2010 Taipei International Half Marathon: The Report **UPDATED**

**UPDATE** December 26, 2010: Official finish time was 2:01:48 - a bit off my race goal.  Better luck next time!  See http://www.sportsnet.org.tw/score_101219_21.php and search for finisher #2712 (they list 1000 finishers per page, if you select the "all finishers" under the half marathon results choice).  There you will see me.  Or you can try to search for my bib number (18253) or my name (c'mon, you already know that one).  Merry Christmas!


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Editor’s note: the below race report was drafted on the day of the race, as the competitor rode the High Speed Rail train back to Kaohsiung.  At the time he wrote this, the running human did not have a chance to access media or news reports about the race, nor to examine his own results.  An addendum will appear at the end of the post that adds some clarifying information in these regards.  Read on…

The "writing salon" aboard the HSR train where this post was drafted

Without yet having had a chance to see any news reports about the 2010 Taipei International Marathon, I would have to say that I think there very well may have been 100,000 or more participants.  There were so many people, it took me over 10 minutes to move from where I was at in a mass of people (thousands and thousands) at the race start over the timing mats to actually start the race (it was about 7:15 AM local time when I started the race, which actually began at 7AM as advertised).  I actually saw one fellow crowd-surfing towards the start line, as if it was a giant rock concert.

My aims for the race were quite modest.  I no longer establish “finishing” a race like this on as a goal – I’m sorry, but barring some type of catastrophic injury or natural disaster, I am going to complete a half marathon, it’s no longer such a long distance to run for me.  I wanted to finish in less than 2 hours, a decent but not too difficult pace that under normal circumstances should be attainable quite easily for me.  I wanted to run easy for the first hour (~the first half of the race), and then step it up in the last hour for a nice “negative split.”  I reality, because of the crowds of runners, my pace during the first hour was far slowed than I figured it would be, so I changed strategy, trying to “keep the horses in the barn” until about the 9 mile mark.  Then I ran harder during the last 3-4 miles to produce the negative split I was looking for. (I have yet to have had a chance to review my race data, but I’m quite sure that it was a pretty decent negative split run).

2010 TAIPEI Marathon

EveryTrail - Find hiking trails in California and beyond

(Note: this map is not my personal results/pace, etc., but of another competitor that I found online)

The race was on a very flat course that made a loop of Taipei City.  The only elevation changes of note during the entire ½ marathon course were a few on- and off-ramps traversed when moving from regular streets to elevated highways or underground tunnels.  Coupled with the fantastic weather for the race today (about 60 degrees F and clear at race start), conditions were ripe for a fast race – that is, if you started with the elites at 6:57 AM.

 

Why?  Well, go back to the first sentence in this post.  I have never, in all the races I have done in the past 10 years, seen anything close to the number of people turn out for a race that I saw today.  In my mind, I consider marathons like those held in Chicago or New York City to be very large (I have not yet run either one, but have heard that they boast something like 40,000 participants).  I do not know as of yet how many people were out there with me today, except to say that it was A LOT.  So many that at no point on the 13.1 mile half marathon route did the congestion ever go away.  There were tons of people from the start to the finish.  Usually in these races once you make it several miles in, the crowds of runners start to thin.  Not so today.  I was trying to duck and weave in and out to find running room from beginning to end.  It’s not a set of conditions that are conducive to fast finish times (again, unless you are out in front of the pack, like the elites runners).

Gear staged the night prior to the race

Because there were so many runners, it seemed to me that the aid stations were lacking in adequate personnel to keep up with demand.  I actually missed the first two aid stations because the throngs of people blocked my view of them and I was pretty much past them by the time I realized they were there.  But when I finally saw one in time to stop, I was hardly able to get any refreshment.  Unlike at any race I have done previously, it was essentially self-serve – that is, there were bottles and containers of water or sports drink on the tables at the side of the run path, and there were cups, and it was sort of a free-for-all to pour your own drink.  This created “madhouse” conditions – every runner for himself.  I had to elbow my way to the table to try and pour a beverage.  Generally, in other races I have done there are either volunteers holding the drinks out to the runners – pre-poured – and you can grab one as you pass, no need to stop and try to pour the drink yourself; or there are pre-poured drinks set on the tables that you can grab and go – again, no need to self-serve the drink.  I believe these methods to be superior in terms of quality and speed of refreshment.  But it seemed to me that the rest stops did not have enough personnel to support these methods.  I only saw one or two volunteers at each table, far too few to keep up with the thousands of runners coming past.  This is certainly an area for improvement.

