Race Report – BCN Mitja Marató de Barcelona 2017/02/12
Nice medal, DAB before start and smiling after.
Planned: sub90, 87-88 maybe. Training-race as warmup to next race to come…
Actual: 1:28:50 – within the expected time-range, but a bit slower than could have been. Still…sub90 is a good time for a training race. The body was all good from start to end, and as usual (!) a bit indecently not-tired after the finish line and despite the final sprint.
- Took at least 20 sec to reach the start mat.
- Took at least 1.7km to get into a race rythm.
- Took 10km to get to cruise pace.
- Took 11.7km to start slowing down the pace but still feeling fine.
- Took last 2.5km to enjoy passing so many guys.
- Took 1.1km at the end to get passed, keep the gal in sight, start to sprint with 600m left, pass her not without fight, pass another gal and miss a place to the finish at less than half a second.
- Final sprint of half a km @3:41… liking it…but also meaning I had way enough strength to run slightly faster before…
A good start for the year anyhow!
Place: 55 – all women, 6 – age category, 3rd Swede & 1,234 out of 15,242 finishers. A good way to start this year…
Splits (official)
| Split | Time | Diff | Min/km | Total |
| 5km | 00:21:00 | 21:00 | 04:12 | |
| 10km | 00:41:52 | 20:52 | 04:10 | |
| halfway | – | – | – | |
| 15km | 01:03:13 | 21:21 | 04:16 | |
| 20km | 01:24:27 | 21:16 | 04:15 | |
| Finish | 01:28:50 | 04:23 | 3:59 | 55 |
Way slower than RIL in October already from first 5K. On the other side the route was slightly up then in Barcelona. All in all, a good and comfortable pace throughout…
Totals
| Place | 55 |
| Place (age) | 6 |
| Place (total) | 1234 |
| Time total | 01:28:50 |
| Average pace | 04.13min/km |
In short: Niiiice! Sub90 to start the year. Stable throughout, even though lost quite a lot during the first 2km. Good run in Spain!
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BEFORE THE RACE
The 2 days before…
Traveling down to Barcelona with G on Friday. Went smoothly. Took the long bus ride to the city center. No sun shine directly, but that was still better than back home… Found the apartment and then we walk the long way to pick up the BIB and then back home and eat. Pizza for late lunch and pasta on the menu for dinner. No creativity whatsoever… Body felt all good for running, although a bit sluggish as it often is prior to race.
Saturday started with an easy run, done from home to the start and then running the first 5km was the plan. It showed that the 5km from the start were nothing to fear which was nice to know. Thereafter Lost a bit my way and the “easy 4-6km” turned into 9km… Took it easy the rest of the day. Relax and preparing my race gear. Still unsure regarding the weather.
Race day
4:45am – Already??? Up early for breakfast, as I wanted to get into “marathon-testing” mode. Chia seeds, green mix and sport drink. All get down and that’s it. Then back to bed. When the alarm rang again, it was time to get ready. No rush. Long hot shower and on with racing gear (NY singlet, SOC blue army shorts, black arm sleeves and neckwarmer as well as my superduperfast shoes ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky). Setting two Swedish flags on my left arm and I am good to go! Woke up G, check for the 100th time my bag with changing clothes, that I have my BIB on my singlet… and then we were both ready to go.
7:00am – A bit chilly outside, good to have long pants and jacket on. Would gladly get back to my warm bed… but did not. We walked nice and easy to the start with G. Lots of people. Passing the train station (?) where the bags can be left. So nice to have G there and to let him all my clothes before running. Real luxury treatment!
08:00am – Arriving in the park and keeping my clothes on, started to run…OMG…so easy pace I would have lost a race with snails probably! After a few 100s, got to meet the lady having the world record on this route in 2015 (record that fell 2 days before today’s race… Talk about motivation!!!). Anyway, cool to run right behind her for a short while and at the same pace! Yes! I can follow WR-holder…during her warmup…and for 200m… Final pitstop. A few pics taken in front of the fountain and time to get to the start corral. Off with the long pants and the jacket. Final warm hugs. And that was it.
08:30am – melting in my start group. 1:20 to 1:30. Should work fine. Meeting a Swedish gal, who says not being in the best of her form. Well, she still is in the next-best start group… Seeing the pacesetters for 1:20 and 1:25. OK. Lots of couples actually in this start group. I mean boyfriend/girlfriend. You meet your equal in races probably 😛 They all look so crazily fast anyway.
Deciding to NOT get to the front line. Letting the chaos from start disappearing before I arrive. Quite a lot of runner in front of me then… Those from my group, the “less than 1:20”-group and the elite-group… All those are in front of me. And plenty behind too.
Feeling warm now in the corral. All are pressing against each other as the start will soon be given… Feeling good. Or?… Countdown is suddenly given…at FIVE…four…three…two…one…
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THE RACE
8:45am and BAAAM! Confettis in the skies…
Start is given. But not much happening actually. Starting to WALK!!! And it probably took twenty long seconds before getting to the start-mat (and yes, I was in the second fastest start-group! Right behind the rackets-runner!). Pressing the start button on my watch and heading towards the right side of the street. There is an abrupt left-turn pretty soon after the start and contrarily to other races, I decide NOT to get the shortest path there. Have read enough on this race to understand that it might not be worth it. Had in mind to take it easy first km, but this time…it felt WAY too easy. Checking that my watch has started properly and yes… and it shows 4:20-pace (!) on the first stretch after the left turn… Euuuuuuhhhh…What?!?!? This ain’t easy. This is snail-like pace! Turning right to the main large street and here it feels better. Runners have lots of place to spread out and that ease the running. Reach km1 in 4:17…after an acceleration! I know the first 5-7km of the race, so nothing to fear, right? First cheering from G there right at km1. Now the race is on! A bit off to understand what pace I am having, but the second km is passed @4:07. That’s better! Passing the big statue and then we turn right towards the long slightly slowly steady up part. Probably the trickiest part of the race as it comes right from the beginning. So the plan (in my head) was to take it easy for the first 5km and indeed I do. A bit too much maybe… The long stretch to km4 disappears however quite nice and it feels that the legs and rest of the body are happy to run. No racket-pace, but decent one. Getting passed by the 1:25-pacesetters when we take the little street on the right and I am just hanging along. I know it is not my pace and it is not what I am to run, but it feels fine. Turning right again to the main street Gran Via. Feeling nice and fine. Passing the 5K in 21min, which is a bit slow, but decent enough for being the first 5K. From this part on and for 5 more km or so, it is expected to be faster and downhill. I am having a gal in black outfit and with a bandana on my left and she looks like having similar expectations for the race. She looks tiny but so d*mn strong! No stop for water at the 5K-water stations. No need. Settling in a comfortable pace. OK, passing km6…and soon…we…should… be.soon..turning…right… Helloo!?!? Where is the right turn? Finally arriving. And downhill too. Have a Swedish older guy in front of me. New plan: Keeping him in sight and not letting him go! As well as having the gal with black outfit and bandana on my side. The downhill towards km7 is nice. Getting down to 4:00-pace and then 4:02 pace. Passing the Arc de Triomphe (the one in Barcelona…not the French one!).. Lots of people cheering there. Stretch along the Arc de Triomphe is longer than expected, but the turn left is nice. I am now heading towards km8. Good flow in the legs. The mind is happy. I can do this! I know how to do this! A bit less people in this street, but way more than I thought it would be. I am warm and I have taken off my arm sleeves. In on the front of my sports bra. Waiting for my lovely cheering-squad who should be somewhere there. Passing km8. All good. Sliiightly up, but so note easy to detect it. Looking right, looking left. Needing some smile-energy here! And here he is. The largest smile on his face and the best cheering in the world! All for me! Throwing my arm sleeves to G. Telling him that I am late on the schedule. That should count for 1-2 minutes slower than planned, but still under 90minutes. He just started to walk and then run along the race route. ON the pavement. And I can just NOT stop smiling and keeping my eyes on him. Soooo crazy cool! Cannot feel I am in a race. It is just a nice fast run with lovely G 🙂 OK, he makes it look like d*mn-crazy and I am actually at my race-pace, but it does not matter. All the energy in the world is getting concentrated in those minutes he runs with me and that feels like a blessing from above. He slows down on his pavement, continuing to scream nice things and here I am. Km9 has been passed and I am back on the road, alone. Finding the Swedish guy a bit further than I thought. But still in good sight. And having “my” gal with black outfit and bandana still on my side. Time to turn towards km10… The slight up is not really felt. Indeed, it is not THERE it is going up!!! Wake up, you! Reaching km10 under 42minutes. OK. No crazy pace, but still in good form to get under 90minutes. Right turn after the 10K-mark. Good! Just another one 10K like that, and that’s it! F.O.C.U.S!!!
Would have liked to have G running a bit longer by my side… The stretch after the 10K is not fun. Nobody on the side of the course. The skies are grey… and I am losing my pace-buddy! Felt safe and nice… until… her bandana fell on the asphalt and…she…stops and run back (!) to get it!!! Noooooo! Don’t do this! I am alone here. I am a bit sad actually to have lost her. I try to find another runner to follow. Only guys are surrounding me. And none are having a pace which I can adapt to. I see ahead of me the runners turning left. THERE it is… the little slope after km11…So short, almost missing it! And then the right turn is bringing a crazy “déja-vu”. Running on the street with a separation wall (?) with the other road with the cars. I feel like I have been there before. But not exactly. Took a short while before I connect that in Chicago marathon there is a similar part, but on the other direction! In Chicago we have the road with the cars on our right and here in Barcelona, we have them on our left. Stop this Memory lane trip and focus on the road!!! Right turn and downhill after km12 is SO welcome! Try not to run foolishly fast in the downhill…but it is very tempting! Down to “sub3-marathon-pace” by then. The kilometres to km14 are slower than I want. It is windy a bit, but I cannot really blame it on the wind here. I am the one running… Reaching the right-turn at 13.5km and on the other side of the road, I can see the first female runner Florence Kiplagat turning right…at her km16.5 or so…Yap! She is not one, not two but THREE kilometres ahead of me… Those lost twenty seconds from the start… 🙂 I like the stretch here. I feel the light tailwind pushing us forward. I see the 1:20-pacesetters and their followers on the other side… The thoughts are simple there… I want to be ON THE OTHER SIDE WITH THEM!!! Cannot see any female runners on the other direction for a while. OK, focus on your race, you! Tailwind is nice but the guys around me seems to actually slow down here. Heeeeeeeee what???? A group of 4-5 guys are passing me right before the U-turn towards km15. Just hanging along. Because there…is…headwind! NOT LIKING IT! Once again, and as in many other previous races, I could not get into a pack for running (there was NO pack there) and the guys are not necessarily helpful neither. Passing km15 a bit slower than planned, but that was expected by now. I get to a higher gear to hang with the guys who passed me. Have 3 before me (thanks for the wind-shield!) 2 on the left and one who annoys me as he is on my right but not really passing me nor running behind me. One of the guys before me is getting his foot into a long plastic stuff that was expected to be between two grinds. We (in the group) sees what is going to happen. We all cream at once. He fell right before me. I jump above him. Turning back and he is up already and giving a smile that all is fine. Wow! Hard-core guys here! And we are turning at the km16.5… which is the windiest street of the race. I can feel the wind blowing away my feet against each other from time to time. Deciding to keep it “safe” and ran right behind two tall guys. Which meant as well slowing down, but for a while it felt ok. After what seems to be 100km or so (1…), I got tired of this pace and I pass them. Where is km17 by the way? Have I passed it? Checking my watch, but it is a bit off compared to the km-signs. Probably 200m off… Deciding that km17 is way ahead of me. At least I won’t be disappointed if it some earlier! Beeeep! Km17 on my watch. Keeping on running. Turning left at the little roundabout… and here it is! Km17 has been reached! My brain is just having enough clarity still to get that it is 4km to go. Training last week was aiming to get those 4Ks at 16:30… Not a chance that will happen today! Less than 20 minutes is the best calculation I can do. Waiting for the km18-mark and the “terrible” little slope that so many were fearing apparently. Seeing it coming from a little while as runners are turning left ahead of me. And I was actually unsure of what I had read. Turned left and took this baby-slope on the top of the toes (yes, I let dudes passing me there…but their legs did not like the pace up and they were passed by little-me soon after 🙂 ). OMG this feels so good. Turning right and lightlight down. LIIIIIIKING IT SO MUCH! The final 3km were reached. Straight and flat. Hardly noticing the sea scenery, but honestly, I wanted to have this finished. Seeing double at a moment, two backs with the same tshirt, the same shorts and running, making me feeling like I must be completely off,… but nope. There WERE two guys there! And I am passing them.. Yooohooo! Cheering along. Passing people IS fun! Even better if it could be gals… Turning right. Almost final stretch. At least the km20 is right there. Can see it. Getting the final cheering from G. Woopwooop! A French guy caught up on me too with more cheering words. Feeling so good. Feeling so strong. Surely off my expected pace, but still it feels nice…. Until…as in other races… happens what I REALLY do not like… a gal passes me! There! On the spot! 1.1km to go! The French guy by my side encourages me to “take her, but not now. To wait until the final 600m-stretch”. Which I am planning to do… Steady…steady…steady….. Had watched the arrival of a couple of this particular race in Barcelona and how the race was won at the end by the final sprint. Took it easy until the final left turn. Accelerated progressively there. The gal noticed it as she was looking at me. Waited for the final 400m to push a bit more and pass her. Seeing all those air-arches in front of us…WHICH ONE IS THE FINISH LINE?!?!? Just push. As long as I could hold at least that pace. To the end. And there was another gal right before me. Another place to take! Yoooohoo! Pressing a bit more on those strong legs (which were…hummm…where exactly during the race?…) and pass her too and the final line was there…and the other gal got me by what?…half a second? 😦 Does not matter much. The clock was ticking right after 1:29, but having started after the gun, it gave me a nice sub 89! I am happy! The usual “where is the second half of the race”-feeling is right there. Waiting for me. The people around me appear to be tired. When I am not…
Official time: 1:28:50 (gun time 1:29:15… Those stupid 20sec of walking to the start…)
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AFTER THE FINISH LINE
Getting a hug from the French guy. He has a yellow BIB meaning he was good for a sub80 (!) halfmarathon. And today he arrived behind me. Not that tired as it appears like. Turning like and walking towards the Arc de Triomphe. Getting my medals and water and fruit and that’s it. Heading to the medal engraving tent and THERE I get my sub89-time. Nothing to really climb up to the roofs with, but still. Sub89 is sub89 😛
Getting on my yellow poncho. Feeling a bit cold. Finally finding G after having waited a bit at the alternative meeting point, when he waited at the original meeting point. Hugs, pics and the walking back home. Nice with long and hot shower. Resting my legs a bit. And then walking to the city center for some celebration food. Visit at the Sagrada Familia was nice to have to finish this day! Would have been even better with a hot and shiny sun…
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Weather: 12.9°C Cloudy, Feels like 12.8°C, 13 kph E wind, 82% humidity – good weather conditions. Although the wind was not crazy strong, it did impact on the race. The grey skies were not much fun neither…
Food: breakfast (chia seeds + green mix + powerade + banana) @4:45am, red juice @7:45am, after: water, banana right after the race. Late lunch around 2pm (?)
