Denouement

This the race that I first ran in HK.  I was in good shape a year ago but still coping with the change of training in the HK weather.  So this year my plan was basic, beat my time from last year and break 39:00 (last year did 39:04.  

Roberto gave me a ride. We had about 2k of walking, to registration, then to the course, then just 3k warm up.  I stretched and had lots of potty time.  I was concerned about my stomach because I had a royal stomach ache Friday afternoon/evening, that was mostly gone Saturday, but running hard can make latent problems roar.

At the start there was an elite section, and a wall of runners behind that section.  I had a bottle of cold water and Ali and I poured it down our backs to cool off. 29C, 65-70% humidity. Some light winds, but it is an out and back course.  They let the walls behind us close in with 5 minutes to go, and I thought there were some high school girls usurping some space in front of Alison Chow and I (she is the top marathoner in HK, did 2:48 twice last year, and we train together).  We were about four people back, so we swung around the edge and got a better position.  It turns out those two girls were Taiwanese who had travelled for this race, and they took off fast!  My goal was 3:55 pace going out, then a bit faster coming back.  I had negative splitted this course by 18 seconds a couple of months back.  Ali and I stuck together, and we were behind the two Taiwanese ladies.  

1k - 3:49, the taiwanese ladies were about 10 seconds ahead!, with the lead pack of guys

2k 3:51, I am running with Ali, trying to run smart, figuring if those ladies are that fast then I can't keep up anyway, and if they made a mistake they will come back to us.

3k - 3:55, I am not feeling that great, but plugging along, Frankie (one of Ali's pacing friends) kind of hanging onto Ali, so in 4th place, in the third K we see coach Paul who cheers us on. Water stop in this k, drank some and the rest down my back.

4k -  3:50, we catch one of the Taiwanese girls at the end of the 4th k or in the 5th k

5-6k 7:49, I forget to get the 5k mark because it is a 180 turn around and I guess that is just not an obvious enough place to hit a lap split.  Lame.  But if I say the 5th k was 3:55, then my first 5k would be 19:22 (adding two seconds for truncated splits).  I can start to see the #1 girl ahead, she is probably 25-30 seconds ahead at the turn around, perhaps 25 seconds at 6k. 

7k -3:55, I know I need to move to catch this #1 girl and that this k is the place to do it, but obviously my split is not exactly eye of the tiger, she is about 20-25 sec ahead with 3k to go

8k - 3:52, I am making up a little ground

9k - 3:51, at this point I know I won't catch her, but don't want to get passed and want to break 39 minutes

10k - 3:43, I start this k fast, kicking but at 500m I am a bit demoralized and tired, so I think I checked out from 500m to 300m, then picked it up again.  

Total time (official) 38:39.  The course record was 38:23, and the Taiwanese girl came in 19 sec ahead of me at 28:20, so she got $4000hkd bonus and more prize money (obviously) than me.

I had a chat with coach afterward and he made me promise to go with anyone who I race with, even Paula Radcliffe should she decide to run the AVOHK 5k series :D  I should have stayed closer in touch, but with the heat I didn't want to blow up.  So I met my time goal, but failed to race this race in the smartest way.  Some lessons we get to relearn over and over.  I am happy, though to be 25 sec better in this race than last year.  I hope I can keep it up.

After a short break, Ali (who came in third 50 sec behind me) and I did another 2k tempo, 4:02 ave pace, then 5k easy, then I ran to get my bag.  So almost 21k today. 

4:52/k pace, core workout

8.1k in the AM, 4 something pace, started slow and sped up as usual

PM: stomach upset in the afternoon like last friday, so I took some gas reducer and some natural laxatives!  Nice pre workout cocktail but I was cramping and I just wanted to make the workout happen.  I felt fine for the workout other than having the toots and needing to go potty every break.

