Race Report: 2010 Waterloo Half Marathon
Yesterday I ran my tenth official half marathon, the St John Ambulance Waterloo Half Marathon. I finished in a time of 1:57:39 which is about a minute faster than the average finishing time of my previous halfs.
Pre Race
My parents were visiting for the weekend so I spent most of Saturday sewing curtains for my living room with my Mother. On Sunday I woke up at about 6:20am and my Dad and I arrived at Betchel Park at around 7:10am. It was drizzling rain when we arrived and by the time I’d picked up my bib and timing chip, made a final wardrobe selection and made it through the bathroom line up it was about 8:10 and absolutely pouring rain. Thankfully all the pre race stuff was at an indoor soccer facility and since there were only 365 people in the half marathon we didn’t have to walk out to the start line until the last moment.
The Race
Because of the torrential downpour I started the race wearing a garbage bag (see photo below). I knew the general route but I didn’t really know where the hills would be so everything was a surprise. My plan was to keep my kilometer splits between 5:27 and 5:42 (i.e. between a 1:55 and 2:00 finish time). I started out way too fast covering the first two two kilometers in 10:24 (I missed the first kilometer sign). I think I was just excited by the crowd, the fact that this was my first race of 2010 and I was keen to warm up. By the third kilometer I’d pretty much settled into my own pace. This was the first races I’ve done on open roads. The first few kilometers were closed to traffic but after we turned onto Bloomingdale Rd the road was open and we were supposed to run on the shoulder for the rest of the way. This could have been bad but it wasn’t really a problem. The roads mostly had generous shoulders and the cars gave the runners a wide berth when driving by. It seemed like a St John Ambulance or police car drove by about every five minutes monitoring the course.
I came through the first five kilometers in 27:09 and was feeling pretty good. The course was reputed as hilly but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. There were a couple long inclines but nothing that made me think of walking like other hills I’ve run on. In particular, kilometer eight had a big hill which slowed me down to a 5:50 split. I just kept on trucking and enjoyed a few downhill kilometers after that. My split for the second five kilometers was 28:03 giving me a 10 kilometer split of 55:12. Around this time the rain had returned to a drizzle and I finally took off the garbage bag I’d been running in. I had never intended to keep it on for this long but it served its purpose.
There were a few more hills in the next few kilometers and I was starting to feel myself slow. Whereas before I’d been hitting the low 5:30′s now I was clocking high 5:30′s and some 5:40′s. I took a gel coming out of Conestogo and then faced down the wind and rolling hills of Northfield drive. My third five kilometer split was 28:39. As I made the turn onto University Ave I knew I was getting close to home. I had hopped to turn on the engines in the last five kilometers but I didn’t quite have much to give. It was the usual story, my legs were the limiting factor not my lungs. I managed to pick up the pace in kilometer 20 and then hit my fourth five kilometer split in 28:05.
I did find a little something at the end of the race and pulled off the last 1.1 kilometers in 5:42 which is a 5:11 pace. I crossed the finish line in 1:57:39 (chip time) with a smile on my face. Actually I had a smile plastered on my face for most of the run. Despite the crazy weather I was just happy to be out and racing. I always new that it wasn’t a day for a PB but I was happy to finish almost right smack in the middle of my goal range of a 1:55 – 2:00 finish time.
Post Race
Dad met me at the finish line and we headed back into the soccer facility so I could pick up my medal (a handmade clay medallion, nice touch), a drink (Timmy’s hot chocolate, really hit the spot) and some food. I changed into dry clothes and then we headed out. We decided to try and leave quickly because we were afraid that once the marathon finishers started coming in we’d be trapped in the parking lot. Back at home we had blueberry pancakes for brunch and then my parents headed home to Ottawa leaving me to spend the rest of the day lying on the couch recovering!
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed the Waterloo half marathon, it’s a great small hometown race. Despite there only being 365 half marathon finishers I was never alone on the course. I also never felt in danger while running on open roads. My one and only complaint is that I really disliked the last kilometer of the half marathon course that ran through the parking lot. We were running on uneven gravel and I felt like we were trapping the cars in. I wonder if we could somehow do this loop at the start of the course next year? I know it’s a bigger pack then but at least it would open up the parking lot at the finish. In any case, I expect that I’ll run this race again next year and possibly for many more years to come.
