill but hopefully things will average out. If I blow up then I’ll just push to the finish at whatever pace I can maintain. This is my sixth half marathon so I see no reason to play it safe!
I’m not sure what my connectivity will be like in Vancouver but I will try to post my results as soon as possible. You should be able to check the official results by going to the Vancouver Marathon website and clicking on the “Race Results” tab on the left.
Read more
Weather check at T-4 days
Things are looking good for race day …
The wind might not be great but if it’s coming from the WNW then it would be a tailwind toward the end of the race.
Half marathon training – Week 11 – Tough Tempo
This last week of half marathon training had some ups and some downs. All the easy runs went fine but Wednesday’s tempo run wasn’t really a confidence builder. My training program gave a target of 8:30 min/mile for the 4 tempo miles. I was looking to do between 8:23 (pace for a 1:50:00 half marathon) and 8:30. I just could not get sub 8:30. I came close but I felt sluggish and slow the whole time and I felt like I was working way harder than should have been necessary. Then I of course fell into the trap of “if I can’t run 8:23 for 4 miles how am I ever going to be able to do it for 13.1 miles?” I’ve managed to talk myself out of that one. I know that a taper week, rest and race day adrenaline can work wonders.
Saturday’s long run was great. It was about 8C and sunny which is ideal running weather. I figured I’d do 10-12 miles but decided to cut it off at 10 because I didn’t want to risk running my legs into the ground one week before the race. I decided to try and run by feel instead of obsessively tracking my heart rate. As a consequence I ended with a slightly higher average heart rate than my previous long runs but it was nice to just go out and run easy.
| 21/04 | - | Rest day |
| 22/04 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 156 bpm, 11:45 min/mile |
| 23/04 | 6.0 miles | Tempo run: 4 miles @ 8:33/8:35/8:33/8:31 |
| 24/04 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 154 bpm, 11:27 min/mile; IM Softball |
| 25/04 | - | Rest day |
| 26/04 | 10.0 miles | Long run: avg 161 bpm, 11:27 min/mile |
| 27/04 | 4.0 miles | Recovery run: avg 156 bpm, 11:39 min/mile |
| Total | 30.0 miles | YTD: 396.4 miles |
This upcoming week is my taper week. I went back and looked what I did before last year’s big races (Ottawa, Victoria and Fall Classic) and it was always some combination of a 3 miler, a 4 miler and a 5 miler (with 3 miles at tempo). My current plan calls for slightly more mileage but I’m tempted to go with what I know. Honestly, what’s another few miles going to do for me at this point?
Now onto race day weather. Until this morning things were still looking good for Sunday. Then out of nowhere the word SNOW appeared in the long range forecast.
I’m not freaking out yet because I fully expect this to change. And if it doesn’t it’s not like I haven’t run in the snow before! We’re still a few days away before Sunday’s weather shows up on some other forecasts. Until then I’m working on a comprehensive packing list that prepares me for any race day weather!
Weather check at T-10 days
I just sat down at my desk with 20 minutes to kill in between returning from department seminar and going off to play intramural softball. A few clicks of the mouse later I discovered a 15 day forecast for Vancouver. That means I could have started obsessively checking the race day weather forecast 4 days ago!
Currently things are looking really good.
The high of 18 doesn’t really scare me given I’ll be racing from 7am-9am. Of course the forecast will probably change daily between now and race day. I’ll keep you posted!
Half marathon training – Week 10 – Snow. In April.
Last Saturday I did my long run in 13C sunshine. This Saturday it was 3C but felt like -1C and it snowed. So much for spring being here!
There were three periods of hail/snow during my run 12 mile long run. I say hail/snow because I’m not exactly sure what to call it. It was like mini snow balls falling from the sky (about 3mm in diameter) but they weren’t ice balls like hail. When they hit me they would bounce off! It was cold and wet but I got 12 miles done. My legs held up better than expected and I was pleased with the effort.
One more week of hard training and then it’s time for the taper!
| 14/04 | - | Rest day |
| 15/04 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 150 bpm, 12:00 min/mile |
| 16/04 | 7.0 miles | Speedwork: 3×1 mile in 8:01/7:43/7:59 |
| 17/04 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 154 bpm, 11:43 min/mile; IM Softball |
| 18/04 | - | Rest day |
| 19/04 | 12.0 miles | Long run: avg 158 bpm, 11:44 min/mile |
| 20/04 | 4.0 miles | Recovery run: avg 153 bpm, 12:11 min/mile |
| Total | 33.0 miles | YTD: 366.4 miles |
Half marathon training – Weeks 7,8,9 – A long rest but I’m back at it now
Here’s an update on my last three weeks of half marathon training.
