Jill and four of her athletes competed in the Mercer Island 1/2 marathon and 8K race on Sunday, March 26. This is a challenging course, with rolling hills for miles 2-12. For the half marathon, Hamish, Jo Ann, Brian and Jill all followed a strategy that Jill put together for the run.
This strategy clearly paid off, as all of 1/2 marathoners achieved their goal times and all had PRs for this race. For Jo Ann Sittig, this race was her fastest 1/2 marathon ever. Her time of 1:42:30 placed her second in her age group, just 33 seconds out of first place! Hamish Anderson also had a PR for this distance by about 4 minutes. His time of 1:43:49 placed him 15th our of 59. Brian Guarraci competed in his first half marathon. For some reason his time was not recorded, but he finished some time between Jo Ann and Hamish. Jill had a solid run of 1:40:38, good for a 6th place finish and a PR for this course. Julie McNamara-Dahl competed in the 8K race, finishing 35/70 in her age group with a 49:21.
Athletes' Race Reports:
Jo Ann: OK...race log....here goes....
First of all, I was up way too early.....anxiety always hits before any race for me and I did not want to be late! I started out with a high carb breakfast consisting of cereal, raw oats, flaxseed and soy milk (I know....sounds way too healthy and way to fibrous before a race) and I finished this off with a protein shake. Next, a soy latte and I am feelin' good! I also brought a bottle of "pre-race" formula of double strength "Emergenc-C" and endurolytes as I tend to sweat way too much...and of course, 3 GU's, 1 before, 1 for mile 4-5, one for mile 11 (this one was caffienated).
I stood at an endless line at the bathroom after our pre-race warm-up and made the decision "not to go" lest I be late to the start line.
The gun blew and I was off like a rocket....just like Jill told me NOT to do. I just feel like I get a psychological advantage whizzing thru the initial "slurry" of bodies. In my mind, geting to mile 4 or 5 way ahead of my predicted time goal is reassurance that I have a few spare minutes to waste if I need them later in the race. WRONG! that was my inner voice telling me I gotta win...so win now!
Anyway, even though Jill told me to start out slowly, I had a hard time watching her fly from the start and I wanted to "almost" catch up to her. I did manage to catch Brian and we exchanged a couple of vows to slow down as we were running too fast. OK...so then I start to get into an easier more relaxed pace for a few minutes at least....but wait, is that Brian pulling ahead??? So...next rule from Jill watch the HR monitor....OK....new to me...hmmm....145+ and this feels pretty easy, but somewhat swift....SO...for the next 4 miles I stay within
145 to 148...whoops....152...slow down...ok there...back to the 148 mark....I'm doin' great....I think. Mile 7....I see Brian,I think, shooting off like a rocket....so I up the HR to 153-155....still feels fine, but a little more effort here. I am passing people like crazy.....what is this???? HMMM... they must have started out faster than I did!! Miles 8,9,& 10 feelin' good...sipping my GU as to not get the big surge of blood sugar ....self preservation mode....then mile 10 and I am thinkin' I may break 1:45 my PR....and still feelin' A-OK!! Hmm...the HR stuff must be working!
I was thinking of that hideous hill that happens at mile 12...shall I walk it? OK...I am there...I can see the sharp turn to the right that goes, up, up, up.....wait....where is the hill?? Am I having a memory lapse? My God, those hill repeats up 140th have paid off!! Now down, down, down.....the finish line is near and I am trying to look like a star....like I know what I am doing for a change....and feelin' fine.
Hmmm....I think I owe it all to Coach Jill....she must know what she's talking about afer all! Another PR for me....142.30!
I ran to the water station after crossing the finish line and see the age group finishers award stand....what the heck....I'll see if I made the top 3 just for grins....what a bummer! I missed 1st. place by 30 seconds!!! I do like blue better than red....it is my favorite color....but I settled for the 2nd. place age group award with the red ribbon. Thanks, Jill!!!! Forward and on to IMC!
Hamish, pictured on the right with Brian just after they crossed the finish line, had this to say about his race:
"I got to the race about 8am with my daughter Eilish, Isabel and her son Jeffrey. I ran the fun run with Eilish to warm up and ran about 1 more mile.
