2012 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon - Race Report

Conditions:  20.0 °C, 78% Humidity


As mentioned my earlier post, my target for this marathon was to run conservatively from the start and hopefully have enough strength to run well after existing the western tunnel at 36K.  I'm happy to say I more or less nailed my game plan.

2010: (Time 3:55:15)

2012: (Time 3:52:03 -Overall 26% / Category 30%)

Instead of jumping out of the gate in Zone 5, I tried to stay relaxed and kept reminding myself that it was going to be a long day.  The idea was to (1) run kilometers 1 - 20 as close to half-asleep as I could force myself to be, then (2) wake up and focus on maintaining steady yet conservative speed from 21 to 32K and finally (3) go for broke on the last 10K.

I was fortunate to run up next to Karen Veen from Sportsworld at around the 7K mark.  She was hammering away at a steady pace and I took the opportunity to stick to her heels as best I could on through to about 26K. 

After 30K of running my core / hip muscles were beginning to give way and I really struggled to stay on pace for the next 2 kilometers where I planned to take a gel, salt tablet and few ibuprofen.  I had hoped that the ibuprofen would kick in near the end of the western tunnel allowing me painlessly beat the crap out myself to the finish.  Unfortunately, my hips and feet continued to hurt like hell.

Its hard to describe what its like running with limited control over your hips and a right foot with increasingly severe metatarsalgia.  Taking a quick general survey of my condition I noticed that I still had decent leg strength and I knew I'd be able to keep running to the finish if I could just ignore pain and keep my jelly of a mid section somehow balanced in between my legs and torso.  Ok, so it wasn't THIS bad but here's a visual for running without cooperating hips:






As is always the case in the HK marathon, the final 2K go by relatively easy thanks the crowds lining the streets cheering everyone on.

I came across the line feeling destroyed but happy that I had given everything I had on the course.  Now the next challenge is trying to figure out how in the hell I can take an hour off my time. Hmmmmmmm.

2012 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon - Pre-Race

It's been a busy and cold winter.  I'm not making excuses for limited training but just stating  facts--busy and damn cold.  Earlier this month I flew to Vegas for work (CES show) and only managed to squeeze in a 2 hour run, a couple of bike trainer sessions and a short swim.  Then the week after I headed off to San Diego and managed to run 51K over a week's time.  Coming back to Hong Kong I jumped right into to Chinese New Year holidays and family commitments (and jet-lag)--all of which had to take priority over training.  Anyhow, I cranked out a 42K running week and now I have to switch to taper mode with only a handful of days to go until race morning.

I looked back at my 2010 HK SCM performance to see if there were clear areas that I could strategically manage better.  Check it out:

This chart is primarily looking at heart rate.  From what I gather, "A" probably caused "B."  I set off too hard running in Z5 for 8 kilometers and then settled into race pace for the middle section and then finally collapsed at 32K and just suffered my way slowly on to the finish.

"The Called Shot" - Babe Ruth, 1932.

This year I'm not going to let myself get so excited at the start and will set right into a 5:15 - 5:20 pace and then simply try to hang on.  If all goes well that will land me a 3:45 marathon and a 10 minute PR.