Before spring finally arrives, bringing its rising temperatures, gentle winds, and greener grass, the cold bite of winter takes one more rip out of us. Funny that it always seems to fall on the last weekend in March, just in time for a long coastal race.
I went back and forth a lot on the decision to run this. With a lot of commitments outside of running over the next month, I could have easily skipped this one and might have been okay. Beyond that, this year puts the race in between the Hyannis and Boston Marathons. Counting the Brian Boru 5K, that's over 75 miles of road races in 7 weeks, which is unprecedented from a personal standpoint. (If you count the Sugarloaf Marathon and the Orrington 10k over the following month, that's about 110 miles of racing in 11 weeks.) This goes above and beyond any pace I had set for myself at this point, so what impact this will have on my legs will be unknown.
None of this really scares me, though. In fact, I'm excited to have this opportunity to not only run Boston, but to push myself beyond my previous limits and possibly hit a sub-3-hour marathon. It's a big part of why I decided to commit to this.
Date: Sunday, March 27
Time: 11AM
Start Location: Kittery, ME
Finish Location Salisbury Beach, MA
Course Map: http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=342214
After a couple of years of various construction projects, the race is back to its original course - nearly the entirety of it runs along route 1A. It's flat, it's wide open, and it's well-marked. What makes this course a challenge is - like Hyannis - the weather. Though it's spring officially, winter hasn't quite left most of northern New England yet. There's always a strong wind off the Atlantic at this time of year and the forecast calls for exactly that. At least the sun will be out to provide a small amount of warmth.
After tomorrow, there will be three weeks separating me from my first ever Boston run. I'd love to go into it with some confidence and momentum.
My top five 20-mile races:
2:21:01 - Sugarloaf Marathon, 20-mile split, 2010
2:25:13 - Sugarloaf Marathon, 20-mile split, 2009
2:25:56 - Eastern States 20-miler, 2010
2:26:31 - Somesville 20-miler, 2010
2:26:53 - Eastern States 20-miler, 2009
To beat the Eastern States PR shouldn't be too much of a hassle provided everything goes well. To get an overall PR would be great, and from what I've run so far this year, it's definitely doable. I'll know for sure in less than 24 hours.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Hyannis, Year 4
Overall Time: 3:27:04
Pace Per Mile: 7 minutes, 54 seconds
Overall Place/Finishers: 51/358
Age Group Place/Finishers: 21/56
Place among ME runners: 2nd
Splits: 36:02 (1-5) 37:13 (6-10) 37:25 (11-15) 39:50 (16-20) 56:34 (21-26.2)
I could have taken a lot of negatives from this race but the goals were simple: beat my best time for the course or, failing that, just complete the race. My primary goal was achieved.
Conditions were dismal - low 30s and wet snow, with wind picking up by the second loop. I took a gamble and nixed the gloves - that was a mistake. The first 3 miles were a struggle to ignore my chapped, half-frozen hands while gauging my optimal pace. Luckily my body warmed up enough to ease the discomfort, at least for the time being.
I paced comfortably between 7:15-7:30 for the majority of the race (though I was sub-7:15 for 4 of the first 5 miles). This worked well until my legs started to stiffen up around mile 16 and I gradually lost momentum. Until that point I had managed to pace under 7:30 which was ahead of my own projections, but I was thankful that I stayed ahead of them to that point because of the wall I would hit at mile 18. I recorded 7:37, 7:40 for 16 and 17 and 8:20 for 18 and 19. A surge of adrenaline got me a 7:53 for 20 but that was all I had for sub-8 running for the remainder of the race. I even recorded a 10-minute-plus mile at 25. At least the last .2 was clocked at a respectable 1:40 - a low-8 pace - and I was able to finish well under the 3 hour, 30 minute mark.
I can take a lot of things from this race. First, wear gloves to a Marathon with sub-freezing temperatures, even if there's no precipitation. I'm probably lucky I didn't suffer frostbite damage to my hands. Second, my fitness overall is better than it has been in previous Hyannis marathons in spite of my running struggles this time of year. This is a good sign for Sugarloaf and Boston. Third, I'm grateful for people I know to help me out post-race this year. I went alone for 2008 and 2009 but if I had gone alone this year, I might have had some issues getting back to my vehicle post-race (mostly because of being under-dressed when my body temperature dropped back down). Fourth, a successful Hyannis run is a perfect foundation to build momentum into spring. With this year being more active than ever for races, I'll need all the self-motivation I can get.
Seven weeks separate Hyannis from Boston. That means I'll need to pull all the positives out of the race and put everything back together in quick order.
Pace Per Mile: 7 minutes, 54 seconds
Overall Place/Finishers: 51/358
Age Group Place/Finishers: 21/56
Place among ME runners: 2nd
Splits: 36:02 (1-5) 37:13 (6-10) 37:25 (11-15) 39:50 (16-20) 56:34 (21-26.2)
I could have taken a lot of negatives from this race but the goals were simple: beat my best time for the course or, failing that, just complete the race. My primary goal was achieved.
Conditions were dismal - low 30s and wet snow, with wind picking up by the second loop. I took a gamble and nixed the gloves - that was a mistake. The first 3 miles were a struggle to ignore my chapped, half-frozen hands while gauging my optimal pace. Luckily my body warmed up enough to ease the discomfort, at least for the time being.
I paced comfortably between 7:15-7:30 for the majority of the race (though I was sub-7:15 for 4 of the first 5 miles). This worked well until my legs started to stiffen up around mile 16 and I gradually lost momentum. Until that point I had managed to pace under 7:30 which was ahead of my own projections, but I was thankful that I stayed ahead of them to that point because of the wall I would hit at mile 18. I recorded 7:37, 7:40 for 16 and 17 and 8:20 for 18 and 19. A surge of adrenaline got me a 7:53 for 20 but that was all I had for sub-8 running for the remainder of the race. I even recorded a 10-minute-plus mile at 25. At least the last .2 was clocked at a respectable 1:40 - a low-8 pace - and I was able to finish well under the 3 hour, 30 minute mark.
I can take a lot of things from this race. First, wear gloves to a Marathon with sub-freezing temperatures, even if there's no precipitation. I'm probably lucky I didn't suffer frostbite damage to my hands. Second, my fitness overall is better than it has been in previous Hyannis marathons in spite of my running struggles this time of year. This is a good sign for Sugarloaf and Boston. Third, I'm grateful for people I know to help me out post-race this year. I went alone for 2008 and 2009 but if I had gone alone this year, I might have had some issues getting back to my vehicle post-race (mostly because of being under-dressed when my body temperature dropped back down). Fourth, a successful Hyannis run is a perfect foundation to build momentum into spring. With this year being more active than ever for races, I'll need all the self-motivation I can get.
Seven weeks separate Hyannis from Boston. That means I'll need to pull all the positives out of the race and put everything back together in quick order.
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