The race started @ 9am. The first mile my HR went to 160 and I was running 7:31 on my first mile so I walked for 30 seconds to get back to an 8 min. mile pace and to let my HR come back down. At mile 2 and 3 I was a 7:40 pace and I would walk 20 seconds @ both mile markers. I felt stupid walking this early but Jill said if you are going too fast in the first 3 miles, walk!
After mile 3 my HR was between 155-161. I kept it there and wanted to go faster but our game plan was to stay between 155-160BPM. I felt great and when I got to mile 10 I wanted to go faster so I kicked it up to 160-164.
When I got to mile 11 I still felt great so I kicked it up to 168 and carried it in to the finish, just like we planned. I passed about 20 people in the last mile and that made me feel good. This is the first race where I wore head phones to block out any distractions so I could follow my game plan and not get sidetracked by other runners. I think I will wear them more in the future."
Brian Guarraci's race report is posted here on his MSNSpaces site. (Special thanks to Meredith Guarraci for this great picture!)
Julie's Race Report:
MI 8k, 3/26/06
First time race
Course conditions: temperature in the 40s but felt much colder due to strong winds. Overcast skies, just a few drops of rain
Gear: Long running pants, sleeveless shirt with MIT-shirt on top. Wore Garmin 305 for first time Unofficial Race time: 49’23" . did not capture splits, but know that my mile 1 time was 10’29", mile 2was 9’45", overall average pace was 9’44", so I know mysecond half was faster than first
PR: Haven’t run an 8 or 10k for over a year. Last year 5k run on sprint tri’s I ran 8 1/2 and 9 minute miles, so this was disappointing.
HR: Average 172, max 191. Had 5 peaks over 180 prior to the last mile
Fuel/Hydration: 20-30 minutes prior to race drank 12oz of Gatorade, 2 cups of water at mile 3. WW English muffin with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast
Mental: During race felt good and pumped after first mile until I saw how slow it was. Really enjoyed listening to music –it definitely kept me pumped up, but my ipod battery died at mile 4! Luckily it was right after the last big hill. The race seemed to whiz by. I couldn’t believe how fast the time went. I got really charged up passing people on the hills. In retrospect that was my big mistake because I let me HR get up too high and started building up lactate too early. After the last big hill, about 4.5 miles, I could tell I was at t minus 10 minutes or less. When the finish line came in sight I ran really hard in the 180’s and had moments of doubt about whether I would crash & burn before the finish line. When a man zoomed past me without about 20 yards to go I found I did have one last spurt left in me! All in all, a very disappointing time, but hopefully I will learn a lot about managing my HR.
Jill's Race Report:
I woke up at 5:30 am race morning. I had planned to eat breakfast (mostly eggs) however the previous evenings’ events had changed all that. I woke up feeling nauseous and sick to my stomach. The previous evening Mike and I had to deal with some issues with one of my children, and we had been up until 3:00AM. I knew I would not be able to stomach what I normally eat so I came up with another plan; it consisted of a lot of sugar and caffeine :).
Brian, Jo Ann and Julie met Mike and me before the race...everyone was happy and excited to race. We did a 15 min easy jog prior to the start with a couple pick ups. It's amazing how doing that helps ease those pre-race jitters, it makes a big difference when you start the race after a good warm-up, both physically and psychologically. After the jog we headed over to the start line and within minutes we were off.
My plan was the same as my athletes; essentially run 20 beats over top of Z2. For the first 3 miles I go primarily off of time, not HR. I determine how fast I want to run the first 3 miles based off of what I believe my average pace will be for the run. I don't guess; I have a very good idea going into a race what my pace will be, and at what HR . I know this from consistently monitoring HR in my training and through testing. This would put my HR at 178. My goal was to manage this on the hills and only let it climb a couple beats, and then really haul down the hills and try to keep it at the 178. No recovery on the downhills; just push the whole race and stay at 178. On a couple of the hills I got up to 181 but for the most part I was very consistent; every time I looked at my watch it said 178. My nutrition/hydration was Coke. I ran with my fuel belt and had two bottles with me. I sipped the coke throughout the race; only drank 1.5 bottles and felt great.
What I was hoping for from this race was
1.) To be able to stick to my plan not be drawn out by other competitors.
