A look at my race goals for the 50-miler on Saturday
Last night I went for an easy 5-mile run as the sun beat down and the temperature climbed to 33C/92F. My legs felt good, my feet fine, the heat didn’t bother me and I wish I could have run farther (I’m tapering).
The current weather prediction for Saturday’s 50-mile (80K) race is cloudy and around 24C/75F. There is a chance of rain, but it is still too early too accurately predict this. In any case I really hope it stays this cool for the race, last year’s 93F was a bit too warm.
My race goals and strategy remain very similar to last year as my training this year was almost identical. However the cooler weather may have a significant impact and I may still cross the finish line well ahead of last year’s time (10:19).
As usual I have three goals depending on what kind of day I’m having:
Bad day goal: Finish under 12 hours.
Good day goal: Finish under 10-1/2 hours.
Race of my life goal: Finish under 10 hours.
In any case, most of the first 20K of the race are flat and runable, I only need to remember not to go out too fast. I would like to be under 2:15:00 for this portion of the race.
The middle portion of the race (20-60K) is the meat of the race with the bulk of the up and downhill climbs, anyone that survives this pretty much has the race in the bag. Last year I passed the marathon point (42K) at around 5:10:00, this year 5-hours would be nice.
The last 20K are pretty much downhill or flat, however last year I lost a lot of time at the aid stations through this section – I can potentially reduce my race time if I can get in and out of the aids stations during the second half of the race, and particularly this last section.
I think the hardest part of the race last year was right at dark (around 46K) to around the 62K point. The combination of running in the dark, climbing hills and still knowing there was such a long way to go nibbles away at ones resolve. The most remember-able section was the last 10K when I started smelling victory and knew I was going to make it (last year was my first 50-miler).
Comments
I can't wait to read the race report! Good luck.
Posted by: neca | June 20, 2007 2:09 PM
Good luck on Saturday, Jack!
Posted by: Rob | June 20, 2007 9:12 PM
have a great race jack!
Posted by: brent | June 21, 2007 12:11 AM
i like how you descibed this "Race of my life goal: Finish under 10 hours". I wish for you you get that this saturday, but if not - hey it's freaking 50 miles and just finishing is absolutley fantastic. have fun!
Posted by: steph | June 21, 2007 9:29 PM
i like how you described this "Race of my life goal: Finish under 10 hours". I wish for you you get that this saturday, but if not - hey it's freaking 50 miles and just finishing is absolutley fantastic. have fun!
Posted by: steph | June 21, 2007 9:29 PM