2023 Chilly Half Marathon - Race Reflections

Finish with my friend Gordon
Ease into the race. Don’t go out too fast. Run negative or even splits in the back-half.
Follow a 1:50 goal time - follow pacer group
Go out at 161-165bpm and hold until 18k
- Hopefully this would equate to a 5:20/km or faster.
After 18k, let HR climb to max

Learnings

I was not as fit as I thought I was going into this race given all of the training I have been doing. 165-170bpm was more uncomfortable than I expected and didn't get me close enough to the pace I needed for as long as I needed it for.
- Next time, I need to set a pace alert on my Garmin for the first few K especially.
- I need to run off feel and not use an HR alert on my Garmin. It was super annoying to have the constant beeping.
Something prevented me from getting what I know I can out of my body at a Z3.5 HR.
- I didn't prepare for the race well during the week. I ran too few miles at Z1/2 and too many at Z3/4. Active recovery is what was needed, but instead I was too inactive Friday and Saturday and way too active on Wednesday and Thursday.
I likely under-ate the day of (ate nothing morning of) and should have had a breakfast at 7:00.
I should not have hitched myself to another person or a pace group. This prevented me from ever settling into and enjoying the race. I should have run my own race.

0-5K

I went out too fast (4:50-5:00 / km). I had thought going into the race that Gordon and I were comparably fit, but Gordon was evidently fitter so his Z3 was my Z3.5 (roughly). This meant that he was pretty relaxed following the pacer group (which also went out 10s faster per km than necessary), but I was breathing harder to keep up. By 4K my HR was well into 170 on the hills which made it hard for me to settle in.
I had some stiffness and top-of-foot / ankle pain right away. I think I may have over-rested myself. Some runners do a “shake-out” run the day before a race. In hind-sight, think I should have kept up my Z2 training throughout the week and done some warm up after getting out of the car.
Mentally, I was surprised by how effortful this all was becoming given the 8K I ran at 4:47/km a few days earlier. Generally I felt pretty thrown off by the end of the first quarter.

5-12K

Pulled back to a 165-168 HR and told Gordon to run ahead.
Got first stitch on left abdomen. Dropping pace helps keep it from becoming more painful. Seems to be connected to HR?
Ate a gel, but had no meaningful improvement in performance that I could tell.
HR continues to climb so I have to keep ratcheting down my pace into the 5:30-5:40 per KM range.
Watching the pacer group and Gordon slowly fade into the distance is disheartening.
Watching HR, pace, Gordon and pacer group made it hard for me to feel comfortable and “settle in” to the race.
Watching the top 10 men pass opposite was inspiring. So fast and controlled.

12K-19K

Second stitch on right abdomen is causing me to run with a slight hunch
Ate another gel, but again didn’t seem to help much with anything
Pace continues to drop well into the 5:45-6:00 per KM range while HR stays flat at around 165-170. “What is going on?” Is all that I can think.
Sharp pain in left side where leg hinges to the hip.
Stitches causing my form to be hunched. Can’t elongate my spine and run tall without insane abdomen pain.
By 19K, I know I will be able to finish below 2 hours, but my legs feel heavy and my stride has significantly reduced. Getting dropped by overweight / old people was humbling.

19K - 21.1K

Just let the HR climb slowly
Pushed the pace in the last KM and let the stitches and leg pain just wash over me.