Around the Bay Road Race -- 30k

Absolutely ideal weather for racing.

First race in a while that I had to walk for a bit of the run. I went out pretty aggressively. Around 19k I started to fade. The aggressive start contributed to the fading for sure but not fueling and hydrating enough before the start was probably the biggest factor. During the early stages of the race I felt my hydration was not yet sufficient.

Through km 10 I was 20 seconds ahead of pace for 2:10. The next 3 km got faster still, another 20 seconds ahead of pace. To that point I still felt pretty good and kept pressing. I wasn’t watching the watch only checking where I was at every 3k marker.

At the end of 18 I was still pretty much on track. I needed to be at 1:18 and I was at 1:18:30. I took a few extra moments for a gel at km 13. I was quite amazed how many people were running with me in the first part of the race. Very competitive field for sure.

As we worked back into the Burlington side of the course I found my energy levels were waning. I was a bit surprised and disappointed to be feeling like that with 12k to go. It definitely threw me off my game plan. With all the work I’ve been doing I thought I would have been stronger until closer to the end. As a result I don’t think I fought hard enough for the next couple of miles. I’m left wondering if I had pushed through a bit harder here would that have gotten me far enough into the race to stay on or closer to target. Instead I became very introspective for the next couple of miles.

My main goal at this point now became to make sure I had enough fluids and carbs to finish the course. I had one more gel to take which I took going up the long hill around km 22. Prior to this though I was already fatigued enough that I stopped and walked briefly. At this point I figured if I could get the last gel in and enough fluids I would hopefully slowly come back as we got closer to the end of the race. In fact I was starting to feel better in the last 3 – 3 1/2 k after the big hill.

From km 21 to 26 I focused more on finding a steady cadence to get me to the finish. Mentally I would have been quite happy to be finished at that point already.

Pace wise I didn’t push it on the hills through this point. I seemed to be moving along okay just not very fast through this section. The legs were feeling heavier through this point as well not surprisingly but that was a bit more expected.

The last section after the big hill went fairly well. It’s generally downhill to the finish. Most of it was run at a good pace not quite the 2:10 pace but closer to 2:16 to 2:17 pace.

A lot of the race I focused on getting through the specific kilometer. Even when things started to come off the rails a bit I was still trying to just keeping going. Overall I think I started having difficulties too far out to fully consider hanging on to the finish at my target pace. It’s difficult to plan for a race where you’re struggling this far out but I think I’ve learned a lot from the experience.

On a personal note it was really fantastic to have some many running friends with us in Hamilton.

In the end the overall result is still fantastic and I continue to be very happy to be running at this level and to have had the possibility to run as well as I did. Bottom line I’m where I need to be for Boston.

Around the Bay Road Race 2009

Time 2:20:38.7
Overall place 384 / 4926
Gender place 334 / 2623
Category place 57 / 521 (Men 45-49)

Splits
10k 47:21
15k 1:11:13
20k 1:34:27

Time to retie shoe laces at 4k ==> 1:35 min

Pre-race Comments:
- Arrived on Friday, picked up race kit that afternoon.
- Easy run Saturday AM. Felt pretty good.
- Did additional stretching Saturday evening as left hamstring had been tight during the week.
- Nutrition was good coming into race day.
- Sleepy was okay Friday but short. Saturday night was good.

Race morning:
- Raining and just above freezing
- Was able to get good start position. Almost 7000 lined up.
- Oatmeal for breakfast 2 and ½ hours before race.
- One bottle of sports drink (with carbs) (SPR-3) 1 hour before race.

Race:
- Shoelace, although double knotted, unfortunately came undone in km 4. First time ever. In the process of pulling the laces loose I accidentally pulled the knots tighter. Raining and cold, hence took approx. 1:35 – 1:40 to get re-tied.
- Tried not to take off too quickly after starting again. It happened, there was no need to panic.
- Basically 4:30 for most of the race on the flats.
- I wanted to ensure that I was getting enough liquids in during the race hence stopped regularly to drink. Stops were pretty quick and only resulted in a few seconds lost per stop.
- 2 gel breaks (1 gel each time). These took longer but the race was long enough that I wanted to ensure I had enough carbs to push through to the end.
- Hills started around km 18. Mostly rolling hills for the first while with one long slow hill. Then a stretch of about a k that was basically flat, followed by the one long S-curve kind of a hill.
- Last 3 k was a gradual downhill to the finish.
- Wind was more of a factor through the middle section along the lake. More exposed through those sections.
- Rained most of the race but not heavy rains fortunately. The net effect was that it kept things pretty cool as the temp was only in the 30s.
- Felt strong through the hills and through the final sections. Passed a lot of people on the hills which tells me my hill strength is probably not that bad right now.

Post-run Analysis:
- Although more of a risk I think I could have taken a few seconds faster per kilometre. I felt strong right through the end. 2:15 was possible on the day but I would have needed to be more aggressive to achieve the result (excluding the time lost for the shoelace incident).
- Hydration overall was excellent. The cooler day helped.
- The two gel breaks mostly likely was about right. Need to think about training and taking the gels while I run as I lost time walking getting them open and then consumed.
- Left knee was tight at times. Need to focus on muscles around the knee this week.

Recovery:
- Felt quite good after the race. More fatigued the next day but I was able to an easy recovery run Monday morning. Overall, I’ll need a few days of good rest.
- No sharp pains in any one area. Will continued to work the left side due the tightness I felt around the knee. Trying to get an extra massage in this week.

Prognosis for upcoming training and ½ marathon in Montreal on April 19th:
- I definitely feel that I’m training around the right paces. Recovery has been good.
- For the ½ in Montreal I’ll plan to be more aggressive and see what is possible.