SCSM2018

Table of Contents

• title: “SCSM2018”
  • Table of Contents
  • Race information
  • Goals
  • Splits
  • Training
  • Overview
  • Training Stats
  • Training details
  • A rocky Pre-race
  • Race
  • Start
  • The first 5k
  • 5k to 18k
  • 18k to 25k
  • 25k to 32k
  • 32k to 40k
  • 40k to finish
  • Post-race
  • Closing thoughts

Race information

• What? Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2018
• When? December 09, 2018
• How far? 26.2 miles / 42.195 kilometres (Map)
• Where? Singapore
• Website: https://singaporemarathon.com/
• Finish time: 04:09:31

Goals

Splits

Training

Overview

I had previously used a basic plan from Runners’ World (UK) to train for the half marathon. Though this was my first marathon I set myself an ambitious goal of sub 3:30 (~ 5m/km or ~08:00 m/ mile).

I looked around but in the end I settled on using a service called Coached to train. I really like their approach: in brief, it’s based on training a given quantity of time at a given heart rate band, where the bands are personalized. This made it a lot less effort to follow than plans like the ones from Daniel’s Running Formula.

Training Stats

18 weeks training, 5 sessions/week, ~900 km run, ~90 hours of training.

Training details

Training went pretty much to plan, I was able to do about 90% of the sessions called for in the plan. The longest session was a 31k in about 2h 45m (~5:16 min/km). As this session included a hard run in the middle and I wasn’t fresh, I was quite happy with being so close to my goal pace.

A few days before the race I had a chat with coach Ben from Coached who advised to take it easy in the beginning and aim for an easy pace (5:10 vs. 5:00 goal) in the beginning and to see how I felt at 10k / the half way mark. As it was my first marathon I was more than happy to take this advice. As it turns out, I should have been a lot more defensive still!

A rocky Pre-race

Singapore is hot and humid even in December so the marathon starts before dawn at 4.30 am in attempt to avoid the worst of it - not that this helped much, as the morning turned out to be punishingly hot and humid (30C / 86F at 80% humidity).

In any case, this start time meant I got up at 3 am, gathered my gear (gels, running belt, HR monitor) and caught a taxi to the starting location (the F1 pit). My pen closed at 4.15 am so given that I live about 10m drive from there I thought a taxi at 3:40 was plenty of time - mistake! Due to road closures and increased traffic on the roads the taxi got stuck so I ended up having to get out of the taxi and jog to the start area.

Needless to say, not the start I imagined.

Race

Start

After a brief wait for the Elite wheelchair athletes and runners it was the turn of the amateurs and in no time my pen was at the front and we were off. The initial foot traffic was not too bad and I quickly settled into a comfortable pace with a group of people from my pen. Looking at my watch I realised it was slower than I had planned (5:20) but I figured this was fine for the start and the conditions - better safe than sorry.

The first 5k

The first 5k of the race route took us away from the race pit and through the financial district out west. Here there was plenty of entertainment - singers on the side of the road, drummers, etc. Quite a nice way to start. I was running strong at around 05:20 at this point so I decided to stick to this and keep following the pack I had been following rather than push for a faster pace.

5k to 18k

Kilometres 5-10 brought us west under and then onto a highway - a pretty boring stretch, especially as there were much fewer spectators. This section also featured the first water mist cooling station which looked cool (you could see runners in front of you disappearing) but to be honest didn’t really do much for me. Otherwise, this was pretty uneventful.

18k to 25k

The route now took us back into the city close to the Marina Bay Sands where the half marathon runners split off. The full marathon route then continued east across the Marina Barrage for some rather beautiful views of the harbor, especially as the first rays of dawn were showing.

Reaching the 18k aid station I realized that I couldn’t keep up even this relatively slower pace for another 24k so I decided to drop off the group I had been following and run a pace that felt more comfortable (~5:45). At this point, I had pretty much resigned myself to not making sub 3:30 but thought a sub 4:00 finish should still be well within reach.

25k to 32k

At around 25k things started to get very hairy for me as I really began to feel the exhaustion and pain, forcing me to slow down considerably. Around this time was also when the 3:45 pacer group overtook me.

Any thoughts of a specific finishing time went out of the window here - this section was definitely the worst of the race mentally, at several points I even questioned whether I was going to finish at all. However, I somehow struggled through as the course wended its way back through east coast park and the marina barrage to start the final 10k.

32k to 40k

Although I was not in good shape and going quite slow, once I reached 32k the worst part was over mentally as I thought I could always walk the rest if necessary.

To minimize walking, though, I limited my walking recovery to the remaining aid stations. This mode of run/walk pretty much worked and I stuck to it for the rest of the race.

At some point here I was passed by the 4:00 pacer but I can honestly say I wasn’t too bothered by that at this point, I was just trying to finish without having to walk the rest of the way.

The final portion of this section did have one nasty surprise - a massive highway ramp at kilometre 39k, which I’m not ashamed to say I partially walked. Seriously, who puts that 3k from the finish !?

40k to finish

The final stretch took us back tothe F1 area. I walked through the last aid station and embarked on the final 2k. At 41k my fiancee and parents were waiting to cheer me on which gave me a much needed boost to run out the rest of the distance down the home stretch.

Post-race

Having finally crossed the finish line I shambled along the corridor prepared for us to collect my medal and finisher tee before reaching the blessed water and ice towel stands. After drinking like a camel I came out in the finishing area containing the stands for merch, message, etc. After a bit more walking I eventually found the entrance where my fiancee and parents caught up to me so I could finally collapse on the floor.

Closing thoughts

Despite not making anything close to my original goal I am very happy with my finish. It was a tough race - Singapore is definitely not a place to set PBs - but a satisfying challenge to conquer.

The race was well organized (for runners anyway, spectators had a harder time finding their way) and I want to give a big thank you to all the volunteers at all the aid stations (and elsewhere).

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