 |
 |
 |
|
Race Result
| Racer: |
Fabrice Guillaume |
| Race: |
Marine Corps Marathon |
| Date: |
Sunday, October 28, 2007 |
| Location: |
Arlington, VA |
| Race Type: |
Run - Marathon |
| Age Group: |
Male 30 - 34 |
| Time: |
3:41:17 |
| Overall Place: |
2197 / 20667 |
| Age Group Place: |
303 / 1900 |
| Comment: |
My first Marathon... What a learning experience |
Race Report:
This was my first Marathon and I had trained for it with 3 runs a weeks (long/tempo and tracks). I was first quite happy to finish my first tri season + my first marathon injury free. So 3 weekly runs ended up worked very well for me this year.
pre-race:
Woke up at 4:30 am, had power bar, plain yogurt and cereals+banana.
I carpooled with David O., Reid K. and wives. That really helped arriving at the race in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
race:
I did not have the time to seed myself in the appropriate pace group but I was not too far behind.
First 3-4 miles were really slow. I wanted anyway to start easy. It was nice running on Dave's side. But at mile 6, I realized I was still quite slow going 8:30 average instead of 8:00 I had in mind.
So I decided to push gently without going out of my zone.
I maintained a 7:50 pace average (going from 150 to 154 bpm avg). All went well and I made a point to check my heart beats to keep it in zone from mile 7 to mile 17.
Then at mile 17 my HR started to go in the 158 avg so I slowed down. I was also thinking about what everybody told me before, keep some energy until mile 20 so you can push after if you have any left.
So I reduced my pace, going easy (8:20) and went back to 155.
Miles 19 and 20, I started to feel my legs - not good. Plus the wind was not helping. My pace went to 8:36-8:50.
That was the begining of the end... :)
The "20 miles wall" came to me. I was mentally prepared to fight for it but it was a quite hard moment, being on the bridge, nobody to cheer for you, cramps starting to show up....
Miles 21-24 were the difficult ones as I had some major cramps. My hear beats were still very stable (156 avg) but my pace had drastically changed (9:00 avg).
I just completely focussed on my run, trying to think about the next mile to come. I made a point not to stop and I kept running.
I did not have any endurolyte until then, so I took 2 of them and cramps started to go away at mile 25.
I could finally push and I finished without too much pb.
3 lessons learnt:
- need to arrive on time to seed myself properly so I can just keep the same pace up to mile 20 without worrying about being several minutes behind at the start of the race.
- pace my self even if I am running behind so I can finish stronger.
- nutrition plan: bring more than 2 endurolytes for my next marathon and swallow them at regular intervals in supplement to the gels. My 4 gels were good enough, I did not need anymore, but my 2 endurolytes were definitely not enough.
All in one, it was a great race and I am looking forward to doing it again next year. I will focus more this time on both my pace and my nutrition plan. With the same type of training, I think I can go 3:35 or below. We'll see...
The post race was great. It was nice to see a bunch of RATS at the Four courts Bar. Reid/Dave, thanks for the carpool and sharing yoru experiences.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|