2.) I wanted to run at a lower HR than I ran the Seattle 1/2 marathon in Nov. and was hoping for a faster finish time. My thinking is that if I could run at a lower HR on a harder course then yes, I am improving. I don't like to compare race times form one course to another; it doesn’t make sense as they are different courses and require different efforts. I was very pleased with my results...HR 178, 1:40:38 finish time and 4 min faster than the last time I did this course, and I didn't feel completely spent at the end.
Jill's Coach Report:
8K
Julie Mcnamara-Dahl was my athlete who ran this race. Julie was not happy with her race results. I am very proud of Julie and have no concerns about her progress. As we studied her HR graph after the race I was able to explain to her where she made her mistakes. She made some pacing errors and did not manage her HR on the hill climbs and had to recover on the downhills, and this cost her. I am amazed at how high a HR she was able to maintain and it showed me that she is tough : ) This was Julies first lesson in using a HR monitor for racing and accepting what her body was telling her during a race. Julie is new to all this and is learning quickly. She will not make that mistake again. Like I told her, better to make these mistakes now in this type of race and learn form it then to have it happen at your A race.
HALF MARATHON
This was my IM athletes’ first race of the season. When I was writing the schedules for March I made the decision to not taper my athletes for this race. This month has been a critical point for some of them. They are starting to notice a shift in HR and RPE. We are moving next month into a base/ build phase. We are still going to be doing a majority of base training, however there are going to be some definite differences. I did not want them to lose a week of good training coming into the race and a week coming out so I made the decision to keep them rolling right up until the race and give them a good recovery week following. We will be ending that week with their first 100 mile ride!
You can imagine what they were all thinking when they saw a 3 hour ride on their schedule the day before the race...of course none of them voiced this to me right away; it came out from each one slowly over the course of the month on our rides:) The3 hour ride was an easy ride; we even stopped for coffee to go over everyone’s race strategy, HR,zones etc... I had to keep assuring them this 3 hour ride wasn't going to be the," 12 hills of Jill ride!" When we stopped for coffee I quizzed them on their HR zones to make sure they were ready.
In my mind this was a test for each one of them ...the 3 athletes that were doing the half were my IM athletes. If nothing else I wanted to hear form them that they stuck to their plan for the first 3 miles of the run. This was their process goal for this race. I don’t; believe in setting time goals for races, or even thinking about beating certain competitors, particularly when it is not your A race. I set goals for a race for myself and if I achieve that goal, great. It doesn’t; matter how I place. I try to focus on what I can control and this is what I want for my athletes. I did this all last season for myself. I did not always win my races but I did always achieve my goals for the race so to me it was a perfect season. Process goal is a term I have taken from Samantha McGlown; it is something her coach does with her. I have always done this for myself but I never really had a good name for it. It is really not your ultimate goal; it is a goal that you have to get you there. I got the chance to meet Samantha at a camp recently and she gave a talk to all of us about mental preparation in training and racing . It was fantastic, and she kept using this term, process goal. So for my IM athletes their first "process goal" was to pace the first 3 miles appropriately! Stick to the plan just like during an IM. I had given them times for the first 3 miles and specific instructions to start walking if they were ahead of that time. For instance, if at mile 1 there were 15 seconds ahead of the planned pace, they were to walk for 15 seconds! I wanted to see how well they were going to stick to the plan.
The week before the race I sent them a e-mail telling them what I expected of them...this was going to be their very best effort. I wanted them to push hard so that they were uncomfortable. The plan I had for them was based on HR numbers and tests so I felt very confident of what they were going to do even though they might have doubted it themselves. For the past 3-4 months I have been telling them to slow down... now I wanted them to race and push as hard as they can. I could see the doubt in their minds. I told them all, "I expect PRs." I could still see the doubt. I sent them e-mails telling them to start visualizing this race; imagine that you are having hard time, that it is hurting ..what are you going to think about? What are you going to tell yourself when your mind starts telling you that it’s ok to let up a little? You need to be prepared for this to happen. Below is the mail I sent to them.
From: Jill Fry[mailto:jill.fry@verizon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 200610:12 PM
To: Julie McNamara-Dahl; BrianGuarraci; Doug Thompson (OEM); Hamish Anderson; Jonathan Fay; Michael Fry; 'JoAnn Sittig'
Cc: jill.fry@verizon.net
Subject:
I want to share something that I was just reading …
“In early 1989, Allen (Mark Allen) went to Queenstown, New Zealand, for six weeks of intensive training . It raised him to a new performance level. He was, he said finally “starting to live what it was going to take to win the race”. He also learned patience; the patience to know that the race is won only when you cross the finish line. In that race, perhaps the classic Ironman of all time, he had raced for 8 hours alongside the other great American Ironman triathlete, Dave Scott. Only in the last 4Km had Allen been able to pull away, winning by less than a minute.”
