Name of Race – Scotiabank Waterfront Half Marathon
Website for the Race – www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com
Date of Race – Sunday, September 30th, 2007
Location of Race – Toronto, Ontario
Type of Race – Half Marathon
Distance or duration of Race – 21.1k
Description of Race – The Scotiabank race is known as a quick race due to the nature of the course elevation…pretty darned flat. Perfect for training for IM Florida and to figure out some pacing strategies for the big day.
The Race I was using this race as a planning exercise for IM Florida. I wanted to gauge how my fitness was so far, run at what I would consider an IM pace for me and work on my Ironman run/walk routine. Half the battle of the run/walk is mental and dealing with people blowing by you early so I wanted to see how that went.
Pre-race It was a 7am start time so I wanted to be my typical early to the race site so i was out of the house by 5:45am. Parked in a very conveneient (and cheap) spot underneath FCP (helps to work downtown during the week). I did a little warmup around Roy Thompson Hall and then set on my way to the starting corral. Bumped into teammate Peter Geering and chatted with him and his wife for a little while.
Once in the starting corral I was keeping ym eyes peeled for Roger Hospedales…he was a pace bunny for the 10&1 2:00 pace and that was exactly what I wanted to pace for the day. I couldn’t find him but I did get a bid on the long sleeve running shirt that I was wearing. Sorry, but nor for sale today!
As the race started, the goal was simply for me…run a 10&1 and a very easy RPE, focus on keeping the same pace throughout, finish fresh, and not be sore the next few days. It meant that I wasn’t really gunning for a PB but just a nice training day.
The Run As the gun went off, I slowly set on my way with the other 10,000 runners. It took me about 3 minutes to get to the starting line, but it was a nice easy walk chatting with people around me. As we started to run, I had to be cognisant of my goal for the day so I tried hard to not get caught up in the adrenalin that so many people have early in a race. I went out smooth, controlled and at a comfortable pace that i thoguht I could maintain for the entire race. No negative or positive split for me today, I wanted consistency down to the closest 10 seconds.
The fun part was listening to the people early on talk about how you can’t walk, you need to run the whole thing, walking is bad and the two guys who were chatting away about clydesdale athletes…not putting us down, but talking like we were not fit in any way…if they only knew I was listening and somewhat intently…
An aside: I am a clydesdale athlete, I’m 6′ tall and weigh 210 lbs, I don’t run fast, I may not look fit to you BUT I have completed an Ironman, am training for #2, can’t whup most people’s butt in the water and am a decent cyclist. I may not win triathlons I enter, but in the shorter stuff, I am competitive. It ticks me off when I hear these people generalize that just because we look big, that we can’t be fit…I should have waited for them at the finish line and asked them what they thought of me then…seeing as I beat them across the line by a healthy margin (I had to keep my eyes peeled for them based on their comments)…end of aside.
Early in the run, my 10&1 faltered since I was delaing with the gobs of people and thus a bit of a slower pace. I decided just after 5K (when I hit 30 minutes) to take my first walk break…and then did that until about the 17k mark. Went through 5k in 27 minutes, 10k in 54 mins, hit 20k in 1:50 (a bit longer due to the walk breaks) and finished in 1:55. felt great, full of energy, and a PB by 7 minutes. Worked out that my run pace was around 5:15/k and final run pace was 5:27/k. I’m not a speed demon but I was happy with that. I was even happier since I maintained a consistent pace throughout, felt good at the end and was on my bike the next day, running on tuesday and full on trainign all week so far.
Run time – 1:55:32 (5:27/km), 164/347 M30-34, 1127/2418 gender and 1609/5364 OA.
Overall I would say that my strategy and goal was successful. I felt great afterwards, was home with the family by 10am and at swimming lessons with my daughter by 10:30am. I’m just happy to see progress and to feel good about my results. Just compare the result above to my first attempt at a half marathon in October 2004…
Toronto Half (Oct 2004) – 2:32:09 (7:12/k), 362/372 M30-34, 1965/2052 gender and 3908/4299 OA.
Not a bad improvement, eh? So one more race for me that I am very focussed on right now. Ironman Florida…flat, fast and right up my alley. As a bigger guy, flat is key since once I get rolling on the bike, the weight momentum helps to keep me going. On the run, hills are what slow me down, so a nice flat marathon is going to be great so as to ease the pain I will endure. Looking forward to the race…it’s going to be fun…really, I am excited for the race. It’s not an unknown since I’ve done one before and now it’s just about enjoying myself and seeing how much I have progressed.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
GOOD LUCK IN FLORIDA!!!!