Race Result

Racer:	Kevin Shaw
Race:	B&A Trail Marathon
Date:	Sunday, March 2, 2008
Location:	Severna Park, MD
Race Type:	Run - Marathon
Age Group:	Male 45 - 49
Time:	3:45:09
Overall Place:	91 / 239
Age Group Place:	16 / 29

Race Report:

The B&A Trail Marathon is my second Marathon of the year five weeks after a slow Miami marathon. This is run on a “rails to trails” course that is similar in nature to our own W&OD.

I woke at 5:00 and had a quick shave and I had pre-race breakfast of 2 oz of lean ham a banana and Clif bar before heading out for the hour drive to the Annapolis area.

I was meeting up with Dave, whom I had been chatting with on a couple if different forums for a couple of years now and even though he lives very near me we had never met. He was running the half and we agreed to pace each other. He had agreed to run my pace and pretty much let me drive the pace based off of my HR goals, but we both agreed that if neither one of us was up to the task, that the other was free to run their own race, nice arrangement and I’m grateful that Dave suggested it.

I’m not going to comment on a very tall, and very fit looking runner that was dressed entirely pink to including a tutu and little pink wand except to say that Dave seemed to take an interest in him ;); where he (tutu guy not Dave) found pink running shoes in his size I’ll never know. Suffice to say this pixie beat me by a solid half hour.

I recognized Dave by his attractive neon green windbreaker and we chatted for a few minutes before heading off to the start. The start was interesting as they couldn’t figure out which direction we were to head off in; so one minute we were on one side the next we were on the other and then we moved back again. So Dave and I were in the back of the pack, then front, and then finally near the back again for the start. Not to worry it was chip timed and it only took 30 seconds to cross the line anyway. Before the race we chatted with “Ultra chick” who claimed to not be fast but easily motored out ahead of us.

My original plan was to run the first mile at a 9:00 m/mi pace and then “ease” into 8:30s if my target HR of 145 bpm supported it. Well we threw that out the window within the first quarter mile. Our first mile split was 8:22 and my avg HR was only 131BPM. Now my mind says “maybe we should just see what the old boy has and not worry about the pace so much as the HR”, so in my head I made that decision. Throughout the first mile, and the entire time that Dave and I ran together, Dave made sure I was comfortable with what we were doing. I assured him that what ever pace and hr I was doing was solely my decision and that I was entirely in control of my own destiny. Should I PR Dave would get huge credit, should I blow up, it was to be my own darn fault ;)

Miles two and three we rolled right along at 8:08 pace and avg HR of 140 and 145 respectively so I am still on track HR wise but a bit fast for pace, no problem. At mile three I shed my cheap sweatshirt to a volunteer. A nice part of this race is that they collect your clothing items at this point (mile 3 and mile 11) and return them to the finish for you! I did forget to retrieve my shirt later and hope they donated it to charity.

Mile four we ran at 8:07 and mile five was 8:00 but my HR was up to 149 bpm, although I remember seeing my HR bump up a couple of times as we either passed some, (like “ultra chick” at mil four), I don’t remember seeing very many numbers above this at all. I thought I was much closer to 145 for an average. I wasn’t supposed to get above 145 until the second half, but decided to see what would happen if I let it go to 150 bpm. Hmmmmm ;)

Just before mile six we went up a small hill that we had been warned about, we kept the pace up at 7:56 m/mi and my avg HR was 149 bpm. This is probably the one thing I would have changes, we probably should have backed off here but what the heck, it is now a great experiment! We cruised down the hill to the turn around and then back up so mile seven 7.00 we ran at a fast 7:49 and my avg HR was now 150. Looking back on it I realize that this pace was insane for me at this stage and it probably took a bunch out of me, but it was a decision I made at the time and since it is an experiment, I learned from it. Dave and I talked about that mile and decided to back off a bit.

Mile either my pace is back to 8:15 but my avg HR is still high at 152. We were joking that the course designer was evil for designing an out and back that was slightly up hill both ways.

Mile nine was slightly down hill and the pace picked up to 8:02 and my avg hr was still at 151 bpm

I could tell that Dave was getting excited at the possibility of a nice PR and he was talking about picking up the pace at mile 11. I had absolutely no problem with that and wished him well. What I probably shouldn’t have done was run mile 10 at a 7:50 m/mi pace with an avg HR of 151. But again this was my decision, and I still felt pretty darn good. In hind sight I had absolutely no business doing this for this mile or the next two as mile 11 clicked off at 7:43 avg HR of 153 bpm. I managed to keep Dave’s Jacket in sight, it is pretty noticeable ;) I ran mile 12 at a 7:52 m/mi with an avg hr of 152. We were nearing the point where all of the Half marathoners made their turn for home and I decide that I really need to get back to some sort of plan so I ran mile 13 in 8:09 at 151 bpm.

Now at the half way point I am going to try to keep the HR at 150 and hope the pace doesn’t fall too dramatically. I’m now pretty much by myself and in damage control mode.

Miles 14 through 16 were about 8:13 and my avg HR is 152, so that is not too bad. The wind is beginning to pick up a bit but it is not all that bad either but there is something about running into a head wind that I truly despise, I’ve really got to overcome that as it is all mental.

Miles 17 through 19 are a bit slower and I realize the damage that I did in the first half is a reality, but still a good experiment and one that I’m still glad to have done. It served two purposes, one it let me know what my true level of fitness for a marathon is and two it made for a great long training run for the National at the end of the month. My avg pace was around 8:30 and avg hr was 151.

So now here I am at mile 20 and although my pace is slowing, my HR is staying the same. I’m wondering what is going on here, should my HR be going up? I then realize that my nutrition plan is way screwed up. I haven’t even in the second half I only ate two tiny Clif blocks and I forgot entirely about my peanut butter power bar that I usually eat half of at mile 18!

So miles 20 and 21 click off at 8:50 and the HR stays the same. I realize that there will be no PR today so I ease up into training mode and ponder whether I should take stretch and or walk breaks. Since I’m now into pure training mode and have run over 20 miles at a pretty good pace I’m ok with taking the rest pretty easy but wonder what my time will be?

Miles 22 and 23 were at a long training pace of 9:20 and still my avg HR is 149. I took a short stretch break during mile 24 so my avg pace for that was 10:11 and my avg HR was 146. I picked the pace back up for mile 15 and ran it in 8:50 at an avg HR of153.

From 25 – 25.5 I stretched and walked a bit; I was simply enjoying the day and knew that even though there was no PR for me today that I was not too far off either. I began to pick the pace back up from 25.5 to 26 and eased into an 8:30 pace. The average pace for mile 26 was a very slow 11:18 and my avg HR was down to 139.

For the final .2 I picked it up for a 7:40 m/mi finish. One nice thing was that as I came up to the finish, I overheard a women comment to her friend that I had really nice form. That made me feel pretty good, but I couldn’t help chuckling to myself that she should have seen me a mile ago.

Overall I finished 91 out of 239 and 16 out of 29 in my division my official chip time was 3:45:09 for an average pace of 8:37. This ended up only 4:23 slower than my PR so not bad for a “training run” with an experimental first half!

My hat’s off to the Annapolis Striders for a great race. It was well supported and well organized. And I really like the fleece vest as a runner’s premium. The Annapolis Striders do have a reputation for nice premiums! This is a race that I would do again.