In the lead up to the Fall Classic Half, my training had been tailored towards the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, so I was a little concerned with the pace difference. While not having to go a full 42.2KM, I was coming off of a 1:38:55 in the 2019 Seawheeze in August, and I knew that a PB would require an average pace faster than 4:30/KM.
The legs were feeling good after my last race in August and I was consistently running 2-3 shorter workouts (ie. intervals, tempo, hills, etc.) along with 1 long 20+ KM run weekly since then. Cumulatively, 55-60KM per week. The last few days however, my left hip started giving me some issues. Full weight-bearing on that side, gave me a 'weak' sort of feeling and occasionally, there were slight clicks with bending of the left hip. This wasn't a new feeling as I had worked through something similar a year or two ago before. With some IMS treatment, some furious rolling and stretching, I crossed my fingers as I head to bed the night before the run.
RACE DAY
7AM: I woke up this morning feeling fairly good! I got a couple of hours extra sleep and the hip felt relaxed. I could still feel it mildly whenever I rotated my hip but my thoughts were that maybe it would loosen up a bit more after warming up. I made my routine pre-race smoothie (bananas, apples, mangos, protein and soy milk).
KM 1-2: Legs felt strong, breeze was light and starting closer to the front meant that I didn't have to navigate through a massive crowd. Knowing that the early part of the route was a slight decline, I wanted to take advantage of the fresh legs so I stuck to approximately a 4:15-4:20/KM pace.
KM 3-5: As we came down SW Marine Drive, the route flattened out and for the first time, I could feel the legs on that pace. They weren't too sore and I was still feeling good but I knew it would be tough to maintain especially when the elevation increased.
KM 6-10: The next 4 KM after the turn between KM 5-6 was a steady incline back up towards UBC. This was the toughest part of the route for me as I struggled to maintain pace and at times fell to 4:45/KM. I did however, make a mental note to be ready for it on the second loop.
KM 11-15: As I crossed the half-way checkpoint, the official time clock was at 0:44:49 so I knew that I was on pace but that it was close. WIth the harder second half of the loop ahead, I knew I again needed to run a faster first half of the loop. At this point, I was feeling slightly worn but knew I could still sustain a faster pace in order to make up for what would definitely be a slower second half.
KM 16-19: This section of the route was expectedly tough. I paced myself accordingly to make sure I wouldn't fall too far behind when I slowed down during the incline. For the first time in the run, I started to feel my left hip. I tried to shifted my stride slightly to avoid making it click which seemed to work.
KM 20-21.1: The last stretch starting with the steep climb up to the student union building surprisingly did not take as much out of me as I had expected. Perhaps sensing the finish, or having started to pass a few other runners with whom I had been unable to pass the last few kilometers, I had a renewed surge of energy.
Overall, with Singapore at the end of November, I was happy that I did not re-injure or irritate anything. My pacing was decent and while I was unable to achieve my sub-1:30 goal, I did manage to set a PB with 1:34:32, a 4m:23s improvement on my previous personal best. Until the next one.
35 Days until Singapore.