Notes
I knew going in that an HM time trial solo would be tough just due to the amount of concentration required. My goal was to hit around mid 1:25 as that would put me around 5 seconds/km slower than last year. Based on my key workouts this year I figured that was reasonable. Advantages of today's race were that there would be no extra distance run and the route was pancake flat. It was also quite a bit cooler today. Disadvantages were the wind was much more a factor today and there was no one to run with. The course may have been favorable by a few meters so 1:05:40 is probably a more accurate time.
I started out a little rusty but wasn't feeling too bad and wasn't worried about the 1st km as it was into the wind. All kms south and west were into a wind. With the wind behind me kms 2 and 3 were surprisingly fast, so much so that I was started to feel like this could be my day as I was still feeling pretty comfortable. Once I hit TT at 3.5K I was met with a pretty strong headwind. The wind. was at least pretty consistent so I could give a solid effort without worrying about gusts. I was getting a little concerned about the pace but once I hit 6K and turned around my pace dropped dramatically without effort increasing. There was also some side stitch during this stretch but by 8K it was pretty much gone.
At about 8.4K I turned back into the wind and I knew this would be the hardest part of the course as there would be headwind until the lighthouse at 13K. My goal was just to give a hard effort, make it to the lighthouse and then I would hopefully be able to drop the pace again. I felt like I did a pretty good job until 12K and was still on sub 1:25 pace with most of the tough parts behind me. I took a GU at 12K and immediately my breathing beca,e erratic as I was having problems maintaining pace and feeding at the same time. This km was way slower than I would have liked but at least I made it to the lighthouse and my breathing was back under control.
With a tailwind my pace dropped substantially during kms 14 and 15 but by the 15th km my breathing had started accelerating a bit and I was beginning to leave tempo effort. The side stitch also returned and was unfortunately worse this time, so much so that whenever I tried to take advantage of the tailwind by injecting pace the cramp just got worse. This effectively forced me to hold back all the way to km18 and I ended up not being able to drop the pace at all during the most favorable part of the course. At least the side stitch never really got worse.
As I left TT I could tell my legs just didn't have the same zip. They were getting heavy and I was having trouble maintaining my turnover. I also felt like I was losing some coordination as my muscles were tiring. I had pretty much concluded around km 16 that my goal should just be sub 1:26 as I was failing to take advantage of the tailwind and I didn't want the side stitch to get worse. With some headind leaving TT and the last 2 kms into the wind my only motivation at that point was to run 4:10s. The 19th km was pretty consistent but I just couldn't maintain pace in the 20th. Luckily I still had a bit left in the tank and responded relatively well in the last 1.1K.
Overall a pretty solid effort and I finished with a time right where I was expecting. The time converts to around 18:35-!8:40 for the 5K or about 7 seconds slower than my 1:05:08 from 2015 converts to. Considering I ran 18:48 a week after the half in 2015 I'm thinking of maybe doing the same again this year and see if I can crack 19.
I'm not sure if I went out too fast today. My splits in 2015 were much more even but there wasn't the wind to deal with and I did have people to run with in the back half. My mileage is much higher this year so my endurance should have been better (key workouts were also faster this year too) but running a half solo is just really hard as it is so easy to let a few seconds/km slide in a non race environment and that time adds up.
Scotia 2015 | Today
5K: 20:06 | 20:01
10K: 40:12 | 40:05 (20:06 | 20:04)
15K: 1:00:23 | 1:00:33 (20:11 | 20:28)
21.1K: 1:05:08 | 1:05:34 (24:45 | 25:01)