Road 2 Hope Half Marathon

The Road 2 Hope half marathon was my final race of the year. It was a busy year with 8 races (4 triathlons, and 4 running races) so I would say it was a culmination of a year of solid training.

Race Week
I had some left hip and back tightness early in the week. I kept the training fairly easy, but had a hard swim on Tuesday and a treadmill run. The run seemed to irritate my left glute as it was even more sore on Wednesday - I had to take the entire day mostly off of training, as even an easy spin on the trainer seemed to make it worse. I also stretched a bit Wednesday evening, but it was still tight Thursday morning. I decided to switch it up an run outside on Thursday - my hip felt okay but still not as great as I would have liked. I decided to keep things really easy on Friday and Saturday to allow for some additional recovery time, while still remaining fairly active (I got my 10K steps both days).
My diet was pretty good for the week and I didn't have any GI abnormalities.

Pre-race
Was up at 6:00 (new time after the change) and had breakfast shortly thereafter. Aim was for 400-500 calories as I can typically digest 200-250 cal/hr pre-race. I had 2 packs of oatmeal (plain/maple) with maybe 1/4 scoop of protein powder, and then a cranberry almond granola bar. Est. cal 450. Arrived at the race right around 7 am. It was about 12C with some light rain and a decent wind from the SE (probably 25-30K). I headed straight to the community centre and dropped my bag off and did some light stretching. Probably around 730 I did my first bathroom break - I thought I had to do a PRP but I decided for #1 only. Maybe 10 min later I started to jog outside (740) and knew for sure I had to use the portapotty before the race. I headed to the outside toilets as it was super busy inside. Around 7:45 the skies opened up and it poured on us. With the wind it was quite chilly as I was down to a tri top and shorts. Luckily the line moved quickly and by 750 I was heading inside to warm up and dry off before the run. Finally at 757 I headed back outside for another quick warm-up jog before the race start at 0800.

Race- Upper Mountain
The rain had let up once the race started, but the first 2K were into a fairly strong headwind. I tried to stay in the pack to cut the wind, but it still slowed me down a bit and I wasn't quite fully warmed up yet. I hit the 2K mark in about 8:15, roughly 15s behind my 4:00 pace. Luckily we hit the turn at that point and were mostly out of the wind. My stride felt good for the next few K as I brought the pace down under 4:00. Sipped some Nuun at 3K and continued to maintain my stride until 6.5K, when was hit the parkway. Had another quick sip of Nuun at 7K and then headed down the parkway with a tail wind.

Red Hill Valley Parkway
The combination of the downhill parkway and tailwind allowed me to get down into the high 3:40s for the next few K and I felt pretty good. I found someone to pace with that was running roughly the same pace, and we slowly passed a few runners. At 10K I had another sip of Nuun. I hit the 10K mark in the low 39s, quite happy that I was banking some time that I would definitely lose later on. At 11K the terrain was leveling out as everyone was getting back to the 4:00 pace, and I could feel some fatigue for the first time. I decided to take my first shot blok prior to the aid station around 13K. It seemed to sit well, which is always an issue during my running races. It was at this point that we headed off the parkway and onto the trails.

Trails
From 13.5K until about 15.5K the course was a gravel trail with many ups, downs, twists and turns. It was wet because of the rain but the gravel kept it from getting too muddy. My trail running paid off here as I was able to drop the group I had been running with and even pass a few runners. I kept the pace at about 4:10 for this stretch - I knew from last year that I would definitely lose some of the time I had banked on the downhill portion. Once I was back on the paved trail, I was running fairly solo and had to pace myself. For the first portion (16-18K) we had a tailwind so I could keep the pace close to 4:00. I also had another shot block and sip of nuun (around 16.5K). I was still feeling pretty good at this point so I was confident I would be somewhere in the 1:24-1:25 range. Once I hit the turn around at 18.5K, the final stretch was into the head wind again. This was definitely the most challenging portion of the race as my legs felt the fatigue for the first time. At 18K I just had to run the final 3K in 13 min to hit 1:25. As I was running 4:10-4:15 into the wind at point I knew it would be close. I still managed to have a final kick, but it really only served to keep me from slowing down. I crossed the line in 1:25:07! Not quite under 1:25 but over a minute faster than last year and under my goal of 1:26. It was also my fastest 21.1K time since 2007 (when I set my PB of 1:22). Felt good at the end too!

Nutrition recap
Nuun at 3K, 7K, 10K, 13.5K, 17K, 19K
Shot blok at 12.5K and 16.5K (60 cal)