Short version

2Xu Half Marathon. 31 Mar 2013 Singapore

Ran HM @ 1:48:46 (Motoactv time)  1:48:44 (chip time)

Longer version

5^th HM that I had participated. 1 year runniversary since injuring (Shin splint) myself coming back with 5min walk, 1 min jog on 2nd Apr 2012. The shin splints has gone so bad that I can only walk on it.

Goal for this race:
Goal 1: Sub 1:55
Goal 2: 1:50
Goal 3: Super secret.. which I did not meet..

This the first time I decided to really follow a plan.. Well, in a way.. I looked up Pfitz plan and decided 18/55 might suit me. I like to tweak plan a little to fit in days I like my rest day to be.. Since I only have abt 14 weeks when I decided to follow the plan, I came up with a 14/52 plan.. Sort of.. I ran the plan thru the forumites and made a little bit more adjustment..

The plan might be a little too advance for me as I am a little tired on 3-4^th week into it.. I never made it to 52miles per week.. The highest is 45 miles.. to make matter worse, I sprained my left ankle at the end of 6^th week.. It was a minor sprain but I could not run for a few days.. I took 4 days off and did a 3miles “test” jog to make sure my ankle is good to go.. 7^th and 8^th week had me running 8 and 25 miles..

On the 9^th week, I did a tune-up race.  I felt I didn’t ran all out as the fear of reinjuring that ankle is still on the back of my mind.. I did ok with 48min. Mcmillan think that I can do a 1:47 HM.. I hope he’s right.. After the tune-up and recovery, I did not quite managed to ramp up my weekly miles to 50+ as I wanted.. On 11^th week, the plan (I moved it after the tuneup) called for 14M with 8M @ goal.. I totally mess it up.. I could only do a 5M @ goal and had to walk 3M back home after that 5M effort.. Failed!

Taper weeks was welcomed.. I needed the rest.. Lazy bum… I didn’t feel nervous and slept well the few nights before.. On the night before the race, I invited some friends over for Pizza and some board games.. They left at 11pm+ and I only had abt 4hrs of sleep to catchup but that’s fine with me..

Lay out my running attire and headband before heading to bed. Woke up 4am feeling fresh. The weather is pretty good but humid.. Being in the tropic, the temp is always 26-32deg with near to 100% humidity.. I feel the temp to be in 25-27 deg on this morning. Had a cup of coffee and a honey muesli bar and am out of the house at 415am. The race was abt 3M from my home but I felt a 3M warmup might be a stretch for me.. So I walked for abt 1M and took advise of many expert here and do a 2M slow warm-up to the venue. Even managed to do a set of strides along the way.. Ran past a pub and saw 2 ladies hugging each other crying.. That’s awkward for me but break up my monotonous warmup.. The story seem to be that one of them is breaking up with her BF or something..

Reached the venue at 5am, the place was still pretty filled. The MC announced that there is abt 20K for the HM, 10K and 5K run.. Good thing is that they all started at different time. Met up 2 friends and had a little chat abt how training went.. They didn’t really train much.. Newbie!.. We made our way to the pen and there is not corrals.. They had pacers for a few timing and I am eyeing the 1:45 grp.. I figure I just need to keep them in sight and I would be able to touch my goal.

The race was to flag off at 5.30am.. I am quite a distance from the front and didn’t made it off the 1^st wave.. That totally screwed my pacer plan as all the pacers was off at the 1^st wave.. Great! Waiting patiently and the MC flagged us off 11min after the 1^st wave..

During the run, I am feeling fresh.. Constantly reminding myself not to go too fast.. Here are my splits (in km, sorry guys...)

Route using Runkeeper.

http://runkeeper.com/user/bryanlim/activity/162001700?&tripIdBase36=2og9b8

The route was pretty crowded when I hit the back of 1^st wave.. There isn’t much slope but there is a lot of loop and u-turn that really demoralized me a bit..

