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Race Result

Racer: Fabrice Guillaume
Race: Richmond Marathon
Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Location: Richmond, VA
Race Type: Run - Marathon
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 3:38:49
Overall Place: 246 / 2994
Age Group Place: 42 / 236
Comment: Nice race but a bit too humid and windy



Race Report:



This race is a bit of a set back for me.
However I also got the chance to race with my son for the very 1st time - 1 mile kid's race. This was his very first race.
So that by itself was just a great thing to live, balancing my own race results not up to the mark.
I am posting here to make sure I learn from my mistakes.


TRAINING LEADING TO THE RACE:
=============================
I had picked up this race as it would leave me enough time to recover from my last Half Iron Man and this race.
Also my objective was to run 3:30 (I had run 3:41 for my first attempt last year).

My training would consist of 4 runs, 1 swim, 1 bike per week.
the swim and bike were very easy, more on the recovery side.
2 runs were easy and short, 1 was tempo and medium and 1 was long

I had a couple of issues to deal with during my training. One is not an issue as such since I got promoted at work, so it's always good but the impact on my planning
was quite high as I did not have the time I had planned for the first 2 months of my training, even towards the end.
In addition, with the winter about to come, some of my runs were done in the dark, at 5am where I probably was more just cruising along instead on focusing on my
run, form, stride,...
For both reason, i think I did not do some very quality oriented work outs, just doing the minimum in terms of time/distance required.

One new thing I experimented this year was to run all my long runs on tired legs.
I was trying to get used to this so that the wall I would hit around mile 20 would not be as new and unexpected as it had been last year in my 1st attempt
at the marathon distance.
In essence I would usually do all my 4 runs 1 day after the other leading to my long runs.
Also, I managed to do a couple of 20 miles long runs and another couple of 18.

One mistake that I did - against the advice of my coach - was to put my lat 20 mile run just 2 weeks before my marathon.
I thought it would be fine but my legs were actually not that fresh when I ran the race, probably due in party to this.


RACE DAY - 1: 1 mile Kid's race
===============================
I had driven the day before with wife and kids to Richmond to arrive in time for the very first race of Celian my oldest son, 6 1/2 years old.
I was as excited as him, seeing him doing his first race.
We had trained together nice and easy focusing on going slow but holding it up for 10+mn.
This paid off.
We started the race at an easy pace, letting other kids go wild. I kept encouraging him the whole race, having him realize how great this was with so many people around
running, shouting, screaming... The atmosphere was really fun.
He succeeded in completing this race without stopping once and passing many other kids that had to recharge their batteries.
He put a nice sprint towards the end and got a nice medal. What a champion!
Yes, as a father, I am very objective.... :o)

We followed up with a nice diner at a Japanese steak house - this is my favorite type of meal before endurance events, and it's always entertaining for the kids too.

RACE DAY:
=========
Woke up around 5:30am, had a banana, power bar and half a bottle of + a coffee
Outside, it was raining.
I went out to check the temperature and very surprisingly, it was hot and humid.
Fortunately, I had brought with me all types of gears (summer/mid season and winter).
And I opted for the summer gears, with a singlet and short.

I headed to the start of the race, dropped my bag, visited the pit stop place and seeded myself.
At that time, I was very relaxed.
My objective was to run 7:50-7:55 pace until mile 20 and see there what I had left to keep it up or push a bit more.

Once the race started, I stayed a bit with the 3h30 pacer. But the guy was just not consistent at all in his pace - just a nightmare to follow.
People complained around him on that matter.
I pushed a tiny bit to be ahead and stay between the 3h30 and 3h15 pacers.
I worked based on my Polar pace watch to try to stay consistent in my splits.

However after a few miles, I remember telling myself how my legs were not feeling fresh like last year.
And I was sweating really a lot, feeling almost uncomfortable with my hat on that probably kept some of my sweat in.

