On Changing Routes and Failed Expectations

Sheerwill with pacer Kikay Runner (Noelle)

Half-Ironman Dreams. Chased one half-marathon PR at a time. That is the theme of my 2010 running.

 

The plan is to bring down my half-marathon Personal Record from 2:32 (taken at 2009 Globe Run for Home) in series of key races.  I have chosen Century Superbods Run, Globe Run for Home, and Nature Valley Run as the benchmark races. Choice was made on one key factor alone: hydration. I wanted to chase my PR without the burden of carrying hydration. In the area of hydration, Runrio had his slips, but the Afro-maned guy knows how to face the music, and continues to learn his lessons. Expensive, yes, but for key races: in RunRio Sheerwill trusts.

The general plan is to bring down the PR in increments of 15 minutes before August. 2:30, 2:15, 2:00. Ambitious, yes, but if I fail to reach the stars, I hope to land at least on the moon. I have successfully crossed 2:30 in Century Run (2:28:11) without injury and finishing strongly. Maybe I could replicate my training plan for Globe.

The 2009 Globe Run I remember fondly for its refreshing foray into Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas. The flat, asphalt roads of the business district and the new sights gave me a half-marathon PR that was pleasantly ran, achieved without much effort, and coming only two weeks after my first marathon.

One look at the 2010 Globe Run route and I was convinced it was the next key race I was looking for. The route was what the marketing touted it to be: a run through the heart of Makati, on the relatively flat roads linking Stock Exchange Plaza, Greenbelt and Glorietta. Why it even promised to pass by Ayala-MRT station and parallel to EDSA! Coolness! Only Globe will have the influence and muscle to effect such a route. In my excitement I tried to convince friends to run it. This is a PR-route, I told them. Just look at my half-mary PR which stood for more than 6 months. I was even able to convince Noelle to run it and be my pacer! Why, a number of friends were even joining our pace group. This would be one hell of a race party!

I was sold with the Globe idea and was willing to shell out Php750. That there was a group discount that brought the kit price to Php490 was just a sweetener. That I learned I could get a free race kit by virtue of being an employee of an Ayala Land tenant only made it sweeter. That I was invited to the bloggers’ launch and was also entitled to a free race kit was like getting choco toppings on your free ice cream! Globe is good!

Globe and Ayala Land actually delivered. The Globe coordinator for Social Media (Coy Caballes)) was professional and helpful. Globe gave me my kit on the spot at the launch for bloggers. I was promised a free kit by ALI earlier, but unsure whether I would actually receive it, I welcomed the Globe kit already on hand. But ALI did give me the promised kit Thursday before the race. Thank you Globe and ALI.

Everything was going great until that THURSDAY before the race when I learned the route was changed. WHAT THE F%#$#^^&!!! There goes my quest for new PR, my mind screamed. I have negotiated a 2:20 time with my pacer Noelle, although I had been training for a 2:15 time actually. But with this new route, with that long downhill-uphill passage that is Bayani Road, 2:20 suddenly seemed like Mt. Everest - beautiful but unreachable for me. Some small changes I could still tolerate, but to change the heart and soul of a route, that is a No-No! The least that could have been done was to replace the route with something similar. Was it changed to be more challenging? I have no problem with that, but please…change it before people make their decision to race.

I tried hard not to be bothered by it, but I was seething inside. I wanted to back out from the PR pursuit, but I have already enlisted a pacer and have a pace group hoping to run along. One month of careful planning and fastidious training, all that to be rocked by sudden route change. I may be slow, but this slow-fat triathlete also tries to be world-class in becoming the fastest slow-fat triathlete that he can be! Within a month I delicately balanced bringing my comfortably hard pace from 7min per km (mpk) to 6:30mpk; allocating time for swim, bike and runs; juggling training, recovery and social life; avoiding injuries and burn-out; losing 5lbs, and eating sensibly. It’s a demanding life I signed for, yes, but all I ask from a race is that I get what I signed for.

I trained for the original route, which was mostly flat. The flyover – I could physically and mentally hack that for I love flyovers. I was prepared for it. But Bayani Road? That was not part of what I signed up for.

I rested three full days for the daunting task ahead. On race morning I tried to be jolly, but inside I was in tenterhooks. Suddenly I am no longer confident as I was during my training runs. It took a lot of inner positivism to counter the demons inside. I started deliberately slow at about 6:30/40mpk, not only because I am a slow starter but also because I now needed to save up energy for Bayani Road. It was a quick pass through Makati – not even 2kms of central business district I think. Yeah, the race lost its come-on and charm. It has turned to be Global City Run.

