The Hong Kong Marathon starts with one of three major bridges at Kowloon, with several tunnels tossed in for good measure, and multiple flyovers for a twist of fate. I was warned that the Hong Kong route was treacherous for this fact of life, and to be prepared for the disappointment of no PB. Initially, I believed those who did it, as they intended to give good counsel. However, as I inched towards a faster pace – from 5:40 minute/K to 5:10 minute/K – I became more optimistic in my monitoring and measurement. Every one kilometre after the mid-point, I would check my watch (no heart-rate monitor just this once) to see if I was running faster, and I was!
To run continuously in the cold was not an issue. It was a little windy on the long bridges (reminded me of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge), with a mild drizzle. Fortunately, it was not as wet as Berlin last year where it was dreadfully cold because of wind and rain. The air in the tunnels was, strangely, refreshing and I suspected the giant fans were circulating cool air throughout. I felt strong on the slopes, and I believed that my twice-weekly circuit training sessions helped me tremendously. I did not do any hill-work at all! My only direct strength work for my legs was riding off the saddle, and a small bridge. I will need to analyse this phenomenon further. My strategy for slopes was: run up steadily and slower, and descend faster. It worked for my ultra-marathons after I learnt it from some seasoned marathoners.
My last two kilometres were hard, and possibly at a 4:50 minute/K pace; my race photographs by the official photographers were not encouraging. I was struggling like a racehorse with contorted facial expressions. I made my last desperate attempt by sprinting down the green carpet of the finishing chute, and stopped my watch at 3:30:06. Although I sliced more than six minutes off my best 42.195K time (2009), I was mildly disappointed that I finished right on the Boston Marathon qualifying mark/limit.
Entry to the 115-year-old Boston Marathon is based on elite-level performance; the more you shave off the qualifying time, the higher your priority for a slot for the following year (slots open online in September). I found this out after speaking to uber-runner Sumiko Tan who was top-10 for the 21K women’s category, and veteran Boston-finisher, Ben Swee. The rules for qualification in 2013 have been made more stringent with a 3:25 limit for my age group (a deduction of five minutes across the board for all age-groups). I need to be faster than that for my next marathon PB. I was glad to chat with several young male Singaporeans who finished in sub-3:10:00 timings (including a few Ironman Western Australia finishers). We identified ourselves with our IMWA marathon wrist-bands.
I had a great day: I enjoyed several personal bests (PBs). I managed to hold an average of 5 minutes/K, negative split at the turnaround point, PB in the 25K, 30K and, of course, an overall, official time of 3:29:59 (nett time) and 600th ranking out of 10,000 participants. This was way better than my 3:37:06 time at Berlin last year, and 7,700-plus, position.
What more could a person ask for? Actually, a warm spot, hot food and a hot shower were more appealing. A potential slot for Boston Marathon was a pleasant afterthought, as I headed for the airport to Shanghai for work. It was a great day at the office!
Photo-credit: Marathon Photos
2 comments:
Wow well done on your PB! And meeting the target right on the dot, like MacGuyver! Haha.
Excellent race strategy, negative split, now THAT's something.
Thanks, mate! It was a hard but great day at the office. I did zero hill work, but CrossFit/circuit training helped me heaps. Perhaps, the cold weather assisted our physiology in subtle ways. I hope to hit your pace eventually.
Incidentally, I enjoyed your recent piece on pacing. See you at Aviva 70.3 in a month's time. Cheers.
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