I have run 2 half marathon distance races before, the first was last October in Melbourne where I was pleased with my time of 1.51.53 as I was training with more focus on my cycling at the time as I worked towards the Around the Bay in a Day ride (210km).
The other half marathon was at the end of my half Ironman in Geelong in February, obviously not very fresh for that one after a 1.9km swim and a 90km bike and I ran just over 2 hours!
I was hoping to get under 1.40today but didn't really know what I was capable of as so much of my running recently has been long slow running to build up my endurance ahead of the Ironman next year.
The weather was pretty good this morning, a little cold but nothing too bad, the course was fairly undulating with a a bigger uphill section from about mile 5 to mile 8. My plan was to try and take it fairly steady until about 7 miles and then push hard for the last 6 miles (10km) of the race. This came off pretty well, I kept my heart rate under control for the first half of the run and felt strong going up the hills where I was making up quite a few places. Just around the point where I was intending to push on a guy came past me so I decided to try and stick with him. Did that for a few minutes and then moved past him but he decided to stick with me. This was pretty helpful and I ran with the same guy for the next 5 miles, I was generally in front but if I ever started to ease off he would come past and make me push on again.
This resulted in us both making some great progress through the field and running at a nice fast (for me) pace. I was able to hold the pace right to the end (and managed to make sure that I beat the guy I had been running with!!) and I was thrilled to come in to the finish with a time of 1.32.11, much faster than I had hoped for.
I'm really happy with the time but also with the fact that clearly my training is paying dividends so I really feel like I am moving in the right direction. Legs are a little sore this evening so I'm having a nice recovery day tomorrow.
I'm now moving into a 3 week bike period, I've set up the garage with the indoor trainer in front of a tv with a dvd player so that I can get some extra time on the bike even with the colder weather.
I only have 3 weeks until my next race which is the Ballbuster duathlon, which I'm expecting to be pretty tough.
I also bought a new bike this week for my commute into work. I've been saving on train fares with all of the commuting so wanted to get something that was a bit easier to maintain throughout the winter months. I got a single speed bike which is going to give me a nice workout over those hills every day.
Thanks to the support crew for turning out to watch the half marathon and for the bacon and sausage sandwiches after the race!!
Here's a picture frm the race, I like it as it looks like I'm in the lead!! sadly not though, not sure where I finished, will update once the official results are posted.
Official results have now been posted and I came in 72nd out of a field of 609.
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