14 July 2018, Saturday, 21km, 32e Bovensmilde

Every race is different. The route, the atmosphere, the terrain, the weather.

This run felt like home. The heat, the friendly chats.

It was the second half marathon completed in Nederland, but the first road running half marathon here. It is a different experience. Half of the route was below sea level. Corners were welcomed as a good distraction to an otherwise straight, flat, long and open route. This route was a 1-loop of 8.9km followed by 2-loop of approximately 6km each loop. It is a mental challenge. At the end of the first loop, i said to myself, “… why, shoulda signed up for the 10km distance…” The 6 km looper was toughest, as this was when fatique sets in, at 16km, and besides the battle with the heat and wind, the physical state was also rebelling. This is when i wished i had had logged in many more training miles for the stamina to move forward. Slowing down was not an acceptable option.

I started this race with one little target in my head. I want to know how long i can sustain a sub 5 min pace before fatique sets in. I wanted to be conscious about this feeling. I hoped to sustain it for at least 15km, as the next 6km is usually a battle of “mind over matter”. But alas, i only managed a sub 5 min pace upto 6km. At Nat Geo 15 km race at Kota Kemuning (22 April 2018), a comparable flat terrain, i sustained a sub 5 min pace for almost 10km. The difference between the two flat races is that, the former race start time is at 2.05pm while the latter at 6.00 am. Weather was cool in the latter, and it is a battle of only 15 km rather than a 21.1 km race.

In any event, the stats are what i wanted to use as a base for reference to track my future race performance as i am now able to connect the stats to how i “feel” during the race (conscious). I think it makes a lot of difference to be able to learn and listen to your body. I have only started training using Klaas Lok, the souplesse method over the last one month, and hope to see further improvement in my run time, thanks to Gertjan 🙂