During: little sport drink right before the start, gel @km10, 15, 20. Not really needed, but it was for training ahead of marathon.
Gear: NY blue singlet, SOC army blue shorts, arm sleeves black, neckwarmer (on the head after half way). Shoes delivered as usual. Did I write already that I just love them?…
Shoes: ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky)
16/ OK, a bit higher than expected, but it was a race after all… The first 10km was not that high really. Probably 13/14. Don’t know how to get higher and really pushing for faster time here. Just falling into a comfortable marathon-pace is NOT the solution. More work to be done…
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A few “after-race thoughts”
NOTE: Still subscribing to the “sub90-club” :-). A bit slower than expected, but making it is good enough for this as being a training race. Don’t want to be dead tired in a warmup race, right?
NOTE: Weather-wise, not really the best ever. Temperatures all fine, but the grey skies and the wind with them was not much fun. Barcelona… Hello?!?!? Sun should be shining and it should be warm!!! The wind was not a decisive factor for a slow pace, but was definitely not helping me…
NOTE: Time and place? Well, it did end within the range I expected, so should not be too picky…But yes, I am! The first 5K were too comfy and the 5K from 10-15km felt like slower than should. OK. I am satisfied. Next time will try to be all-in…or close to it.
NOTE: Warmup? Not much of it. But having my extra clothes on until close to the start were a decisive part of NOT freezing before start. Good with a little leg shaking before the race, but should have done slightly better/more probably.
NOTE: Drinking & energy during the race? As being a training race, I took it with the energy feeling I am expecting during the marathon. Took gels, but should have had sport-drink. All fine. Not sure extra energy was required though.
NOTE: Liking this race. Can definitely be on my “future race” list again. If Barcelona can guarantee no wind then, that would be great. Oh…and more sun too… Good cheering along the race (apart from quiet parts…but all races have such…), good organization, nice route. Highly recommending this race!
>> Loads of thanks for support and words of encouragement to be distributed here. Even though I kept this race a bit on low profile, it was great to have some people knowing about it 🙂 The greatest and most special thanks goes to G who came along, endured my pre-race mood, my race-morning mood and my post-race mood. Again, with such cheering on the side, one can do great things! A bit of easy run now, continuing the warming up and then should come the first big adventure for this year 🙂
Race Report – Run In Lyon half marathon 2016/10/02
Final turn towards the finish line…
Planned: sub90 definitely – had set the mind on 1:27 and podium – second place. Training-race.
Actual: 1:27:14 – PR on the route by 2min 47 second AND new second best time ever on a half-marathon! 12 seconds faster than Copenhagen two weeks before! Strong and very stable paced first half with a mid 40s 10K, let it roll for the next 5-6km, tricky run in a close-to-2km-tunnel, understanding I was placed 4th since a while, acceleration at the end and that was it! Very satisfied with the race, the place and the time! No need to run faster, training is training! This one was more than good-enough…and the feeling throughout the race was way better/stronger than last year!
Place: 4 – all women, 2 – age category & 284 out of 11,235 finishers
Splits (non official – from Garmin)
|
Split |
Time |
Diff | Min/km | Total | sex | cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5km | 00:20:02 | 20:02 | 04:01 |
– |
3 |
1 |
| 10km | 00:40:41* | 20:39 | 04:08 |
– |
4 |
2 |
| halfway | 00:42:46 | – | – | |||
| 15km | 01:01:29 | 20:48 | 04:10 |
– |
4 |
2 |
| 20km | 01:22:48 | 21:19 | 04:16 |
– |
4 |
2 |
| Finish | 01:27:14* | 04:29 | 04:05 |
284 |
4 |
2 |
*official time
Interestingly the 5K was passed 30 seconds slower than Copenhagen, the 10K 33sec slower and the 15km 1second slower. The 20K turned 7 seconds faster and at the end got 12 seconds total on a route which was definitely not fast and flat as Copenhagen!
Totals
| Place | 4 |
| Place (age) | 2 |
| Place (total) | 284 |
| Time total | 01:27:14 |
| Average pace | 04.08min/km |
In short: yiiiipppiiiiie again! Another sub90!!! Felt very stable paced for the first half, got cruising on the second one. Strong finish. And a NEW second best time on a half-marathon (ya ya ya… still third best time ever when counting the first half of Rotterdam marathon… working on it!)
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BEFORE THE RACE
The day before…
Pretty early up after a nice good night’s sleep. Final check on the racing gear, locked the suitcase and after light breakfast (chia seeds & green mix), a bit early so I decided to take another tram to the train station… and it took the time to reach the ground floor for noticing I had forgotten my passport!!! Pressing nervously the button to get up again, key in the door, ran to get the precious passport and out and down again. Had now to rush for getting the tram I wanted. Calmer feeling in the tram. Walked to the bus station. All fine. Would even take an earlier bus than planned. Airport check-in worked fine. Still don’t understanding why it takes sooo long time to drop the bags when having checked-in online… Long queue for the passports check and then just had to mix my sport drink and get to the plane. Easy first plane ravel (I slept most of it). Then had to run in Bryssels to get my connection, but it worked fine eventually. Sat in the second plane reading most of it on “how to crack the marathon code”. Arrival in Lyon went smoothly and after a huge hug I noted the awfully boring weather outside. Rain. Did not matter much actually as the race was the day after… Quick drive home to drop the suitcase and jumping into running gear and then direction Lyon – Place Bellecour for picking up my BIB. Not the same sunny weather as last year. Light drizzle making the red ground very disgusting to walk on. Getting my BIB, noting that I am missing the “Renault Trucks 100ans” inscription 😦 Heading to the information for getting me into the Préférentiel start-group. And then a bit of walking around after picking up my race tshirt. Buying Tiger balm and new brand of gels. Then back in the car and driven/dropped off on the race course at about 5km-mark. Music in the ears and hop! Ran easy the next km as I wanted to check this crazy evil hill around km9 which I really did not like last year. Measured it now and it was “only” 250m stupid uphill. All fine! Passed the bridge and got picked up by my best ever crew a km later. Good feeling on this day before the race. Now was left to get a bit of food (pasta and minced meet), drink a bit of orange juice and prepare my racing gear for the day after. OK. All fine. Late snack with toasted white bread and honey and tea. And got form my best-ever crew 4 bottles of Gatorade! In bed around 9pm. Then sleep.
Race day
Waking up at midnight, 2am and then 4am… Feels like a pattern, right?! Felt well-rested anyway. Took a light breakfast of chia seeds, green mix and Gatorade and got back to sleep for a little longer. 5:30am and it was time to get showered and set those running gear of mine (SOC SWE hotpants and sports bra and as previous race the superfast ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky). Set my two small Swedish flags tattoos on the left arm and that was it! Perfect colouring added the nails and the racing gear. Double-checked my bag with changing clothes, added my BIB to my gear. And that was it! Ready to shine (or something like that…)
6:15am – All in the car to reach the city. Still pitch black out there, refreshing air due to the night rain, but quite fine temperatures with 13ºC. Got stopped by the police when reaching Place Bellecour as it was no longer possible to drive closer. Got dropped off and with half of my best-ever crew I walked slowly to the meeting place. Headed to the Renault Trucks tent, where kind helpers were already very much working their butt off for welcoming the wave of runners who would soon enough arrive. Best-ever crew was growing instantly! 🙂 Met with friends and former colleagues. Tried to find one or two who would be running at similar pace than the one I was planning, so that it would be easier/funnier to run. Maybe? Got indicated that a marathoner Paul would be passing the half in 1:27. Perfect! Got introduced and agreed to meet in the start corral. Olivier A, my pacesetter from last year, was unfortunately injured and would be “only” running the 10K this year. Great.
7:40am – Time to get warmed up. Final hugs to my best-ever crew, pictures while freezing a bit and started to jog easily to the start. This time I had an old tshirt from Dad on me, in order to limit the “freezing-to-death” feeling. Found my corral, continued running a bit along the race course, quick pitstop, and then back on the footbridge. Two additional nervous pitstops before getting inside my corral.
08:15am – Noted 3 other gals already there. Found Paul there as well I his plastic bag 🙂 Quick chat about the race. “Do your own race” was the advice and that he would be starting easy. Perfect! This is exactly what I generally do not do! Good to follow someone then. Met then the lady who won last year. She was not pushing too much today as she was heading to NY marathon a few weeks later. Great! Like what I did last year! Saw as well an elite-chick in the corral in front of us. OK…here go the two first places, I thought. Just have to keep track on aaaaaall the other gals!
08:17am – A bit of talking from the speaker. Got an official commenting the fact that there are 50% (?) of the runners being female…and his next comment being “wonder who is keeping an eye on our children then?”…. Not very well appreciated comment by the runners (and I am surrounded by 99% of male runners…Great with supporting guys!). The funny speaker makes then all of us runners going down in order to do the biggest wave ever. Looks like the elites are not understanding the jokes said in French as they are looking at each others a bit puzzled. Finally even they get on their knees to do the wave! Supercool!!! Aaaaaaand woooow! Real fun.
08:27am – Off with the old tshirt. Got a kind guy throwing it away for me. No freezing feeling with all the runners in pack and so closed to each other. Final check to the watch while walking slowly to the start mat…
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THE RACE
08:30am – Aaaaaand BAM! Start is given. This time I think I heard it (not too sure). Have wrongly appreciated the distance to the mat and I press the start-button at the “BAM” and not when I pass the mat. Not mattering much as I estimate being 1-2seconds after. No real push. Following the lady-winner-from-last-year as she makes her way in the wave of guys. Good technique, running with the elbow a bit on the side for having a bit of space and avoiding people to come and push too close to her. Got a smile from Paul and we have started. I have music in my head and that feels good (I mean really “in my head” as I have no mp3 with me). Easy funny run towards the little bridge. We probably look like cows going finally to the other side of the field where the grass is greener 🙂 Carefully running up and then up the pavement. We have already good place among the runners. Careful still along the bridge for not falling and down on the other side. Easy-peasy-that’s-so-funny! 🙂 Having Paul slightly before me looking back from time to time. I feel the tempo is not crazy fast as in Copenhagen, but doubting seriously it is slow as I thought it would be. Daring a look at my watch when passing km1 and seeing a 3:56-tempo… Eeeeeeeuuuuh…what? This ain’t easy start. OK, we still have time to slow down. We WILL eventually slow down. Right? Passed on the left and right by (too) enthusiastic runners and on the slope on the side of the first bridge, I hear the cheering of Mum, closely followed by a few cool runners who cheer for me on my name after hearing her 🙂 Best of luck to you too! Passing Dad on the right and more cheering all around. All good and fine. Passing km2 a bit slower, but still at 4min-tempo. Paul is a bit more before me and I decide to skip following him as it would mean running faster than I planned. And I want my 87 minutes (blank or not!). Running along the river looking like a snake is once again an experience. Pretty calm and empty of people, the next 2km are just kilometers to run and that’s it. Avoiding the fall on the pavement, and the railways. Avoiding the runners who still try to pass on the left, the right and why not, just putting themselves right before me and slowing down afterwards… you name it! Could see the long line of runners along the river and the first fast ones far far away already! Sun shining out there. Quite enjoyable. Got to the little down-under-the-bridge-and-up-after-that. This is what is killing one’s tempo. Those small ups&downs on the road. Finally reaching km5. Recognizing from the day before where I had been left and then ran all the way to the bridge. Felt in well-known territory and that felt nice. Nothing really happening there. Apart from a tall runner passing me and me passing him and him passing me again and so on. Until we reached km8 with Île Barbe on the right and where I noticed that this guy had no clue I was existing apparently! He had headset on and probably loud music (ok, this one is for free…). But I got really angry when he ran on my right and on the little way up with the island on the right he just cut down in front of me and place himself there. NOT A CHANCE! The road was wide open, no car and seriously there was way enough place for all. So he got a loud “HELLO THERE! WATCH OUT!” from little-me and from this moment, I did not get bothered any more. Down the little slope and more run run run. And here it came…the little nasty-evil hill around km9. Well… it arrived, and disappeared. I felt way stronger and fitter than last year on this one. Last year I needed all the cheering from Olivier A for getting to the top (and no I was not going to walk then, but would have probably slowed down quite a bit). This year was not such year. I even took the final 50-60m on the top of the toes. Feeling strong, knowing that after the uphill…comes the downhill. Which I took very controlled actually. Took a first Dextrosol there (more for training in how and when taking extra energy than because it was needed) Happy to have gotten a few places there, we continued along the river to soon reach km10 and the little bridge Paul Bocuse. Clocking my 10K under 41 minutes. That was more than good enough. And hop! Bridge and then downhill. Got kind cheering from both the guys I passed and the very few passing me. Took another dextrosol at the water station after the bridge with a little (not enough) water and that was it. Half was done and half was to go!
