Lévis Oasis International Half Marathon
May 3rd, 2015
As I said, this race was my big crash and burn HM. With big ambitions, I went out too hard and didn't even have time to feel cramps or something like that, I totally blacked out. Watch was stopped at 20.45 km (12.7 miles) but I have no clue by whom.
Had plans of running my first marathon in August last year but that was downgraded to a half marathon which I finished in some very rough conditions (heat/humidity) but with a very decent time of 1:36.09.
I suffered through some Achilles woes following the training for that half and it took me most of the Fall season to finally get better only to realize I had some btis of plantar fasciitis that wanted to set in. Achilles remain stiff at times but I was able to train well up to the race.
I again had big ambitions for this race, training with my mind set on a 6:50 average pace for a possible crack at 1:30. It the back of my mind the whole crash and burn thing remained though. The course is nice point to point that starts with about 2.5 km of uphill but then goes into a lengthy downhill section for almost 10 km. I spent a good chunk of last week obsessing over my numbers from last year. Over the first 15 km last year, I was averaging 6:51/mile, I was flying, but I was also keeping the heart rate just too high in retrospect. I didn't fuel during the run and because it was kinda chilly, I never really felt the need to hydrate myself, which all together caused me to crash. I made the conscious decision on Saturday during the day to go more by heart rate than by pace, in order to enjoy the race. It was becoming more and more obvious I couldn't sustain 6:50 over 13 miles by keeping my heart rate almost 10 BPM lower but by then, I was ok with it.
Uphill start (2.5 km)
Last year's half was my first very big race. With about 1650 entrants, for me it was a big one and I remember feeling cramped in the middle of everyone last year. I averaged 7:16/mile last year over those 2.5 km and I felt it went better this year and my time somewhat reflected it with an average pace at 7:12/mile. Heart rate also reflected a bit of that in being 2 BPM lower this year despite going faster.
Long downhill (9.5 km)
I really went hard on that section last year, averaging a pace of 6:41/mile but also keeping the heart rate consistenly in teh 160-161 range which is more consistent with a 10K kind of HR for me. I averaged 155 this year but it also meant I wasn't hitting my goal pace, instead averaging 6:54/mile, but I was ok with it.
Mostly flat last half (9.1 km)
I again kept running by heart rate for the rest of the race and I'm sure glad I did. There are portions of this back 10K that I don't even remember seeing the first time around. That's kinda scary to be honest. I know I slowed down from the midway point to the end but the main goal was to finish it on my feet, and I knew that unless a major catastrophe happened, I would get a PR. Still, I got an average pace of 7:20/mile out of those last 9 km which is the same pace as my august half marathon overall. I finished that one with some miles toward the end more around 7:45 so I'm happy with the progression. I also kept my heart rate right at 155 for the portion while it kept going up to the 164-166 range around the 17th kilometer last year.
Speaking of scary bits I don't remember from last year, there's this nice little bridge over which we run getting to the finish, about 1 or 1.2 km from the finish line. Looking at the GPS map from my watch for last year's race, I have at least walked over that bridge. Don't remember it, not at all. I ran over it this year, starting my final push in which I would average 6:47/mile over the last kilometer, and my only thought was "wow, that's a really nice river"...
Official time: 1:33:33, a PR by 2:36 with room to grow!
VERY happy with it and I know i got room to push a bit more. It's now just a question of finding the spot.
This is what I looked like a year ago:
This is what I looked like right after this year's race
I sat down in the grass, ate the little post race brunch they give us and I cried, somewhat overwhelmed by the emotions. A year ago, the whole family was waiting for me at the finish line and they all got worried and this year, nobody was there. My wife was out of town for a hiphop dance competition and my sons had no way to get to the finish line. Very happy I got it done. Training continues, or should I say, starts anew, 17 weeks until my first marathon.
FM