Futórózsa Félmaraton Race Report

Goal: 6:45 pace by GPS. Secondary goal: 7:00 pace by GPS.

After two weeks of serious base building (60 miles per week), which followed very low mileage, I ran this "half marathon" today, because it was a friendly race organized by a very old friend of mine, and it is also nice to introduce myself to the running community of the Southern Great Plain of Hungary. This was a race ran on hard pavement (50%) and dirt roads, and even some wooded trails, so it was expected to have some difficult terrain, but no real elevation. Temperatures were in the low 70s, but most of the course was in full sun and we had some wind. I didn't make up a time goal, because the distance was already admittedly longer than a half marathon, and the terrain made it difficult to make goals. The 6:45 pace goal was to be adjusted by terrain difficulty.

I arrived about an hour before the start, and I needed it for sure. Packet pick-up was in the morning, and I needed the warmup. There were about 140 runners, plus the relay, plus the shorter races. I picked up my packet, dropped it off in my car, warmed up, and I was ready to run. I felt a bit tired at warmup - clearly my legs felt the two 60-mile weeks. Alright. We'll see what we can do today.

The race started on time, and I jumped out a bit, especially because the first mile was slight downhill (only about 20 feet for the mile), and this was the only "significant" elevation change of the course. (And of course coming back up at the end.) Runners shuffled around for the first mile, and it was probably the end of the mile when I settled behind a red shirt runner, who passed me at 1/2 mile, but I caught up by the end of the mile. (The course was marked in kilometers, but since this was no exact distance, I will just go by my Garmin mile splits.)

Mile 1: 6:37

We were still going south on blacktop, and the full sun was not pleasant. Especially after we left town, and there was no shade, and some side wind. I kept pacing by the red shirt. We passed a few jackrabbit runners.

Mile 2: 6:45

Not long after the mile marker we took a turn to a dirt road between farmlands. We had a strong headwind, so I tried to tuck myself behind my "pacer". He used lower cadence, and he was tall, so his running style is more suitable for uneven dirt roads than mine. I had to exert myself to keep up. He also pushed a bit harder here. More unpleasantness was that the front runners kicked up the dirt, so I was swallowing dirt left and right. But we passed another runner here. This setup was obviously working for me. We turned south again (side wind).

Mile 3: 6:45

(Despite the dirt road and headwind portion.) Not much happened here. I paced off the red shirt on the dirt roads. Mostly side wind, turning into the wind again at the end.

Mile 4: 6:46

Tucked behind the red shirt, we ran a headwind portion. We arrived to an aid station (I think the second one - I skipped the first that was too early). I slowed to chug a cup of water (from a plastic cup - ouch), and I seriously thought I lost my pacer, but I was able to catch up again to him within 100 meters. In fact he was slowing! Some trees were blocking the wind almost entirely; what I didn't know is that very soon we are turning into the wind again. In any case, I decided to pass my pacer. I ran around him, I said "Thanks!" (He seemed to have been puzzled - I don't think he understood why I thanked him.)

Mile 5: 6:53

I started to push hard. I wanted to gap my former pacer. I knew I was probably in the top 10, so positions mattered. Except we hit some bad headwind, so I couldn't run too fast. I still gapped the red shirt guy, and I picked out another runner about 100-200 meters ahead. I thought if I could catch him, I had another pacer/windbreaker. We reached a paved section, and then we ran into the village of Tiszasziget. Mostly older villagers cheered us on.

Mile 6: 6:42

We took a left turn in the center of the village, and we were heading to the relay exchange zone. The guy up front had only about 30 meters on me. I heard the loudspeaker at the relay zone announcing names and numbers, so I knew the guy ahead was also an individual runner. Good thing. That meant I wasn't going to loose him in the exchange zone. I kept slowly reeling him in. I skipped the aid station at the exchange zone (the volunteers were busy and did not offer anything), and I caught my new pacer.

Mile 7: 6:34

We were still in Tiszasziget, but heading out. We were following some signs directing us to the (supposedly) lowest elevation point of Hungary. I think we had headwind, or partial headwind. We passed a very sweaty guy in a black singlet. Then later two more runners, but they may have been relay runners. The pavement ended, when we arrived to another aid station (at the low point), where I drank a full cup of water, as my pacer also stopped to drink. In fact he seemed pretty hesitant to get up to pace again. "Had enough of running in front?" I asked him (of course all conversations were in Hungarian). He said he had some breathing problems. We chatted briefly about our pace while running side by side on the dirt road.

