New Balance Aquathlon 2005 : Part 3, The Run

As I exited the transition area to begin the run, I almost went the wrong direction as there were so many twists and turns to follow!! Thank goodness for those road marshals and volunteers!! Phew!

I started out at a faster pace than my usual run as I was still feeling the adrenaline from the swim. Going into the run, I was determined to improve on my timing compared to the Biathlon in March (about 1:19:xx) and also the NB REAL Run the week earlier (about 1:14:xx). Although the REAL Run's time was still an improvement, it was not as big as I had hoped for. This time around, I was really looking to make a big dent in my running time.

Coming towards the 10min point of my run, I knew I could not sustain the pace any longer and decided to settle into my normal race pace. Once I did that, my legs were not complaining as much and they started to get used to the running. I began to settle down into the run and my normal rhythm began to play itself out. Many of the competitors were passing me along the way, along with those from the SGRunners forum - first TLR, followed by Ironmandreamer. And I saw Balasing and Penguin going along the opposite direction a couple of times.

As I reached the first turnpoint(2.5km) I was still feeling quite comfortable and my watch showed about 15min+. Seeing as how this was within my target of completing the run in an hour, I was encouraged and decided to pick up the pace - just a little. This, and the initial 10min burst of speed, would prove a mistake later.

The 5km mark saw my time at about 31min+. At this point, my legs were straining and my breathing was laboured. This distance is well within my usual training limits and I was wondering to myself as to the reason for the level of fatigue when it hit me - the faster pace in the first 10min of the run. It had taken more out of me than I expected. As I came to the next waterpoint, I made an agonising decision - I needed to stop running and walked instead.

At the beginning of the race, I had determined to run all the way and not walk at all. During the previous week's REAL Run, I had walked part of the way - especially through the sand portion. This had only served to re-affirmed my resolve not to walk during the aquathlon. At this point you can imagine the disappointment I was having at myself - it lasted for all of 5 seconds.

I re-strategised. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep running for the rest of the race, yet I was determined to improve on my timing. I decided to take breaks at all the waterpoints as well as every 7-8 minutes, but I confined the breaks to no longer than 20secs each. This strategy proved the saving grace for me. I found the strength to continue at a good pace between the breaks and was even able to summon up a short burst towards the finishing line. This was a big difference compared to the Biathlon in March as I was just walking towards to the finishing line then. Time 1:02:44 (off my watch of course). This was, in my own opinion, a significant improvement over March's timing(1:19:xx). Yoohoo!! :D