SPBM2018 - Race Update

And I've set a new PB!!! :) :)

Here's how it went down: Race expo day went fine. No trouble finding the venue. No rush at the counters, picked my bib and race kit well in time and had a pretty much relaxed pre-race afternoon. Towards evening, I started feeling a migraine set in. (Uggh! for me these are the worst. When I get a full blown one, all I can think of is carving out the top right corner of my head and tossing it out! Too graphic huh?) I took a random headache pill, had my basic comfort meal of  curds and rice and hit the bed at 8:00 p.m.

Maybe it was the Universe's way of telling me not to push it, but come race morning, I forgot my Garmin! I had left it charging in the corner and forgot all about it as I left in the morning for the race venue. I was half-way to the venue by the time I realized that my watch was missing, and it was too late to go back for it. For non-runners this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. It is a BIG deal!! All my pace plans had to be thrown out the window because without my little watch telling me how fast I was going, I had no way to knowing if I was  going at 6'00", 6'30" or 7'00"... Aaargh!! Anyways, I decided not to let it ruin my race and figured I'd just run it. Enjoy the race and just run. 

And indeed, it was the strangest (but extremely freeing) experience to run without the watch. All throughout the race I had no notion of my pace, or the time that had elapsed. There were around 4 mile markers on the route but other than that I only had a vague estimate of the distance I had covered. There was no way of knowing if I should speed it up or rein it in. I just had to keep running. The weather was definitely much better than what I was used to in training. But given the late start of the run (6:45 am) it became too sunny too quickly and the bright sunshine was a little uncomfortable. The route was pretty (especially the parts that snaked through Cubbon Park) but there were lots of gradual inclines and lots of U-turns which tended to slow you down. And there were lots of runners!!! It was by far the most crowded half marathon that I have done. I couldn't find my rhythm till about half way in and the crowd had thinned a bit. At the start, had I heard them announce that it was a crowd of 7000+ runners. But I believe there were only 3669 finishers (and of them just 584 were women)

It was a good, strong run. I didn't feel fatigued and I didn't feel myself fading (even towards the end) and just as I was getting to the point where I was wishing it was over, I had reached the 20.5K timing mat. I had noted the time on that giant LED timer as I crossed the start line. It was around 00:01:30... And as I turned into the stadium for that last 100 meters to the finish line, I saw it was at 02:17:something. PB!! :) :) By some miracle, PB. I don't know how, but PB. :) The official timing was 2:16:38. (PB by 3 minutes and 10 seconds)

Maybe if I had had my Garmin I might have pushed a little harder for that 2:15 goal. I'll never know. But here's to going for it another day.

2 Days to Race Day

Those last three weeks sure went by super quick! 8 weeks of training (including 2 weeks taper) and I feel about 85% ready! Still not a 100% sure if I can sustain a 6'23" pace for the distance. Running any long distance event is as much a mental skill as it is a physical one. I must get into a head space where I believe I can and then I will. :) I think!

I'm all packed and set to leave for Bangalore tomorrow. Looking forward to the expo and then the actual run on Sunday. The route looks great. A fair bit of it is through Cubbon Park and thats really nice! The weather forecast says its going to be a very pleasant 18-22 degrees C and given that I've been training in a 27 - 30 degree ambiance, that sounds spectacular!! I'm going to have to rethink my shorts though!

I'm going to run with the same strategy as last time : 45 minutes for each 7K segment. Maybe tweak it slightly to 46 min, 45 min & 44 min each so I'm running positive splits. That means maintaining a pace of 6'34" for the first 7K, 6'25" for the middle 7K and 6'17" for the last 7K. Lets see how that pans out. I have never been able to follow through with a pace plan on race day before. Maybe this one will be the one!! 

Btw, I just realized recently, that SPBM'18 will be the 25th race of mine. #cheapthrills... :)

Time for the next one...

Every time I open up my blog these days, I quietly tsk tsk to myself when I see how long it has been since my last post. It is not because I haven't been running - that has been the most consistent it has ever been - but more to do with not finding the time (or inclination) to chronicle those runs.

Lets put the self-berating aside for a while for a quick recap. My last major run was at DRHM18 in July. I was thrilled to bits at the new PB that I had set during the race and I decided that I had earned some time off from running.  I dedicated 4 weeks to focus on strength and flexibility and that was pretty much all of August. Running is such a high-impact activity, that it does to an extent burden the joints. The whole point in taking the time off was to strengthen my muscles so it can be better equipped to support the running movement and to improve flexibility and mobility in the joints to counter any damaging effects that the running may have had on them. It was definitely not crucial to take a complete break from running, a good balance of these forms of exercises on a weekly basis should normally be more than sufficient so I'm really not sure how much good the 4 weeks off actually did... but it certainly did no harm. 

Come September, I resumed running. I signed up for two races and the first one of them is coming up on Oct 21st - the Bangalore Marathon. Still chasing my elusive goal of a 2:15 HM, I set up my training plan for 8 weeks. I have been more or less consistent with the schedule but haven't quite been able to hit the target pace. 

Here's the logic behind my training plan: To run a HM in 2:15, my average pace for that distance ought to be 6'23". I ought to be able to run a third of that distance (7K) at a little bit faster pace; say 6'10"- 6'15". Running at 6'15" would mean covering 7K in a time of 43:45. Come race day, I slow it down comfortably to 45 minutes and 7K x 3 = HM. 45 min x 3 = 2:15. Voila! (I hated math in school as a kid but I do love running math) Anyways, this is the basis of my training plan and also the reason behind the seemingly odd shorter distance intervals (1.4Kx5, 1.75Kx4, 3.5Kx2)

While logically the plan makes perfect sense (to me atleast) the trouble is that 6'15 (and even 6'23") is yet to become a comfortable pace for me. Running at those paces still feels like hard effort for me. 6'31" (thats my current PB pace)  to 6'23" seems like hardly a jump. On paper it looks damn silly. In reality it seems like an impossible gap to bridge. 

6 training runs & 2 and a half weeks to go.