2016 Eastern States 20 Miler – Member Audio
(Audio: link)
[audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/Membership/M14-Eastern-States-20-Miler.mp3]
Link M14-Eastern-States-20-Miler.mp3
I have always liked this race. It sits on the calendar as a well-managed, local 20 miler just 3 weeks out from Boston. Perfectly positioned as that last long run.
It’s a flat course down the eastern seaboard starting in Kittery Maine, running the entire length of the New Hampshire coastline and finishing in Massachusetts. It’s relatively scenic with the ocean on your left shoulder and the classic oceanfront bric-a-brac salted all along the course.
There are enough runners to always have someone to pace with and talk to, but not so many that you ever feel crowded or inconvenienced. It’s a friendly race and I’ve run it at least a dozen times. At 20 miles the race is long enough to scare off the ½ half marathon crowd and most of the people out on the course are competent.
I like the 20 mile distance. I refer to it as a middle-distance race, but all I mean is that it’s longer than a 10K and shorter than a marathon. Back when I first started running the Eastern States back in the 90’s it was a Godsend to have these nice local 20 milers and 30K’s sprinkled through the spring New England race calendar. You can practice your craft in an actual race on an actual course as you build your fitness towards Boston. It’s adds a nice rhythm and structure to your training. It makes it less monastic and detached.
From its position on the calendar in late March it is typically safe from any real weather issues. The worst we have ever gotten is a little wind and rain. There is always a sea breeze but it is typically pushing aglance on your shoulder for most of the course not slapping you in the face.
I always thought it was cool to run through 3 states in one race. Beyond the friendly, cool vibe it’s managed by one of the local veterans of the running scene. Don Allison used to own UltraRunning marathon and he does a great job keeping this labor of love running and dealing with the egress of 3 states and multiple New England towns with their puckish jurisdictions.
The think I like most about the Eastern States 20 Miler is the pace practice. Since it falls late in your marathon training cycle you have a decent amount of fitness going in and can use the course to practice your racing tactics. The flatishness of the course allows you to lock your pace in and practice your splits in the test tube of salt marches and 2-lane blacktop sandy shoulders.
It’s a late start race. I didn’t have to get up at some absurd ass-crack of dawn time to get there. The older I get the more jealous I am of a good night’s sleep. Due to the Easter Holiday they had to shift the race to Saturday this year. I rolled out and drove up to Salisbury Beach, parked and hopped the school bus for the $5 ride up to the start in Kittery. It’s a point to point so you have to either have a chauffeur or take the bus.
I was curious how my legs would respond. I had run a 20 mile training run the previous Sunday and it was the end of a cycle for me. This would be a 2nd 20 miler within 7 days. I’m still figuring out where the line is drawn as I get older, but up to this point my training and racing had been tracking perfectly.
I met Brian, Paul, Tim and Jen from my club in the gym at the Traip Academy. We took some pictures. Team Hoyt came in with Rick, and Dick and Bryon Lyons and I got a picture with them. Jen and I introduced ourselves to Becca Pizzi who was fresh off her 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days adventure.
I had grabbed an old shirt from the pile for my base layer under my Hoyt singlet. It was projected to be partially cloudy in the mid 40’s. A little too chilly with the breeze for just a singlet. In the warm confines of the gym I quickly discovered that the tech t-shirt I selected for my undershirt had the ‘stinky shirt disease’ and I had to toss it in the trash. Otherwise people around me would be passing out and vultures would be making strafing runs at me. Luckily I had another shirt with me and was able swap out. The shirt the race gave out had a giant logo on the front in one of those stiff appliqués like the iron-on patches in the 70’s. That was a fail and went straight to the donation pile when I got home.
With the new shirt I ended up having nice bloody nipples at the finish. When I was changing in the bus back I held it up and asked loudly, “Why do men have nipple anyhow?”
I had my Hokas, my Brooks baggies shorts and my bike bottle of Ucan. I train how I race. That way there is no surprise.
I ran a good 10 minute warm up around the town and found a secluded place to empty my bladder.
At the starting line Don said a few words and we started out in a big crowd of 500 or so runners. I got passed by Jen who was running too fast for her fitness, so I tucked in behind her and followed her over the drawbridge and through the first 3 miles.
My Garmin pace was bouncing all around and it looked to me like we were doing 7:30’s – 7:40’s. The average pace when I posted was right on 8 minute miles through this section. In retrospect I should have learned from this that I shouldn’t try to pace by my Garmin. Because the same thing bit me a Boston.
One worrying thing was that my HR was tracking too high. It was way up in zone 4 and zone 5 and wouldn’t normalize. Usually 10-20 minutes into a race it will drop down into zone 2 or 3 but it never did. I think it was because I was at the end of a build cycle and a bit over trained at this point.
