NCM half-marathon
2007 National Capital Half-marathonbr /br /Short versionbr /br /1:34:13 377/7671 1935 KCaloriesbr /I like the new course and the earlier start time (0830 vs 1030). Really pleased with the race.br /Bummers – yoghurt for 10,000 participants and no spoonsbr /br /Long versionbr /br /On Sunday May 27, I ran my a title=”second half-marathon” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069739052732563762″second half-marathon/a of the year in Ottawa. I had run the PF Chang half-marathon in January under cold but under record-setting conditions. My goal for this race was to use some of the tips I learned earlier this year. The first tip was to really rest the day before the race and get plenty of sleep, a couple of days before. Also, Clif Gels when consumed at the right point in the race can help you boost your energy stores. Also, eat very well a couple of hours before race (three vs four bowls of Vector cereal). Finally, if you want to finish with a fast time you have to run fast and maintain your pace.br /br /On Saturday, I checked out the course and noted the location of the a title=”finishing chute” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069738949653348498″finishing chute/a and walked the final 1,000 meters of the race. The final 1km has a couple of curves which make it difficult to know when you are getting close to the finish. Taking my own advice I had a leisurely day on Saturday. In the evening, I watched the 10km race and started to get excited about my own race (a title=”start” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069738971128185010″start/a )(a title=”first female start” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069738979718119618″first female start/a )(a title=”first male start” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069738988308054226″first male start/a ) (a title=”masses starting” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069739001192956130″masses starting/a ) (a title=”first male finish” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069739014077858034″first male finish/a ) (a title=”first female finish” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069739022667792642″first female finish/a ) (a title=”masses finishing” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069739035552694546″masses finishing/a ).br /br /I was up at 0600 on Sunday morning to start the fuel operation. Over the course of an hour, I ate four bowls of Vector cereal. It is through trial-and-error that I discovered that Vector cereal gives me enough fuel to run a half-marathon. I sipped on a strong cup of Starbucks Earl Grey tea as at this time of the morning I was still sleepy. After drinking a couple of bottles of water and a title=”voiding” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069738928178511986″voiding/a it was time to head over to race site. The conditions were overcast 12C/53F and threatening rain. I got to the race site early and checked my bag and headed over to the start line area. This year they were using the corral system to assign folks to various part of the start line based on their expected finishing time. I was in the second corral (1:31-1:45). I started with five other guys that I train with at the Running Room on Wednesday night. This was reassuring. I was surprised how few friends I had seen on Saturday only to find that most were doing the half-marathon. At 0830, the starter’s gun went off and we were on our way. We headed west to run by a title=”Parliament Hill” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_Hill”Parliament Hill/a and then across the Ottawa River over to Gatineau, Quebec. We did a six mile loop that featured some of the more interesting parts of the city. I was really pleased that I had run the race course two weeks ago as I knew where to expect the hills. I felt strong at this point as I was able to maintain the pace that I had started the race at. We next climbed from the water’s edge onto the a title=”Alexandra bridge” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Bridge”Alexandra bridge/a and ran across the Ottawa River once again. You can look at the course as being a six mile loop in Quebec and six mile loop in Ontario. The Ontario loop is very familiar to me as I run along two both sides of the a title=”Rideau canal” href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/moulec/OttawaHalfMarathon2007/photo#5069738958243283106″Rideau canal/a a couple of times a week. It is sort of permanently etched in my mind. The first three miles on the Ontario side went quickly and I eat a Clif Gel with caffeine at the turnaround point. The weather conditions at this point started to deteriorate as it we went from a spitting to a light rain. The rain was just enough to cool one down and not get went feet. The final three miles were a little challenging as I was getting tired and a little dehydrated. The gel boosted my energy level and also knock me out of my groove. I started to pick up the pace and again and was more eager to run by folks ahead. With one mile to go, I opened up with a sprint and went by a boatload of folks. I caught up with one of the guys I run with and surged by. To my surprise, my finish time was very close to the time I had run in Phoenix earlier this year. I spent the next little while drinking multiple glasses of water, gatorade, and a new Powerbar recovery drink. I grab a couple of sliced apples and bananas which were already turning brown from exposure. I was puzzled when I saw trays and trays of yoghurt but very folks eating it. Someone had forgot to buy spoons for 20,000 particpants. At this point, I was starting to get cold so I grabbed my bag and layered on the clothing and headed over to the university for a hot shower. I was really pleased with the race, my time and how I finished. I am looking forward to reducing my training and getting back to other stuff. There are two more half-marathons on the horizon this year. I race the Baltimore half-marathon in October and may be the Philadephia in November.