1-8KM

Quite a crowd and I do not want to waste energy doing too much weaving thru people.. Managed to hit my goal pace of 5:15min/km at KM2. Saw a guy who dressed like he’s a seasoned runner and decided to stick to him.. That didn’t last long as I felt his pace is below my goal and decided to ditch him at KM3. I do all the pacing by the GPS watch.. There is a bit of confusion at KM4 and it is a double loop on the same road.. Those on the 1^st loop are to keep and eventually turn left and those on 2^nd loop are to keep and turn right.. On my 2^nd loop, I saw some runner having to turn back with they realized that they are to take the left turn instead of the right.. Something I hope the RD will consider on his next race.  At KM5, we run pass some park with no lighting and it is a bit of a challenge..I had to bring my speed down a little as everyone is slowing down, afraid to trip on something and do a faceplant.. I caught up and pass the 2:30pace grp at KM8. Now, I just need to find that 2:15pace grp..

9 – 16KM

I am still feeling fresh and the pace didn’t tire me much.. Reading Awood RR, I figure I wanted to made a decision to alter my pace at 7-8M.. Mental calculation on the run is tougher than I thought.. haa.. That will be abt 12KM. KM11-17 is a route that I do my LR.. I knew the route well and  figure I might be able to speed up a little.. Beside the little crowding at KM11 and KM17, I managed to keep up my pace.. by KM17, I wanted the thing to end.. I did not really speed up after KM12 as my endurance (lack of) started to show but I did overtook 2:15 pacer grp at KM12 or 13..

17 – 21KM

KM17-19 is my most difficult part of the race.. We are doing a out and back along the river bank and it seem like I can never see the U-turn part of it for like hours.. I saw a gentle in white singlet and he seem to be holding well.. I decided my plan is to tailgate him.. I managed to kept him within sight and even overtook him once but he later took the lead again..Once last bridge at KM19 and I am almost done.. I started to do a little kick after the bridge at KM19 and caught up with the white singlet.. I asked if I can run a bit with him and he didn’t mind.. We ran along for abt 1KM and I saw the finishing arc.. I told him we should go our own way and kick somemore to lead off( I realized now that maybe that’s a little rude now but I am too tired to think then) I started sprinting a little and realize that I am actually to run beyond the arc and loop back… What a bummer! I saw the 1:45 and 2:00 pace grp just completing the run and feel weird cos they are only like 1-2mins apart.. one of the grp clearly did not pace correctly..

At abt 500m from finished, I am done.. but I know I still need to persevere.. I saw the clock on the arc counting to 2:00 and realized that I can still meet 1:50 and do a last effort to sprint.. Minus 11min from the later start I should be able to hit 1:50 or so.. My motoactv showed 1:48:46 and I am pretty happy..

Took a banana and a sport drink after the run and feel good.. They even had free beer which is uncommon in my country.. Non-alcoholic though.. Walk around a bit while waiting for some friend who did the 10Km(started an hour later) and completed abt same time as me..

Thanks for reading and pardon my grammar and spelling..

Bin, congrats on making your goal. That is a lot of people in the race combined, I have yet to do one that big. When will you have the "official" time?

Thanks, guys... Mitch, chip time is out.. 1:48:44

No matter what your super secret goal 3 was, going sub-1:50 is no small feat, especially considering your 1st goal was nearly 6 minutes slower (1:55).

the N/A beer was funny.  Although after running a half marathon, whatever minute amount of alcohol in it had to taste good as hell.

Nice race!

Bin - That time is awesome, and so is the headband!  Its an honor to be mentioned in your RR.  Thank you.  I've always had the impression that you were a pretty dedicated runner that was drawn to the technical aspects of training, even when you weren't following a plan.  I could be wrong.  Just an observation.  Anyway, your race results have been very impressive.  I always look forward to seeing the details of your workouts.

I really need to get one of those headbands...

Nice RR Bin.  You ran really well, especially after dealing with the injury midway in your training.  It sounds like the course was really screwy though, if people were going the wrong way.  That last km you really kicked it.  Good job.

Thanks for all the encouragement and kind words..

Awood, I am a geek so I guesss I am draw to the techinical aspect of training..

Cherie, thanks.. There's quite a crowd.. 20K for 3 race.. I think abt 10K for HM alone..

Jack, the headband works.. Get it..

Ginny, thanks..Had the sprain at the earlier part of the cycle.. so glad it didn't affect much..

Happylily, if I can be as good a runner as you, I will be very happy.. I reckon I probably can't sleep even if I turn in early.. so might as well get some friends over for a chill and relax dinner..