Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A Darn Good Weekend At the Marathon (Part 1)

Sunday, 20 February 2011. I realized a few personal goals today. I ran the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2011 that started at Kowloon and ended at Causeway Bay. It was a rolling course, with several major bridges, numerous flyovers and tunnels. The temperature was a cold 15 degrees, and less.
Wrapped, faithfully, in multiple layers  (a tip from tri-buddy, Joseph Seetoh) I braved the cold morning. I dressed similar to last year’s Berlin Marathon. I wore woolen gloves, compression tights and top, tri-top, and the official race t-shirt; I stuffed my tri-top with High5 gels. I got the High5 Marathon Pack (at S$25) from a local race fair: I used both caffeinated and non-caffeinated gels, as well as the Iso-Gels (for electrolytes). I consumed a pack every 20-25 minutes for the calories and the warmth. I calculated I would need more calories hourly if I were to hold a faster pace of 5 minutes/K. My calculations were spot-on, and I attended to all the aid-station for either two small cups of water or a pack of sports-drink. I only skipped the last aid-station in the fear of not meeting the Boston qualifying time of 3:30:00. I had to defy the additional fatigue of a few surprises: more slopes from flyovers.
I kept check of my physiology and psychology throughout the race, although it got much harder after the 34K mark. I did not hit the wall – I have not for a few years – however, I did feel the stress of meeting my intermittent datelines. From the 21K mark onwards, I kept track (with mental mathematics) how much I was ahead or behind for a negative split. I have long obsessed over having a negative split in the marathon; I was glad I earned it this time. My coach, Craig ‘Fox’ Holland emphasised to me this fact for a long time: be patient, and run a smart race and keep enough for the second-half.

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