Mile 8: 6:56

The guy was slow, so I had to leave him. I didn't kick too hard, but I just slowly pulled away. Since I had nobody ahead in sight, I knew that if I leave him, I would be alone. Still, I had to. In fact I gave him by several minutes by the end. I was passed by a very cheerful relay racer soon, which was somewhat nice, because at least I could run after somebody. Even though he was pulling away.

Mile 9: 6:35

We reached pavement before the mile marker. We ran by some fields and irrigation canals where people with tractors were pumping water from the canal. Soon we reached a town. I thought we were back to Szőreg, but in fact this was just Újszentiván.

Mile 10: 6:48

It was hard to stay focused being all by myself. I glanced back several times but I saw nobody. I took water at an aid station, and then ran alone on the bike trail next to houses. Almost at the end of this mile, we left the town and we were on a dirt road again.

Mile 11: 6:43

This was where I saw the only rose field. I'm sure there were many, but I didn't focus on them. (The theme of the race was supposed to be "rose fields".) We had strong headwind, and I saw nobody - neither ahead, nor behind. I was hurting. I arrived to an aid station, where I picked up a cup from a table. I chose some kind of orange colored sweet drink this time. I knew I only had about 2 miles left. Then I wanted to continue on the dirt road, when the volunteer said: "No, the other way." What other way? I could barely see the grown in jeep road/trail in the woods on the right. Wow.

Mile 12: 7:14

This was slow. Tall grasses in the woods, and the road underneath was very rugged. I gave my best, but I didn't want to risk all what I have done on a turned ankle. After a while we were out of the woods and reached the edge of Szőreg. By this time, I saw a runner ahead who was (probably) not the relay runner who passed me. I was guessing he was maybe 30 seconds ahead. Can I catch him? I was getting a bit closer.

Mile 13: 7:02

The last portion was only 0.6 miles. Even if I had a full mile, 30 seconds is a tall order. Barring a meltdown, my position was fixed. We had to climb up the 20 feet we lost at the beginning.

Last portion: 4:01 (6:41 pace)

Total time: 1:32:16 (6:47 pace)

This race was executed close to perfection. Certainly the best position I could get, and probably close to optimal time. The fact that I was slower than 6:45 is fine - harder terrain, some weather effects (sun, wind). This is not bad at all during base building. I'm looking forward to hitting 60 miles this week again (probably a rest day tomorrow though), and to the marathon training in July.

I got 5th place out of 138. There were only two age groups: over 40 and under 40, and I got 4th place in the under 40 age group (I missed the age group cut by a few months). The third place of the age group was the guy who I was approaching close to the finish. He beat me only by 25 seconds. And only the first three were awarded so I barely missed out on awards... anyway, one can't be too greedy. I deserve it for letting myself beat by an over 40 guy, LOL.

Sunday race is on. I have run 14 miles on Sunday, and 8 miles on Monday and Tuesday each. The plan is to continue with 8 miles a day until Saturday, when I just jog for 30 minutes and then race on Sunday. Again, given that I am in the base building phase, and I just upped my mileage suddenly, the best expectation is running this at marathon pace (6:43). I will try to keep my pace between 6:40 and 6:45 at the beginning, then adjust accordingly.

My weekly mileage goes like this (beginning May 3): 0, 0, 16, 16.1, 45.8, 60. Pretty aggressive buildup, but my body seems to be holding up well.

I found the "Northwest Passage" I blogged about last year. It does actually exist. In fact it wasn't all that hard to find. I don't know if I was aware last year that my GPS is capable of following a pre-programmed course. So I pre-programmed something by Google Maps that I wanted to follow, and even though not all roads on the maps matched up with roads in real life (we are talking about jeep roads here), it was sufficient information to find the Passage. In fact the Passage is a lot of fun to run, and I've done it several times now. The disadvantage is that I haven't made it to the Óvári kilátó in Balatonalmádi.

I'm running a race this Sunday, so doing less than 60 miles week is forgivable. Still, I have to front load the week. I've done 22 miles so far in two days, so 4 x 8 miles should work well, even less, if necessary. Rest (or very easy 4 miles) on Saturday should prepare me well (for the circumstances) for a good Sunday race. I still hope I can race at 6:45/mile.

While I haven't posted much, I do train, and after a few introductory weeks, I'm on my way to about 60 miles this week. I plan to maintain the volume until July 5 with no increase, mostly to play safe, but also due to possible time issues later in the year.

I'll run a half marathon in 10 days, and I'm definitely racing it, but due to the lack of any fast training runs, I will play it safe and go out at 6:45-ish pace (if I feel good). This will be a mixed road/trail race, but no elevation change. It's also a bit over 14 miles, so it's not really a half marathon. So I might expect a 1:35 time, if things go well.