Everything seemed to go as planned. No rush, Just happy to run. The stable pace from the first half continue a bit, feeling that I just had to roll easy-peasy the next 6km to the tunnel. Which I did. I think. Met a older marathoner around km11. He asked me what I was running and answered the half. He quickly calculate and cheered a bit telling at this pace that was a sub90 guaranteed. I ran along with him for a while. Got a little deep around km13, focus was not 100% by then. Took a Dextrosol and calculated that I was going to miss my plan for reaching km15 (under 62 minutes). Which made me a bit sad. Well, still a bit under 90 minutes, but not in the 87-range. Which I really really wanted. I reached another km-sign and could not really read it. Did not want to check my watch neither. I was so scared it would indicate km13 and that I would be way off my plans. But good to see it was km14 and that – for sure – I was slowing down, but I was was still in the race! My race! Km15 was reached within target (Yiiipii!). Had been passed earlier by a guy to whom I asked whether there was/were gal(s) behind me. A bit surprised he recognised that nope. He hadn’t seen any for a while and that I might have been alone on this race 🙂 Good! I understood by then that I was still in 4th place as I had been passed by a gal around km5. I had here in sight for a long while, but it was tricky to catch up with her (which I understood why a bit after the finish line…). One last Dextrosol right before the water station and then we were at km16. This is where the marathoners and half-marathoners are separated. Said good luck and good bye to my runner-in-crime. Got it back as well. And that was it. A little deep when entering the tunnel…this is in the middle of it that I lost the second place of the race last year. So really wanted not to let it happen today! Started the tunnel with a bit tired legs. Last year Olivier A helped a lot with cheering and encouragements and keeping the pace (which was quite slow then) was going fine. Here it was only me, myself and I and no help from outside. Passed by a few runners who encouraged me pretty kindly. Passed km17 a bit slow in the middle of the tunnel. My watch was still indicating the kilometer-mark properly until then. After km17, it started to show very slow pace and honestly I did not know what to believe. But 4:27-pace I was pretty sure that I was NOT that slow running. Tricky to breathe inside the tunnel. Tricky feeling to run and not seeing the start nor the end. Tricky not to know how long is left. Tricky to have strange-funky-watery music played inside the tunnel….and here it came… I could actually SEE the light at the end of the tunnel! For real! And it was sunshining! Yooohooo! Got along with a guy right before the end of the tunnel and we encouraged each other. OMG! Less than 3km to go when we reach the bridge… and then downhill and turning right. Lifted my arms to wave to the little crowd there and got the response I wanted 🙂 Uplifting cheering! The motivation was on the top. And there I could not yet see them, but heard them from far away. My best-ever crew was at their right position! One at the start almost of the bridge and the second one in the middle. Could just not stop smiling! Sunshine had reached the building! And the slope ended and then the bridge. “Strong legs, lift the knees” – I recalled all the words from Olivier A last year at this special place. Passed two guys. And then it was a little down and then around the roundabout and left and then abrupt right-turn again, where a guy throw me a “You are the 4th! You are the best! Only 2km to go!”. I still had no idea how far I was from the 3rd one. Passed km19 without really noticing until I did it (note: this was a large air-filled arch above the street apparently…). Reaching place des Terreaux. Was very careful not to fall on the slippery ground. Looked at all the runners who were turning then and running “back” towards km20. Could not see a single chick. And same procedure after turning back…no gal after me neither. OK. Tried to accelerate and then turn right into Rue de la République. Noticed by then that I had forgotten to take my red gel. No time now. Passing km20. Still looking good. Had difficulties to calculate how fast I should run to get under 88 minutes, but under 87 was lost for sure. Not too much fun to run on the hard pavement of this large pedestrian street. But there there was way more people at the end. And if I was to miss 87minutes-blank anyway, I could at least enjoyed the waving and cheering of the crowd! Turning right, along Place Bellecour. Sun shining. Passing two more guys and another left turn. Hearing someone screaming at his friend he was good to reach 87 minutes and I took this as my new mission. NOT letting this guy too far from me. Final left turn. I remained on the right side this time. Less people there. Another gear had been passed. Could accelerate without any problem. Where was the clock? Could not see what I was aiming for… And that.was.it! Stopped the watch. I.AIN’T.TIRED… Where is the rest of the race?!?!
Official time: 1:27:14 (i.e. a new second-best half-marathon! 12 seconds faster than Copenhagen two week before!!! and on this route! Brilliant!)
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AFTER THE FINISH LINE
Caught up by the speaker after the finish line, who recognised me and told me I had missed the podium this time and was fourth in the race and that was still good. Grabbing the mic, I answered that I trained a bit and reached the finish line 3 minutes faster than last year…but that the other chicks had apparently trained a bit too! And that with an invitation to next year’s race, I would probably even run faster! 🙂 Yap! Happy and very satisfied and absolutely not tired. Feeling nice and light, jogged (!) to the massage tent. On the way I met the 3rd lady, who was looking pretty exhausted. Had finished 2 minutes before me. And that was then I noticed that I had been following a guy with a pink tshirt and not her with her pink tshirt… Congratulating her and heading to the refreshment table. Water and cereals bars. Then queue to the massage. Got a long and nice massage of both legs. Was asked if I had been running as apparently the leg muscles were not showing sign of it (apart from sensitive Achille’s…). Banana and more cereal bars and a cup of Coke and jogged back to the Renault Trucks tent. More people than this morning there! Between the half-marathoners arriving and the 10K-runners on the departure. And still the best ever crew with red jacket from RT 🙂 Met my own best-ever crew. A few pic. Sun shining, meeting more colleagues and friends. Sunshine and happiness were floading here! Wonderful Sunday morning!
What next? Quick change of clothes in the tent (yaaaaa.. it was full of people, but honestly I did not really bother. I could not get back home in sweaty/wet outfit and risk to catch a cold. Better strip and have dry clothes on. Ate at almost all little table (pain aux raisins, scrambled eggs, drink juice, got a cake). SO very well-organized! Then time to drive back home, have a well-deserved shower, nice lunch and took a bit of rest for a while. Best finish of the week ever! Once more confirmation of good form. Just want the sun to be kept high and shiny up there and all will be fine!
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Weather: 15.0° Cloudy, Feels like 15.0°C, 5 kph wind, 94% humidity – perfect weather conditions. Could not ask for better, really. Wind non-existant, sun shine just as much as perfect. What to ask for more?
Food: breakfast (chia seeds + green mix + gatorade + banana) @4:30am, red juice @6:30am, after: water, banana right after the race. Later in the RT tent: mini pains aux raisins, scrambled eggs w/bacon, orang juice, water. Late lunch around 2pm (?)
>During: little gatorade right before the start, Dextrosol 1 @km9, 10.5, 13 and 15+.
Gear: SOC SWE hotpants + sports bra. Shoes delivered as usual. Just adoring them!
Shoes: ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky)
14/ would sound a bit cocky to set a 13 for the whole race, but having set a 14 for Copenhagen, this one was surely on a lower effort level. Probably a good 13/low 14. Did not feel making any effort throughout the race. Just running. For sure there was a deep at a moment, but never it has felt that the effort level was very much higher than the rest of the race. Very satisfied to have run slightly faster on this route compared to Copenhagen which was pretty flatter (but windier!). No tired body, apart from tired and sensitive Achille’s. No sign of racing the day and days after. Good sign?
******
A few “after-race thoughts”
NOTE: confirming my subscription to the “sub90-club” 🙂 And even better to get close to this 87 minutes once more and within so short notice! Very good for a training-race!
NOTE: Weather-wise, nothing to complain at all about! Perfect temperature. Sun shine. Humidity but ok-level. No wind. What else to ask for?
NOTE: Time and place? This went precisely according to plan. Finish time is fully satisfactory, especially for a training-race. Place in the race is fully satisfactory as I had really no chance for the two first places on the podium, and for the third one this year, I would have had to push a bit more actually… So yap! All fine!
NOTE: Warmup? Same procedure as last year with Olivier A. Worked perfectly. For sure was freezing a bit before start, but the warmup ended up quite close to the start (well, close enough). So good!
NOTE: Drinking & energy during the race? Not a chance I can tell I have been drinking properly during the race. Throw most of the water on my head for cooling down. And that felt enough. Took a few gloops at km15-water station and that was enough. Got cramps under the feet during the after-race massage and the first question I got was “did you drink properly during the race?” and my answer was “nope. Did not need to drink”. Dextrosol was easy to take and I definitely did not need the final gel. For the double distance however, I would have taken it.
NOTE: Real nice and cozy race. Not very many watching on the side of the river, but that’s fine for me. They compensate with a warm welcome when reaching the final stretch along Place Bellecour, and that is working well for me. Highly recommended!
Lots of thanks as usual for all who gave supporting words during training and those who actually cheering along the race. Thanks for Marianne C who took two very-well located places for cheering and that was just great! A very special thank too for the Renault Trucks helping team, who made the life of runners so much easier before and after the race! Always a pleasure to meet them! And of course, a huge thanks to my best-ever crew on-site (and the one off-site too!).
Run in Lyon slogan this year was : “RIL, what else?” and indeed, I could not think about anything else. But the warm-up is still going on…
Race Report – Copenhagen half marathon 2016/09/18
A happy runner here!
Planned: 1:25-1:27. the faster, the better…
Actual: 1:27:26 – Second best time ever on a half-marathon! Fast and well-controlled start, fastest 5K ever, fastest 10K of the year, fight with stomach cramps around km14 or so, accelerations in the last 3km and final sprint in 4:04 to reach km21 and still enough to increase in the last 100m left. Very happy with this race, the place and the time. Surely could have run faster, but more than good enough on this one!
A bit different route than the one I ran in 2014, quite windy for a lot of places, back with those stupid inexplicable stomach cramps, strong mind to ignore them and keep on running. OMG this felt so good to reach km20 and being able to sprint to the end!
Place: 57 – all women, 6 – age category, 5 – Swedish (ladies – with 2 in sub80… and the two others at 1:25+ & 1:27+…) & 682 – all runners
Splits (official)
|
Split |
Time |
Diff | Min/km | Total | sex | cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5km | 00:19:32 | 19:32 | 03:55 |
447 |
37 |
3 |
| 10km | 00:40:08 | 20:36 | 04:08 |
565 |
44 |
3 |
| halfway | 00:42:12 | – | – | |||
| 15km | 01:01:28 | 21:20 | 04:16 |
638 |
52 |
5 |
| 20km | 01:22:55 | 21:28 | 04:18 |
681 |
57 |
6 |
| Finish | 01:27:26 | 04:31 | 04:07 |
684 |
57 |
6 |
Totals
| Place | 57 |
| Place (age) | 6 |
| Place (total) | 684 |
| Time total | 01:27:26 |
| Average pace | 04.07min/km |
In short: Yiiiiiihaaaaaa! Another sub90 and a best 5K ever!!! First half disappearing like crazy. Windy quite a lot throughout. Stomach cramps in the middle. Strong finish. Second best time on a half-marathon (well…third time ever if counting the first half of Rotterdam marathon…)
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BEFORE THE RACE
The day before…
Early up to get to the train station. 3 hours later reached Copenhagen. Could not find my bus-stop, and not afraid of walking the 3.2km to the room I rented…well, I walked. Dropped my bag, hop on the bike with my host and some of his friends and cycled to the expo to get my BIB. Not much time spent in the expo. Bike back home, unpacked necessary stuff and rested for a while. Slept indeed for 45minutes… Up to buy food, not finding sport drinks (apparently there are 100s sorts of beer, but not sport drink…), bought pasta bolognese and ate @3:30pm. Wanted to wait before running. Back to bed and more deep sleep. Awaken right before 5pm, got ready and hop! Ran easy to Godthåbsvej which was were the km7 of the course was. Crazy wind on this road… Continued on the half marathon route until km10 and slightly after. Good enough for today. Ran through the close-by park after that and then back home. Felt all fine. If it wasn’t for the high probability to have a windy weather tomorrow… Crossed the road and found a shop having Powerade Blue. Took two bottles! In bed around 9pm. Slept almost right away. Although having a bed almost 1.6m above the ground and without any barrier on the side made me sleep pretty close to the wall (just in case…for not falling…) 😛
Race day
Awaken every second hour from 1:30am. Don’t know why. Was feeling fine. No stress. Up at 7:00am for breakfast of chia seeds, green mix and Powerade. Then back to bed. At 8am came my host home, so I decided it might be high time to get showered and ready. He was already all set for the race! Quick shower, fixed the hair, cream all over and racing gear on (SOC SWE hotpants and sports bra and as previous race the superfast ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky). (would have gladly taken the Swifty (the other pair) but the little hole in the net on the right big toe felt a bit big for a race… They stayed at home then…). Put on my Swedish flag-tattoo on the left arm to complete my Swedish nails and Swedish racing gear 🙂 Final (?) double-checked of my bag with extra changes for after the race.
