Sunday, March 04, 2007
Race Report: 2007 B&A Trail Half Marathon
Here they are, Chuck and Dave, pace buddies extraordinaire, who kindly escorted me to a nearly 10-minute half marathon PR today at the B&A Trail Half Marathon in Severna Park, Maryland! Thanks so much, guys!! My chip time was 2:26:38.65, pace 11:12 min/mile, placing me 24th out of 28 in my age group (85%), and 538th/611 overall (88%).
Pace data: We were trying to maintain an even 11:00 min/mile average, and were very comfortably below that starting out, but then fatigue set in after some accumulated mileage and I couldn't quite hold the pace. I was really struggling the last few miles, but Chuck and Dave kept encouraging me to STAY STRONG!
I messed up the Garmin data a bit by hitting the lap counter wrong and not stopping it, but the data on the first few miles don't look like we started quite as fast as the chart above suggests, but we probably did go out a few notches too fast.
So I did my best, despite some alarmingly high heart rates toward the end of the race! That was definitely the best that I could do today! So I believe that my new half marathon PR time won't be soon broken!
THANKS AGAIN for a great race and excellent companionship today, guys! Let's do it again some time - but not too soon! I'm whupped!
We all wore Garmin Forerunner 305s, but I managed to screw up the data on mine badly by not turning it off correctly at the finish line. Nevertheless, here (below) are some CHARTS!
The course satellite map is below in solid blue - out and back along a paved rail-trail. They slightly altered the course this year which cut out some hills and made it a little faster. That's the Severn River just south and parallel to the race course, and part of Annapolis, Maryland toward the southern end of the map.
Pace data: We were trying to maintain an even 11:00 min/mile average, and were very comfortably below that starting out, but then fatigue set in after some accumulated mileage and I couldn't quite hold the pace. I was really struggling the last few miles, but Chuck and Dave kept encouraging me to STAY STRONG!
I messed up the Garmin data a bit by hitting the lap counter wrong and not stopping it, but the data on the first few miles don't look like we started quite as fast as the chart above suggests, but we probably did go out a few notches too fast.So I did my best, despite some alarmingly high heart rates toward the end of the race! That was definitely the best that I could do today! So I believe that my new half marathon PR time won't be soon broken!
THANKS AGAIN for a great race and excellent companionship today, guys! Let's do it again some time - but not too soon! I'm whupped!
Labels: half marathons, PRs, road races, running
Comments:
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Actually, you do have another PR in the near future if you start out at a slower pace in the first five miles. From the graph it looks like you started out too fast.
Congratulations on this one!
Congratulations on this one!
Thanks!!! I have 4 more half marathons coming up this spring, so we'll see what happens with some different strategies! Hard to directly compare, of course, since they're all different courses, and weather, and so forth, but we'll see!!
Congratulations! Great splits and end time! One down...four to go!? Wow- how DO you keep going? You are the Energizer bunny for sure! (do you have an off switch?)
Congratulations. You should probably get credit for at least a few seconds if you were messing with your gear, that much.
Regardless of what I use for training, I always go as simple as possible for races. In the past, that has meant just my stopwatch.
For Ironman, I'll probably go with my HRM just for the general zones. Even that isn't set in stone.
Regardless of what I use for training, I always go as simple as possible for races. In the past, that has meant just my stopwatch.
For Ironman, I'll probably go with my HRM just for the general zones. Even that isn't set in stone.
Nancy,
First, Nice job on the Half!
There is a program you can download called "Sporttracks". It does the same thing as training center, but you can manipulate your data much more.
For your split issue, you can change the splits to whatever you want, regardless of what buttons you press.
http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/
It will make cool maps also when you are online. (warning: geek alert)
Take Care
Steve
First, Nice job on the Half!
There is a program you can download called "Sporttracks". It does the same thing as training center, but you can manipulate your data much more.
For your split issue, you can change the splits to whatever you want, regardless of what buttons you press.
http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/
It will make cool maps also when you are online. (warning: geek alert)
Take Care
Steve
Way to go on your PR!!!
Last year I targeted this race for a PR and got it, but by only a couple minutes, not 10+ like you!
This small race is a great one to shoot for a PR, IMO.
Good running!
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Last year I targeted this race for a PR and got it, but by only a couple minutes, not 10+ like you!
This small race is a great one to shoot for a PR, IMO.
Good running!
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