Stampie gets it done at the Birch Bay 30K
Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 2:41 pm
What a day on Saturday, on many levels! It was a bright and sunny day, with perfect conditions for racing. It was about 8C at the start and warned up to about 14-15C by the end of the race, with a nice breeze. I got a drive with one of my fellow clinic leaders to Birch Bay, who had picked up another participant just prior to getting me. The drive and border crossing were uneventful. Well, ok we had a slight detour as I mistaken told R to turn left when we should have stayed straight. Oh well, we got a nice scenic drive thru the outskirts of Blaine/Birch Bay. 
LOL
Leading up to the start I was feeling good, which was surprising since I had a pretty restless sleep. I was tired going to bed and I think I was worried I would sleep in. Normally I would not care about that, but since someone was picking me up, I did not want to keep them waiting. In the end it all worked out, but that’s life I guess. I meet up with the Fit First gang and Marymac & the Bonsor crew. The start went off without a hitch and was pretty uneventful, just the normal jostling for position. My goal to start the race was be somewhere around 2:55:00 – 3hrs; with a stretch goal of 2:52:xx.
Just for prospective, here are the imposable conditions we had to deal with on Saturday.
So here is the short version:
Garmin: 2:51:34..xx
Chip: 2:51:34.xx
Gun: 2:52:18.xx
Overall: 25th/68
Gender: 15th/22
Age (45-49): 6th/6*
*Just a little competitive don’t you think? Just for comparison & curiosity I checked the 50-54 age group (which I will be moving to very shortly) I would have placed third. I’m almost motivated to register next year just to see.
The longer version:
We start off on a downhill to reach the main road and run along the shoreline towards Birch Bay State Park. My clinic participant S was pacing with me. She is much faster than me, but is returning from injury and therefore wanted to keep her pace in-check. I kept repeating to her to take it slow, listen to your body yada, yada, yada... I had explained to her my plan was to head out conservatively and then re-evaluate at about 15-16K what I could do. At about 5.5K we met up with a crew from Fit First that were not racing, but wanted to cheer. Seeing R and her exuberant cheering was great to see and uplifting, especially on the way back at about 8.5K. I was feeling good and was averaging about 5:45-5:50/km, with short walk breaks at the water stations (except for the 1st one, which I skipped).
As it turned out S used me to help her pace and I used her to keep me honest, so it was a win-win for each of us. We came to the point where we broke off from the 15K racers. We saw the owner of Fit First as he did his last push to the finish and I started to determine how I felt. I asked how S was doing and explained my plan. She explained that she was feeling good, but felt it would not be wise to stick with me if I kicked it up a notch.
We hit our first water station on the second half of the course at about 15K; I picked up a gel and some water. S was with me and I explained I would start to increase my pace and see how long I can last. S said she was feeling good, but would hang back. The second half to the turnaround point at 21K is slightly up hill. I increased my pacing and was now doing 5:30-5:40/K pacing and feeling really strong. The game was on, catch the people in front of me and pass. And that is just what I did. Just before the turn around I saw two of the Bonsor crew coming back. Bother are faster than me and looking good, so I thought. I’ll come back to that. I hit 21K & the turnaround at just about 2:01:xx. Now the return back to the start, only 9K to go!
I started to do the runners math, calculating my predicted finish time given my current time at each Km marker and using an average of 6:00/K for the rest of the race. While doing this, I passed a couple of other runners and I had one of the Bonsor runner’s in my sights, the same ones I mentioned earlier. I could see J, but F was nowhere in sight. I was starting to catch-up to J and I started thinking, either I’m having a heck of a race, or an average one and J is struggling. At this point I had a couple of splits at 5:11 & 5:18. I caught up to J and found out that F pushed on as she was having leg issues. At about 26K in figured I had something going and I was feeling great, so I changed the selection on my iPod to a more upbeat mix and made a push for the last 4K.
We hit the shoreline and the breeze was very welcomed. Next thing I knew, I was at the final 1mile of the race. I looked at my Garmin and saw that a 2:52:xx was certainly in my reach, assuming I did not go over 10min for that last mile. However, at about 250m from the finish is just a plan old nasty hill. I hit it and ran halfway up and decided I could walk it with less energy. Once I hit the top, the finish was in sight. I kicked it up a gear for a strong finish. I saw some of the Bonsor crew on the side of the road and a few of the Fit First crew at the finish.
