Gore Half Marathon - flailing arms and heavy breathing

Another little success today. I ran my second fastest half marathon ever, on what is one of the toughest courses I have done. There is a 150 metre vertical climb, with most of the first 9km up hill and then another 1.5km climb at about 11.5km. And, you guessed it, my friend the wind was blowing a nasty head wind in our face for most of the up hill stretches.

I definitely used my Challenge experience to get me up the hills. I chanted "I'm strong in the wind"... "Stay strong" and I was strong on the up-hills. Strangely, though, I found it tough on the down hill stretches as my hammies just didn't want to let me stride out. I guess that comes from all of the riding that I have been doing over the last few months. Strong quads and calves for climbing, but short hamstrings holding me back.

The really good news is that my hips were absolutely fantastic for the first time in... well as long as I can remember. There was no pain and no restricted movement. My right hip has not been free at all since my accident and has been particularly bad for the last few months. Geoff and my osteo (Abby Carrington) have been doing a lot of work on it and Geoff has given me a series of exercises to activate all of the relevant muscles, neurons, etc. It's all working exceptionally well.

I didn't know what to expect today as it has been more than 6 months since I have run a half marathon (the previous being my PB at Cromwell in October), so I am stoked with the result. Little bro', Chris, has been doing some impressive times in training, but I was able to keep pace for the first 5 km and even held a 50-80 metre lead at the 10km mark. A bout of stitch, after a gel and cold water at 10km (sorry Geoff, I know you don't want me using gels), slowed me and put a dint in my confidence. Chris passed me at the bottom of the hill at the 11.5km mark and I let him go, but half way up he started to slow and I gained a few metres back to be less than 50 metres behind.

By the 15km drink station Chris had a 50km lead and just after that powered away to over 100m ahead of me. Shortly after I reeled in a young guy whom had been ahead of me and who was clearly in discomfort for most of the last 10km. As I passed, he asked if this was my first race and I politely let him know that this was my 18th half or full and then, unfortunately, it appeared I had gained a friend for the rest of the race. His form was all over the place as he shook his arms in discomfort every 5m or so and his breathing was irratic and I was sure that I would shake him. But, NO, he bombarded me with a barrage of questions about how far to go, how long it was going to take, what was that beep (as my GPS signalled another km)...

All of this was sapping my energy so I decided that I had to drop him and drop him quick, I put the pedal to the metal and, you guessed it, he stumbled along, arms flailing everywhere and heavy breath grunting in my ear, never more than a pace or two behind me. He was really stuffing up my concentration and in the meantime, Chris was inching away. Then, with Chris about 180-200m ahead, I spotted the 18km drink station and I knew this was my chance to drop my new friend. I wanted to help him, I really did, but he was ruining my chance of clawing back some time on Chris.

I grabbed a drink, took one small gulp (hoping my mate would do the same and slow) and upped the ante as we rounded the corner. My strategy worked. As we round the corner the head wind rose and his breathing intensified and I knew this was the time to make a move. "Strong in the wind", I repeated over and over in my head and I was able to stride away. At the same time, I could see that Chris was struggling ahead and that I was gaining on him ever so slowly. I was careful not to go too hard too soon, but I was confident I could rein him in.

At about 19.5km, I was 120m or so behind Chris and I lifted the pace and was really happy to feel the pace quicken substantially and I began to reel him in. I was taking big chunks out and as he rounded the last corner, with what I thought was about 500m to go, I was only 30-40m behind. I knew he was mine. I could tell he had nothing else left as we'd done training runs together where I'd practiced exactly this scenario. I round the corner and... 'bloody hell, that's far too close' ... the finish line was less than half the distance that I expected.

I now knew that, barring a trip or stumble from Chris, I'd really struggle to pip him at the post (something I'd played over in my head on a number of occasions). I still gave it a bloody good nudge though and finished 10 seconds behind.

In the end, I finished in 1:45:23 (on a course that was 300 metres short, DAMN IT) and Chris finished in 1:45:13, a whooping 6:22 faster than his previous PB. Well done, Chris! That's 2:2, as far as half marathons go between us, but I am still 30 minutes ahead on aggregate time. Bring on 26 June and the Clutha Half Marathon!

Double digits

I'm stoked to have finally moved back into double figures... this time for good.

This morning I took a sneak peek on the scales (I normally weigh-in on Thursday and Monday) and I was pleasantly surprised to read 99.5kg. That's the lightest I have been since about 1998! I was around 99.7 last November but was over 100 by race day and crept back up to 106 by March.

The next target is % body fat lower than % muscle mass. I've been slowly watching the two lines converge on the graph that I plot from my scales (body fat getting lower and muscle mass getting higher) and there is now only a 2% difference between the two figures.

After that 90kg is my big target as I haven't been less than 91kg in at least 22 years.  Then the next serious target is 83.5kg which is 'normal' BMI for my height. I haven't been a 'normal' weight since I was about 10!

I've been losing an average of just under 1kg per week so at this rate it is conceivable that by August I could be at a normal weight. Given how much stronger I feel already having lost 6.5kg in the last 6.5 weeks, I can't wait to be in the 80s.

I had an awesome run session yesterday after a 2 hour ride on the bike. I felt very strong and was able to easily turn it into a progressive effort, starting out at about 5:26 pace for the first km while I found my run legs again and working up to 4:43 pace for the last of 6kms. It felt great to have spring in my legs and energy to burn...

The battle of the bulge is underway and so far I am winning; slowly, but I am winning.