Two Oceans half marathon 2008 - bad race turned into a long run

Due to my illnesses a month ago I have decided not to do Ironman South Africa 2008 but I definitely did not want to miss Two Oceans marathon. I have ran Two Oceans half marathon in 2005 in 1:22 and next year, one month after my first Ironman (Ironman South Africa), I ran the full Two Oceans marathon in 4:33. I have enjoyed both races very much and I still have the 2006 race number on the wall of my living room back home - for me it is as important as any Ironman I have done even though I did not take it as seriously. I was sorry I did not run it in 2007 and this is why I really did not want to miss it this year. I really love this race and wanted to be part of it, its energy, vibe, atmosphere.

However it was not a fun race for me. I knew one week ahead I will not do well as my running form was (and still is) a disaster. I have done 1:18 half marathon as one of the first runs this season and I should have been able to do 1:16-17 in this part of the season (maybe around 1:19 on a hilly course like Two Oceans) but due to my illness I knew I might end up far from these results.

I was feeling horrible in the warmup and than immediately during the first few kays I was going ok, around 4min/km (it is mostly uphill), but I was still feeling super slow. I did not have that bounce, that power and strength, the fluid stride. Every step seemed slow and lazy and as if I was glued to the surface. I could not “fly”, i was just struggling to get as much airtime I could in my running stride but it was not happening. My heart rate started as normal high but just kept dropping.

I passed the 10km marker just bellow 40mins but I felt as if I was running the last 10km or a 100km race. I was not tired from speed, I felt deep exhaustion. My heart rate was already bellow 180bpm. Just for reference at the start of this season, at Amsterdam marathon average heart rate was 182bpm and my time was 2:51. So running a half marathon at bellow marathon pace (especially such a hilly race which should have a higher heart rate) was a disaster.

Than I decided to quit chasing (as if I had any choice) and turn the run into a long run. I continued to feel worst and worst but at least I was not trying to fight it. I did not go hard downhill as I was scared about my knees a bit (I got a new bike with 172.5mm cranks - bigger for me - and my knee injury acted a bit during the week). I met an Ironman athlete some 2km before the finish and tried to follow but I just did not feel like accelerating, I was super lazy and tired. I just admitted to him: “I do not feel like it.”

I finished in 1:29 almost jogging to the finish (playing with my nose actually). It is a very slow result for me but basically it is still good training as I would probably never ran this hard on my own.

Inspite of not setting any world records I am super happy and grateful that I had another chance to be part of such an awesome event. One day I might even run it at 2 hours and I will probably enjoy it even more.

As for my running form, I hope it will be back in a week or two. I only started getting back into serious training recently, this being one of my introduction weeks. However I am super happy my two other disciplines.

On Friday before the race I swam 1900m harder in a wetsuits in Seapoint Pavillion and I set my new record of 28:20. This means that in July I should be able to swim around 57min on 3800m (pool actually makes me slower as I do not thumble turn)

Also on Sunday after the race I had one of the strongest “easy” bike rides: I did 3 hours at 170watt and 152bpm average. 170watt (190watt on hills) was my Ironman pace in 2007 and 140-160watt was my easy training pace and I cycled 5:27 in Challenge Roth. This season, so early as well, I am cycling at 170watt average on easy rides (it means that many times I actually go above 190/200watt) so there is chance I meet my goal and cycle average of 200watt in an Ironman race.

So with ups and downs, my training is surely interesting this year. Each challenge is a new lesson and I try to learn as much as I can from it. Running a 1:29 21.1km certainly makes me more humble and appreciative of my good fitness and health. Training goes on. I only started.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 11:13 am and is filed under 2008, 21.1km, 56km, Cape Town, Ironman South Africa, Two Ocenas half marathon, Two Ocenas half marathon 2008, Two Ocenas marathon, Two Ocenas marathon 2008, Westen Province, cycling, goals, half marathon, motivation, power, race, racing, running, running race, swimming, trainig, triathlon, ultramarathon, watt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.