Data
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Cumulative Cumulative 5Km
Km Split Time Pace Split
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2 10:24.1 0:10:24.1 05:12.1
3 05:36.7 0:16:00.9 05:20.3
4 05:32.1 0:21:33.0 05:23.2
5 05:36.1 0:27:09.1 05:25.8 27:09.1
6 05:30.5 0:32:39.6 05:26.6
7 05:36.1 0:38:15.7 05:28.0
8 05:50.1 0:44:05.8 05:30.7
9 05:33.5 0:49:39.3 05:31.0
10 05:33.1 0:55:12.4 05:31.2 28:03.3
11 05:37.0 1:00:49.4 05:31.8
12 05:52.3 1:06:41.7 05:33.5
13 05:43.7 1:12:25.3 05:34.3
14 05:37.2 1:18:02.5 05:34.5
15 05:49.0 1:23:51.5 05:35.4 28:39.1
16 05:40.2 1:29:31.7 05:35.7
17 05:38.5 1:35:10.2 05:35.9
18 05:33.5 1:40:43.7 05:35.8
19 05:39.4 1:46:23.1 05:36.0
20 05:33.8 1:51:56.9 05:35.8 28:05.4
21.1 05:42.1 1:57:39.0 05:34.6
1:57:39.0
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Overall place: 146/365 (60th percentile)
Gender place: 41/201 (79th percentile)
Division place: 19/55 (65th percentile)
Half Marathon Training – Week 7 – Half on Sunday
This week I did my usual pre-race taper of one five, four and three miler.
| 19/04 | - | Rest day |
| 20/04 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:17 min/mile |
| 21/04 | 5.0 mi | Tempo Run: 3mi @ 8:32/8:32/8:23 min/mile |
| 22/04 | 3.0 mi | Easy run: avg 9:58 min/mile |
| 23/04 | - | Rest day |
| 24/04 | - | Rest day |
| 25/04 | 13.1 mi | Half marathon race day |
| Total | 25.1 mi | YTD: 383.9 miles |
I have decided to take a fairly low key approach to Sunday’s half marathon. My main goal will be in finish in under 2:00. On a good day I think I could get closer to 1:55 but I’m not fussed about it. I want to save something for the Sporting Life 10K I’m running next weekend because I’m definitely going to make a PB attempt there. My 10K PB of 54:02 is from 2006 and is the weakest of my PBs so its just asking to be broken. The other issue is that I’ve actually never seen 80% of the Waterloo course and I know there are some hills. The race director sent out an elevation chart (below). There’s a total of 109m (358 ft) of climbing which isn’t too bad but it’s definitely not flat.
So my plan is to start slow and try and settle into a groove somewhere between 5:27 min/km and 5:42 min/km. Tune back in on Sunday or Monday for a race report!
Half Marathon Training – Week 6 – Run with Alice
I had a rough start to the week. It was a busier than average work week which left me pretty drained. By Thursday’s run I was really dragging. In fact, I decided to cut the run short by a mile because my legs just were not feeling up to it. I don’t think it’s an injury; my legs were just super tight and sore. I’ll admit I haven’t been great about stretching over the past few months so I may be paying the price now.
On Saturday I did an easy run with my friend Alice. Alice has taken up running this year after giving birth to her beautiful daughter Lillian last October. She’s been kicking some serious butt and will also be doing the Waterloo half marathon next weekend. You can read all about her running (and mothering) journey on her blog. So on Saturday I biked out to Alice’s house and then we did a 10.6km run from there. We had a great time chatting about family, nutrition, work and everything in between. Oh and it snowed/hailed during our run! We ran on country roads which is a real treat. One of the things I like about living in Waterloo is how quickly you can be out of town and in the countryside.