9:15am – After drinking red juice, jumped on my slightly-too-high bike my host found for me (Thanks!) and we got to the start. Good to have him with me as I would probably lost my way to the start. Quite windy and felt that my eyes were crying pretty much, despite having my sunglasses on. Not too fun. 5Km later, we dropped our bikes close to the expo-place. Thomas (my host) found another pacer-friend and after a pic of me in front of the Wall of Runners, a bit of good luck, we separated and I tried to find my way to the start. Not too difficult. Just have to follow the stream 🙂 Got to the Village and went straight into the Runners’area for dropping the bags. Quite empty. Very large area only for the runners. Very good and well-arranged! Lay down on the grass and under the sun and rested for a bit. Did not listen to music although it was tempting. Just looked at the flags flying around…meaning the wind was out there and ready for us. Met the 1:25-pacesetter and noted how the 1:30-pacesetters looked like. Basically the plan turned into: neither of those guys should pass me during the race… Easy plan, right? It did work once 😛
10:15am – OK, time to get this sluggish body up and warmed up. Dropped my bag to a kind lady after taking a pic. Found the “< 1:30” start-group. Quick pit-stop in the woods. And off I left. Freezing as usual. I will learn…eventually…to keep some extra clothes on when I am warming up. But that was not today! Crossed the road where the start would be given and with my teeth chattering, I started to move myself. Had kept a little bag with a little left of powerade, two gels and napkins. Running nose ain’t fun neither. On the field I warmed up were also warming up…the ELITES! As usual it feels so crazy cool to even SEE them (in real and not just on the big screens or on tv). Seeing the ease when they run their warmup at a… 4:30/4:15-tempo, looking like nothing (I tried to follow a couple of gals…not for long!). Saw a group of Danish guys surrounding a Danish lady, who I assumed to be one of the stars of the show for today. And then… finding a friendly face warming up: Louise Wiker 🙂 Could not help it. Went to her and got both a smile and a hug. Always cool to see her before a race. This smile of hers as well as encouragements got me flying for the next 100m…before the wind came and got me to freeze again… Finished the warmup with another pitstop in the woods (and no it ain’t just me doing this). Found Mikael L in the start-group “<1:30”. Then a bit of more walking around. Drank the little left in my bottle and finally got into the start area for good this time.
Waiting for the start…all focused!
11:00am – OK, checking around the fast chicks who I will only see from behind (and probably only now before we start…). Noted two Swedes. Had as well as couple of Danish gals who were running their district championships as well. Easy to spot with the flag on their back indicating their age category. Got to meet two Swede giants from Malmö (Ola & Antonio). Always nice with some large smiles before the start.
11:10am – Presentation of the stars of the race: with so many contestants to sub60 and some for a world record on this route, the pace was already set before the race even begun! Not too bad neither on the female side. Sun shining. Felt quite warm in the start-group with everyone getting closer to each other now.
11:14am – Slow walking to the start mat, getting my watch ready aaaaaand…
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THE RACE
11:15am – BAM! Eeeeeuuuuh… WHAT? Where is the final countdown? I had my eyes on my watch and saw the seconds ticking up and as it changed to 11:15am, then the start was given. Well…. ok then! Game on! Easy and nice push forward and the start mat is passed. Started to run, got plenty of place already from start. Had a younger chick on my right and hang along her for the first km, keeping an eye on a Danish with DM (District Championships) on her back running side-by-side with another Danish guy also competing in the DM. So nice feeling that the head did not really realized the race started until we passed km1 or so. The first 200m or so showed a slow 4:2x (?)-tempo, but I know it can changed anytime at start. The aim was not to feel pushing hard as long as possible and still running fast. Keeping an eye on the gals ahead of me, I noted Mikael L passing a few meters on my left and I thought that I was definitely off chart for the “start easy and accelerate after” as there was no chance HE was running slow (well, not me-slow anyhow). Did not bother much than that, knowing that once again the first km can be filled with enthusiasm and be a bit fast. Crossing the first little bridge went nice and easy. All under control and Beeep! Said the watch. Did not check it as I did not want to know how fast (or slow) I had passed this first km. The “I-feel-high-and-I-don’t-know-why” continued on the other side and then we turned already (!) towards km2. WHAT? Still no clue about the pace I had. Eyes on my “pacers” who were the Danish gal & guy and two other gals ahead of me. Felt strong and nice and…not liking the wind we already had there. Before start, the English speaker said that the first third/half of the race would have tailwind, a bit of side wind after the half and then headwind on the final stretch. A bit surprised hearing this as I actually expected the contrary…on the other side, I was not there to compete for the win or a world record. And training in the wind had been done…way enough at home in the past few months. So bring it on! (OK, not too much though…). Still clueless about my pace I just flew through km3 which I recalled being the turning point toward a long stretch and a bridge. Loved passing this bridge with all the cheering. Got passed by a bunch of Norbro (?)-runners there and that completed the show! So much life and smiles and cheering. Peeeerfect! Reaching km5 was still feeling high and so high (and if this feels this way when running that fast, I want to run this pace every-single-day!!!) After the 5km turn, the wind bothered me. I felt km6 never came really. I felt slow. I was a slug among the fast (probably Danish) cheetahs allover. Saw that I was not the only one to “struggle” with this wind there. Tried to get along a group, but none were really with my pace. Saw km6-mark and did not even smile. I thought I had reached closer to km7 by then. More turn and finally I recognize the street I trained in the day before. Km7 was at reach. Quick check on the watch then and…whAAAAAAT? Sub4 pace? That cannot be! By experience from last time I raced here, I assumed that the pace was 2sec slower than what the Garmin indicated. But on the other side, the Garmin was beeping pretty much where the km-signs were… Turning left on the unpronounceable Gofthåbsvej the wind just come full scale and headwind. All runners got in kind of one line of one or two, on the street. Impossible to catch up with the one ahead of me and honestly not wanting to slow down and get behind others. Got up on the pavement which was nicer to run on, but by doing that I got full-scaled-headwind too. Wonderful choice… Turning finally right to Falkoners Allé and getting on the left side of the street. Quick check on the watch. Still sub4-pace. How much “sub” was not really possible to calculate… the brain was not ready and set for this. It felt like walking fast almost on this street. No more wind, but the enthusiasm was going down. I wanted to get to Frederiksberg Allé. I wanted to see the flags everywhere. I wanted to pass 10km fast enough for having a bit to potentially loose in the second half. Passing km9 still sub4 but definitely too close now. The long Allén was nice to run in, but not as nice as yesterday when I trained there on the pavement and not similar to the World Championships two years ago. Danish flags all-over was indeed nice to see. But at this time of the race, there aren’t enough runners to fill in the large allée. Remained on the right side as I knew there was an abrupt turn after km10. And here it came. Cursed silently when seeing that I missed the sub40 by only few seconds. But that was more than good enough. Second best 10K in my life probably! And then we all disappeared to the left after that. Lapped the halfway at 42:12. No sign indicated it was half-way, so I just kept an eye on my watch. Quick calculation with a half-functioning brain and for sure, that was a nice first half. Motivation back to the rooftops!
Prepared my yellow gel for the next water station. Not sure I really needed it, but it might take time to kick in. So why not. Placebo effect ain’t to be forgotten there. And during a half-marathon it is always a good way of testing how it can work for the “real” distance which is double as long. Taking gel, water, whatever-which-is-needed ain’t a piece of cake at this pace. So better train for it. Reaching km12 or so and I got some water. Had taken water at the previous station I think, no drinking but got it on the head. Felt nice and refreshing. Did that in most of the following water-stations… On the long stretch with km12, runners start to line up one after one or so. Well, it started already after turning after km11.5 or so. Every one aiming to the right side. Looked pretty odd actually. After the km12 water station, the 1:25-group caught up on me. Could continue to hang along, which was ok. A bit disappointed though that they got me so early in the race (ok…very disappointed…) Seeing the runners ahead of us turning right onto… a bridge! Noooo, I don’t want to get on a bridge. Well on it, it felt actually nice to run down. Still in the 1:25-group. The fastest pacesetter being 10-15m ahead of me and another one right before me on the left. No chick in this group I noted. Had dropped the thoughts of hanging along the DM-gal and other Danish chicks from after km5. Could still see one or two not too far though. Plan B – don’t let any chick pass me. The long stretch along the water was not much fun and was way too windy. Even though I was quite close to the guys of the 1:25-group, it still felt that the wind was troubling my run. Getting closer to km14 and BAM! From nowhere came like a knife-like pain right in the middle of the stomach. Noooo…not again! My pace was still fine for sub86 by then. I tried to straighten a bit while running, then crocking my back a little, then running a little more on the right side or pushing the hips a bit more in the front. Nothing worked. Lost loads of time there. Passing somewhere under a short tunnel, all watches got crazy and did not beep the km (14?) and all of them sang together when leaving the little tunnel (kind of “London marathon feeling” there 🙂 ). OK, toughen up. The 1:25-guys are still in sight. And you are still having legs which are not tired and a brain which is still functioning. Stop thinking of what is in the middle. Those cramps have to disappear and if not, just screw them and think of something else. Is it running bare stomach and catching a cold that is starting those cramps? Don’t think so. I trained in similar outfit in different weather conditions. Wow! Stop thinking so much and focus on the race! Recognised the path where runners were waiting for the start in 2014, turning left and getting to km15 which was pretty much where my sub90 group was in 2014. Not many people on the side, nor on the road. Not much left. I like this part two years ago and I like it now as well, I decided. Started to count up from this moment…km1…km2… from 2014-race 🙂 Caught up with a guy after the water-station, heard myself screaming to him “BARA SEX KVAR! KOM IGEN!” and receiving a large smile from him. For sure I meant “Only SIX km left! Come on!”. And nothing else!!! Catching up with an older Asian runner in red outfit around km17. Have met him since km6 or 7. We ran side-by-side, but I felt that he was then slowing down when I was at his side, and each time I accelerated, he did too. This was not ok then, and this is absolutely NOT ok now! I lost him when the cramps started. And here he is. But now I don’t want to be dragged back. Passing the little bridge along the train station. I really like this part in 2014 and still liking it very much…even though it is actually slightly uphill. Taking my final gel at km18, getting a bit of water to it. Got passed by a Spanish gal a little after km18 and have another DM-gal ahead. OMG I just want to pass them. And VROOOOOM! The next 2km are down to a sub3-marathon pace, which is nice. But not fast enough. The legs feel indecently strong. Where was this strength around km14?!?! The stomach ain’t complaining any longer. I liked this stretch in 2014 and like it even more today as this is the final km! A bit strange to convert a previous route to a current route when they are not completely alike. Progressively accelerating to km20 (I think?), having an eye on a guy who actually passes me there and I make my final fight to get at least side-by-side to the finish line… unless I get it faster. From there it is just back to me, myself and the asphalt! Not many runners side-by-side on this final stretch. Still catching up a few places on men. Turning right and over there is the finish line…. Soooo far away and so close. Pushing a bit more. Feeling that a shorter gal passed me on the right side… close to the km21…NOT.A:CHANCE! Passing the next gear (there is ALWAYS a next gear…) and passing her back. Seeing the clock ticking. I know it is over 1:27, but how much over. 1:23…24…25… and finally see the 1:27:30 when I pass the finish line. Pressing stop on my watch. No need to look at it. I.AM.(morethan).HAPPY!
Official time: 1:27:26 (1 second faster than my watch 🙂 )
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AFTER THE FINISH LINE
Happy, smiling and not tired, euphoric almost to the top, I find my way to get energy bar, something to drink, a medal and then back to the Runner’s corner. Way more people there. I feel high and happy 🙂 Getting back my bag, catching an apple, drinking 3 mug of energy drink and then heading to the massage tent. Not long queue. Meeting Lisa R form Sweden who completed the race in an impressive 1:17. Hearing that Louise W got to the finish line two minutes before her. Massage with focus on the calve, although I feel that the Achille’s are more likely to be painful within short. Changing to dry and clean clothes in the tent and leaving the area. Heading to the expo place to get my bike… when I note that I have to cross the street with the finish stretch to get there… Brilliant idea! Walking back up the street. Jumping (kind-of) above a fence, finding a little place in the now sprinting runners and crossing the road. Jumping (kind-of again..) above the other fence and running easily back to get my bike. All fine to cycle back home…although I lost a turn and took a longer way back home… Shower, noted a burn mark right under the sports bra line, which I cannot explain (but it does burn under the shower), drinking a bit of powerade, throwing all my stuff in my bag, writing a note to my host (he is pacer to the 6min-group and will probably get back home late(r)), locking the door and that was it! Walked back to the train station. Bought my ticket for getting back home and hop on the train. Got to step out as the others in Copenhagen airport for checking the passports. Took this opportunity to get to Burger King and take a kid’s meal. On the train again, new passport control after reaching Sweden and new train change when reaching Malmö. Sms to the right and left. I received (finally!) an sms confirming my final time. Indeed when I reached home, I wanted to check my time and it indicated 1:22:55… Euuuuuuhhhh…What? This was my time passing km20. And nothing after that? Was really not happy and hoped that they did not have an issue with their timing-system (…it had happened in two races before that the timing-system was wrongly functioning and I got an incorrect time… but at least it was a time. Having a curve showing my pace up to km20 and then dropping down to zero after that showing DNF-like ending was NOT on my plan…and will never be!). Anyway…time was now showing as it should and I was happy to find out both time and ranking. Getting as well as PB on 5km (19:32!) which is 23seconds faster than previous fast 5K in a race (first 5K of Rotterdam 2014 in 19:55…). Placed 5th in Swedish females with 2 sub80 (had no chance on those ones…) and 2 within less than 2 minutes from my finish. Definitely happy.
The day ended with “Tricky” finishing his Sunday long run and suggesting an unplanned celebration with nice food (almost Copenhagen 2014 all over again 🙂 ). Perfect to complete this already great day! Nothing wrong with the form here!
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Weather: 17.2° Sunny, Feels like 17.2°, 6 kph ENE wind, 63% humidity – optimal weather for running if it was not for the stupid wind a bit everywhere on the route. Surely slowed down a bit those guys running for the win and the WR. Surely slowed down little me too 🙂
Food: breakfast (chia seeds + green mix + powerade + banana) @7:15am, red juice @9am, after: yogurt (beurk!), 3 sport drink mugs, 1 energy bar right after the race. Burger King king’s meal around 4pm (?)
During: little powerade right before the start, yellow gel at km12, red gel at km18.
Gear: SOC SWE hotpants + sports bra. Shoes delivered once again. Just loving them!
