2010 Mizuno Chilly Half-marathon
Sunday, March 7th 2010
Burlington, ON
Yes, the title is correct, this was my second half-marathon in 2 weeks. Feb. 28th I ran the Grimsby half. You might be thinking I’m sadisctic or something but I’m not as my coach made sure we didn’t overdo it at either race. Besides, we needed to be sure there was enough left in the tank for the 30k Around the Bay race. Yes, 3 races in a month!!
Well the day was perfect. It was cool but not cold and sunny with cloudy periods. Sure there was some wind but hey, it’s only March so it’s expected. I remember enough years where it snowed pretty hard at this race so I’m not complaining. It’s not like I didn’t train in this all winter long so I was more than used to it.
Well, since I had raced the previous Sunday, my coach decided it would be best to start off really conservative (4:00/km for the first 5km) and then do a progression run where we build up the pace every 5km or so.
As the race started, I followed coach’s plan and stuck with what felt like a tempo pace rather than race pace. At 5km, I was drooling to pick up the pace which I did and man it felt good. As soon as the pace picked up I started passing people which always feels good. Let’s face it, we train hard to go fast and race day is when you get to see what new levels training has taken you to.
By the 11km point, I turned the pace up further, now about 3:40-3:45. This is also around the time the course turned back toward the finish which also meant headwinds. They were stiff winds though not impossible to deal with. I think it felt worse than it really was because when the wind was at my back I was actually running slower (that progression stuff I mentioned earlier).
I kept reminding myself what my coach says, “you’ll have good miles and when you do enjoy it. You’ll have tough miles and when you do just tough it out”. He also mentioned that when doing a strong progression run you’ll come across a lot of skeletons (people who are really suffering in the later stages of the race) which I did. When I had a rough patch, I just focused on 2 things: maintaining my form and closing the gap on runners in front of me, one at a time.
I crossed the line in a clock time of 1:20:50. I was pleased as this was an almost 2 minute PB over the previous weekend.
This is a great race to do and the new course is so much better as it is now completely along the lakshore so no more industrial crap to deal with. Give it a go.
Happy Trails!!
Keep up the good work, when is your next race?