Another needed improvement is related to the lack of on-course restrooms.  Just as I remarked on in my write-up of the 2010 Ironman 70.3 Taiwan triathlon a couple months back, the race today had far too few restroom facilities on the course.  In fact, I didn’t see a single race-provided venue for this type of need until after 6 miles into the race.  I saw some people, prior to that point, running off the course to businesses and fire stations along the course to use their facilities, but if the race was doing what it should in terms of providing adequate ON COURSE facilities, this behavior shouldn’t be necessary.  Finally, about 5.5 miles into the race, near the river, was a toilet provided for use by people who use the riverside recreation path.  Because the race did not have any on-course toilets to that point, there were some people waiting to use the facilities (women, and presumably men who needed to “sit”), but far more men who chose to use the nearby bushes and treeline for their “facilities.”  This would not have been the case if portajohns had been placed on the course in sufficient numbers and often enough to relieve the (literally!) pent-up demand.  On later portions of the course, near the aid stations, there were generally a couple portajohns, but even so these were insufficient in number to prevent long lines (and the concomitant choice of convenience for many men, trees or bushes nearby).  The race would be better for everyone if this issue was successfully redressed in future iterations.

I was able to see some of the elite runners at the end of the race – the marathoners, that is.  The top men were finishing the full marathon as I was coming in to my finish.  It’s a bit depressing to be “lapped,” so to speak, by these runners, but quite amazing at the same time to see up close how fast they are moving in comparison to a “regular” runner like me.  I heard (but have yet to confirm) that a new course record was set today.

Post-race "snacky-treats"

In all, it was a nice experience.  I am glad I did not try to run the full marathon because it would have been pretty tiring to keep on going.  I was glad to be done after 13.1 miles.

GJS

Editor here again: check out this page on Flickr (note: it is not the running human’s Flickr page – he did not take a camera with him during the race; http://www.flickr.com/photos/future77/sets/72157625503659903/) for some photos from the marathon.  See also this report (http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aSPT&ID=201012190019) from Taiwan’s official news agency that puts the competitor estimate at 110,000 (with 31,000 in the marathon itself).  A course record was NOT set yesterday; the top male finisher crossed the line at 2:14:04 (course best is 2:11:05) and the top woman finished in 2:30:37 (course record was set last year by the same woman, at 2:30:05).  Finally, while final results for all runners were not available at press time (they will eventually be posted here: http://www.sportsnet.org.tw/en/,  some unofficial times for the running human are 1:51:14 (from the Taipei Marathon Information and Results Finder here: http://marathon.taipei.gov.tw/change.action?request_locale=en_US; screenshot below) and 1:55:45 (from his wrist-mounted GPS unit).  As posited above, the runner did indeed increase his pace throughout the race, averaging 9:40/mile over the first ~5.5 miles, then 9:23/mile for the next ~4 miles, and a swift 7:23/mile over the balance of the race (about 4 miles).  Both of these times seem to be a bit low, as in, faster than the actual finish time.  This post will be updated when the official finish time is available.

2010 Ironman 70.3 Taiwan recap

Done!

Want to get this written before too much time passes since the race and I start to forget stuff.  Where to start?  Some people have expressed interest in how the mini-van driving went.  I enjoyed the utility of the Chrysler Town and Country we rented.  It had seats that folded into the floor, making it easy to take advantage of the cargo room necessary for hauling my bike and our luggage.  The auto-open side doors were nice, and it was easy to get the boys in and out (unlike when you are stooping and bending in a car to do the same).  "If the sweatpants fit..."

Before the swim start

I'm out there somewhere

 As for the race, the swim course was unlike any I had seen before.  It was a two-lap out-and-back course in which you actually had to come back up on the shore and cross the timing mat between the first and second laps.  Originally it was supposed to be a triangle-shaped course (pretty standard for these types of races), but perhaps due to the currents they changed it to the out-and-back format.  Whatever the case, the first half (the "out" portion) of the first lap of the swim course was as bad as any I have experienced.  It was a mass start of close to 900 athletes, and it seems like the preferred swim stroke here is the breaststroke, with its attendant side-flaring arm pull and frog kick.  This stroke takes up a lot of room, and made for a much-kicked and struck opening leg of the swim.  Along with the "fisticuffs" taking place between competitors, the current also seemed quite strong, pushing back as I tried to swim out to sea.  It was only on the first "back" portion that I started to get into a rhythm, finally beginning to use bilateral breathing and getting some space around me to swim more comfortably.  The water was surprisingly warm (wetsuits were optional and lots of folks were wearing them, though I definitely think they were unnecessary in terms of water temperature) and pretty clear - I could see all the way to the bottom of the ocean for most of the course.  I came up on my first lap in the water at about 27 minutes and figured I would be able to beat that pretty easily on the second lap since the crowd had thinned out a lot and I was swimming much more comfortably, but perhaps due to fatigue or increased current, the second lap was actually slower, about 30 minutes.  My total swim time was 56 minutes 34 seconds. (By the way, full results [PDF] are at http://www.ironmantaiwan.com/editor_images/im-70-3-tw-final-res.pdf; do a search for my bib number, 391.)

