 posted Jul-26-2007 07:51 AM
   
Thursday – bright, sunny, 87 degrees and humid!I’ve been looking to run the Beach to Beacon 10K course for some time now in preparation for the race which is August 4th. One of my DW’s co-workers Lynn is running the race and wanted to get a few runs on the course as well and had already run it last week so we made arrangements to run it last night. On my way over from my house I drove the course in reverse stopping to take some photos of the mile markers and a few nice shots along the course…(photos to accompany the race report)… and while waiting for Lynn to show up I got in a nice slow 1 mile warm up while snapping a few photos of the finish area and the beautiful view including of course Portland Head Light. I met Lynn her husband Keith and a few more of DW’s co-workers Karen and Laurie at Fort Williams at about 5:30 last night. We left one vehicle in the lighthouse parking lot near the finish line and headed out to the start together. The girls decided they would run together and Keith and I could head on out together. Keith told me that he didn’t want to hold me back but would stick with me as long as he could. I reassured him that I wasn’t “racing” it today and would be looking to start slow and then run the last few miles at or close to my marathon pace (7:38). This is the elevation chart for the course:
 Keith and I headed out relatively slowly and still crossed the 1st mile marker in 7:55 – HR 131/142. Keith constantly reassured me that he was fine and didn’t want to slow me down. I was feeling very comfortable and as you can see this first mile is mostly downhill. We picked it up a bit during the next mile which as you can see by the chart is a very gradual climb of about 75 feet in elevation over the course of the whole mile and you never really feel it. We hit the 2nd mile marker in 7:43 – HR 146/152. At this time I told Keith I was going to pick it up just a bit and use the down hill during this next mile to my advantage as I hoped to during the race, and to his credit he hung in there, even thought at about mile 2.5 the down hill ends and you get a bit of a hill that climbs about 70 feet or so in elevation. We crossed the third mile marker in 7:38 (right at my goal pace for this run) – HR 146/153. I felt great at this pace and could tell that Keith was starting to struggle, he told me at this point that he runs regularly but not at this pace and that he usually runs 3-5 miles most days. This is where it became obvious to him that he needs to get in some longer runs for the “endurance” part of it. As we continued along just before the mile four marker is the start of another nice long down hill which I want to use to my advantage especially on race day and this is where I began to lose Keith, I hit the fourth mile marker at 7:38 – HR 152/155 once again right on pace. Keith was several hundred yards back now and I wouldn’t see him again until I was in the park approaching mile 6 and he was cresting the last hill on Shore Road. This next mile is almost all downhill which if you have run a smart race and stayed within yourself you can really pick up some time come race day. I decided to simply maintain the pace I was running today and crossed the fifth mile marker at 7:38 – HR 152/160. I know boring but hey at least I’ve been consistent and I feel really good. This next mile has to be the toughest in my opinion for this course, not just because it is five miles into the course but because it has three real hills, all of them fairly short but also a little steeper than any of the others) well except that last one as after turning into the fort)! I decided I wanted to attack these hills by keeping my pace steady and swinging my arms a bit to keep me going strong and I felt really good as I crested the last hill and began the short descent that takes you to the turn into Fort Williams and the final last little hill that can be a killer if your not prepared for it. I was and I am prepared for this one though and I climb it with ease and head to the sixth mile marker in 7:30 – HR 163/168. I start to pick up my pace just a bit after passing the sixth mile marker and tell myself to wait until that final tenth before really starting my kick. As I pass a bunker which marks that final tenth I begin to kick harder and then the lighthouse and the finish marker come in to view and I pour it on for a 1:31 final .2 and a total time of 47:32 and an average pace of 7:38 right on the nose! I couldn’t be any happier with this training run for a multitude of reasons. First of all I ran the third, fourth and fifth miles at a very comfortable steady 7:38 MP which felt great and had plenty to pick it up for that final 1.2. Second I had no feeling whatsoever of the “hills” on this course having an impact on me which I credit my hill training for. OK now I am waiting at the finish area for Keith to finish up and he comes in only about 3:30 behind me which really isn’t bad for someone who quite simply doesn’t put in the miles. No disrespect but I don’t really think he could do much better if he “raced” this course. We talked for awhile while waiting for the girls to show up and after about 10 minutes or so I decided I would head back out for a cool down and see if I couldn’t run them in. I headed out and figured I would run into them maybe a half mile or so out but never saw them until I was 1.5 miles out and then only two of them! When I finally met up with them Lynn shouted we got lost! OK how did you get lost I asked, and she told me that they missed the right turn onto Old Ocean House Road which loops back onto Rt. 77 and they ended up making the right where you should exit and ran back all the way to Rt. 77 in the wrong direction! So they ended up running several extra miles…hopefully they won’t make that mistake on race day! Anyways I ended up running with Lynn and Karen and they said they weren’t sure but they thought Laurie followed them, but she was nowhere in sight. Once I got back and met up with Keith we decided we would head out to pick up his wife’s car and hopefully we would find Laurie on our way back over the course and told the girls to walk out to the entrance the runners come in and wait for her there. Shortly after we left we came upon Laurie just as she crested the final hill before turning into the park and explained that the girls would be coming out to the entrance to meet her and we headed out so that Keith could get the car. After dropping off Keith I headed home (about an hour and a half late) and called my DW to apologize and explain that I owed her a dinner out for this one, and she agreed…hmmm…go figure! About an hour after I had gotten home Lynn had called to tell me that Laurie didn’t come in the right entrance and they missed each other. She passed by the gated entrance where the runners will go in and went in the main entrance that cars use and went up to the parking lot and waited by the other car while Lynn and Karen waited for her after they got the other gate (they must have just missed each other)! As Keith came back he saw them and couldn’t believe that Laurie wasn’t with them. But happily they all met up at the parking lot and shared a really good laugh as did my wife and I. This is definitely one for the books. Oh yeah I found out later that Karen has run three previous Beach to Beacons road races and Lynn said then when she ran it last week she let Keith lead the way. Oh and finally she said that much of their discussion prior to my meeting up with them was how they could blame the guys for their getting lost! I never written this type of report for a training run but couldn’t resist it, thanks for reading.
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