The Waterloo Half Marathon is now 7 days away. Currently the forecast is for rain, a low of 9 overnight and a high of 16 for Sunday. I’m not too bothered by this. Of course I would prefer 10C and sunny but I’ll run in any weather. I think the biggest problem would be wind not rain anyway. I’m going to spend the next few days reflecting on my current fitness and coming up with a plan for the race. Of course, I’ve been known to race the best when I have no plan so maybe I shouldn’t bother!
| 05/04 | - | Rest day |
| 06/04 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 9:55 min/mile |
| 07/04 | 6.5 mi | Speedwork: 3x1mi in 7:59/8:03/8:01 min |
| 08/04 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:18 min/mile |
| 09/04 | - | Rest day |
| 10/04 | 6.6 mi XT |
Easy run: avg 13:33 min/mile Cycling: 17.9km to and from Alice’s house |
| 11/04 | 8.0 mi | Long run: avg 10:13 min/mile |
| Total | 30.1 mi | YTD: 358.8 miles |
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Half Marathon Training – Week 5 – Typical
Hmm, it’s Sunday night and I’m trying to remember how training went this week. I’m pretty sure it was the usual story: tough tempo run on Wednesday, a decent long run on the weekend and a few other easy runs thrown in. Yes, it was just a typical training week.
| 05/04 | - | Rest day |
| 06/04 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:10 min/mile |
| 07/04 | 6.0 mi | Tempo run: 4mi @ 8:47/8:46/8:37/8:30 min/mile |
| 08/04 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 9:53 min/mile |
| 09/04 | - | Rest day |
| 10/04 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:06 min/mile |
| 11/04 | 10.0 mi | Long run: avg 9:51 min/mile |
| Total | 30.0 mi | YTD: 328.7 miles |
In other news, on Wednesday I found out that I did not get into the NYC marathon via the lottery this year. Although I can’t find any data to support this I had estimated the chance of getting in to be approximately 25%. I plan to enter the lottery again next year. At the very latest I’d be able to run NYC in 2013 as long as they let you in during year four if you’ve been rejected through the lottery for three consecutive years. My current tentative plan is now to run the Road2Hope Hamilton Marathon in November as my fall marathon. It’s fast, small, close and late in the fall allowing for maximal training. Then in January 2011 a few friends and I have signed up to do the Walt Disney World Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge. That’s a half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday. Crazy.
Half Marathon Training – Week 4 – Recovery
I took last week pretty easy: just a couple of mid week five milers. I went up to Toronto for Easter so I did Friday’s 9 miler with my friend Laura. We did the run in the late morning and got caught by surprise with how warm and sunny it was outside. We ended up walking the last 5km because although we were doing OK neither of us wanted to get heat stroke. We both got a bit of a sunburn on our arms but we had enough water with us to avoid any major heat troubles. It will take a few weeks to get acclimatized to running in temperatures above 20C. On Sunday we did a double workout because we’re awesome. I did 3 miles on the treadmill followed (a couple hours later) by a 30km bike ride. This was my first trip out on my new bike and it was great. I’m definitely looking forward to incorporating more cycling as cross training into my schedule this spring and summer!
| 29/03 | - | Rest day |
| 30/03 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 9:29 min/mile |
| 31/03 | - | Rest day |
| 01/04 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 9:57 min/mile |
| 02/04 | 9.4 mi | Long run: avg 14:39 min/mile (walked last 5km) |
| 03/04 | - | Rest day |
| 04/04 | 3.0 mi XT |
Easy run: avg 9:40 min/mile Cycling: 30km avg ~20 km/h |
| Total | 22.4 mi | YTD: 298.7 miles |
Half Marathon Training – Weeks 1-3 – Turning a corner
I just might have turned a corner in the last three weeks.
First, let me summarize February. I ran a total of 82.0 miles (132.0 km) during the month of February. This is a fairly low number for me but actually it was composed of three fairly solid weeks of 25+27+30 miles and then one week totally off while I was on vacation in Whistler (at the Olympics!).
I had intended to jump right into Half Marathon training with the Ryan Hall program during the first week of March but it just didn’t happen. The combination of jet lag and poor weather conditions meant I couldn’t get the speed work and tempo run sessions in during the work week. Frankly, the program just seemed overwhelming. I’d been feeling a bit lethargic and I was having some pain and tightness on my right side. Not really the best place to be starting into a hard core training program.