You can race in zone 4 and 5 but it’s above your aerobic threshold and at some point you’re going to crash. It’s like driving your car in second gear. Eventually it’s going to burn out. I had the fitness so I just tried to relax and stay close to pace.
Jen fell off the pace and I chatted up the folks around me as we pounded down the coast. This is where I met Sandra the Organic Runner Mom who I filed away as a future podcast conversation. There was some dude in orange camo tights in front of us and I was wondering out loud exactly what those would camouflage you from?
We chatted and tried to hold the pace at 8 minute miles and try to relax my HR down. I was struggling to feel the pace but I stayed with it. My pace was all over the place but we managed to post in the low 7:50’s for miles 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Mile 7 is where the starting line for the ½ marathon is. I know it’s there and I also know there’s a big bank of porta-potties. I felt like I should stop and pee so I peeled off and jumped in. Once inside my body inconveniently decided to remind me of the half jar of cashews I indulged in the night before and my 30 second pee break turned into a 2 ½ minute rest of a different sort.
Coming out of the unplanned rest stop I was a bit annoyed and took off like my tail was on fire. Mile 8 was a 9:33 with the stop. Mile 9 was a 7:30 and mile 10 was a 7:27. Mile 11 was my slowest of the 7 at 7:46 as I tried to settle down a little. I was passing people by bunches and caught up with Paul. We ran together for a while but I was jonesing for the speed so I took off.
I was talking to Paul about the pace and how 7:30’s didn’t feel much harder than 8:00’s and my HR was high either way so why not just race?
I sipped through my Ucan and had good nutrition balance. I popped an Endurolyte every 10k. I was sweating and wanted to make sure I didn’t get salt cramps.
When you get into the final miles the course gets a bit grim. The offseason strip along Hampton beach is sandy and colourless. With 1.2 miles to go there is a bridge that crosses you over into Massachusetts. For some reason there is always some guy standing there saying “Less than a mile to go.” Which is just cruel.
As I pulled into mile 18 I started to lose power a little and dropped the pace from my peppy 7:40’s to a bit slower than an 8 minute mile. Not a total collapse, but enough of a power loss to scare me. Paul caught me from behind, tapped me on the shoulder said “Come on, Let’s go!” I thought, “Go where? I’m just trying to hang on!” He took off.
I tried to clean up my form and soldiered on for a couple miles. I knew the course and new where the finish was. I knew I could probably hang on.
We were starting to catch the walkers of the ½ marathon as we approached the bridge. We were also catching the local elites doing their warm-downs. The road was pretty bad and I was trying to run the smooth bits.
The bridge itself is a bitch. If you want to run on the sidewalk you have to hop up onto a foot-high curb or stay on the road and face the cars. This and the little climb can knock people out at this point in the race. It’s more psychological than anything else.
The other bitchy thing is that if you don’t know the course you think the finish line is in sight when you cross the bridge. Add to that some knucklehead giving bad information and people lose hope in this stretch. In fact the finish line is more than a mile away and there is a little, gradual climb in that last mile.
By this time I had recovered a bit and as Brian says “could smell the barn”. I was grinding but I was holding a good pace and making it work. I caught Sandra on the bridge and she was limping. I yelled at her to suck it up and geared down for the push into the finish. Mostly I was passing but some strong kickers past me too.
Cresting the little hill I saw the traffic cones ahead and lowered myself to the work of closing it.
Pushing through the chute I managed to pull my form together for camera. That last little bit my Garmin recorded as a 7:08.
I was happy with being able to beat my race pace goal especially at the end of a cycle. I did pace badly but was able to recover and hold race pace through the tape.
My notes from after the race read:
- Legs strong, no injuries.
- HR high but not sure if that was the effort or something else.
- Pacing not as bad as I thought.
- Good close – not sure I could have stretched race pace to 26 – mile 17-18 power loss is kiss of death at Boston – Hard to recover at Boston – in the hills.
- Will be able to hold back better on downhills at Boston. Know the course. 16K runners to pass might be an issue. Need a strategy.
- Need to work on nutrition, lose some weight, avoid potty breaks. Maybe position some Ucan on course.
- 2X20 in same week some taper. Might have been a little bit over-trained – or nutrition – or bug.
- Right where I need to be. Need to continue to execute and focus.
Note that prescient bit about no way to recover at mile 18 at Boston? Yeah, I probably should have reread those notes!
That was a good race. One of my favorites. Paul ended up winning his age class and had a great race. Jen and Brian faded. I really like this race and hope Donny has the strength to keep it going for future generations.