I take my city back - Bergen City Marathon 2016

Back in Bergen, back at my very first half marathon course.

Bergen City Marathon took place yesterday, and I was one of the thousands who participated in the half marathon. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to race this distance again after struggling with injury the whole of 2015. With no street races since January 2015, and no half marathon races since September 2014, I really did not know what to expect and what to aim for at yesterday's race. The 2014 version of this race was my very first half marathon, and I finished in 2:00. If I had been able to participate last year, I would aim for something like 1:55. But this year? I restarted street running practice just three months ago, and I did not have a proper estimation of my form.

I came to Bergen already a week ago, and ever since I arrived I felt my legs heavy, my joints aching, and my injured hamstrings tendon very tense and painful. I figured out that the best thing I could do to prepare for the race was to rest properly. So, during the last week I only had an easy mountain hike on Monday and a short run on Wednesday. Thursday my legs started to feel better, and on Friday they were better than in a long time. I felt ready and confident that I could at least finish.

Bergen City Half marathon course is truly beautiful; it takes you by the sea, by the mountains, along a lake, along the fjord, inside two parks, and at the end some city streets. However, it has a total elevation gain of 255 meters, so it is not an easy course to speed. For a negative split, though, it is perfect. The main elevation gain is done between the 3rd and the 8th kilometer, which forces you to slow down, and then it is mostly downhill or flat for the rest (except a small killer hill at the 18th km). For the first 3 km it is completely flat, and I felt very good and fast. My tempo was around 5 min/km for that first part, and my heart rate not above threshold.

Then started the uphills, and I think I went a bit too slow there. The thing is, I have this lactate threshold value of heart rate 162 from an August 2014 test. I don't know if this is still accurate for my current form, but I did not dare to pass it in the first half. The resulting speed up the hills was not as high as I was hoping. The good news is that I felt pretty good at 162 and not at all like pushing it too hard, and on the flatter parts I could speed up to pace 5:15-5:30 min/km without reaching that heart rate. At the downhills I went as fast as 4:30, and my heart rate went even down then. But at some point I started suspecting that I was feeling a little bit too good. As far as I can remember I was in pain more of the time in the two previous street half marathons I raced. This time at the 15th km, I was thinking to myself that I was enjoying myself too much and I should try to increase speed.

I did increase a bit, and after the 19th km, I gave it all, and my speed for the last two kilometers was around 5 min/km. The last 500 meters were pretty painful, my legs started to stiffen. I ended up with 1:58 as my finish time, which is 2 minutes better than my 2014 time at this course, but 4 minutes worse than my time in Oslo in September 2014. Before start I had a slight hope of 1:55, but in the end I was really happy to manage below 2 hours.

Every race gives more experience and new wisdom. This particular race ended up giving a tremendous amount of wonderful treats in addition. Many many of my friends from Varegg/Melkesyre/Fjellgeitene were either racing or cheering along the course. Our son Aksel added to the joy by following us on the course and taking pictures. I heard my name called out so many times during the race and every time it gave me a new boost of energy. Afterwards it was great to gather for a drink in the sun, and in the evening there was a big dinner party where I could catch up with many friends some of whom I had not seen for a long while. My running buddy Berna from Istanbul came to Bergen just for this race, and she was very warmly welcomed by my Bergen group. Her performance was outstanding; although it was only 6 days after her last half marathon in Madrid, she improved her time from then by 3 minutes yesterday! Frank was also very happy; thanks to my advice about full rest this past week, he had a new PB of 1:35!

It was a wonderful day.