Shoes: ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky)
14/ let’s set a 14, but honestly doubting it reached this level as overall. Up to halfway, the euphoria or whatever-it-was that got me running made the effort level on a comfortable 11/12. Not feeling at all like running at the pace I was actually running. After that, a couple of km got harder because of the stomach cramps and the effort (probably more mental than physical) got higher, but the final 3+km were back on the high-motivation level and the run felt like flowing, close to effortless. Euphoria was probably back by then… Surely a bit sad to run “THAT” slow on this route where I really thought I would make it closer to 85 minutes. But the overall feeling is greater than any time possible. I like this race (apart from the *@¤!!?%& wind…) and would more than likely run there again in the future. No wind please… Body felt nice afterwards. Tiredness was never there (ok…the shin splint-like the day after remained for 2 days…).
******
A few “after-race thoughts”
NOTE: another sub90 in the pocket. And this one is even better than the previous ones done this year, because I know (deeeep deeeep down) that this is what I can do. Hopefully the spare has disappeared now. All-in was reached a bit at the end, but never there really at the start. More of this kind of feeling please!
NOTE: Anyone can complain on the weather. The thing is that nothing can be done about it. So better toughen up and deal with it. Surely having a windy route was not fully on my plans for this race. But enough preparation was done, so that was ok. I did not like it, but could not do anyting about it anyway…
NOTE: Time and place? If it was not detailed clearly enough earlier… MORE than happy about both. Training is showing up and rewarding (sometimes) 🙂 So proud of myself to have toughen up on the “continue-running-despite-of-the-stomach-cramps”. Still have to figure out what it starting them…
NOTE: Warmup? Good enough for today’s race. Have to keep in mind for next races to have extra clothes on me to throw before the race start… so I am not fully freezing during the warmup… Felt ready to start today. Warm enough!
NOTE: Drinking & energy during the race? As usual it was not really feasible to drink during the race. Apart from the moment when a nice guy had taken a bottle of water, drank a bit and then gave it to me as he heard I missed taking one at the station. Only decent water-drinking I did during the race. The mid-course gel is not necessary. But good for marathon training. The final gel give a kick and is definitely good to have 🙂 The thickness is legitimate as it is not a “liquid” gel as the other ones I have. Regular gel. Still more work to do for the plastic mug drinking…
NOTE: Great race, loved it two years ago, still loving it this year. Not just for the fast time on the course. Organization worked well, the expo was slightly (?) bigger than two years ago (or maybe more crowded because it was Saturday afternoon?). Highly recommended!
Loads of thanks for the sms and kind words received right before the race 🙂 Always appreciated! May the warm-up continue then!…
Race Report – VSM halfmarathon Hultsfred 2016/09/03
Happy Swedish Champion (Masters K40)
Planned: sub90. Not completely a training-race, but surely not full all-in.
Actual: 1:29:58 – PB on this route (1st time run :-P). Good start, stable first half, confident up to km14, then fight with stomach cramps from km15 and final sprint in 4:06 on the last km. Very satisfied with the place, not that much about the time. But under the circumstances, that will do.
Swedish Masters Championships in half-marathon… Nice 2 loops-route, with 70% gravel and the rest asphalt (yeaaah!). Windy as NOT expected for the stretch down (and of course you get it twice…). Inexplicable stomach cramps requiring a drastic slow down in pace, but enough fighting spirit to get to the end and even sprint to get under 90minutes. Never loose hope!
Place: 1 age category (i.e gold medal & Swedish Master Champion in half-marathon K40) / 4 – all women / 42 all runners 🙂
Splits (unofficial – Garmin)
|
Split |
Time |
Diff | Min/km | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5km | 00:20:30 | 20:30 | 04:06 |
3 |
| 10km | 00:42:13 | 21:43 | 04:20 |
5 |
| halfway | 00:44:08 | – | – |
5 |
| 15km | 01:03:28 | 21:15 | 04:15 |
4 |
| 20km | 01:25:35 | 22:07 | 04:25 |
4 |
| Finish | 01:29:58 | 04:23 | 03:59 |
4 |
Totals
| Place | 4 |
| Place (age) | 1 |
| Place (total) | 42 |
| Time total | 01:29:58 |
| Average pace | 04.15min/km |
In short: the time first: real rubbish – should have gone way faster. Now about the placing: Yoooohooo! So glad to get first place and a gold medal. Real cool to be “Swedish Master Champion in half-marathon (W40)”. Surely as cool as being “Vice-world Master champion in marathon (W35)” last year!
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BEFORE THE RACE
The week before…
This special race started actually a week before. Had in mind to run it, had it on my list from spring-planing, but it just disappeared when setting the races calendar for September to October. Completely forgotten it. Came under a discussion with Tricky and after checking the location of the race and the participants, I contacted a registered one for possible co-driving to the race. Took a couple of days to finally got confirmed that I could have a place in one of the cars aiming to the race. That’s how training plans changed a 32km-long run into a Swedish Masters Championships in half marathon…
The day before…
Easy run in the morning with picking up bagels at half-way and then regular workday. The legs felt fine and eager to run. All seemed in place for a very nice race the day after (even though it was not THE race of the year, it is still a Swedish championships…). In bed not too late. Checked at least three times that the alarm was set properly…
Race day
Alarm rang at 4:10am. Felt all fine and ready to run. A pity the race was not starting THEN! Took it easy to wake up mind and body. Breakfast of sesame bagel with honey and mint tea and a banana. Added green mix with green C-vitamin as well. And a little sport drink. Breakfast for champions! Got myself ready with today’s racing outfit being ADIDAS Supernova Blue line shorts, Casall Iconic black sports bra MIK and superfast ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky). Added in the bag an extra change of running clothes as well as arm sleeves and MIK singlet. The bag weighted way too heavy for a race and 3 hours drive… But all the “just-in-case” were included! Had extra food and gels for the race, sport drinks and a change of clothes.
5:15am – Left home to get to the meeting point where Anders P would be picking me up. All fine. Met Mikael Z as well and off we went. Lots of running talk in the front of the car. Nice drive to reach the start area (well, I was resting on the back seat!).
8:15am or so – Reached destination, met with other Lerums runners and picked up our BIB. Quite grey skies, little drizzle. Was wondering a bit regarding the outfit to have. But decided to go for the original choice: sports bra & shorts. Added arms sleeves for the warmup. Got help from Anders P for attaching my age category on the back (this is very good to keep an eye on who is in your age category…and pass them if possible before the finish line 🙂 ).
9:20am – time to get to the ladies change room. And get this warmup done. Easy 3km on light legs. Took a km from the start and then a little bit from the halfway and down. The race being a two loops-route of 10.5km with a 5km loop from start and back and then a 5.5km loop from halfway and back. Dropped my bag and skipped the arm sleeves. The sun was out! A bit a lot of gravel on the route… that would be an experience! Took a gel about 30minutes from start. The stomach felt a bit hungry and empty…
10:05am – start of the marathon race. Just a little more wait…
10:10am – ready to start now. All half-marathoners were also ready. Find two others gals in my age category and those ones are the ones to be watched… Of course trying to follow Karin S was NOT in the plan, but to have 2-3minutes difference to the max would be nice! So for sure the plan was to win the age category and get under 90minutes.
10:14am – final countdown. A couple of runners are getting into position…Sun is shining…
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THE RACE
10:20am – GO! Nice and easy start. No pushing, just well-behaving runners here! Got a good luck from Anders P and then see him disappearing in the steps of Karin S. Running the first 200m on gravel is fine…well a bit too fine as it goes a bit too slow for my taste. Turning left and we get to the asphalt. All fine just running, tricky to get the second turn right as a guy is actually cutting my way and then he settles in a slightly slower/annoying pace. Impossible to pass him without going either on the left (and thee are three on the breadth…) or on the right (and this means running in the field…). I don’t use the “elbow-forward-and-pushing” method. Not on my list (well, at least not when it comes down to finding a place to run right before km1!!!) Passing km1 right above 4min. All fine. The wind is taking its due now and trying to find a wind-shield (or two…) ain’t easy task. Two gals are approaching (one K40 and one KS – senior). They are apparently running together, so my plan is to keep them close and definitely not let them in front of me before the finish line as it would mean not loosing one but two places then (on the total…). The KS-gal is getting on my left after passing this first km and she is quite close to the “slow-guy-that-passed-me”. Not enough to get in-between. Just have to wait for my turn. Turning right and we reach soon km2. I see the opportunity there to pass the guy and the two gals as well. Good. This one is in line with my plan, i.e. all km between 4 and 4:10 until halfway. We pass a little bridge and turn again. Meaning we are soon at half the first little North loop of 5km. And we reach gravel…again. And the wind is coming as well…again. Head or sidewind? Does not really matter. There are no possibility to hide behind someone as by now the head runners are far away and there is only a long line of one or two runners running on the path. Ok, deciding to make it through the next km on my own, even if it means slowing down. Not hearing when passing km3 but noticing that km4 is slightly before what Garmin says. So correcting the lap there. Good good. Feeling fine, despite my feet sliding back a bit on the gravel. Have to really learn how to run on this! Have been passed by a gal during the straight line after km2.5. AAAAAAAnnoying! But she has “KS” on the back, meaning she ain’t in my category. I let her go then 😛 Then follows a bit of “snake-like” running (i.e. the route is a bit zigzaging there. For sure we have had a little uphill as well (or call it a slope or whatever…it just went up and then down between the farms we have passed at km3 or so. Good to know for next time we pass here! More running under the trees and starting to hear the speaker. i.e. the first north loop is soon finished. Reaching the start area, hearing my name, clocking km5 on 20:30 but had no idea as I am fully focused on the next part with the wind 😦 More gravel and still not possible to find any wind-shield. Talk about chivalry manners! Not a single guy ready to sacrifice his placing and/or tempo to cut the wind to a lady in need… The long km (including the km6-sign) is really annoying with the side-wind. And seeing the flags flying perpendicular to the ground AIN’T HELPING! Reaching now a part under the trees where it “feels” easier to run (but it is still stupid gravel and I still cannot run efficiently on this..:) Km6 & 7 are getting pretty slow and way above the tolerance levels I had planned. Seeing 4:2x at this moment of the race is NOT a good sign. Feeling good though, but still not finding the correct steps on the gravel. Passing now runners from the marathon since a couple of km. Getting some cheering and that is cool. Have been listening to music since km2 as it helped covering the wind. Seeing the faster runners of half-marathon coming from the opposite direction. OK, they must be like 2.5km ahead of me or so. Seeing Karin S, Anders P and co passing on the other side. Getting some cheering and thumbs up from a Lerum guy. Soon reaching the turning point. No longer fun… The two gals KS & K40 have caught up on me and pass me a bit before reaching the water station. Nooooo! Kind enough for cheering and encouraging me, so I am settling into their steps. Taking a glass of water, missing the mouth totally and getting only a little. Am more focused on NOT falling or turning badly my ankle on the grass we are running on at the water station. Dangerous here! The two gals are running in the pace I should have, so I try to keep a correct distance right behind them. Still too slow here but surely reaching the asphalt soon…and when we do… I feel my legs having a new life again! Yooohooo! 10-20m is separating me from the two ladies from the moment we reach the asphalt. I get closer to them and by the time we reach the km20-mark (this is for the second loop), I have caught up those stupid distance between us. We are running all three side-by-side and I can see that the KS-gal is the one driving. The K40 is hanging there but the steps she is taking looks so long and easy…I want mine to look THAT easy! Passing km9 a bit slow still but it is only 12km to go and 1.5km to halfway. Back to gravel, difficult to accelerate there. Km10 is passed a little above 42minutes. Good. Still as in the plan. Taking the first dextrosol there. Will do so for the next 5km every second km. Reaching half-way in 44:xx, which my head uses to calculate the potential finish time. Ain’t working too well, so after a few 100s I stop even trying… The KS-gal has taken two glasses of water at halfway and throw them when still on the gravel…and one bumped onto my head. Really surprised! But just laughing at it. She falls into excuses but that’s all ok. No need to worry about an empty plastic cup that flew on the top of my head 🙂
We are back to the north loop and the asphalt again. The K40-gal is dropping in her pace a bit, having the best cheering ever from her KS-friend. I am just hanging there. Have stopped the music in my ears since km10. Passing km11 and it is me and the KS-gal now. Side-by-side. Loving it! She has THE perfect step (ie. Completely in sync with mine… or the contrary…I don’t know). Even her breathing is in sync. Of course from time to time it just change, but she is good! Exchanging a couple of words. We are so close that our arms are touching sometimes. The K40-gal is no longer in our steps. I cannot see her (I have no eyes in the back of my head…) but I can feel that we are alone. We are holding a good pace…well…for a marathon… this is too slow for my plans, but it feels good and I am still in first K40-place and 3-4 for the women. Passing the little bridge again and turning right on the gravel again. So nice to know this is the last time we pass this part. Looking at the marathon-signs and calculating quickly that they are 500m different from ours. I count down to the end of this loop and to the end of the race, then to the end of the next little loop and the end of the total marathon. Takes me up to km13 or so where the farms are to remember/realize that I am not in for the full marathon. We are passing a few guys there, both marathoners and half-marathoners. Getting greetings along the way. That warms the heart and the head! We are just good. Back to the “snake-like” part. Passing guys there and who even move themselves to let us pass. All smiles on! Getting closer to the end of this north loop. Hearing the speaker getting closer and closer. Feeling fine still, also a few signs are popping up as I can hear my running buddy pushing me a bit more there. Am I dropping in pace? Getting to the start area again. Hearing our names, taking a glass of water and hop on the head. Feels good. And we are on the south loop now and the stomach starts to cramp. Slightly but becoming more and more distinct. We have now run over 15km and I am a little bit slower than planned. 1Minute maybe? Had in mind to pass it in 1:02+ and we are both over 1:03+. Putting this on the gravel is a bit much. Getting to the km6-sign again I have now dropped a few meters from my running buddy. The wind is not helping. I want to stop but don’t know how much time it would take for starting again. And I don’t do pitstop in a race. Don’t want to throw up neither. The stomach is just not happy. Want to bend and just stop. Putting back music in the ears. Choosing the craziest song I have on it. Good But seeing the leading guy of the half-marathon passing on the asphalt street above my stupid gravel path is giving me even more motivation. I am at km17+ so he really has 2+km to go. I want to be where he is instead of where I am. Looking at the fast guys passing by from the opposite direction is helping my mind to focus on something else than this stupid stomach. Reaching the “under-trees” path now. I don’t even bother looking at the watch. I know I am close to snail-pace. Just don’t let any K40 pass. The KS-gal has not accelerated but she is getting further and further away from me. I am just dropping in pace. Seeing soon Karin S straight and cool in her running, Anders P right in the back. More Lerum guys showing a smile. OMG! Thanks for the help! Focusing on reaching the next km is my mission now. It is just that I am not seeing the km-signs any longer. I just want to stop and do whatever it takes to make those cramps stop. Reaching the grass-area closer and closer to the water-station. The KS gal is too far ahead. I know I won’t be able to make it up before the end of the race. Please give me a marathon instead!!! Trying to reach my gel on the back of my sports bra but it ain’t working. Cannot find it (and there is NOT much place there). Passing the water station ignoring the water. My focus is down and the running on the grass ain’t working well, with an ankle turning a bit strangely but once again I make it and continue running. Don’t want to turn and check if any chick is close to me. Seeing the K40-gal on the way back. And then another lady. And another one. I have NO clue how far we are from each other and I won’t let myself check this. Focusing on the KS-gal who is soooo far by now (well, not THAT far, but by now the mind is not really willing to cooperate. Cannot focus on the stomach AND on estimating the distance at the same time). Finally reaching my gel and feeling that it is stupidly thick like h*ll. How can that be? They can be from liquid when it is quite warm to more gel but here it feels that it is hard like concrete!!! Having trouble to even get some in the mouth. Taking finally a little of it. Mixing with the saliva. Getting cheering from chick on the other side of the road. One more try with the gel before I throw it (sorry… I throw it in the forest part and I did not intend to do it. The mind is even thinking of running back to pick it up and reaching instead the next rubbish bag). Nooo… straight forward. I know the km9-sign is close after we have reached the asphalt. I just want to see it. The legs are getting a new life when reaching the pavement. Hello km9-sign. Just so loving it when I see it! It is 1.5km to finish. Still seeing the KS-gal. The aim is more to pick up place with one or two guys. But not that many ahead of me unfortunately. Passing km20 and turning right. Now it is is. Quick check at the watch indicate over 1:25 close to 1:26. Meaning that if I run a crazy sprint to the end I might make it under 90minutes. Yeaaaahhh…sure… it is not ONE km to go, it is onekilometerandninetysevenmeters, meaning it needs to be completed in 4 minutes or less…the total distance… Superwoman-strengths suddenly came out. What is wrong with me? Where were those strengths 5km ago? Don’t spend too much time reasoning on this. Running behind a guy and reaching …gravel again. But for the last time this time. So great feeling this one. Seeing the little 21km-sign. Loving it so much. Not too fund of the clock though. Ticking up. 1:29:54…55…56… Hearing my name, wonderful…and passing the finish line. Stopping the watch. 1:29:58. OK. I did not make it. Sub90 is gone. (swore little then, noticing it only when I see the smiles from two functionaries after the finish line. Sorry…). At least I got the win in my age category.
