Notes
Goal coming into the race was to run sub 4:00 pace and hopefully get under 1:24. Optimistically I would have liked sub 1:23. Weather was not ideal as it was about 18 degrees at the start. Luckily most of the race was shaded so sun wasn't a factor. There was the slightest humidity at the start but the dew point seemed to drop throughout the race. Wind was from the south so it played a role in the second half especially along Sherbrooke.
Warm up was pretty simple. I took a Maurten about 15 minutes before the sceduled start. I was feeling rested and ready to go but the start was delayed by 50 minutes. I don't know how much this deadened ny legs but the first km felt quite weird once we finally got running. The first km had a steady rise followed by a steeper pitch and then a really steep downhill. I felt ok coming through in 4:04. I was working harder than I would have liked but my legs also just felt like they weren't warmed up yet. I continued pushing the pace along the flat 2nd km and was pleased to see I was able to drop the pace back down to goal pace. My mouth was really feeling dry as it had been a while since I last had water but I wanted to wait until the 5K mark to get my first drink. Continued chugging along in the 3rd km and I guess by now my legs had fully warmed up as pace continued to drop. I was excited to see a 3:48 but also worried that I might be going too fast this early in the race. I latched onto a couple of marathoners that looked like they were running a steady pace. A gap formed between us and runners behind me so I made a concerted effort to follow their feet and not get stuck in no mans land.
I started feeling pretty comfortable so wasn't worried I missed the 4 km banner. When I hit 5K in around 19:36 I knew I knew I was really taking a big risk. I took my first water, a couple of sips without issue. The race was definitely starting to feel like a good tempo effort and yet I had 10 miles left. I was still following the 2 marathoners through 6k when I hit another 3:48. I felt like they had started dropping the pace and it was just too hot for me. At this point the course had been mostly flat with probably some tail wind. I was still feeling ok so decided to back off the marathoners and just run relaxed for the next few kms, hopefully still clicking off sub 4:00 splits. KMs 7,8, and 9 were the last flat kms heading north and despite reducing my effort I was still able to hit splits well below my goal pace. I don't think I felt any worse at km 9 then I did at km 6. I had taken a Maurten at km 8 and digested it without a problem.
The 10th km involved a steady incline to Olympic Stadium and then a steep downhill into the stadium. Just before hitting the stadium we tuned south. At that point I could feel a significant headwind. There was a bigger guy that had just passed me so I tried to stick with him but I don't think he really helped shield me from the wind. I flew by him as we entered the stadium, and could really start feeling some fatigue in my muscles on the downhill. The 10K timing matt was in the stadium but probably a good 100m or so off from the actual 10K mark so I didn't panic when I saw the 4:20 split. I knew I had would have to add this to the next km to get a good idea of where I stood. We circled the stadium at track level and then started the climb out. This was a relentless climb as it continued on the other side of the stadium leading up to Sherbrooke. The climb was probably a good 30m over 500m for about 6% grade, maybe even worse. The climb took so much out of me, I felt me pace was slowing to a crawl but I refused to put myself in the red zone. At this point I really started having doubts about meeting my goal as I just didn't know how I could recover. When I hit the 11km mark and added up the last 2 splits to average out to 4:06 I thought I was in pretty good shape, much better than I had imagined after that climb. I also now had hope that the worst part of the race was over. Unfortunately however along this stretch of Sherbrooke there some strong headwind. I tried again tucking behind the bigger guy for protection and using this stretch to try to recover from the climb, hopefully finding my legs again. The 4:05 12th km was a little slow but I felt I did an ok job of recovering and now turned west for an out and back section which gave me some reprieve from the wind. Making it to the end of the race seemed like too daunting of a task at this point so I just focused on running hard and getting to 15km in a PB time, then I could re-evaluate. This strategy was obviously part of my undoing in Ottawa so may not have been smart but at the time I really felt like I was struggling and just had to focus on something more immediate.
For some reason the 13th km marker was misplaced so I couldn't get an idea of how fast I was going on this out and back stretch. I knew I wasn't going 4:21 pace but couldn't tell if it was closer to 4:05 or slower as the 12th km didn't give me much confidence. When I saw where the 14th km marker was located I realized the 13th was pretty long. Adding up the last 2 splits gave me about a 4:02 pace which although not ideal, it was faster than the 12th km. I also felt a little more relaxed and was ready to continue pushing.
As we headed back sough towards the finish a couple of guys came cruising by. The bigger guy I was with seemed to be letting up a bit so I made a real push to stick with the 2 new guys. I think this is exactly what I needed at this point as my pace started getting back on track clocking a 3:56 and 3:57. Unfortunately right around the 16th km I got a pretty bad side stitch in my right side. I tried calming down my pace and taking some deep breaths. I worried I hadn't been drinking enough water so made it a point to get water at the next stop. I also took my next Maurten although only finished about half of it. Within a couple of minutes the stitch dissipated but the slowing down meant that one of the guys I was with had gapped me. I was now running solo but at least had the guy in front in sight. The 4:03 17th km wasn't bad considering the stitch and the feed. At this point I just wanted to make it to 19kms where I knew there was a big downhill. I rebounded in the 18th km and felt like I had a good 19th km as it came up pretty fast, so fast I missed the marker. On the downhill I caught up to the old guy in front and we continued running pretty much with each other to the finish. It was definitely a good feeling having someone to run and passing slower runners along the way.
I was happy to see the split at 20K and took note of the time on my watch. I knew I had a really good shot at running a 1:23 if I could just maintain 4:00 pace. Since about 17K my breathing had been accelerated and I felt like I was getting really close to maxing out. The last 1.1 km had a little riser early on and the last 200m was uphill to the finish. I just concentrated on sticking with the old guy. We were really feeding off of each other and ran shoulder to shoulder accelerating up the final hill to the finish. He ended up beating me by half a stride but definitely pushed me to gain a few seconds that I wouldn't have found if I was running alone.
Overall the course was really fair with plenty of long flat and shaded stretches. The inclines and declines were much more intense than STWM and overall there was a bit more elevation gain. Wind ended up not being much of a factor in the last 8kms. The hill coming out of Olympic Stadium definitely could have broken me if I ran it harder; the only thing to do was to accept 5:00 pace over this small stretch and then push on when done. I think all the strength work I have done running hills in the last few months definitely helped me rebound respectfully from this challenge. The 50 minute delay definitely was not favorable and even though I never felt hot during the race the temperature was not ideal. Stopping for water and wasting energy cooling my body off is definitely worth some seconds. At the same time as a huge positive there was always good runners to pace off of. The race was competitive and forced me to continue pushing hard even when I was fatiguing.
I came in right at my primary goal pace of 3:58. Pacing wsn't ideal but the first 10K was easier than the back half. The only problem kms were the 1st km when my legs were rusty, the climb out of the stadium and wind along Sherbrooke, and then the side stitch km. Recovery wasn't too bad; legs definitely not as shot as what they would be after a marathon. I was able to walk back and then run L. in from about the 20km mark.
Approximate 5K Splits:
19:36
39:10 (19:34)
59:27 (20:17)
79:19 (19:52)