BAA Half Marathon Race Report 10/7/07

This race will always hold a special place in my heart. Back in 2005, I used this race to kick-off my resurrected running career. Prior to that, I had never raced anything longer than a 10K and hadn't done a run longer than 12 miles. With a 2 year retrospective, its amazing to see the progress I've made as a runner. The course runs through the picturesque Emerald Necklace. With the exception of the Boston Marathon, this is the only race I consider having a home field advantage. It is by no means a flat route, but I love the fact that the second half is mostly downhill. Here's my log entry from two years ago:

Sunday, Oct 9, 2005 Temp: 60	Running Race > Edit or delete	BAA Half Marathon 13.10 miles 1:31:50 (7:00/mile)	Weight: 165 Saucony Fastwitch 2005 (24.4 miles)
	Breakfast: oatmeal at 6:15AM, with 16oz gatorade 7:30 - FRS plus 7:45 - gel packet splits: 7:45, 7:00, 7:00, 7:15, 7:15, 7:05, 6:40, 7:00, 7:00, 7:00, 7:00, 7:00, 6:17 stops: water (2, 4, 6, 8, 10), pee break at mile 3, gel at mile 8. bad burps most of the way until mile 8. GI cramps from mile 7 to mile 9.

Its too bad I wasn't more descriptive back then. I distinctively remember regretting eating so much for breakfast and battling bad stomach cramps until mile 9. I was probably worried about running out of gas. Regardless, I didn't start getting comfortable until after mile 9. Anyway, fun to reminisce.

After a very difficult last week of training, things seemed to fall in place this week. I could tell after Monday's run that my body had finally recovered from the relative torture of the previous two weeks. Tuesday track session was a more relaxed affair; instead of hammering the 1200s, I did these at slightly slower than 10K pace. Then, I enjoyed a very relaxing cool-down with my BAA teammates. Wednesday morning, I joined the Flash Bus for a medium long run through the Emerald Necklace. Along with new BAA teammate Nick O'Malley, we followed Josh through some gorgeous trails in the Arboretum. It's always a joy to find undiscovered paths in familiar places. I was the least talented of the trio by far, but I kept a good tempo throughout the run, pulled along by the company. After this reasonably hard effort, I took two days off as a mini-taper for the half. Saturday was unseasonably warm and humid. I met up with my friend Chris, and along with my wife, we did a comfortable jog down to the Clemente stadium to pick up our numbers. I was praying that tomorrow's weather would be more cooperative.

My last real race was the Yankee Homecoming 10 Miler, so I wasn't sure what I kind of shape I was in. Last week's difficulties were also a monkey wrench. Even so, I settled on 3 goals. At a minimum, I wanted to better my PR of 1:26:54 from New Bedford earlier this year. According to most running calculators, in order to reach my goal of a sub-3:00 marathon, I need to be in sub-1:25 shape. In the back of mind, I've always wanted to run the New York City Marathon and fortunately, they have a qualifying standard time for the half marathon of 1:23:00. This translates to a 6:20 pace (which seems ridiculously fast), and so my plan was to lock in on this pace and see how long I could hold it. If I slowed in the end, the downhills would at least pull me into a sub-1:25. My RTB relay teammate Ramses also had a similar goal, but I have a tendency to go out too fast and fade slightly at the end, so we decided not to pace together.

At the start, I deliberately held back so that I wouldn't go out to hard. At the Run to Remember, I was dragged out to an opening mile of 6:07 and really paid for it later. After the opening scrum, I keyed off of teammate Patrick Stumbras (see left) to make sure I stayed conservative. The 1st 3 miles went off without a hitch, and I was averaging about a 6:18 mile. I don't know what happened at mile 4, but for some reason I dropped a 6:11 split, which was way too fast. However, I knew with the big hill leading into Franklin Park looming at mile 5, that the course would naturally reign me back in. Mile 5 turned out to be ridiculously slow (6:52), but not completely unexpected. In the process, I also managed to reel in Patrick. The light mist left this section of pavement damp, making traction a bit dicey. As I made the right turn into the zoo, I started noticing that my legs just didn't feel right, and the dirt path section was a struggle. I began to wonder if I had put too much in the 1st half of the race. Sure enough, as I came back out of the zoo, Pat came by, and passed me shortly after the beginning of the descent.