Official time: 1:29:58
****************
AFTER THE FINISH LINE
Not fully tired, I am however walking a bit bend as the final sprint has destroyed completely my stomach. The cramps are close to unbearable. But I still smile. I think. Getting my nice medal. A glass of water and a banana. Waiting a little at the water-table, half-bent and hoping this will disappear. And it does not. Getting a big hug from the KS-gal. Who also apologizes again for throwing her plastic mug on my head. Trying to laugh, but it hurt the stomach so badly that I congratulate here and move to the changing rooms. Meeting Anders P, who recommends to continue to walk so that the stomach would feel better. I don’t even ask his time and turn back for it. Annoying me not even able to be happy for hearing his cool new PB. Changing rooms now. Good that they are empty. So much for the glamour of running (if any), spending time in the loo after the race as the stomach is just emptying itself. The worse is that it does not feel much better afterwards. Getting my bag then because I feel that I should change. Meeting two small girls who are so willing to run that I leave my bag again to their dad and take them to the tack for running a few laps. Real fun. Nothing wrong with my legs, the hips are fine. But the stomach ain’t having fun. By half-way of the track I realize that I am running with twin-girls… (I thought I was so in need for carbs that the mind was playing games with me!). Getting more water, finishing my run. Shower (very hot one), this helps for the stomach apparently. Karin S has run an impressive 1:25-race and all the ladies in the room are mostly happy about their race. Changing to warm clothes and the stomach almost feels better. Taking a protein drink and time to get under the sun. Getting a hot-dog as well before meeting the Lerum guys who are all smiling and laying down on the grass. A couple of PBs (and very good ones). I just want to lay down here on the grass under the sun and rest. Race awards are distributed (missing the 3place by 38 seconds is a bit annoying me…) but climbing the highest step of the podium for my age category and getting a nice gold medal is helping a bit to forget (both the rubbish time and the 3rd-place miss). A few more that I know are reaching the podium too (among others Michael T and Annette K) which is cool!
Time to get back home. Anders P and Mikael Z get some energy for the road. I get a coke, but really feel so bad that I would rather remain laying here on the grass under the sun than sitting in a car for three hours, even with nice company. Good drive home with only one stop and more coke to drink. Celebration will have to wait until the stomach is ready for it… That was still a great day for racing and not regretting to have taken this race before a 32km-long run 🙂
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Weather: 17.8° Cloudy, Feels like 17.8°, 14 kph WSW wind, 94% humidity – well, it was actually sunny and nice. But windy.
Food: breakfast (bagel w/honey + tea + banana + green mix/C-vitamin) @4:30am / banana +sportdrink during transport. / After: banana soon after arrival+protein drink after the shower. Then coke right before leaving home and another one after 1/3 of the drive.
During: Aptonia melon after warm-up, Dextrosol: 1 @km10-12-14, red gel @km18.5 (no water)
Gear: ADIDAS Supernova blue line shorts, Casall Iconic sport bra MIK, arm sleeves. Shoes felt all nice and ready to rock!
Shoes: ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky)
15/ Stable 14 up to halfway, then less effort during next 5km as slowing down for stomach pains, the final km was a blast, but not too sure it went that high on effort level. Annoyed to have missed 87 & 88 minutes, but still and for sure, a sub90 by 2 seconds ain’t THAT fun, but it is still a sub90 😉 Gravel ain’t my favourite terrain. But it treated my Achille’s well (no sensitivity whatsoever after the race!)
******
A few “after-race thoughts”
NOTE: Third sub90 on “training-race”. Even though not fully happy to be that close to the 90minutes… Definitely not all-in on this one.
NOTE: Weather-wise, I cannot do anything about it. Sidewind was no fun to run in. Happy to have trained in this still. But more work to be done to be stronger there.
NOTE: Time and place? Rubbish for the first one and wonderfully happy for the second one 🙂 Have a clear understanding on how the pace dropped and why and when. Nothing could have been done differently from this part to the end. Very happy to have not stopped and completed the race this way anyway.
NOTE: Warmup? Maybe a bit faster than I should have. But felt ready for running at expected pace from start: Would have gladly run a couple more km before the race though.
NOTE: Drinking & energy during the race? Drinking was as usual close to in-existent. (this is a copy/paste for all the race I think!!!) and using plastic mugs is even worth than paper ones. Cannot fold them correctly and cannot drink. Dextrosol worked fine. Red gel was too thick, but definitely kicked in at the end.
NOTE: a repeat from Halmstad/Prinsensminne regarding the stomach pain. Although in Halmstad the pains arrived 2 hours after the race and remained for the rest of the day: But absolutely not this level of cramping as I had today.
NOTE: Cool and cosy race on a quick fast route. Good organization. Recommended!
And to finish a huge thanks to Anders P for driving me down there, otherwise I would not have run this race 🙂
A happy runner after the race 🙂
A nice and well-deserved gold medal!
Race Report – Prinsensminne 2016/8/13
Happy sub90-runner 🙂
Planned: sub90. Training-race. Tempo longrun
Actual: 1:29:00 – PB on this route (1st time run :-P). Half frozen before warmup, drizzle and strong headwind for the first half, cliff and sand for the second half… Still not understanding really how it all worked out so well!
Windy-rainy weather for an wavy route with beautiful landscapes and views all around. Easy and comfortable pace throughout the race. No pushing really, even when accelerating a bit in the middle . Counting on sub90 but lost the hope of 87:xx after km17…still hoping for the sub 🙂 More than happy. And definitely ready for a second half of the same kind!
Place: 5 – all women 🙂 / 3 age category / 42 all runners 🙂
Splits (unofficial – Garmin)
|
Split |
Time |
Diff | Min/km | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5km | 00:20:52 | 20:52 | 04:11 |
8 |
| 10km | 00:42:01 | 21:09 | 04:14 |
8 |
| halfway | 00:44:19 | – | – |
6 |
| 15km | 01:02:56 | 20:55 | 04:11 |
6 |
| 20km | 01:24:41 | 21:45 | 04:21 |
5 |
| Finish | 01:29:00 | 04:19 | 04:19 |
5 |
Totals
| Place | 5 |
| Place (age) | 3 |
| Place (total) | 42 |
| Time total | 01:29:00 |
| Average pace | 04.13 min/km |
**********************************************************
BEFORE THE RACE
The day before
After workday, easy run under the rain in order to ensure there would be no problem with the planned outfit. Picked-up the rental car and got the evening to prepare my racing bag. In bed @8:45pm, dead tired. Awaken again around 11:30pm – had to check the alarm were set correctly…
Race day
Alarm rang at 6:15am. Felt a bit off, but took only few seconds to get up and direction kitchen to take out of the fridge all the needed stuff for the sandwiches. Then shower, wake up GET and get them to have breakfast while I got myself prepared. Breakfast turned into a sesame bagel with honey and mint tea. Green mix with red juice and orange juice was also there. Time to get all the necessary stuff in the bags (food for GET, race stuff for me). Checked at least 4 times that the race outfit and backup outfit were in the bag: race outfit for today will be SOC shorts small trapezes, Casall Iconic black sports bra MIK, sunglasses (in case of sun or wind only), Boston cap (in case of heavy rain only) and on the feet, the superfast ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Swifty).
7:15am – all in the car and ready to drive south to Halmstad. Quite calm and easy drive, under the rain. But ok. Arrived at the race place around 8:50am. Parked the car and walked to the start area to pick-up my BIB. Quick recognition to see that the arrival would be on a grass field and the start on gravel (with sharp turn right after the start of the race). Just had to wait to 11am for starting the warmup. Not much fun for GET to remain in the car while I rested. Changed to racing gear, applied the necessary anti-chaffing cream. No hesitation for the outfit. 17ºC outside will not have me wearing more clothes on, even if it rains cats & dogs… Enough time for 3 pistops before the warmup even started…
11:00am – start of the 10K-race and time to get to the start area for dropping the bag and warmup a bit. Got a plastic poncho on as it was slightly rainy and I did not want to look like an ice cube from start. Final kisses and goodbye and headed to the start area. Dropped my bag to the appropriate tent and orientated me on where we would be running. Met Robban A, Jimmy V and Annika-Ultra. Quick hugs and started my warmup, rain poncho still on. Took the first 2.5km of the race. Good to see that it would start on gravel, then middle of the forest, then asphalt and then back to gravel and then sand along the sea. Strong headwind and rain while running was definitely expected, but not fully appreciated. Had read the weather forecast planning wind of 30km/h… (if only they are heading to the finish line, that’s better!). Took the final 2.5km of the race in the woods, quick pitstop, got passed by the fast 10K-runners. Finally back to the start/finish area and warmup completed. No longer frozen. Kept the poncho on anyway.Taking a powergel with a little water. Breakfast feels a bit far away now…
11:45am – final pitstop before heading to the start. Meeting Jesper E and got a large hug and smile. All the warmth in the world in it 🙂 Not much to do apart from getting under cover for the final minutes before start.
11:50am – nice surprise to see GET coming and cheering for the start. Final kisses and then it was time.
11:55am – OK, nobody really seemed to head for the elit-start but a bunch of runners were anyway in the 4min/km-corral… Checking a bit the competition (yes, it is a training-race, but always nice to see who’s in it… Hoped for being in top 10 secretly. Last 2 previous year finish-times were decent enough for ensuring that. But you never know…).
11:57am – large smile and cheering from Jesper E. Surprisingly no pushing at all in the start corral.