Patience…that is a word I would like all of you to burn in your mind. It is a word I repeat to myself when racing IM… this is how I race my IM races, with patience, and it is what I want for all of you too. I want you to think about this in your training and racing. When you start your rides do you start out Z1 do you do an ice 20 min warm up? Same with your runs…are you paying careful attention to your zones… are you exercising patience? This is something that I found very hard to do. You have to make a conscious effort. Practice this in your training. For those who have been working with me the last 3 months you are finishing up your base phase…or as Mark Allen would call it the ”patience” phase. I think that is an excellent name for it and this is what I will be calling it in the future. It’s not easy to stick with your plan when someone is passing you on the bike or run. It takes discipline and patience.
Race season is quickly coming upon us. Doug will be racing Lavaman April 6th and several of you will be doing the Mercer half this weekend. Doug is all set; he has his race plan and is ready to kick some booty in Hawaii. He has worked very hard the last couple months.
For those of you racing the Mercer half this weekend here is what I want you to do.
First 3 miles 10-15sec slower than goal pace (I will be e-mailing more specific info to each ofy ou tomorrow) People will be racing by you …stick to your plan! WALK if you get to each mile ahead times I give you.
Miles 3-10 Threshold HR (20m beats above Z2)
Miles 10-13.1 I want you to go all out… push with all you have left and just hold on.
Half marathons are tough… they hurt! I want this to be as much a mental test for you as a physical one…. How long are you willing to run at your threshold? What isy our plan when you mind starts telling you to slow down…it will… it will try to protect your body and it will try to convince you that you really don’t care about that finish time you just want to have some relief and slow down now. I want you all to push through this and have strategies for dealing with it. Think about your running form, think about your cadence, chant something to yourself… THINK …quick, light, feet. I also tell myself I WANT THIS!! Focus on your form! Come up with some key words to say to yourself to get you through the hard times. Lets reward our efforts for these past months hard work with a PR. Go mile to mile or 10 min -10 min; whatever you have to do to keep yourself focused on moving forward quickly. Do not let your mind make excuses for you, there are no excuses. I can’t tell you how much confidence you will gain for yourself going into a race with the attitude that you are here to race with a specific goal and you achieve it. You are in control…you decide what the out come will be …don’t settle …give yourself your very best effort. I want you all to start thinking about how much this is going to hurt …start dealing with it now… know that you are going to put yourself there, prepare yourself for this. I can’t describe the feeling of achievement you will have when you cross the finish line knowing that you pushed that limit…it is very empowering and that feeling of empowerment will be carried forward to your other races.
NUTRITION: We have been focusing on what to have on the bike and haven’t spent much time with the run. I will be wearing my fuel belt with flat coke. I would suggest that if you are planning on wearing one (a fuelbelt) for your IM, then you should also wear it for this race. I’m not sure what they will have on the course it seems like when I did it before they had Gatorade and water. If you are taking GU you will want to start about an hour into the race. Also with the GU be sure to stick to water.
On Friday night you should have your big pasta meal… Sat eat light and try to eat by 5:00, 6:00 at the latest.
Sunday morning if youa re having anything solid be sure to eat 3 hours before the race start(eat@6:00AM)…sip water or Gatorade in the hours before the race…if youa re taking endurolytes take them an hour before the race start.
We will go over all of this again on our Sat ride. I would like to get a group picture before the race …we’ll have to plan a time for that.
Jill
I set the bar high for them in this half marathon and each and everyone of them did exactly what I asked and they all achieved a PRs. I am really proud of this group. They all stepped up and agreed to do their very best and they did it. NO EXCUSES. It is hard for people to admit this at the start of a race, how often do you here some one say ...yep I am here to give it my all? Rarely. If you don't tell yourself you are there to really go for it then you will never truly reach your potential or do your best...your subconscious knows you have an out. If you are really going for the win or a PR then say it and make it happen!
