Race Result

Racer:	Fabrice Guillaume
Race:	Western Maryland Half Marathon
Date:	Saturday, October 10, 2009
Location:	HANCOCK, MD
Race Type:	Run - Half Marathon
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	1:22:38
Overall Place:	2 / 125
Age Group Place:	1
Comment:	PR on the distance

Race Report:

Time: 1:22:38
Pace: 6:18
Avg HR: 165
Rank Overall : 2/150+ (small race)
Rank AG: 1/??

My objective was to PR today as my fitness improved over the last 2 months of focused running - my final objective being to qualify for Boston in Philly Marathon in November (sub 3h10).
I thought I had the legs and training to finish around 1:23 so that was my time objective I had in mind.
However I did not tapper for this race like I would for a A race. And this would be a good way to reproduce the feeling of being tired at the end of a marathon.
Because I did not register in time for Baltimore Half, I was left with this low key race in Hancock, MD, about 1h30 drive from my house.
The race was a scenic run on the Maryland Rail train (Out and Back).
The weather conditions were ok temperature wise but a bit too windy.

Race:
I positioned myself in the first line at the start and I followed the 1st runner for the first 2 miles. His pace was a bit high but he was protecting me from the wind. However checking my HR I knew I would not be able to sustain this pace so I let him slowly go and I settled in my own pace (6:20 goal pace).
Given this was a training race for my marathon, I did not want to blow up for the sake of a PR. This also helped me stabilize my HR around 165 for the rest of the race.
I stayed in 2nd position the entire race. The race was not as flat as I thought but more composed of false flats with a long gradual up/down hills in the middle. The wind was quite strong and it bothered me at times but I tried to stay focused. There were times on my way up to the turn around point and even on my way back where I was just alone and with no crowd on the trail to cheer me. And I had to tell myself several times to stay focused to keep the pace as I would tend to think of other things and automatically slow down a bit.
At the turn around point, I was a couple of minutes or so behind the 1st runner and I was about a minute or 2 ahead the 3rd. On the way back, my legs were ok but not great. Mentally I was helped at occasions by some runners coming on the other side and that would cheer me. I told myself I was usually at their place in a regular race cheering for the first runners that would be coming back a few miles ahead of me and today it was me in this low key mini race.
I got a gel around mile 7.8 and I focused on trying to stay close to my 6:20 goal pace but my splits were a bit above. The last 2-3 miles were in a false flat going up which did not help with good splits. It's only in the last 300yards that I could finally see and hear the crowd. It felt good to see some people after these moments alone. I pushed a bit the last mile to go just under my objective time of 1:23.

Post race:
I had a few drinks+fruits and I stayed for the awards. I also chatted with the 1st runner and I congratulated him for his finish in 1:19.
I was happy to have run my race in 1h22 which confirmed that my fitness level improved a bit over the last 2 months. Thanks to Scott Baldwin for his training program and his weekly Tempo/Long run work outs. Thanks to Nate Sponge too for pulling me in some hard work outs too. That certainly helped me getting there.
My VDOT is now around 56 from 54. I also beat my PR of 1h25 from March this year. I could probably have run a more consistent race with a slower start but the goal was to go hard and to reproduce the feeling of being tired while trying to keep pushing.
I compared with Baltimore results and this time - provided their course was similar - would have placed me 7/620 in my AG and 25/7856 overall. So the 2nd overall should obviously not be taken seriously as the race was really small.
I will obviously have to pace myself properly for my A race: Philadelphia Marathon. The main objective being to qualify for Boston (sub 3h10). I am still very humble with the marathon distance after 2 attempts where I failed to even go sub 3:30.So we will see when the day comes. Back to training….

Local news + pic:
http://www.tristaterunnur.com/WesternMarylandHalfMarathon.html
Video:
http://tristaterunnur.smugmug.com/Videos/Western-Maryland-Half/9930731_k6SAE#677527041_3NDi9-A-LB

" The 29-year-old grabbed the rather easy win, outdistancing runner-up Fabrice “Fab” Guillauma, 32, of Ashburn, Va., who typically starts his day with coffee, milk and two slices of bread with jam."
I suppose they found this browsing the RATS pages as I did not talk to anyone but the winner… Quite fun to see a journalist browsing web pages to find something to talk about… :)

Splits:
Mile 1: 6:08 / 170
Mile 2: 6:07 / 169 * False flat down hill
Mile 3: 6:11 / 168 * False flat down hill - settling into my own pace.
Mile 4: 6:11 / 169 * False flat down hill
Mile 5: 6:21 / 165 * False flat up hill
Mile 6: 6:20 / 167 * up
Mile 7: 6:29 / 165 * up + gel
Mile 8: 6:26 / 162 * down, relax a bit
Mile 9: 6:21 / 166 * down
Mile 10: 6:26 / 164 * False flat up hill
Mile 11: 6:28 / 164 * False flat up hill
Mile 12: 6:24 / 165 * False flat up hill

Mile 13.1: 6:30 / 168