11:59am – ok a bit of movements towards the starting line, but really? No pushing?!?!? Final try on my mp3. Off with the rain-poncho…hearing the countdown…
*********************************************************
THE RACE
12:00pm – GO! Well, quite easy jog towards the starting mat. Still no pushing… Liking this race already! Seeing Jesper E on my left side. Nice to know 🙂 Passing the mat, starting the watch and the mp3 and starting to run. Not a chance to even guess the pace I am having, turning right and preparing to throw my rain poncho to GET on the right of the path. All fine, got my last cheering-squad smiles and I’m on my own. Following Jesper E for a little while, but guessed it won’t take long before he gets into a faster pace than I plan to have. Thinking to have the 2 first km completed in 4:10-pace and then fight the elements to keep up the pace up to km5. Then if all is going well, try to accelerate towards km10 and see after what is left. Yapp! Sounded like a plan! Running starts in the little wood path, still no pressure and no pushing. A bit careful for the slippery parts I noted during the warmup. Passing the first little wooden bridge (of many during the race…). Got passed around km1 by a bunch of runners which I think started slightly after me. Passed by 2 gals (a blue singlet and a black cap) and right after one with a white singlet (got to her at the end though…). Hmmm… ok. No clue how many gals are already before us, but I am then already 4th in the group here. More running in the wood and we finally reach the asphalt…and the headwind. There it is tricky to run. I have a group of 5-6 runners (including the 2 gals) before me, but they are 20m ahead and I am not too sure I want to follow their rhythm already. Have to make a decision, because the wind is not fun to fight alone. Being in the pack would mean running faster than my plan, but at least I would have a wind-shield. Chose the second option to run on my own and fight the wind by myself. A quick look behind me showed there was no runner close enough to make me slow down and join a pack behind me. OK. Passing km2 in 8:15 or so… Great. A bit faster than planned, but it feels good. Rain pouring. Seeing Jesper E disappearing when we are to turn left and soon after the pack of runner before me…and then me. Quick after a new right turn and we are on the gravel part under the trees, with the sea on the left-side. Nice view indeed. Skipping the first water-station. Focusing on the two guys before me and checking that I am not dropping to much behind the two gals. The two guys before me seem to run together as one is just stepping right in the footsteps of the guy before him. Annoying a bit as the pace is not the one I want. Not daring to pass them that early though. Decide to have patience and run slightly on the side of the second guy instead. This way I keep a full visual on the back of the blue singlet gal. Only a few meters ahead of me. The stretch towards km5 is going like on rail. No check on the watch, just following the two guys and the blue singlet gal. That would do. Trying to adapt to this environment which I am not familiar with. Terrain, I can do. Not good, but ok. But sand?… Feel a bit slippery under the feet, but the pace is fast enough for not needing to bother. No much passing during this time apart from a couple of guys maybe. The gal with a black cap is quite ahead of us, but still in sight. Reaching the cross-roads of km6. Another little bridge to cross. Straight forward on terrain, seeing a goat crossing the road across a few runners in front of me. Funny! Quick check at the watch and I am on time. 4:10/11-tempo. That is fine. Fearing to reach the little hill which pops up on the elevation chart of the course. Have not been able to find a corresponding hill/slope at home, but when turning finally left and seeing the little slope ahead, I think that OK, here is the start. Just take it easy and nice and the rest of it will follow. Seeing the blue singlet gal and the two guys getting a bit further from me, but it does not matter. I have my rhythm and I’ll get back to my former place soon. By the time I have finished to think we turn right and I am looking a bit surprised that there is no hill ahead. No slope. No nothing. Was the scary slope the one we just run up? The one I took “easy on the top of the toes”? Seeing shortly the sign km7 and yes, it confirms what I though. The main difficulty is apparently behind me. The pace has dropped a bit to 4:12 but according to the description of the course, the fast km are soon arriving after km8. The blue singlet gal has passed the black cap gal by now. We are on asphalt since a while and when we turn left to the bike path, it just feels…good! Those long stretches…just what I like! Taking first Dextrosol around km9. Considering quickly what to do then. Accelerate to get the fast km, fast or run mostly moderate and keep strength for the end. Screw the second option, and get the fast km fast, and see what is left after them. Noted that I passed the 10km slightly on 42minutes. OK, could have done faster, but that felt all ok. New dextrosol. The past 2km have just disappeared like magic, and the same for the two gals which I passed during this time. The blue one was quite close so that felt fine. But the black cap one was looking strong in her run. Even better feeling when passing her. First half is done. Lapping it on my watch for checking it later…
Turning left and short after right again. Slightly up. And I try to remember how much longer is left before we see the sea…and here it comes…BREATHTAKING! This view is so wonderful that it is almost annoying to continuing running without stopping and taking it all in! Continuing the run though 🙂 Having a guy right before me that I want to pass, but not sure I will be able to keep on this place (and pace) on the way up (as who says “running down”, says “running up right after”…). Passing him on the way down the cliffs and I take all my focus possible to run up the path towards the next km. Thinking of what this smart ultrarunner told me a few months ago “you get good at what you train for”… And indeed, I have trained those ups & down and this wind and all this. OK, would have been great to try the race route as well, but could not make it really. Happy like h*ll to reach the top without stop, without whining and with actually a large smile on my face. Continuing under light cover and then back to the sea side. The wind is now from the side and slightly behind, coming by waves, which is a very nice push towards the finish line! Passing a swimming place and heading forwards. Trying not to check the watch, but knowing I have dropped in pace. Still looking good, but not super-fast good… On the way to km14 and passing two Iron man guys. Getting some more cheerings when they see it’s a gal is passing them. I answer by a smile and a thanks. I think… Next. Seeing a few Solvikingarna guys running together ahead of me. Good formation. Next goal is to get closer to them. Which is happening sooner than I expect. I must be breathing so crazy heavily, because the fist guy I am passing is actually looking back to look at me. Trying a smile towards him. Unsure it worked. Passing him and a few to go. Down to the harbour and hearing there that there are not that many women ahead of me. Great! Good news of the day. I can feel the blue singlet gal is right behind me, but not dropping on the pace, I continue the best possible on this terrain which I am not to well-trained for. Reaching km15 finally. The same crossroad as km6. Seeing the little bridge I have passed not such long time ago and now heading towards the final km of the race. And as I feared, the blue singlet gal is passing me right then. Fairplay I cheer for her (always fun to give a push to other): Get some cheering back. Trying to hang along, but honestly, cannot do that on this terrain. Another dextrosol (took one at km13 too). Feeling fine, but not like it is a life-or-death race. Nice and easy. Seeing km16-sign and getting closer to a Solviking then. Will hang to his footsteps until the end. The cheering along the route is priceless. Music in the ear is definitely driving the pace. Taking red gel at km18 in order to have time to swallow it before the water station of km18.5. Really thick gel. Loosing a bit of time taking it. But the drinking worked fine. Not enough maybe. But it is now less than 3km to go. Calculations are going in my head. Maximum 15minutes if I am at 5min-tempo. Have actually no idea what pace I am having. Surely the average pace is now closer to a 1:29 than the 1:27. but still. Not yet over the 90minutes… The run in the woods is a killer. Turning right and left and right and left. Feeling like running in the stomach of a snake. Increasing the volume of the music. Focusing on whatever I can. Screw the time now and just don’t let anybody passing me. Seeing a gal with a white singlet on the side of the path about 2km from the arrival. Not looking well, but can hear she starts running right after I passed her. Tunnel-vision? This is an understatement! With the trees all around, the little narrow path we are taking…there is no need to adapt the vision…we are IN a tunnel! And seeing the 20km-mark. The few little wood-bridges have been passed . Without falling…Yoooohoo! The best vision is yet to come, with seeing GET on the left side of the road (thanks for the green rain jacket easy to spot!). Getting extra strengths from them. Soon after hearing and then seeing Jimmy V and more cheering. One more little turn, a few more meters on this stupid grass… Seeing the clock ticking…1:28:56..57..58…PASSING THE FINISH LINE! Stopping my watch. 1:29:01. Done!
Official time: 1:29:00
AFTER THE FINISH LINE
Walking a bit around as the legs never really like to just stop like that after running so well 🙂 Getting my medal. Seeing the large smile of Jesper E and getting a nice sweaty hug. Having a guy helping me to take off the chip attached to my shoelaces. Sitting on a chair. GET finding me and congratulating for my 5th place 🙂 More chat with Jesper who got to the finish line before me in a very decent and fast time. Got a few pics too 🙂 Passing through the tent getting a banana, a little orange drink and a little cardemumma bun (which goes directly to G as I already feel bad smelling it…allergy ain’t that fun!). After the tent, getting more water and spotting fastfeet Robban A who got a new PR! Heading towards the massage tent where I happily see Annette K who kindly help me with my tired calve and little sensitive right Achille’s heel. Meeting Peter S who also run with new PR. Wow…so many fast people there!
Time to get back home. Walking to the shower place, changing and then under a heavy rain getting to the car. Drive home with a short stop for celebration meal at Max (hamburger with extra bacon, French fries and large coke :-)). This was a good day for racing!
*********
Weather: 16.1° Light Rain, Feels like 16.1°, 23 kph WSW wind, 94% humidity – Drizzle almost throughout the race, strong headwind up to km8-9, then sidewind/tailwind on the way back
Food: breakfast (bagel w/honey + tea + banana + green mix/red juice/orange juice) @6:40am / banana +water right after. Sportdrink Lidl orange while showering. Max original menu + fries + coke around 4:30pm
During: power gel apple after warm-up, Dextrosol: 1 @km9-10-11-13-15, red gel @km18 (water @km18.5)
Gear: SOC shorts small trapeze, Casall Iconic black sports bra MIK. Shoes perfect for the run!
Shoes: ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost- Purple (Swifty)
=> hole in the net – right foot 😦
14/ Nice tempo run. Effort-wise, felt all fine throughout. Surely could feel that training of the past weeks in the wind and ups&downs are helping. Not fully pushing during the race. Definitely calculated and well-controlled run. Great feeling, a bit annoyed to have missed a few seconds to get under 1:29, but all in all, a great long run at tempo pace in foreign elements!
******
A few “after-race thoughts”
NOTE: Second sub90 on training-race. Really want to have this done during training too…
NOTE: Had asked Jesper E to fix some nice weather and not too much wind…Turned out to be quite ok weather for running. OK, the headwind of the first half was not fun, but not crazy strong as the one I have had during a few workouts in the past weeks at home. The rain was not a problem neither. More like drizzle. The heavens just got crazy after the race with really heavy rain on the way back home… Outfit was perfect for the race 🙂
NOTE: Time and place? Well, both were as planned. But feels a bit annoying to have missed a few seconds for 1:28:xx and the gal before arrived 1min 11sec ahead of me. Cannot understand the pace dropped that much in the last 2km. My explanation is that it was mostly due to the snake-like path not really making it easy for increasing the pace…
NOTE: Definitely a great training-race. Enjoyed it from start to end. Meeting friends before and after was the cherry on the cake! (and a personal cheering-squad on site is always great to have!)
NOTE: Warmup? For once (I think?), I felt really satisfied with my warmup. Maybe could have added a few accelerations or so, but overall, good. Could definitely start at the pace I wanted from start. Not feeling anything from the right calf at all 🙂
NOTE: Drinking & energy during the race? Drinking was as usual close to in-existent. Tried to grab a papper mug with water 3 times. And got a few glups in the throat twice. Dextrosol was probably not needed, but it helped concentrating on something else than the wind, the competition ahead of me, the drizzle, the cliffs… Could have skipped it fully.
NOTE: crazy stressed stomach starting 2 hours after the race and rest of the day. Unsure what has gone wrong, but very happy it did not impact on the race.
NOTE: the start of the race was exactly the way I like. Calm and easy. Despite starting with the elites and crazy fast runners. No pushing, no pressure. Did not feel it, not even in the woods of the first km when the path was pretty narrow and tricky to pass people. Very well-behaved runners there!
Definitely a well-arranged race, a very nice route to run on and despite the wind and the rain, somewhere I can absolutely consider running again!
Race Report – Göteborgsvarvet 2016/05/21
Happy finisher
Planned: sub90. Hopefully closer to 87, more likely 88. Training-race.
Actual: 1:29:44 – PB on this route 🙂 17 seconds faster than last time. A fall at start, a well-executed first 5km, a slow mara-pace following 5km and a little “bored” rest of the race. Kept on the plan for not arriving last at Swedish Championships though…
Adequate weather conditions with sunshine and a bit of (annoying) wind. Not really pushing throughout the race, a bit unsure why. But so it was. Kept on hoping for a sub90 and dropped the hope around km18 and got it back when seeing km20-mark indicating 1:25:07. And made it under the bar! Happy!…and ready for the second half…
Place: 26 Swedish half-marathon Championships, 78 – all women 🙂 / 10 age category / 1467 all runners 🙂
Splits (official – Swedish championships place)
| Split | Time of day | Time | Diff | Min/km | Km/h | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5km | 13:20:53 | 00:20:53 | 20:53 | 04:11 | 14.36 | 29 |
| 10km | 13:41:44 | 00:41:43 | 20:50 | 04:11 | 14.39 | 28 |
| 15km | 14:03:13 | 01:03:12 | 21:29 | 04:18 | 13.96 | 26 |
| 20km | 14:25:08 | 01:25:07 | 21:55 | 04:23 | 13.69 | 26 |
| Finish | 14:29:45 | 01:29:44 | 04:37 | 04:13 | 14.26 | 26 |
Totals
| Swedish Championships | 26 |
| Place | 78 |
| Place (age) | 10 |
| Place (total) | 1467 |
| Time total | 01:29:44 |
| Average pace | 04.15 min/km |
**********************************************************
BEFORE THE RACE
Awaken at 6:30am. No longer tired. Waited a little bit before jumping into running gear and head out for a very short and slow jog for waking up the legs. Quick stop for buying 2 bottles of Powerade and then home again. Nothing special really to be done. Felt like preparing for a long run. Breakfast taken at 8:45am – chia seeds, soy milk, banana and honey on the top, glass of orange juice and a tea. And then…wait…and more wait… at least for long run or early-start races I would have eaten my breakfast in the middle of the night and got back to bed. Spent time watching tv instead. And checking 20 times or so whether my race gear were ready or not… Outfit for today will be ADIDAS Supernova Blue line shorts, Casall Iconic black sports bra MIK, calve sleeves Compressports, sunglasses and on the feet, the superfast ADIDAS Adizero Adios Boost – Purple (Quicky). Their first race 🙂
11:15am – time to get ready. On with the gear. Pin the BIB on the sports bra. Final kiss before leaving and hop to the street. Met Henrik S not long from home. He preferred to walk to the start so I started to jog easily to the start. Not many people out there compared to 2 years ago (where the weather was very sunny already and hot). Today it was fair and nice. Humidity could be felt almost. Cloud cover was not helping. Reaching the start and checking the IK Jogg-meeting point. Quick chat with Peter-Jogg and then the tent for meeting colleagues. As the grass was wet, the shoes and socks got humid as well. Good to have 2 extra pairs…just in case… Chat with Henrik S finally arrived. Large smile from Patrik B getting ready as well.
12:30pm – off with the extra clothes and time for final pitstop and short warmup. The woods around the tents were not much of empty places… Did a quick back and forth jog and then headed towards the start area. Lots of people there. Checking out the gals running with yellow BIB and a Swedish flag (i.e. they were to run the Swedish Half-marathon Championships with me). Ran with my Powerade bottle and little leftover in it. Back and forth and back and forth. Not much place to warm-up really. Tried a few accelerations, but not very successful. Felt a bit lost with all the people around actually.
