Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt ~John Muir
The only race during this marathon training cycle called for a half marathon time trial. There aren't many available in the beginning of August, so when I saw a trail half down in Fredericksburg, I quickly signed us up.
I had done trail running back in high school in the hills of the Green Mountains in Vermont - and loved it. But I didn't realize how different running slow easy miles in the Green Mountains would be from racing a half marathon on a trail. In hindsight, I never would have chosen a trail half as our tune up race. It just doesn't give you an accurate assessment of your marathon potential for reasons I'll call out below.
My goal was to run a 1:28; I thought this time would support the proper fitness, endurance, and speed required to run my 3:05 marathon goal time. Two things I failed to take into account; 1) the nature of trail racing itself (it's slower then road racing) and 2) the impact of the heat/humidity on your race performance in the depths of Summer. I was a bit stubborn I guess; I thought since I had trained through the slog of Summer in DC, I could try and race through it too. Turns out I was wrong. My result suffered and I was pretty frustrated with myself.
That said, it was a cool experience; something new and different. The race was well run - incredibly friendly staff and volunteers.
Run on the Dahlgren Rail Heritage Trail, this race typically occurs annually in February; For the first time, the half marathon was also taking place in August (along with a 50K ultra). Dubbed the '3 H' Half; hot, hazy, and humid; the race day conditions definitely lived up to its name.
Christine and I left DC before 6am for the 1 hr 15 minute drive to Fredericksburg; and of course hit traffic on 95 South.. because when is there not traffic on 95 in Virginia at 7am on the weekend? The race was set to begin at 8am and we arrived a little after 7:30. Naturally, I was stressed about being rushed. I like to be able to take my time, run through warm up drills, and get to the start line feeling refreshed.
I was able to get a quick 8 minute warm up in, listen to a trail overview, and wish Christine a good race before lining up at the start. Temps were in the high 70s with a dew point around 74, making for pretty miserable race conditions. Despite this and the fact that this was my first trail race, I still planned to go out in the high 6:40s and hope to hit my goal of 1:28.
That plan lasted about 3 miles.
My first mile was 6:43 which was a little on the faster side than I had hoped; but the first mile was flat and straight. There were rail ties in the first half mile of the course and crushed stone was spread throughout most of the trail. Two things I should have noticed early on:
1) The humidity was taking an early toll. The 6:43 felt like a lot more effort than it should have been.
2) The trail was yielding about 90 - 95% of the effort I put in with each stride.
But, I was stubborn and ignored these things. I settled in about 15 seconds behind the leader and maintained the gap through 2 miles. I came through mile 2 at 6:50; and by this point was definitely laboring a lot more than I should.
When I hit mile 3 at 7:01, I knew that 1:28 was definitely out. Unfortunately, I didn't really think this through ahead of time, and had no backup plan to fall back on. Take-away #3.
There were a few minor rolling hills on the trail, and as luck would have it, these came up as the trail changed from a manageable crushed stone surface to a less-giving large stone gravel. Into mile 4, I also had another runner roll up behind me where he would park himself for the next 4 miles.
Mile 4: 7:22
Mile 5: 7:03
Mile 6: 7:12
The race was an out and back; with the turn around point just past the 6.5 mile trail marker. After taking some gatordae at the aid station at turn around; we started making our way towards the finish. The leader was about a minute in front, and several runners 30 - 40 seconds back of me and my 3rd place companion.
Around this point, I started feeling the fast start catch-up to me; probably in combination with the humidity as well. The large stones weren't helping matters either. Just after mile 8, my running buddy made a surge and put a good 20 seconds on me fairly quickly. It was textbook. At no point did I consider covering and going with him.
Mile 7: 7:24
Mile 8: 7:32
Mile 9: 7:53
With about 4 to go; I was struggling and without any real plan or desire to push myself. 1:28 was long gone, and so was a PB (currently ~1:32). Then I heard the 4th place runner behind me. I looked back (rookie move), noticed he was about 150 meters back, and suddenly found my ad hoc goal: Finish in 3rd place, ahead of any other runners behind me.
Mile 10: 7:17
Mile 11: 7:26
Mile 12: 7:50
At the last aid station with 1.3 miles left, I looked back again (ugh), noticed 4th place had gained some, and was prepared to go as hard as it took to secure a top 3. As the finish line came in sight, ignoring my GPS watch that would have told me the finish was still a half mile away and thus too early to start my kick, I dug down and dropped my pace to the 6:20s. I was putting distance on 4th place and everything was going as planned, except for the small fact that my kick is maybe good for a quarter mile before I run out of steam, and I was still a quarter mile from the finish. I slowed down for a few seconds, regrouped, and gutted out another quarter mile kick, finally finishing 3rd in 1:36:43.
Mile 13: 7:36
Last 0.2 pace: 6:34
My GPS read 13.2, which is surprising considering there weren't many turns; resulting in an overall average pace of 7:20.
Normally, I consider placing irrelevant. Placing for the most part is entirely random... except for those instances when you bonk your time goals and decide mid-race to focus on some type of moral victory. Which is exactly what this was.
I'm not sure how, or if, I should use this race as a barometer for my marathon potential Trail running is tougher than road. Racing in the heat and humidity affects you in ways that are tough to quantify compared to cool, dry air. I'd be lying if I said I can readily disregard my half marathon time here. But, there are positives:
- The importance of starting out slow could not be more overstated. Slower than goal marathon pace for the first few miles is a must. Especially with all the race day adrenaline flowing.
- Have a plan B.. and C and D. There are many paths to a BQ. Not all of them are at 7:04 MP.
- My kick is not limited to a quarter mile.
The weather is a variable you can't control. I need to accept that. It will take near perfect conditions to BQ. Marathon potential looks very different in 50 degree and cloudy overcast skies versus an 80 degree, humid, and sunny day.
Finally, I'd be remiss to mention that although Christine experienced a tough day out there with the weather conditions as well, she was able to compete her way to her first age group victory. Very proud of her!
-J
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