Mile 7 was quick (5:57) and I was back on pace. I got a little boost at the roundabout heading out of Franklin Park as I heard my wife, Christina, cheering like crazy as she headed into the Park. Meanwhile, I was still trying to keep Pat in my sights. I was still on pace at mile 8 (6:17), but the effort was beginning to take its toll. Mile 8-11 was a blur. I remember losing focus and just coasting, but I don't know how it happened. I wasn't really getting passed by people, but my rhythm was getting disrupted by the rolling hills bordering Jamaica Pond. My HR data suggests that I was just slowing down because my HR dropped about 4-5 bpm. By mile 11 (6:25), although I didn't realize it at the time, I was behind 1:23 pace. Fortunately for me, I was rescued by Ramses, who passed me just before mile 11 and said, "C'mon buddy!" as he ran by. I awoke from my running stupor and found another gear to hang with him for the next mile. I ended up running the fastest split (6:04) of the day (excluding the mostly downhill mile 7) and was back on pace. Ramses continued to push the pace, but I started to drop back. The only thing keeping me going over the last mile was what a bummer it would be if he made the qualifying standard, and I missed it by a couple seconds. So I put my head down and just grinded out the last mile (6:17). It wasn't pretty, but it did the trick. I had energy left for a surge at the end and managed to cross in 1:22:46 - 14 seconds to spare. More from the results page, if you're interested. Here's the numerical story:

Mile	Split	Lap	Avg. HR	Max HR
1	6:15	6:14.7	167	170
2	12:27	6:12.0	171	174
3	18:53	6:26.6	173	175
4	25:04	6:10.9	172	175
5	31:56	6:52.0	171	175
6	38:24	6:27.8	173	175
7	44:21	5:57.4	169	172
8	50:39	6:17.4	166	171
9	57:07	6:27.7	166	169
10	1:03:26	6:19.5	164	168
11	1:09:51	6:25.1	165	170
12	1:15:55	6:04.3	168	170
13	1:22:12	6:16.8	165	168
13.1	1:22:46	0:34.3	171	173
Total	1:22:46	6:19.1	169	175

Although I was elated that I had made the qualifying standard for New York, I was disappointed with my race strategy. It was very likely that I had expended too much energy between miles 3-6, and I paid for it from miles 8-11. I also wonder if a taper would have give me a bit more pop at the end. But, since this wasn't the goal race of the season, a two day taper was all I could afford. I'm also not happy with the lack of mental fortitude over those dead miles. If it wasn't for a little encouragement from Ramses, I don't think I would have run a sub-1:23. In fact, if mile 12 had been a 6:19, I would have crossed the line at 1:23:01. So credit goes to Ramses for dragging me to the finish line!

Here's my week summarized:
Mon: 6.5 miles @ 7:59, beautiful morning run down in North Falmouth
Tue: 11 miles - 2.6m w/u, 5x1200m @ 6:06 pace w/ BAA, 4.5 mile cool-down
Wed: 12.9 miles @ 7:16, nice run along Emerald Necklace trails
Thu: off
Fri: off
Sat: 4 miles @ 8:23, easy run to pick up BAA Half number
Sun: 17 miles - 2m w/u, BAA Half in 1:22:46 (6:19), 2m c/d
Total: 52.2 miles

I have an exciting week coming as I will be making my maiden voyage as a marathon pace group leader at the Hartford Marathon. Wish me luck!

Plan for next week 10/8-14
Mon: 30 min. pool run
Tue: AM - 5 miles recovery, PM - 5 miles recovery & core work
Wed: AM - 11 miles including 3x2000m @ 6:20, PM - basketball
Thu: 5-6 miles easy
Fri: 4 miles, try to lock in on 8:23 pace
Sat: 26.2 miles, leading 3:40 pace group at the Hartford Marathon
Sun: 5-6 mile recovery run
Total: 57-59 miles