12:45pm – start getting ready to the start line. Drank the rest of the Powerade. Ate a sugar stuff Isostar. Noticing that lots of runners are already very quiet….when others are talking about their weekend like the race ahead is a walk-in-the-park-like…
12:55pm – “Back one more meter” says the official for the third time. Not many want to go back. Have lost my spot on the second line when a tall Swede set himself right before me…and his two buddies arrived and pressed themselves right close to him…So much for the chivalry-manners… 😛
12:58pm – more pressure from all around. Counting down. Cannot really hear anything any longer. Just staring at the guy with a gun and barely hearing the countdown…
**********************************************************
THE RACE
1:00pm – BAM! The start is given. The feeling of being wild horses leaving finally the corral is definitely there. No pushing but having this human wave transporting you. Pressing the start button on my watch. Starting to run. And out of nowhere I see two male runners falling already on my right. Cannot see much of it before realizing that two small elite-women have also fallen badly in front of me. I can jump above one but that would have meant setting my foot on the second one who was right before me. Loosing my balance. Feeling the pressure of the wave moving forward. Falling and seriously fearing for my life for a short while. Bam! On the hard asphalt. Got back on my feet thanks to runners behind me (thanks whoever helped me there). Seeing Lona on my right on her way to fall. Seriously?!?!? What is happening. Everything went so fast and so slow at the same time. I check my watch and I am already on my feet. 70 meters done… Being passed by a brilliant smile and cheering from MIK Christopher. Tried to smile. Nothing is making sense in my head. Feeling tears coming close to the eyes. But strangely I am already turning left. Should I really run this? Feeling that a bad start cannot really make a good race. Well, a bad start cannot make anything good. Seeing Karin S from IF Kville ahead of me. Then a few elite gals from Stockholm. And we are at the first right turn. I am actually running. No tear made its way to the eyes. Good. Still having very confused thoughts during the first km. Cannot really understand where I am, just that my feet are running. My plan was to take it easy up to the exit of Slottskogen at 4:10-tempo. Thereafter if I could reach the bottom of the bridge around km4 at average pace of 4:06, that would be great. Then a slow up the bridge and then catch up progressively to an easy 4:06 by the foot of the second bridge. Well-thought plan for reaching the arrival under 90 minutes and close to 87. But I am now running up to Plikta. Passed by a light-and-fast-feet Lona. Smart move of her to pass on the extreme left. Passed by MIK-Jon. Nice smile again. OK, I am (almost) back on track. Running down to km2 goes like on rail. Counting down already: 19km to go… Passed by IF Linnea Staffan S somewhere there. So nice once again with a cheering and a kind smile. Sälsdammsbacken has started already. For once I decided to run on the right side….as everybody seems to believe there are faster than light and always push and press on the left side. And indeed…the right side is pretty nice to run. Apart from the guys distributing Kex choklad and really killing my rhythm. A bit slower than planned to reach the top, but feeling that it disappeared quite fast anyway. Downhill now. Passing the penguins with average pace 4:11. All according to plan. Apart from the original fall at the start… And now it is just down. Almost fell on the right turn to the street as a giant runner just pass me on the left and not-so-kindly set himself RIGHT in front of me…while turning. OK, I get a sorry and be careful. But I was NOT really in the mood for thanking him! Straight line now. Just rolling down. Feeling a bit warm. The head needs a bit of cooling as the mind is still a bit confused by the fall and not really focused. Mariaplan. All fine. Feeling warm, but ok. Reaching close to km4 and MIK-Magnus is here for cheering. Yoooohoooo! I think I might have smiled! Taking 2 dextrosol here. Not sure they are needed though. Checking the pace on my watch and it is indicating a nice and steady 4:06. Hmmmm… ok. Nice! Pressing “lap” at 4.3km in order to check who is the faster on this distance: G or me (as he has started running Cityvarvet – 4.3km – at 1pm as well). Glass of water taken and thrown on the head. Forgetting to get some in the mouth. The first up to km5 feels fine. Then a little tougher as it becomes steeper. But soon is the bridge. Km5 is passed slightly under 21 minutes. All according to plan. Now the bridge. We are about 4-5 gals running up…and I am the last one of them. But that feels ok. Looking on the right and seeing the other bridge…far away…just want to be THERE…NOW! Reaching the top of the bridge and passing 2 gals. On the downhill it feels good. I accelerate as planned. Not crazily fast, but enough to be sub4. Turn right and then straight line. THERE IT STARTED. The slowing down. Cannot understand it always happen during Göteborgsvarvet. I reach the water-station. Quick mouth-rinsing with sport drink and water on the head. Turning left and straight to Eriksberg. Yiiiippi! I saw the km7-mark (I always miss it…). Wow! 4:2x-pace has been reached now. I know that the satellites are a bit odd on this part with the buildings, but I should absolutely not be THAT slow. And no Per M to be seen for cheering and pushing me further. Feel extremely lonely there. The group of gals are ahead of me. Passing the banana station. Not even funny. Turning right and reaching the shadow of the parallel street. Slight up and crazily slow. Trying to keep up with the few gals that have caught up with me. I don’t like this. Trying to find positive thoughts. Intervals ran with Christer B and MIK-Christopher T. THAT was fun. Ok, turning right already and back to the sunny side. And the concrete water-side. Passing the sculpture and running on the straight line of Sannegården feels fine. I know I am slow. Not even sure I am at marathon-pace (although the watch tells this to me). “Come on Girl” is one of the cheering that helps the most at this moment. And hearing my name. Turning and seeing a brilliant smile from Markus R from work. Nice! Cannot really let the gal ahead of me running alone, right? Accelerating a little bit and soon reaching the 10km-mark. Under 42minutes. OK, but way slower than planned. I should be closer to 40 than to 42 I thought. Turning right and getting to the cobblestones. First half is done! At last! Only one half left to go!
Passing along Ericsson. Quite empty this year. Running a little behind the gal with pink sports-bra. Trying to keep up. No. Not trying. I AM keeping up. The wind we are having on this side of the bridge is killing me. Not the strongest. But enough to bother. WHO said we would have tailwind here?!?!? More running and missing the km11 and km12-signs (unsure there were any). 2 dextrosol for keeping me awaken. Dry in the mouth. But it feels ok. Passing another gal and the pink sport-bra one is now behind me. Reaching SVT-house and it feels too warm for being ok. Need to chill out. Where is the water station? Passing it actually as there was a bit of crowd there. Aaaaaand I got passed by the light-and-fast gal with pink sport bra. Again… Average pace has dropped to 4:14 by now. Completely off the plan of reaching the second bridge in 4:06…which I know is possible as I have done it in other half-marathons. Sub90 starts to feel a bit of an utopia by now. So I take precious seconds for passing under the arch for a photo and some high-fives. And back to the bridge. 😦 If only it could become flatter by the time all the runners ahead of me have run on it. That would be great. Have lost the gal with pink sports-bra. Not ahead of me. And when I thought I would start walking a bit, I hear my name. Turning left and seeing the large smile of Christer B. So kind to give cheering on his way up. Hopefully I answered something nice back as well. Looking at his way up, I just want his legs! They are just light and fast and eat probably bridges for breakfast every morning! All good. I calculate that if he makes it in 1:27 I would be above 90minutes. But the way he runs makes me think that the fastest plan is on its way! Happy! Caught up by the gal with pink sport-bra on the top of the bridge. Noticing now that she has music in her ears. I WANT MUSIC IN MY EARS TOO! I know it helps crazily much! Running down and around the foot of the bridge. Passing the first tables of water and getting one paper mug and all on the head again. There she comes again. Passes me and will never let me pass her again. Running slow now. Well, don’t finding the motivation to run faster as sub90 is soon out of reach. So it felt as good to just “finish” and keep some strengths for more run later in the day or the day after. The weird thing is that there are strengths left. I just don’t want to use them. Looking right and left. Reaching Kopparmera and seeing the large smile from Sandrine B. Yooooohooo! Nice again. More motivation. Sub90 ain’t lost until I said so (well, or until I drop the pace even more…). The way up to Poseidon statue feels fine. I am running on the side or close to another IF Linnea chick. She makes it looks easy and light with a poney-tail and long hair moving from left to right all the time. Seeing Lona on her way down and soon turning. Got passed by Henrik S and more cheering. Focus on the way up. Hearing my name once more. Unsure who but I turn and smile and wave. Now the turning point is almost there. Catching a large smile in the crowd and one more cheering in Jay P 🙂 Wow! That IS cool to have so many cheering on the way up. One glass of water taken. Two sponges taken and the way down is now reached. 4.3km to go. Nothing. G has run that earlier. And my cheering-squad should be waiting at the planned spot for me to pass within 1:15/18. Cannot let them down really. Once again feeling that Vasagatan is the most boring place on Earth for running, but knowing they are waiting after it give some strengths. Skipping the water. Just want to see them. Taking off the neckwarmer from my hair and throwing it to them. So nice with their warm smiles. Now it is time to run a bit faster. Forget the sub4 as it was planned. Just get to the end. Not too much above 90minutes. That should work. Final stretch before the bridge. Cheering from Solvikingen Stefan 🙂 And the bridge. Which I take…on the top of the toes! And it works. I knew I was not running out of strengths. Far from it. And down to km20. Seeing the clock indicating 1:25:xx right when I pass it. This tired brain of mine is calculating quickly that running the last 1.1km in 5min would give right on 90minutes. I can better than that. Seeing the IF Linnea poney-tail gal probably seeing the same clock as she is accelerating as well. Passing people there. Always feel so good. Now Villa Belparc. And hearing not much from the crowd. Just focused on finishing this. Little slope at the end. 500m to go. Reaching the gravel part. 300M to go. Don’t know how I got into the stadium, but I am in it. Quick check on the watch and I should make it. Seeing Solviking Hanna passing me in her final sprint. I am fine with pushing slightly to get under 90 minutes. By 16 seconds. Mission accomplished!
Official time: 1:29:44
AFTER THE FINISH LINE
Got water sprayed on my face. Meeting Henrik S. More smiles from IF Linnéa group. Hugs to Lona and Stefan. Congratulating to great times. Walking slowly to the end. Got hug from Christian L from jogg. More smiling! Off with the stupid scrath-band with the chip. Which once again got me a nice burn mark on the ankle. Starting to feel again the pain from the fall at the start of the race. It was gone during the first 5km and felt a bit in the downhill from the first bridge…and remains throughout the race. Nothing stopping the running. But annoying enough to wonder what is going one. Getting my medal. Grabbing a banana and chocolate cookie. Glass of sport drink. Chat with Henrik S to get back to the tent. Crossing over the human wave. At the tent, meeting a large smile from Patrik B who ran in indecently 1:14 (!!!). My cheering squad has also reached the tent. Perfect. Off with the wet clothes. On with dry ones. A short massage. A hot-dog. And walk back home.
Weather: 12.8°, Feels like 12.8°, 14 kph S wind, 82% humidity – probably 12/13ºC at start. But at the arrival it felt much warmer. 15/16º? Windy on Hisingen side. Humidity? Definitely!
Food: chia seeds+soy milk+banana+orange juice+tea @9-ish/
water/powerade: 2dl every 30min (alternate)
During: 2dextrosol @km4 and 12
Right after: banana, 1 full glass of ISOstar. In the tent: 1 hot dog. Later dinner: chicken legs & curry potatoes in oven
=> should have drunk more water after the race
Gear: ADIDAS Supernova Blue line shorts, Casall Iconic black sports bra MIK, calve sleeves Compressports, super fast ADIDAS Adizero Adios boost Purple (Quicky).
15/ Effort-wise, it did not feel sky-high. Falling at start made the first 5-600m feeling like being in a parallel world with plenty of foolish people running away from something… Just hanging along! Up to the bridge was moderate effort, and then it just felt like drifting and reaching a nice steady marathon pace. Tough up the second bridge was probably to 16, but then down afterwards was all fine. For sure the climbing of the second bridge was not easy, but at the pace I was having, there was no real effort done. No pushing for going faster. Not really tired at the end. Not even by the sprint in the stadium (a bit unsure I even sprinted there… According to the watch the final stretch in the stadium was fast 🙂 ). Quite OK-race. Really disappointed that it did not go faster, but considering the bad start, it might have impacted on the rest of the race. No excuse here. Just trying to figure out how the first half of most of my latest marathons are always faster than this stupid race… OK. Sub90. Mission accomplished. Could definitely not say I pushed hard on this one. No need to run this race any more!
******
A few “after-race thoughts”
NOTE: Still have to get this done sub90 on training. Any volunteer? 🙂
NOTE: weather conditions were not optimal, but not too bad. Should have stopped throwing water on my head after km10 as when reaching Aveny and km17/18 my shorts were heavy wet and that was not comfortable to run in!
NOTE: Official results… Hmmm… Placed 93 (total women) after the race. After a check at the results, found out at least 15 results which were run by a guy instead of a woman. Dropping my place to 78. Surely nice, but hey! Stop doing this. That ain’t fun. Run under your own name or change with a guy. OR do not run that fast and get in the Top 100. This means disqualification right away.
NOTE: Official results… Hmmm(2)… got into the categor D55 (women 55). Hey! Changing age the day after the race does not make me THAT old (yet)… Changed the day after (as the age category was apparently incorrect for many)
NOTE: a good training-race. Enjoying fully the sub90 of my own as well as the other fabulous subs from friends 🙂
NOTE: warmup? Felt quite ok actually. The jogg to the start and the few back&forth and accelerations were ok. For starting at a decent and almost race-pace.
NOTE: drinking & energy during the race? Well the drinking was inexistent. Mouth-rinsing worked better. Dextrosol were a bit overcourse actually. Could have run without.
NOTE: falling at the start was not a great experience. Have to work on this (i.e. not the falling, but the starting with crazy adrenaline/testosterone filled runners…).
Just Running Around... 
