The Gibson's Gallop
I have been so busy I regret to say I have been neglecting my Blog. Probably in part because of the huge number of e-mails that I’ve sending pre and post the Gibson’s half marathon race on Sunday. http://www.foolsrun.com/
Once I suggested the Gibson’s race as a tuning tool for the Vancouver Marathon I felt somewhat duty bound to make sure we had adequate travel arrangements for everyone. In the end at least a dozen people from the marathon clinic made the trek to the Sunshine Coast.
My strategy on Sunday was to run the Gibson's half as if it was the first half of my Vancouver Marathon. And this was my first race using my new Polar S625X (more about that later). I have, many thanks to Michael Loehr for his technical expertise, been able to post the graph of the race (and Michael’s) showing my heart rate, pace, and the topography of the course.
As you can see I did not get my heart rate up to 160 (see chart) for a good half hour. I then tried to stay at 162-164 for the rest of the way. The fluctuations you see almost perfectly mimic the topography of the course, so I am quite pleased with my pacing. I am less pleased with the lack of discipline on the hills, as I spiked to 172 a few times.
My finishing time was 1:44 (I forgot to turn off my Polar after the race until Michael reminded me) and I felt I could stay very close to that pace for another 13K. Usually in my marathons I go 164-168 from the halfway point on and do the last few K at 168-172 (it was very hard to let some people pass, and VERY hard to let Rachel go).
Michael shot out of the barn from the start line and disappeared. We never saw him again. Look at his heart rate! And check out those hills! He ran a 41:00 10K! A personal best for him. Not too bad for his FIRST HALF MARATHON!
Rachel and I also went out a little quick, but my heart rate was fine and we covered the first 10K in 44:14. This was a personal best 10K for Rachel! She was running so well that I urged her to take off and leave me in the rain, and she took off at about seven miles. And kept going! Rachel finished in 1:39 and was fourth in her division. Almost a podium position! She was incredibly strong and easily could have shaved another three or four minutes off of her time, possibly more.
Justin and Ron ran strong marathon pace half marathons, which bodes well for Vancouver, both around 1:50. Warren and Kirsten had comfortable, easy training runs and breezed in around 1:56 and 2:00 respectively. Laura came in at around 1:56 and looked very comfortable at the end, and with excellent running form. Carmen came in around 2:00 and looked great. She had on a fresh coat of lipstick in two minutes and looked, FABULOUS!
Now for some real speedsters. Jerry Kroll ran an amazing 1:25 and finished first in his Division. And Steve and Noah and Abraham, WOW!, what can you say. Abraham won the overall race in 1:10. Also the fifteen-year-old teenager from Gibson's, who ran in 1:25, looked amazingly fresh at the Buffet. As Ron said, he probably had a soccer practice later in the afternoon!
The weather was awful but the people and volunteers were great. The temperature went from freezing cold in the rain (about 4 degrees), to far too hot for the way most of us were dressed by midway (about 14 degrees). I wanted to ditch my hat AND my rain jacket at the halfway point!
Immediately after the race we took some group photos and Rachel remarked that the perfect way to end the race would be with a drink. Or at least to have something with which to dress up our cups of coffee. This suggestion was met with hearty approval by all within earshot. Off in search of a liquor store we went.
At the after-race Buffet a small group of us polished of two bottles of Bailey’s Irish Cream and Michael, ever true to his Germanic roots, brown-bagged a couple of beers.
It was a great run and a good time was had by all.
Once I suggested the Gibson’s race as a tuning tool for the Vancouver Marathon I felt somewhat duty bound to make sure we had adequate travel arrangements for everyone. In the end at least a dozen people from the marathon clinic made the trek to the Sunshine Coast.
My strategy on Sunday was to run the Gibson's half as if it was the first half of my Vancouver Marathon. And this was my first race using my new Polar S625X (more about that later). I have, many thanks to Michael Loehr for his technical expertise, been able to post the graph of the race (and Michael’s) showing my heart rate, pace, and the topography of the course.
