Usual morning routine , the alarm went off at 2am, Breakfast , Hot Tub and I was out the door by 3:15am. Made it to the hotel that the Saugeen Tri Club was staying by 5:00 am. I spent an hour at the Hotel , picked up my race kit and did my final preparation. Parking at Square 1 took awhile because of the traffic but I manged to arrive a little less then an hour before the race started. I waited quietly next to the start area.
I seeded my self between the 3:30 and 3:15 pace Bunnies ... that was the last time I saw these guys! I was across the timing mat around a minute after the race started. I figure the that the first K or 2 would be really slow due to congestion but the road was wide and there was no problem at all. My race plan was simple , 4:50 pace for as long as I can and nutrition was a no brainier, a GU Roctanes consumed every 30minutes and water was the beverage of the day and I had 8 Eload Tabs and two 1000mg doses of Salt. I kept getting a wee bit faster through the first 5K . I was going to pull back a bit but I felt great and wanted to see what would happen. There were quiet a few long gentle down hills in the first half ... I logged 6Ks at 4:3X pace , 4:50 was my goal. I was religious about the Gels , 30/60/90 minutes. Was washing them down with water being careful to get enough in me. Made it to the half in 1:40 , avg pace 4:44. 6 Seconds/K too fast but I felt good and figured I could sustain the pace past 30K. Passing 22K I felt a bit of a cramp coming on. I ran with it for a couple of Ks but it wasn't going away and it was starting to slow me down. At 24K I dug out 4 Eload Caps and downed them with a good amount of water. The cramp and the delay in getting the Eload in made for a 5:34 K .... my slowest of yet! I had a visions of my last Marathon in Nov 09 , the Hamilton Road for Hope. I blew up at 26K and never recovered! The Eload did the trick really fast and I was back on track with a 4:42 27th K ... one test passed. Although I was feeling significantly better I was beginning to slow down, I wasn't panicking ... time in the bank and it wasn't that bad but I was beginning to watch my avg pace start to increase. Made it through 30K in 2hrs30min , this is when I began to doubt whether I would be able to break 3hrs30min. Doable I thought but I was really starting to feel fatigued. The Gels at 30 min intervals didn't seem to be enough... I was watching the clock! I was starting to run in waves, I would feel bad and slow down for a bit and then I would pick it back up for awhile , pace was anywhere between 5:09 and 5:57. There were a few gentle long climbs in this part of the course but I was really having a tough time keeping pace. It was also getting warm and the Sun was getting high in the Sky. I downed 1000mg of Salt at around 34K .. lots of water to go with it. Passed the 38K timing mat at 3hrs9min! Doing the math I realized that if I was able to pick up the pace I still had a shot at a Sub 3:30. I tried to go faster but I just didn't have any 5min K's left in me. Realizing that I wasn't going to achieve my goal I was resigned to a 3:35 finish...Plan B. Trying to pick up the pace did me and at around 39.5 K things started to go wrong . I had to walk. my vision suddenly narrowed like I was looking through a straw and it was getting dark. Feeling faint I had a profound moment of satisfaction knowing that I gave it all I had. The 40th K was done in 7:55 ... a combo of fast walk ...suffle...jog walk. Managed to get it together again and did the next K in 6:01. Just before I started the last K I walked for brief time then picked it up and finished the last one in 5:38.
My chip time was 3 hours 35 min 21 seconds. 4 mins 22 sec short of my BQ but a PB by 13min 13 seconds. It was a good day!
I learned a couple fo things in this race. I should have paced myself better in the first half. The planed 4min50 sec was a bit to aggressive. The 4min44sec pace that I logged wasn't good. I also feel that I was around 600 calories short. I am registered for STWM , race plan is a 4:59 pace , preventative eload at 20K and 30K , gels every 20 mins, salt just in case all washed down with ample water!
3 comments:
Ongrats on a great effort! I think weather is so crucial and that the temperature and bright sunshine probably had an impact on slowing you down just a tad in terms of your BQ.
Awesome race Ron! Way to push through. That BQ is in your sights for sure. And the feeling of profound satisfaction that you gave it all must have been the best reward.
Way to go Ron! Vava is right: knowing you gave it all must be pretty satisfying. Glad you had such a good day.
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