After all the dust settled, Saturday night I had a chance to review my Garmin data and determined I had a 1:24min negative split. I did the first half in 1:26:29.xx and the second half in 1:25:05.xx, so needless to say I was really happy with that. With the exception of the water stations, I did not walk any of the course. That was a great confidence booster as well. I went out for a very easy 10K shake out yesterday and my legs felt good, but I was tiring near the end of that run. Today my legs feel good, but I will be taking a rest day for sure and then back at it tomorrow!
Here is a shot of me coming into the finish
LOLLeading up to the start I was feeling good, which was surprising since I had a pretty restless sleep. I was tired going to bed and I think I was worried I would sleep in. Normally I would not care about that, but since someone was picking me up, I did not want to keep them waiting. In the end it all worked out, but that’s life I guess. I meet up with the Fit First gang and Marymac & the Bonsor crew. The start went off without a hitch and was pretty uneventful, just the normal jostling for position. My goal to start the race was be somewhere around 2:55:00 – 3hrs; with a stretch goal of 2:52:xx.
Just for prospective, here are the imposable conditions we had to deal with on Saturday.
So here is the short version:
Garmin: 2:51:34..xx
Chip: 2:51:34.xx
Gun: 2:52:18.xx
Overall: 25th/68
Gender: 15th/22
Age (45-49): 6th/6*
*Just a little competitive don’t you think? Just for comparison & curiosity I checked the 50-54 age group (which I will be moving to very shortly) I would have placed third. I’m almost motivated to register next year just to see.
The longer version:
We start off on a downhill to reach the main road and run along the shoreline towards Birch Bay State Park. My clinic participant S was pacing with me. She is much faster than me, but is returning from injury and therefore wanted to keep her pace in-check. I kept repeating to her to take it slow, listen to your body yada, yada, yada... I had explained to her my plan was to head out conservatively and then re-evaluate at about 15-16K what I could do. At about 5.5K we met up with a crew from Fit First that were not racing, but wanted to cheer. Seeing R and her exuberant cheering was great to see and uplifting, especially on the way back at about 8.5K. I was feeling good and was averaging about 5:45-5:50/km, with short walk breaks at the water stations (except for the 1st one, which I skipped).
As it turned out S used me to help her pace and I used her to keep me honest, so it was a win-win for each of us. We came to the point where we broke off from the 15K racers. We saw the owner of Fit First as he did his last push to the finish and I started to determine how I felt. I asked how S was doing and explained my plan. She explained that she was feeling good, but felt it would not be wise to stick with me if I kicked it up a notch.
We hit our first water station on the second half of the course at about 15K; I picked up a gel and some water. S was with me and I explained I would start to increase my pace and see how long I can last. S said she was feeling good, but would hang back. The second half to the turnaround point at 21K is slightly up hill. I increased my pacing and was now doing 5:30-5:40/K pacing and feeling really strong. The game was on, catch the people in front of me and pass. And that is just what I did. Just before the turn around I saw two of the Bonsor crew coming back. Bother are faster than me and looking good, so I thought. I’ll come back to that. I hit 21K & the turnaround at just about 2:01:xx. Now the return back to the start, only 9K to go!
I started to do the runners math, calculating my predicted finish time given my current time at each Km marker and using an average of 6:00/K for the rest of the race. While doing this, I passed a couple of other runners and I had one of the Bonsor runner’s in my sights, the same ones I mentioned earlier. I could see J, but F was nowhere in sight. I was starting to catch-up to J and I started thinking, either I’m having a heck of a race, or an average one and J is struggling. At this point I had a couple of splits at 5:11 & 5:18. I caught up to J and found out that F pushed on as she was having leg issues. At about 26K in figured I had something going and I was feeling great, so I changed the selection on my iPod to a more upbeat mix and made a push for the last 4K.
We hit the shoreline and the breeze was very welcomed. Next thing I knew, I was at the final 1mile of the race. I looked at my Garmin and saw that a 2:52:xx was certainly in my reach, assuming I did not go over 10min for that last mile. However, at about 250m from the finish is just a plan old nasty hill. I hit it and ran halfway up and decided I could walk it with less energy. Once I hit the top, the finish was in sight. I kicked it up a gear for a strong finish. I saw some of the Bonsor crew on the side of the road and a few of the Fit First crew at the finish.
After all the dust settled, Saturday night I had a chance to review my Garmin data and determined I had a 1:24min negative split. I did the first half in 1:26:29.xx and the second half in 1:25:05.xx, so needless to say I was really happy with that. With the exception of the water stations, I did not walk any of the course. That was a great confidence booster as well. I went out for a very easy 10K shake out yesterday and my legs felt good, but I was tiring near the end of that run. Today my legs feel good, but I will be taking a rest day for sure and then back at it tomorrow!
Here is a shot of me coming into the finish
