Whoa – where did a 1:34 half marathon come from?

My Kiel Half Marathon race was great, even if it didn’t start too well.

I forgot to turn on my alarm clock, and slept about an hour longer that I had planned. So my leisurely 1h45-starting-the-day routine had to be shortened to 60 minutes – a lot quicker than I’d have liked and leaving a bit late. In the rush of packing, eating and having a coffee, I remembered my race belt but forgot my Garmin 405 watch. Bummer – no HR, no speed. I would have to run by feel – hadn’t done that in a race for a long time.

Leaving a bit late wasn’t a problem, the drive to Kiel went quick and we found a great half-legal parking spot right next to the starting line. Enough time to warm up a bit, deciding on the clothes to wear (long tights, long shirt, cap, no gloves) and having a look at the course. Most of the snow was gone, but had left a wet, sandy mess on the ground. Oh well, whatever – I was more concerned about running without much feedback. At least I had my old Polar in my bag, but without the right HR strap it was just a stopwatch.

As usual in winter races, the last few minutes before the start were uncomfortably cold, but as soon as the race started, it was okay. The race was three loops of 7k each, with the first loop adding the extra 100 meters to make it a half marathon. As usual, I started a bit back to ease into the pace (so there are a few seconds between my hand-stopped time and the official results), but the streets were wide enough so I could overtake a few people without too much trouble. The first k was right at 5 minutes, so I had found a good pace. (Only later did I realize that the sign was actually at 1.1k, so I was even faster than I thought.) The pace felt okay, and I just ran on at the same intensity. I missed the next k-signs, and the next indication came at 4k when I was just over 18 minutes. Whoa, am I going too fast? A bit of soul searching and checking of all systems, but it felt okay and I was confident I could hold on to that pace for the rest of the race. By then I had run up to a small group that was going about my pace, and I decided to run with them for a while. With a short k at the end of the loop the first loop was over with a time of 32:08 – sub 1:40 seemed to be very realistic, and I might even manage to get close to 1:35.

At the start of the second loop I was running with my group, and the pace felt really comfortable. I drank a bit at one of the aid stations and tried to remind myself to run cautious as I hadn’t done any long runs this year. Still, I had to hold back quite a bit, and after the first turn-around point I just decided to run my pace and see if they would hang on. I slowly started to pull away, without feeling I was running too hard. There was some uncomfortable head wind towards the end of the second loop, but I still felt okay. Time for the second loop: 31:27 – one more loop at that pace and I’d be able to break 1:35!

My fast pace started to catch up a bit to me. I had run up to someone else, but he started to pull away from me. But I was still overtaking quite a few other people (although it was hard to tell if they were running the half or the marathon that was going on at the same time and on the same course), and my splits were right on the edge. The last small hill was really hard, and the headwind wasn’t good. At the last k I thought my pace had slipped too much – I needed a 4 min last k to sneak under 1:35. But I knew that the last k would be a bit short, so I decided to give all I had. Overtaking a few more people, I sprinted down the finish chute. I had some trouble stopping my Polar watch – my muscles are used to the Garmin watch by now, and the upper right stop button on the Garmin merely changes the display on the Polar. But I caught that error in time, hit the split button and saw a 1:34:58. Yay! (Last loop was a 31:23.)

It took me a while to catch my breath, and I quickly went to the car to change into dry clothes. (Still, I caught a bit of a cold and don’t feel to well today.) While waiting for my friends, I noticed one advantage of being a little faster: There was no line in front of the massage tables! So I enjoyed a nice, long, relaxing massage and my legs feel almost normal today. I was so happy that I put a nice bill into their tip box.

To sum up, Kiel is not the prettiest course, but very good for fast times and a good thing to have on the calendar by end-February. Even though I didn’t train much, long or fast during the preceding months, I ran my fastest half marathon in a long time (probably since 2007). Still, I’m not sure where I stand. I know that in order to be in good shape for IM Germany I have a lot of work in front of me. Good thing I have a bike camp scheduled for mid-March in Mallorca. I’d better get in shape for that so I can enjoy some longer bike sessions there without having to kill myself. And I will need some longer runs, too. So much to do – and only so many hours to train! But I’m still enjoying every minute of it, and that’s what counts …