As you can see I did not get my heart rate up to 160 (see chart) for a good half hour. I then tried to stay at 162-164 for the rest of the way. The fluctuations you see almost perfectly mimic the topography of the course, so I am quite pleased with my pacing. I am less pleased with the lack of discipline on the hills, as I spiked to 172 a few times.
My finishing time was 1:44 (I forgot to turn off my Polar after the race until Michael reminded me) and I felt I could stay very close to that pace for another 13K. Usually in my marathons I go 164-168 from the halfway point on and do the last few K at 168-172 (it was very hard to let some people pass, and VERY hard to let Rachel go).
Michael shot out of the barn from the start line and disappeared. We never saw him again. Look at his heart rate! And check out those hills! He ran a 41:00 10K! A personal best for him. Not too bad for his FIRST HALF MARATHON!
Rachel and I also went out a little quick, but my heart rate was fine and we covered the first 10K in 44:14. This was a personal best 10K for Rachel! She was running so well that I urged her to take off and leave me in the rain, and she took off at about seven miles. And kept going! Rachel finished in 1:39 and was fourth in her division. Almost a podium position! She was incredibly strong and easily could have shaved another three or four minutes off of her time, possibly more.
Justin and Ron ran strong marathon pace half marathons, which bodes well for Vancouver, both around 1:50. Warren and Kirsten had comfortable, easy training runs and breezed in around 1:56 and 2:00 respectively. Laura came in at around 1:56 and looked very comfortable at the end, and with excellent running form. Carmen came in around 2:00 and looked great. She had on a fresh coat of lipstick in two minutes and looked, FABULOUS!
Now for some real speedsters. Jerry Kroll ran an amazing 1:25 and finished first in his Division. And Steve and Noah and Abraham, WOW!, what can you say. Abraham won the overall race in 1:10. Also the fifteen-year-old teenager from Gibson's, who ran in 1:25, looked amazingly fresh at the Buffet. As Ron said, he probably had a soccer practice later in the afternoon!
The weather was awful but the people and volunteers were great. The temperature went from freezing cold in the rain (about 4 degrees), to far too hot for the way most of us were dressed by midway (about 14 degrees). I wanted to ditch my hat AND my rain jacket at the halfway point!
Immediately after the race we took some group photos and Rachel remarked that the perfect way to end the race would be with a drink. Or at least to have something with which to dress up our cups of coffee. This suggestion was met with hearty approval by all within earshot. Off in search of a liquor store we went.
At the after-race Buffet a small group of us polished of two bottles of Bailey’s Irish Cream and Michael, ever true to his Germanic roots, brown-bagged a couple of beers.
It was a great run and a good time was had by all.
posted by Vince Hemingson at 10:30 AM
2 Comments:
Good work to you all.
My question is: If Michael beat Vince by 9 to 10 minutes in the half, can he stretch that to 12 minutes or better in the marathon... and win the wine?
Vince, using the predictor at :
http://www.marathonguide.com/fitnesscalcs/predictcalc.cfm
You have the 3:45. but you don't have the wine unless Michael crashes.
Michael how do you feel? Can you do it again in 4 weeks or are you like those who do it and die for months?
The real question is should I bet on you?
Inquiring minds want to know?
Interesting... does Vince really see his chances shrinking?
Well, I have to admit that I'm more than impressed with Vince's performance! He said he was going to go for 1:45 and he did a 1:44!!!
On a course that should actually be investigated by 'Amnesty International'...and, man, did Vince look fresh after the race :-)
Hehehehe...just deleted a couple of paragraphs where I was trying to analyze the race and why I think things turned out the way they did and how that would help me to predict Vince's and my performance for the marathon. But now I'm thinking it would be much more fun if I just said:
"Seymour, get rid of FEAR, DOUBT and DISBELIEF....BoB"
Gotta go and buy some M&M's ...
:-)
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