There was a monster workout in the plan, and I knew that there was no way I could do the whole thing.  Plan was 4 x 2 miles at 12 min, on the 15 min, then 4 x 1 mile at 5:50 pace.  So 12 miles hard.   Ha!  Usually in this weather I do about 3-4 miles hard. And the forecast for today was a high of 34C--very hot.  It did peak at 34 earlier in the day, but it was 30C for the workout, 80-85% humidity.  And the air was unclear--a bad air quality day.  So I talked to coach when I got to the track.  We planned that I would do the first 2 mile, then the middle mile of the next two mile, then the next 2 mile, then the middle mile of the next two mile, then we'll see.  Ali and I traded off laps for the first 2 mile set and came in 11:58, perfect.  Then I rested longer than her while she started her second 2 mile set (my rest was 6:02 , .87k jog plus potty). Coach told me she was fading and to not stay with her for my mile, so I did a 5:51 (she was doing 92 sec splits).  Then I rested 7:06 and then did a 2 mile set.  I faded in this one, felt like I had little in the tank.  My first mile was 6:02, then I did several 92's but then did a fast last lap and finished in 12:00.  I negotiated that I would only do one more mile then finish my workout.  After  8:03 rest (coach was giving Ali more rest and she was suffering in her workout for sure), I did a 5:56 mile, then coach gave Ali a break and only made her do 2 x 1 mile so I did those with her even though he cut me the slack that I didn't have to.  I did a 5:51 (4:51 rest), then 5:53. So 8 miles hard.  It was a tough workout for sure.  Glad to have it over. 

Easy run, 5:08 pace overall.  The first k was fast so I could catch up to JJ and give him a form to turn in for school.  After that I ran to Kowloon Tsai park and felt like death in k's 2-3, just no energy after Tuesday night's workout.  After a generous water stop I felt better and picked it up to sub 5:00 pace.

PM: 30 min elliptical.  First time in the gym since back to HK.   

Progressive run for 78 minutes.  Splits were a bit chaotic, just reflecting when I wanted to lap so I could see where my current pace is (a 5k lap is a bit long for a progression run).  Did 3.12 in 5:00 pace, then 4.2 in 4:27 (gradually getting faster), then 5k in 4:15, then a funky 1.33k that includes transitioning to the track in 4:28 pace.  Then we were on the track for the last 17 minutes.  I calculated I would need roughly 10 laps and they should be around 96 sec to make 4:00 pace.  I decided to take it 800m at a time.  Did 3:24 (slow!), 3:22, 3:18, 3:13, 3:02, then had 14 sec left that I continued fast.  So a truly progressive finish for my progressive run.  Ali did great when I was suffering (the 2k before we went to the track) but she fell apart on the track. 17.89k in 1:18:01 for the progressive run, then ended up with 1.07k of a cool down, a few minutes on the track then ran back to the MTR.  

PM: 5.06 miles on the TM 

13.7k in 4:44 ave with Roberto, including 8 x 30 sec strides.  Got horrible sleep last night!  Will nap for sure.

I combined a long run with a 5k.  Not the best quality long run because of that.  Ran 8.35k for a warm up, then stood around and stretched, did two strides then did the race.  Bowen Road is a road that is about one car plus 4 feet wide, it is quite narrow, and there are other joggers on the road as we did this race, so it was quite crowded and at the start people jumped out and there was real danger of tripping.  I elbowed and got elbowed but noone went down (that I saw).  A girl took off fast, and I stayed in touch with her.  I ran around a guy in my ward Gary (who happens to be Smooth's bro-in law) for the first k or so.  I wanted a sub 6:00 pace run (or 3:45).  The first 1k was 3:42 and felt painful, but it was hard to get into the superpainful 5k zone.  I think I hovered just shy of it.  I caught the girl who went out too fast by 1 or 1.5k then tried to reel in a boy ahead of me named Reiny.  He slowed but still finished 4 seconds ahead of me.  I didn't slow, ran 3:42-3:43 pace the whole way.  My watch said 18:31 but the official time was 18:33.  I was happy with that time, though I should have caught that boy!  There were other Italia runners in the race and Curtis marshalling the course, but it took some work getting any of them to do a cool down.  Finally ran a couple of k with Curtis then ran up and down the mountain to Repulse Bay.  Met my family.  Paul and Ben were there for a boy scout boating activity, so JJ, Mickie and I chilled at the beach.  I got a nice sunburn.