Lakefront 50K. 3:29:15 (6:44 pace). The weather wasd almost perfect for the race. Low 40's and sunny, but there was a 15 MPH wind coming from the north. This means tainwind on the out segments and headwind coming back. 3 loops. There was a very laid back atmoshere at the start. A couple hundred people just standing around. Only about 5 of us lined up within 5 feet of the starting line. A couple of guys next to me were discussing the prior year. Apparantly one guy went out at 6:20 pace last year but faded after mile 26 to 7 minute pace. I figured that I might be able to handle that type of competition if I was having a good day. Then they discussed that he ran another race whose name I did not catch. He said he did it in 38 hours and was 21st. I figured they were talking about a 100 miler and that isn't all that great of a time for a 100 miler. I figured I could possibly take him. (I looked him up after the race, turns out that the 38 hour race was Badwater. 135 miles through death valley. That is a good time.)
Anyway gun goes off and we take off. I wore my Garmin and was glad I did, otherwise I would have had no idea what pace I was going, especially near the end. I went with Badwater guy and nobody else joined in. About 30 second in I looked at Garmin and it said we were doing 5:40 pace. I figured it was off. After a minute it still said we were at 5:40 and so I wisely let Badwater guy go. By mile 1.5 I couldn't even see him anymore. He was going to have to seriously crash for me to beat him.
The problem with him being out of sight was that I had no one to follow and he took the lead bike with him. Luckily I got the course map yesterday and scouted the course on the google satelite photos. I had a couple near misses including once where a volunteer had to yell at me as I went the wrong way.
With the wind at my back I am doing miles in the 6:17-6:25 range. A little ahead of 6:27 goal pace, but I will need it coming back into the wind. At the 5.17 mile turnaround Badwater guy has a lead of 3 minutes on me and I've got about 2 minutes on the next pack of 4-5 guys.
Aid stations are set up at both ends of the course and in the middle. I stopped at every one to chug a glass of gatorade. I carried 2 gels and 3 bags of sport beans with me. I took a gel at mile 5 and tried to eat a bag of beans between mile 9 and 10. I got it down, but they were harder to eat in a race than they were in training and they seriously interfered with my breathing. They also made annoying sound as they shook in my pockets.
The headwind between miles 5 and 10 was tough. I slowed to about 6:40-6:45 pace despite a stronger effort. Hit the end of the first loop about 30 seconds behing goal pace, but feeling good.
I picked up the pace on the second out segment. 6:15-6:25's. The gaps between me and everyone else kept growing. It looked like a sure second place. Hit the halfway point probably right near goal time. I don't know the exact time since garmin doesn't give seconds after passing 1 hour. By this time I was feeling some soreness in the legs, but not too much. Cardiovascularly felt fine.
I pushed it pretty hard in the second headwind segment. I was really trying to stayt in the 6:40-6:45 range. I succeeded, but it took a toll. At the end of then 2nd loop Badwater had about 8 minutes on me and my lead on the next pack was about the same. Planned on taking my second gel at this point, but it was no longer in my shorts. Not sure if it fell out, or if I never put it in there. I didn't even feel like attempting to eat more beans.
On the third out segment I could only manage 6:35-6:45 pace despite the tailwind. I knew the A goal of 3:20 wasn't going to happen, but I knew a good time was still in the cards. At the turnaround Badwater was about 2 miles ahead of me. No chance of passing him. I don't yet know his finishing time but it was a good one. Still had about 8 minutes on the next guys, but they were no longer in a pack.
Passed the marathon mark a little under 2:53. I was wearing out and miles 26 and 27 were 7:01 and 7:03. Somewhere around mile 28 I hit the wall. No more energy in the tank. Each mile I calculat how fast I had to maintain to finish under 3:30. Each time I barely made it. Was starting to worry that I would get passed, but it never happened. Finished somewhere around 3:29:14. Still need to see the official time. 3rd place was about 5 minutes behind.
Mile splits:
6:15, 6:28, 6:27, 6:31, 6:23, 6:33, 6:28, 6:38, 6:41, 6:44
6:21, 6:17, 6:25, 6:29, 6:16, 6:34, 6:28, 6:33, 6:47, 6:44
6:51, 6:36, 6:46, 6:44, 6:46, 7:01, 7:03, 7:14, 7:39, 7:52, 8:06, 0:17.
Aftermath and analysis tomorrow. | 