Final race preparations…
Today, I went to the race expo and picked up my race package, bib numbers and some span class=”blsp-spelling-error” id=”SPELLING_ERROR_0″Clif/span Gels. I bumped into my coach, Phil, and checked whether I could do a swim workout this afternoon. Phil said a swim workout and a hot tub session would loosen things up a bit. I’ve missed a couple of swimming workouts recently which has caused my back to tighten up. After 20 minutes in the hot tub my back loosened up. The race starts at 0830 on Sunday morning so I’ll have to be up early to have a couple of bowls of a href=”http://www.kelloggs.ca/cgi-bin/klog-canada/product.pl?product=458″Vector /acereal and allow for it to be completely digested. I am excited and eager to get the race over and to see how well I perform. The training over the past couple of months has been a lot of fun.
Three days to go…
It is three days before my half-marathon on Sunday. Today, I did a tuneup sort of workout which took the form of a 5 km (3.1 mile) warmup followed by 5 km at race pace. We had one of our warmest days of the year with the temperature reaching 78F. I am looking forward to the a href=”http://www.ncm.ca/”race /aas it will be like graduation day for the training. All my training over the last couple of months has been focused on this race. Once the race is over, I’ll pump up the tires on the mountain- and road bike and start cycling.br /br /In two weeks, I’ll be running in a 12 hour running relay. It is a fund raiser for cancer research and every year I get drafted on the team as I am one of the faster runners at the office. Our team will be competing against 78 other teams to see which team can do the most number of laps of a track over a 12 hour period. My shift will involve running around the track for about an hour.
Sore!
There are some advantages to blogging after a interval workout rather than before. After the workout I can report on how it went, how I feel and what my times were. Last night, it was 5×1km intervals on 30 seconds rest. (3.45/4.00/3.54/4.08/3.58) Every second intervals is slower because we have run the hill. By Ottawa standards, it was a warm night 75F/24C and the first one we have had this year. I was drenched with sweat before the workout. How do I feel? I feel a little dazed but my powerbar and chocolate milk are keeping my upright before I head over to Subway for a meal. I was pleased with the workout as my dismal workout on Monday helped me run well tonight. The swimming workouts that I’m doing for cross-training as strengthening my core and upper body. One more week of intervals and then it will be time to rest before the half-marathon race.
Final set of intervals…
Tonight, I do my final set of 1,000 meter intervals. We’ll do four intervals on 30 seconds rest. Next week, we will do five and the week after we will do six. The 30 second rest will make for a tough and painful workout as the body will not have a chance to recover between the intervals.br /br /I’ll do my second half-marathon of the year at the end of the month and it will act as a good benchmark to see how my training has progressed over the winter/spring months.
10 mile race
This morning I raced 10 miles as part of a Good Friday road race near where my folks live. Overnight we had a dusting of snow and along with it came some cold conditions. I raced in my wamup gear as I didn’t bring any other warm clothing. It was the first time that I had raced the course, so I took it out conservatively and sped up on the second five mile loop. To give you a feel for the conditions, after the race the director was apologizing because the water in the paper cups was frozen. I finished in a time of 1:12 with the first lap completed in 36:23 and the second half in 36:23. I was really pleased with the way the race went as all my long runs and intervals are paying off.
