The past couple weeks have been a real debate on how I was going to race Around the Bay.
A little background on the race. It is the oldest road race in North America, yes older then the Boston Marathon. It is a 30km route that takes you 15km down hill then into the North Shore for 15km, which is all up and down hills. Many people say it is ideal training for the Boston Marathon and with 4 weeks to go fits right into the game plan of training for a marathon. NOT
Around the Bay races like a marathon. It breaks you in such a way that there is no chance for a solid recovery before the Boston Marathon. My coach, Gord Dickson has won the Bay many times and was pretty up front with me in his thoughts. I have big goals for Boston so beating myself up before it is not the best game plan. So, this is what we decided on.
I am in the front of the pack, so it will be good to go out controlled and not over do it. It will be mentally tough because I know I can run with the guys but I have to hold back! 15km is slightly down hill so I will be cruising around 4:10 per km and looking to come in around 1:03 at the half way point. Mentally I will be raring to go so I am then going to drop down to Marathon race pace, which will be 3:50 to 3:53 per km for 10km. This will put me around 1:44 in time and with 5km to go I am going to pick it up and go for the 2 hour. Not too worried about going sub 2 hour it is more a game plan to see if I can stick with it.
This race is going to be a great confidence booster if I stick to the game plan. I am not looking to crush it just prepare myself for the excitement of Boston and not going out to hard like most people do!
Excited to see everyone out there, and train safe...I will be the one with the new Bright yellow fast twitch shoes from Saucony on. Also keep an eye out for Krista Duchene who is also with Saucony. She is killing it right now and excited to see big things from her this weekend!
