Back when I registered for this race, it was just another 'feather in the cap' for a 21km race for 2013. However, as the time nears, I was certain that I was under-prepared. This is because my last "above 10km" run was the Penang Series #2 on 7th July, and only have had one 10km run and four 5km runs since then.
Therefore, I gave myself a modest target of 2hrs 45mins to complete the race, but what turned out was a great run. The only sad thing is that it's short of the complete HM distance by 500metres, therefore I cannot claim a new PB.
In short, I completed 20.62km in 2hrs 27mins 13 secs. Which in terms of pace, it's a 7.08min/km compared to my 7.30min/km and above pace for my other four HMs. Nevertheless, I will still maintain my old PB for now.
The Start
I arrived Setia Alam Convention Centre at 5:45am to have the race commence at 6:15am. First place to head to is the surau for Subuh prayers. Had to wait for the first batch to complete their prayers as the surau was full. Made it to the starting line at 6:10am.
There were about 1,700 runners for the HM. As usual, I decided to start somewhere at the back of the pack. I was so sure that my body is not ready for the HM that I walked, skipped (if I had a basket of flower petals, I'd be tossing them to my sides) and jogged as if I was trying to keep my feet dry from a wet floor.
I kept my heart rate between 158-162bpm during my first 5km on purpose to save energy. I took my first energy gel, a Chocolate x1 PowerGel after the 2nd water station. I always seem to favor the thickness of this
flavor for my first energy consumption.
The Middle
In my previous HMs, I've came to a conclusion that to do a sub 2:30, all I needed to do was to maintain a 7km every 50mins. As I knew that my km's have been above 7km, I didn't care much for this until my endomondo told me that my time was 49mins at 7th km. Hey, that's not so much of a speed being under prepared. I was on track. So, I decided to find a pacer to follow.
I found an uncle in yellow, he was too fast that I felt I wanted to do a walk break quite early. In short, I settled for a friends couple. They were doing a steady 7min/km and chit-chatting. So, from 7th km till 12thkm, I didn't stop (except for water) and I was quite pleased at that. I would have gone for walk-run tactic after the 6th km if it was any other race (even the 16km Mizuno Wave!). At the 3rd water station, I downed a x2 caffeine PowerGel. That's it. Two gels for 21km. I wonder how many I would need for an FM.
After the 12th km, the guy of the couple went ahead, and the lady of the couple started to slow down. I took a photo of her right before I passed her by. Incidentally, the other lady at the front ended up being another pacer in the near future. We'll call her "pink right-leg girl".
After I passed the lady on the right (in the photo), I followed two dudes in blue but soon enough they slowed down. Then I followed another uncle, and he too started to slow down. I saw a guy ran in the opposite directly to have the pink right-leg girl hold his hands and they sped off. I continued another 2km following a bald older man till the man slowed down and I arrived at the couple of the pink right-leg girl and her bf.
At 14th km, the time was 1hr 39mins. That's keeping to my 7km/50mins which translate to 21km = 2:30 so I saw that suddenly I was on target to complete a sub 2:30. But easier said than done since I always faced cramps at my 18th km onwards.
The Finishing
At about the 18th km, my pacer broke off, with the guy going in front and the girl got left behind and I ran passed her trying to follow in the steps of the guy. By the 19th km, he turned back, I guess to get back to his girlfriend and lo and behold, in front of me I saw the one-armed guy who I was running alongside throughout most of my Mizuno Wave. While I passed him during the last 200m of the Mizuno Wave, I lost sight of him in the last km when he sped off.
The route turned into the park of Setia Alam mall and the finishing was on the grassy path. The time on the clock stated 1:29:?? when I crossed and I was elated! Except, I knew, it wasn't 21km yet. It's ok.
Every improvement, no matter how slight, is still an improvement.
Summary
I didn't arrive at any cramping symptom until I finished the race. Previous attack and a full cramp hit me at 18th or 19th km. So I guess I did something right. The only NEW THING I introduced to myself in this race is the breathing technique I started to use during Ramadhan. To take three steps to inhale, and two steps to exhale. Previously, it was two steps inhale and a looong continuous exhale in a few steps. I guess the higher intake of oxygen helped the muscles. I don't know. I'm just guessing.
This is the first time that: -
- I did not fall into a walk-run routine until the 19th km when I really started to tire. It was a nice 3-4km non-stop run before every water stop.
- None of my pace was above 8min/km. The last time I achieved this was 26th January for 13km.
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