Steve West - Race Plan for MDI Marathon 10/14
I am racing Mt Desert Island Marathon here in Maine on Sunday. It’s a tough course with about 1000’ ascent total. http://mdimarathon.org/course_information_mdim.html This will be my 9th year in a row running this so I know what to expect. My VDot is down a bit from the spring but it is legit from a well run HM on 9/23.
Spring VDot: 47 (solo 5K on track)
SWAG (-2.0) for Boston ~ 45 or so but don’t have the same fitness now
Finsihed a slow 3:49 but it was brutally hot. Paced well, only 5:30 slower on second half
Fall VDot: 44.74 (9/16 5K race)
Fall VDot: 43.8 (9/23 HM)
SWAG (-0.3) for MDI marathon 43.5
Goal pace: 8:10 for 3:34 finish
A little bit optimistic but I do believe this is where I am and what I can do at MDI
Current PR for MDI is 3:32:57
EN pace calc
Miles 1 – 5 @ 8:30
Miles 6 – 20 @ 7:55
Miles 21 – 26.2 @ 8:10 or better
Nutrition/hydration
Pre-race PB&J @ 5:30 with coffee, Gu @ 7:45 for an 8 AM guntime. On couse will be Gu and water, typically @ 5, 9, 14, 18, & 22.
I would love to PR this course and break my all time PR of 3:31:46 but I really don’t think it will happen this weekend. Running a respectable 3:35 or even under 3:40 would be good on that course this year.
For grins I went out last night (in the rain) and did 8x800 as Yasso 800’s. Not the full predictor set but I didn’t want to trash my legs too much 4 days before the race. I paced well and easily could have done 2 more without imploding. Results indicate a finish time I know I can’t do this week on the MDI course by at least 8 minutes. This reinforces the notion that Yasso 800’s underestimate by 5 – 10 minutes. Splits below.
Warm up was 1.5 mile run to the HS track and 1 lap.
800 400
1 3:37 3:31
2 3:35 2:12
3 3:32 2:20
4 3:28 3:07
5 3:26 2:20
6 3:27 2:24
7 3:26 2:29
8 3:27 2:18
Plus 1.5 easy miles home for 9.7 miles @ 8:14 overall.
Results and RR to follow.
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