"Quick draw" caught me going from the swim to the transition area

I was unconcerned about how long my transitions took and tried to stay relaxed.  The path from the beach to the transition area (TA) was long!  We had to go up a couple flights of stairs and then I had to transit the entire length of the TA to get to my bike.  I should mention the weather in Kenting, Taiwan, on race day - absolutely gorgeous!  Blue skies, lots of sunshine, and seasonally cool - about 80 degrees for the high temp.  I think that the cooler temperature in comparison to the site of my last 2 Half Ironman races (Hawaii, in June) really helped me (though I still got sunburned - one of these times I will learn).  There were some pretty gusty winds, which made the bike course interesting, but I will talk about that a bit later.


I felt really good on the bike course. (see above)  It was also a two-loop course, this time essentially circumnavigating the Hengchun peninsula in southern Taiwan.  The course was mostly flat, except for two uphills just after leaving the TA, and then one climb portion covered once per lap thereafter.  There were many parts of the bike course heading north along the coast where you basically had the ocean on your left side and mountains on your right side.  It was quite scenic.

Enjoying the scenery

The gusty winds were coming from the north - northwest, which gave a nice push coming back in on the second half of each lap.  I tried to keep from over-extending myself on the bike, which tends to lead me to excessive cramping on the run portion (I know from past experience), but still putting in a decent effort.  I think I struck the balance well, as evidenced by my run performance.  My overall bike split time was 3 hours 8 minutes 25 seconds (about 17.4 mph average).


Unlike in past Half Ironman races, I only had to stop due to cramping (hamstrings both times, first the right and later the left) twice, at 5 miles and again at 10 miles.  I was able to easily address the cramping with only 10-15 seconds of static stretching followed by 10-15 seconds of walking.  Then I was back on my way.  I ran all the rest of the course, with the exception of aid stations.  I stopped and walked every one of these, making sure to get the food and drinks I needed, as well as sponges to keep cool.  Once I was done, I ran again to the next aid station.  I believe this tactic, which gave me 11 short walk breaks on the course (there were aid stations almost every mile), along with my conscious effort to find and run with other competitors who selected a pace a little bit slower than what I would self-select to run, allowed me to be relatively cramp-free on this half-marathon. (You can see some photos of me using this tactic, as well as all the other race-sponsored photos [13 in all] at http://www.finisherpix.com/; go to "Select Event" - Ironman 70.3 Taiwan 2010; enter my bib number [391], press "Go".)  My run split was 2 hours 20 minutes 54 seconds (a pace of about 10 minutes 25 seconds per mile).  I actually did not look at my run time at all on the course - my pace wasn't important to me, finishing with as little cramping as possible was.  Mission accomplished!

In this race, I believe I learned that doing this type of race and not being completely destroyed at the end is possible for me, IF I race smartly and don't overly concern myself with the amount of time I am running it in.  This is the first time I crossed the finish line on a long-course triathlon and felt like it would be possible for me to extend my effort out over a longer course...

I didn't really have a good idea of what my finish time was as I crossed the line (like I said, I hadn't really been keeping track very closely, unlike in some past races when realizing I wasn't going to be able to make whatever time goal I had set before the race my morale began to flag).  In all, it was 6 hours 35 minutes 50 seconds.  I had forgotten all but my most recent Half Ironman finish time (Hawaii, 2008), and I knew that I beat it by a fair margin (about 20 minutes, as it turns out), so I was quite happy with the improvement.  Later, I looked up all my Half Ironman times.  I have developed quite an interesting patter of doing these races, at least in the past 3 iterations.  My first race was actually my fastest by far, the 2002 Pigman long-course race in Iowa (5 hours 37 min 34 sec).  Then I raced Half Ironman-length events again in 2006 (Hawaii, 5:50:19), 2008 (Hawaii, 6:54:53), and now 2010.  I fear I will not keep the pattern going forward, though - I have my eyes on another Half Ironman race in the spring (March 2011) in Singapore, which will set me up for the ultimate goal - the full Ironman China race near Tianjin, People's Republic of China, in May 2011.  There's no time like the present to do it, and I believe it's time.  Who's with me?

I have a couple criticisms of the race.  First of all, there were no port-a-johns on the race course or even in the TA.  The only restroom facilities I am aware of near the TA were at the beach, near the swim start, very inconvenient if you need to use the facilities while transitioning.  I did notice two "rest area"-type areas along the bike course that evidently could be used by competitors as needed, but this seemed quite inadequate to me.  I pulled off in the bushes along the side of the road during the run about 4 hours into the race for a quick pit stop, since no facilities seemed forthcoming, but what about the women doing the race?  This needs to be addressed in future iterations of the race.

