ACTVAC Half Marathon ~ The Story!

  Maybe 'virtual reality'. True 'Reality' was difficult for the first 5km running beside LBG which, like the rest of early morning Canberra, was completey enveloped by a heavy fog.  I've never run in such a fog and the front runners were out of sight almost immediately. Different, and one step further to the right disaster waited!  I could have made headlines in the news :  "Elderly female runner disapppears in heavy fog - last seen falling into LBG!"

The Lake is on my right....somewhere!

The start was from Stage 88, Commonwealth Park, 8:00am.  I drove to Canberra late Saturday afternoon and stayed at the Mercure...as close to the start/finish as I could get. 

Breakfast at 6:00am....2 baked potatoes and 1 hard boiled egg!  This works like magic and I've found it to be a super energy meal before a long run, usually hot, but pre-cooked at home this time and had to be eaten cold as there were no facilities in the room for heating food.


Even having 'Tom Tom' in the car, before I threw him to the floor cursing and swearing in frustration, I managed to use up some of my warm-up time going round in circles on the way to Stage 88!  Plenty of time, however, for registering, some easy running, a few drills and strides and a small sports drink.

I really love this course : first 5km in the fog was fun; through the cool, shady pine forests, beautiful scenery all the way and I felt terrific, mostly running as I felt, but with half an eye on the Garmin to make sure I kept the pace I wanted in order to finish with a nudge at my 2010 record time of 2:17:12 and 2011 time of 2:20:27.

Finishing!

 At 10km I started to eat pieces of an energy bar, thereby committing the gravest of all sins : eating something that had not been previously tried in training....and I paid for it...big time!  Nausea followed by vomiting for all of the next 3km!  I thought the energy bar would be good because it had "used by Cadel Evans" printed on it!  As an old bushie living here said to me one day when he came across me running in atrocious windy conditions :  "...the older you're getting, the sillier you're getting!"  Truer words were never spoken!

I repeated this throwing-up performance for the benefit of runners who passed me, on and off for the next 3km.  Each one stopped to see if they could be of assistance and told me to walk, not run.  Strangely though, after each bout of vomiting I was able to get back into top gear and proceeded to thunder past the very runners who had passed me!  It was embarrassing really to keep passing them, as I thought they'd think I was playing some psychological game aimed at destroying their morale!  Sick one minute,  pale and wan on the side of the road and the next minute to go flying past, repeated over and over!

With the seventy-fivers!

I wasn't at my best from 10km to the finish but just the same I ran and ran all round the dam, uphill, through the pine trees and downhill as fast as I could go to finish very close to my 2010 time.  Here are the details......

Time :  2:18:42 (Garmin)

...2010 ~ 2:17.25;    2011 ~ 2:20.27
 and Canberra HM in May 2012  ~  2:24:48

5km splits....32:48/6:34m/k;     32:39/6:32m/k;    33:48/6:46m/k;     33:59/6:48m/k.....pretty even!
Avg. Pace 6:40m/k.

Truthfully and secretly, I thought I was brilliant!

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Drove home after presentations and meeting up with Ewen, Ruth and others.  Stopped at McD in Exeter for a cheese burger and fries....I was travelling on empty and fully recovered!

And now....what's ahead?  Well, after some thought I know I need a change from half marathon training : 18 weeks lead up to HM in May and another 18 weeks same program for Sunday's HM.

So....I've decided to try the FIRST 5km training program for the next 12 weeks with the thought in mind of maybe doing a 5km track race when the ACTVAC track season gets under way.  This should be fun doing something not tried before and I'm already eager to start the program next week.  In the meantime....some walking and reading to catch up on.

With 85 year old Rad.