Week 7
I had less than three days in Seattle between coming back from Whistler and leaving for England and Scotland. I would have liked to have squeezed both a tempo and a long run in here but decided that wasn’t realistic. Instead I focused on putting a good effort into my long run.
| 24/03 | - | Downhill skiing on Whistler |
| 25/03 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 11:40 min/mile |
| 26/03 | 10.0 miles | Long run: avg 158 bpm, 12:05 min/mile |
| 27/03 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 158 bpm, 12:23 min/mile (fly to England) |
| 28/03 | - | Arrive in England |
| 29/03 | - | Vacation in England |
| 30/03 | - | Vacation in England |
| Total | 20.0 miles | YTD: 303.4 miles |
Week 8
I did not run at all while I was in Scotland. I brought my running gear with me but just couldn’t quite bring myself to wake up early enough to go running. Honestly I didn’t put much pressure on myself to get out running and I don’t feel at all guilty about having a zero mileage week!
| 31/03 | - | Travel to Scotland |
| 01/04 | - | Vacation in Scotland |
| 02/04 | - | Vacation in Scotland |
| 03/04 | - | Vacation in Scotland |
| 04/04 | XT | 4 hour hike in the Pentland Hills |
| 05/04 | - | Vacation in Scotland |
| 06/04 | - | Travel to Seattle |
| Total | 0 miles | YTD: 303.4 miles |
Week 9
I gave myself one “jet lag” day after flying back to Seattle and then dove head first back into training. Tuesday’s run was my slowest run ever. Sigh. I think that’s partly because I was afraid to push things too hard after coming off 11 days of not running. I got things back in gear on Tuesday for my tempo run. I’m pleased with my tempo splits (I was aiming for 8:30′s) but not so pleased with the effort it took to achieve them. If I’m going to run a 1:49:49 half marathon in 3 weeks I need to average 8:22 min/mile and right now stringing 13 of those back to back seems impossible! My legs were pretty dead after Thursday’s easy run so by the time I played softball later in the day I was quite sore.
Saturday was the best day weather-wise we’ve had in Seattle all year. It was sunny and 13C while I was out running. I believe we hit a high of 23C later in the day. Both the Olympic and the Cascade mountain ranges were out and Mt Rainier was visible too. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Glorious. Oh and I was pretty happy with my run. My legs held up pretty well and my average HR was good although it was definitely creeping up significantly towards the end.
| 07/04 | - | Rest day |
| 08/04 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 155 bpm, 13:08 min/mile |
| 09/04 | 6.0 miles | Tempo run: 4 miles @ 8:14/8:27/8:24/8:26 |
| 10/04 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 159 bpm, 12:10 min/mile; IM Softball |
| 11/04 | - | Rest day |
| 12/04 | 10.0 miles | Long run: avg 159 bpm, 11:45 min/mile |
| 13/04 | 4.0 miles | Recovery run: avg 151 bpm, 11:34 min/mile |
| Total | 30.0 miles | YTD: 333.4 miles |
The Vancouver Half Marathon is now three weeks away. That means I have two more weeks to get some solid training in and then one week of taper. I’m sticking with the goals I set back in February but I’m reserving the right to add a less ambitious time goal in. If all else fails I definitely want to still beat 2 hours!
Half marathon training – Week 6 – Downhill skiing as cross training
| 17/03 | - | Rest day (fly/drive to Seattle) |
| 18/03 | 7.0 miles | Speedwork: 3x1mi in 8:00/7:47/8:05 |
| 19/03 | 4.0 miles | Easy run: avg 158 bpm, 11:41 min/mile |
| 20/03 | 10.0 miles | Long run: avg 158 bpm, 11:55 min/mile (drive to Whistler) |
| 21/03 | XT | Downhill skiing on Blackcomb |
| 22/03 | XT | Downhill skiing on Whistler |
| 23/03 | XT | Downhill skiing on Blackcomb |
| Total | 21.0 miles | YTD: 283.4 miles |
This was an odd week of training. Sandwiched between two trips I squeezed in three days of running. It’s perhaps not ideal to do speedwork, an easy run and then a long run on back-to-back-to-back days but there it is. I’m not sure how effective downhill skiing is as cross training but it sure is a lot of fun!
Half marathon training – Week 5 – Easy week
| 10/03 | - | Rest day |
| 11/03 | 6.0 miles | Easy run: avg 154 bpm, 11:46 min/mile |
| 12/03 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 153 bpm, 11:40 min/mile (post General Exam!) |
| 13/03 | - | Rest day (fly to Ottawa) |
| 14/03 | 5.0 miles | Easy run: avg 11:45 min/mile (treadmill) |
| 15/03 | - | Rest day |
| 16/03 | 6.0 miles | Easy run: avg 11:45 min/mile (treadmill) |
| Total | 22.0 miles | YTD: 262.4 miles |
Last week was an easy week and I couldn’t have been happier about it. We went on daylight savings time on the previous Sunday so when I woke up to run on Tuesday it was completely dark out, pouring rain and very windy. After looking out my window I made a 180 degree turn right back into bed. I did the run in the late afternoon sunshine instead. That was a good decision. Wednesday was my General Exam (which I passed!) so once again ran in the late afternoon. That was probably one of my most relaxed runs ever because I was just so thrilled to have my exam over and done with!
I was in Ottawa over the weekend so I did my runs there on the treadmill. I didn’t wear my heart rate monitor but they felt pretty comfortable. So all in all it was a nice and easy recovery week.