Second, the race course and even the host hotel changed several times before race day.  I understand that this was the first year of the event, but it's pretty inconvenient to have to keep adjusting your plans for the race as the organizers sort things out.  I figure this will be less of a problem during future iterations of the race.  I actually am glad the bike course was changed.  Originally, it was going to be an out-and-back course that went from Kenting down around the southern tip of Taiwan and back up the east coast a ways.  I drove this area the day after the race and the terrain was much more challenging there than it was on the actual (Hengchun peninsula) race course.  That and out on the east coast, the winds were absolutely WAILING.  I felt like I was about to be blown over as I stood and looked out over the Pacific Ocean.  I am glad I didn't have to bike out there for the race.

The wild, windy east coast of Taiwan

I'm glad to be writing this some 9 months after I basically wrote off being able to run triathlons and other races again due to lack of training and deconditioning.

GJS

P.S. I found this additional account of the race, from the fellow who finished 2nd overall: http://www.triathlontribe.com/blog/post/show/id/77-Jamie-Whyte-Blog-My-best-Ironman-70-3-result.  Looks like I am not the only one who thought the winds and current were challenging.

Hot One

Just back from a nice bike ride south of town. I've come to the conclusion that's the best way to ride out of the city. I went about 35+ miles in what appears to be (as of now) 90 degrees F (heat index 102 degrees F). Still, a very good ride - probably the best so far in "the comeback."

More details to follow later.

Two months back on the run

Last week I surpassed two months since I started running again.  To “celebrate” this, I went 5 days without a run and got a little taste of what it was like to not exercise again.  I didn’t take much of a taste to recognize that I still don’t like the restlessness, poor sleeping, and lethargy that I feel when not exercising regularly.  Good thing broke the cycle by getting out the door for a run this morning!

 It wasn’t a long one, just 4 miles, but I already feel much better.

As I already mentioned, I wanted to talk a little about the 2 months of training that I have completed.  Let’s take a look at some of the totals:

There are a few runs, the first half-dozen or so that I did in February, where I didn’t take my GPS with me, so those are not included in these totals.  All in all, not too bad!  Not counting today’s workout, I did 23 runs, going from a run of 23 minutes on February 16 to start off my “comeback.”  Compare that with my longest run during this time, 8.13 miles in 1 hour 8 minutes and change on April 3, and you can see the progress I’ve made.  I am looking forward to taking a crack at a 10+ mile run in the not-too-distant future.

It only makes sense that with the progress I have been making that I would start to think about some sort of competitive event to use as a goal to keep me going.  Last week I started thinking about two events this fall – the Taroko Gorge Marathon and the Ironman 70.3 Taiwan triathlon.  The latter event, from what I understand, will be run for the very first time this year, so it would be pretty neat to be a part of that.  But the Taroko Gorge Marathon is pretty unique in its own right, owing to its location and topography.  To top it all off, they will be held on successive weekends in late October and early November, effectively guaranteeing that it will have to be either-or for me (I do not recover nearly fast enough to even entertain the notion of trying to do both events).  If I decide that the triathlon will be the way to go, then maybe, just maybe, if I can keep momentum for multisport training going afterwards, I could parlay that into the berth at the 2011 Ironman China that I have had my eye on for a long time.  Developing…

In researching the Taroko Gorge marathon a bit, I came across the blog from a fellow in Taipei who ran it last fall and felt really good.  He said that he used a training plan called the Hanson's plan, from the Hanson-Brooks Distance Project. (For more about the project itself, see this 2007 Runner's World magazine profile.) For my last marathon, the 2009 Big Sur Marathon, I followed the "Run Less, Run Faster" plan promulgated by the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training.  I liked that it only required me to run 3 days a week, allowing me to allocate the remainder of my scarce free time to studying Chinese and spending with my family, but a significant drawback of the program, in my view, is that since there are only 3 runs a week and overall mileage is relatively low (I think I topped out at about 40 miles a week at the program's heaviest volume period) and advocated long training runs of 20 miles several times during the course of the program, you end up doing 50% of your weekly mileage in one run at some points.  It worked out OK for me for most of the way through the program, up until about a month prior to the marathon, when I slightly injured my lower leg on a long run.  I pretty much had to curtail running after that, which is one way, I guess, to ensure that I had a good rest, a really long taper, up to the race, but probably not optimal.  Thus, the marathon was tough for me - not my best finish time, let's put it that way.  Plus, it's a hilly course.  Taroko will be a hilly course, too, but it sounds like the Hanson's plan worked out really well for this fellow.  It is intriguing to me, since it calls for near-daily runs (6 days a week).  I think that might be kind of hard to fit in to my schedule, but because the volume is greater and the plan's longest run tops out at 16 miles, that means you are never running such a high percentage of your overall weekly mileage in one day, which should decrease the chance for injury.  I might try the Hanson's program out this year, we shall see.

 

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