So moved on to Plan B. I’m now doing a more conservative Smart Coach training program for the Waterloo Half Marathon at the end of April. I’m not making any big goals for this race but three weeks in to the program I can say that while I’m far from PB shape I’m feeling a lot better than I did in February.
Week 1
Wednesday’s tempo run was the first hard run I’d done in months. In the past I’ve done tempo runs at around 8:30 pace. Given I was coming off months of slow running I was just happy that all the tempo miles came in under 9:00. Over the next few months I’d like to see my tempo pace drop but I’m going to be patient and trust it will happen eventually.
During January and February I did most of my runs on the same stretch of bike path and sidewalks that were cleared of snow. By Saturday warm temperatures had gotten rid of most of the snow around here I decided to revisit some local paths/trails that I hadn’t run on since the fall. There were some very muddy sections and also some icy sections so I walked when I needed to. I didn’t look at my watch once during the run because I wanted to run by feel. I felt really good until about the last 1.5 miles at which point I started to tire. I probably should have taken a gel or something to keep my energy up.
| 08/03 | - | Rest day |
| 09/03 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:22 min/mile |
| 10/03 | 5.0 mi | Tempo run: 3mi @ 8:54/8:56/8:37 min/mile |
| 11/03 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:16 min/mile |
| 12/03 | - | Rest day |
| 13/03 | 9.0 mi | Long run: avg 10:47 min/mile |
| 14/03 | 4.0 mi | Recovery run: avg 10:47 min/mile |
| Total | 26.0 mi | YTD: 218.3 miles |
Week 2
We had glorious spring like weather during this week. We also went onto Daylight Savings Time which meant I moved my runs from early morning to late afternoon to avoid running in the dark. On Tuesday it was 15C and sunny so I ran in shorts for the first time this year! I might have been a bit overexcited for my speedwork on Wednesday because I went out way too hard during the first mile. I have no business running sub 8:00 quite yet! I was in Ottawa for the weekend so I did my long run on one of my favorite all time running routes along the Rideau Canal. Once again I avoided looking at my watch and took a few walk breaks. This time I consumed about 100 calories during the run which I think helped me finish much stronger than the previous week’s nine miler.
| 15/03 | - | Rest day |
| 16/03 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 9:55 min/mile |
| 17/03 | 5.0 mi | Speedwork: 2x1mi in 7:46/8:10 min |
| 18/03 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:06 min/mile |
| 19/03 | - | Rest day |
| 20/03 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:17 min/mile (treadmill) |
| 21/03 | 9.0 mi | Long run: avg 10:28 min/mile |
| Total | 28.0 mi | YTD: 246.3 miles |
Week 3
By this week I was starting to feel like I was definitely back in a groove. Wednesday’s tempo run was a good challenge. I managed to average an 8:33 min/mile pace over the four miles which is faster than I expected to be able to pull off. There was a fair bit of variation in my splits because I ran two laps of a two mile course which meant some miles had a headwind and some had a tailwind. Saturday’s long run was tough. I just didn’t feel like myself for the first half of the run. I think it was a combination of and indulgent dinner on friday night and a lack of sleep. Things improved eventually and I got the 10 miles done. My hip flexors were tight on Sunday so I took things easy for my recovery run.
| 22/03 | - | Rest day |
| 23/03 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:11 min/mile |
| 24/03 | 6.0 mi | Tempo run: 4mi @ 8:28/8:42/8:24/8:38 min/mile |
| 25/03 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:01 min/mile |
| 26/03 | - | Rest day |
| 27/03 | 10.0 mi | Long run: avg 10:24 min/mile |
| 28/03 | 4.0 mi | Recovery run: avg 10:44 min/mile |
| Total | 30.0 mi | YTD: 276.3 miles |
I’m feeling much more positive about the Waterloo half now that I’m through these first three weeks of training. Next week will be a recovery week and after that there will only be three more weeks of training before the taper week and the race!