I did not want to change my strategy and I kept this pace goal unchanged.
I really tried to hydrate myself as much as possible.
I would drink each time they would give something, sometimes half water, half gatorade, sometimes full gatorade.
Between water stations, I would have my fuel belt bottles with me just to help out a bit.
This actually worked really well for me.

I also took 3 endurolytes at the top of each hour.
I was just so concerned to cramp like last year that this is something I really paid attention too.
Plus I did not know how would my legs sustain this pace knowing that from the start, they showed they were not in great shape.

I did not have really any problem getting into mile 15.
Then I started to slow down a bit my pace going into mile 18. In addition some strong head winds started to blow at several occasions.
My heart rate however remained very stable and my cadence the same.
I had this 2h22 objective for mile 18 to pass and I passed it on time. However I also knew I was fading a bit so that was a bit of a concern.

I also knew I would not be able to keep up with this pace beyond mile 20.
My squads were the muscles that I started to feel the most.
I focussed on my form, trying to keep a high cadence, using my calves but this was probably a bit too late to change anyway.

One thing that really killed me, was to see the pacer for 3:30 passing me around mile 20 or 21.
I knew I would probably not make it but the speed at which he passed me was just not right.
As a matter of fact, he had lost everyone.
I do remember at the beginning, him not being consistent and people asking him if it was 3:30 pacer or not.
he would go fast, slow down, go back a bit fast.
And not surprisingly, when he passed me back, he had no one with him. This to me is not really a mature way of leading the pack.

going into mile 21, I was happy to see I was not cramping like last year. so my hydration plan worked.
However, the legs were just feeling heavier and heavier.
So I tried to just keep it up, focus on cadence, go from mile to mile.
I stopped watching my watch or HR in the last 5 miles.
I also remember telling myself how similar to Marine's corp race this one was.
We had hills to go up and down - I thought this race was flat but it was not.
We had bridges to cross with no one to cheer you up and some strong gusty winds.... Lovely... :)

I reached the end and finished with a sprint. The end for a change of MCM was a downhill however so that was a nice thing.
My wife and kids were here waiting and chearing for me.
My watch gave me the hard to swallow result - 8 mn off my goal... At that time I was really disappointed. I still am.
But I was also happy to be done with the race, completing it in decent shape - able to walk, talk,..
I also shaved 3 mn from last year - yes it's peanuts but that is one of the "positive" things I try to tell myself to balance the result :)

We spend a bit of time talking, eating and we headed to the massage area where I got a nice massage.
After a shower and a nice restaurant, we were back to DC.



OVERALL RESULTS:
================
3:38:49 pace: 8:21
Ranks:
- 42/236 AG - 18th percentile
- 246/2994 Total - 8.21th percentile

156 avg
8:18 mn/mile
avg cadence: 85


WHAT I LEARN:
==============
I still have to revisit all of this with my coach to understand what went wrong.

What did not work:
- legs
I guess the main factor here was my legs not completely fresh, feeling them already in the first few miles.
-> next year, 2 weeks before my race I should not run 20 miles and I should start to ramp down
- pace: I should have run a bit slower around 7:55-8:00 pace
while I felt very comfortable with 7:45-7:55 pace, my pace results show how I started to fade from mile 15 onwards.
So if I had run a true 8mn/mile race, I would maybe have been able to save more for the second half of the race and shave a few minutes.
- weather (strong winds + too hot an humid this day for me - I sweated a lot)

What worked:
- fuel belt to stay hydrated and carry gels - I had 3 gels and I had 1/2 gel from the race towards the end
- 3 endurolytes at the top of the hour


SPLITS:
=======
Mile 1: 7:47
2: 7:40
3: 7:44
4+5: 15:23
6: 7:47
7+8: 15:00
9: 7:55
10: 8:02
11: 8:22
12: 8:08
13: 7:56
14: 7:49
15: 7:47
16: 8:10
17: 8:25
18: 8:38
19: 8:15
20: 8:34
21: 8:50
22: 9:34
23: 9:45
24+25: 19:57
26: 9:28

Next year, I will try again to reach my 3h30 goal... What a journey to get there :)