By km 10.5, one hour and 10 minutes have passed. I was just on the dot for our original 2:20 target. I was just entering Heritage Park with Noelle, Sid and Timmy. Normally I am an even-to-negative splitter on the half-mary. Normally I would be more confident at this point. To a certain degree I was. The 2:20 target was still alive and I picked up the pace. My pace and heart just sank when I saw our Heritage route deviated from the usual RunRio route and ventured onto the rolling outskirts. What the heck! It was not enough that they included Bayani Road. They even had to make the Heritage Route harder! Grrr!!! I was not prepared to run this terrain at my new race pace. The rolling elevation was not evident even in the revised maps. That we have to zigzag in these rolling portions further dampened my spirits.

The only cheery note on my uphill climb along Bayani Road was when someone called my attention and asked if I was Sheerwill. The makeshift PhotoBongBong back bib with my slogan By Sheer Will was long torn off, but this amiable girl beside me probably remembered me from my blog or my takbo.ph avatar. Florian, or raspberry, it was nice to have met you, but sorry if I was not as chatty and cheerful as I was trying my best to shake off disappointment while catching my breath. Congratulations too on your run for I saw you finish several seconds ahead of me =)

When I reached Lawton Road from Bayani Road I was spent. I had to slow down for a while and exhale deeply to get my second wind. This happens to me rarely for I am a very even-paced runner. I was trying hard to catch up with my pace group Noelle, Sid and Timmy, who were several meters ahead for most of our run. At km 17 I had a time check. I had about 23 minutes to finish the last 4 kms within our pace group target of 2:20. That meant running a little below 6mpk. Although I would hit 5 or 5:30 in the last 500meters of every single training run, my original pace plan is really to go no faster than 6mpk.

Sub-6 pace in the last 4 kms seemed daunting but I suspended my disbelief. I would simply run it the best I could. Screw the tired legs made taut by unexpected downhills! I quit looking at my Garmin in the make-belief that maybe, just maybe, I could actually go faster than what I trained for. I have closed off the rational me; it was all heart from there. I didn’t know how fast I was going but slowly I overtook Julie who was minutes faster than me in Century Run. A kilometer more I overtook Janine who logged in 2:15 in the last Century Run. At km 18 I passed by Timmy, a stronger half-marathoner than me, for he had to deal with ITBS concerns. At the same kilometer, Noelle ran ahead after checking on Timmy, presumably to help pace Sid who was way ahead of us all and who eventually finished at 2:21.

In the last 2km I made another time check. The 2:20 goal was already out the window, but a PR was still well within my grasp. If I ran no slower than 7mpk, I can still finish 21.1km in 2:25/26. At that point I was running closer to 6mpk, and definitely no slower than 7mpk. I was rushing down coming from Kalayaan flyover, determined to lower that new PR as close to 2:20 as possible. At the Buendia-Paseo intersection, my Garmin said I should be down to my last 200-300 meters, but there were still two turns to the finish line! What was wrong!? I knew in that instant that the distance was off and I just prayed that my usual last kilometer pace pick-up could extend further and tide me off till the actual finish line. Once again, I abandoned the Garmin. I focused. Half-iron dreams, half-iron dreams, I would chant. In the last 100-200 meters I saw idol Mesh shouting Finish Strong. In one last spurt, I did. My last 500m were my best lap in the race.

2:29:50 in my Garmin, pressed from the time I stepped on the mat till the time I crossed the finish line. Garmin translates it to an average pace of 6:56mpk for a distance of 21.57kms. Other Garmin-ed friends reported longer distances.

I don’t know what to make of my time. That finish time, which was not even a new PR, plus the 6:20-6:40mpk reading I had on flats and a strong finish were the only other things I had.

Did I succeed or fail? If I failed, where I was wanting? 

Have I actually transformed from the 7mpk guy to a 6:30 guy on flats?

Did my training pay off? Is it worth replicating?

Have I already adapted to the new pace? Can I use it to build a faster one?

Sadly, I have no definite answers. The route change rendered most things inconclusive and incomparable. I now sit with calves and hamstrings sore from being forced to take stress beyond what it was trained for. No amount of Powerade and water can wash the opportunity lost, disappointment and regret. It might take a little longer for my muscles to recover; even longer for the confidence to be regained.

Half-iron dreams. Beaten but not crushed. Waiting for the next race that will actually deliver what it promises. Looking once again for a half-marathon onto which it could safely anchor.