Jill and four of her athletes competed in the Mercer Island  1/2 marathon and 8K race on Sunday, March 26.  For the half marathon, Hamish, Jo Ann, Brian and Jill all followed a strategy that Jill put together for the run.  This strategy clearly paid off, as all of 1/2 marathoners achieved their goal times and all had PRs for this race.  For Jo Ann Sittig, this race was her fastest 1/2 marathon ever.  Her time of 1:42:30 placed her second in her age group, just 33 seconds out of first place!  Hamish Anderson also had a PR for this distance by about 4 minutes.  His time of 1:43:49 placed him 15th our of 59.  Brian Guarraci competed in his first half marathon.  For some reason his time was not recorded, but he finished some time between Jo Ann and Hamish.  Jill had a solid run of 1:40:38, good for a 6th place finish and a PR for this course.  Julie McNamara-Dahl competed in the 8K race, finishing 35/70 in her age group with a 49:21.

Julie, Jill, Brian and Jo Ann just before the race.  (Hamish was running the kid's race with his daughter)     Email message from Jill to the team:   From: Jill Fry [mailto:jill.fry@verizon.net] Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 9:17 PM To: Julie McNamara-Dahl; Brian Guarraci; Doug Thompson (OEM); Hamish Anderson; Jonathan Fay; Michael Fry; 'Jo Ann Sittig' Subject: Some more thoughts...     Some more thoughts for your half marathon.   1.) Eat a healthy diet with moderate to high carbohydrate content during the 48 hrs before race.   2.) For those who have issues with having to go to the bathroom during a race eat only ,highly refined, low bulk carbohydrate foods( rice potatoes, sweets, white bread cookies 16-24 hours before the race. There are some who experience gastrointestinal disturbances caused by milk or other dairy products. If you suspect this might be you then you want to avoid milk or other dairy products. Gluten can also cause a problem too.   3.) I can't stress this enough start this race slowly...follow your plan.  I would like to see a negative split from all of you for this race,  I am not sure if they will be taking a split halfway. I would like you to note your time at the six mile point.  The first aid station will be at mile 3.  This is perfect as this is when I want you to kick it into the next gear ...that will be your cue.  Use your RPE and your HR to gage yourself.   4.) Drink between 300-500ml (1.5-2 cups of water or sports drink...I'll have a coke)15 minutes before the start of the race.   5.) We will all get together before the start of the race to do a warm up run we'll decide where and when on Sat. I would like you to warm up for at least 15 min.   STAY POSITIVE. Do not let anything negative come in your mind.   6.) Don't forget the bodyglide!!!   7.) PACING... I want each of you to hold you HR 20 beats above top of Z2  This will be very close to your threshold. Use your RPE too, if you feel your legs filling with lactate then back off a bit.   First 3 miles slowly build HR up to within 5 beat of the above number, after the three mile mark push it up to that number and try to hold it. Last 3 miles try to push above that number...be careful, build in to this like you did for the first 3 miles.   Jill

Hamish, pictured on the right with Brian just after they crossed the finish line, had this to say about his race: "I got to the race about 8am with my daughter Eilish, Isabel and her son Jeffrey. I ran the fun run with Eilish to warm up and ran about 1 more mile. The race started @ 9am. The first mile my HR went to 160 and I was running 7:31 on my first mile so I walked for 30 seconds to get back to an 8 min. mile pace and to let my HR come back down. At mile 2 and 3 I was a 7:40 pace and I would walk 20 seconds @ both mile markers. I felt stupid walking this early but Jill said if you are going too fast in the first 3 miles, walk! After mile 3 my HR was between 155-161. I kept it there and wanted to go faster but our game plan was to stay between 155-160BPM. I felt great and when I got to mile 10 I wanted to go faster so I kicked it up to 160-164. When I got to mile 11 I still felt great so I kicked it up to 168 and carried it in to the finish, just like we planned. I passed about 20 people in the last mile and that made me feel good. This is the first race where I wore head phones to block out any distractions so I could follow my game plan and not get sidetracked by other runners. I think I will wear them more in the future." Brian Guaracci's race report is posted here on his MSNSpaces site.

Julie's race report: MI 8k, 3/26/06 First time race Course conditions:  temperature in the 40s but feltmuch colder due to strong winds.  Overcast skies, just a few drops of rain Gear:  Long running pants, sleeveless shirt with MIT-shirt on top.  Wore Garmin 305 for first time Unofficial Race time:  49’23" .  didnot capture splits, but know that my mile 1 time was 10’29", mile 2was 9’45", overall average pace was 9’44", so I know mysecond half was faster than first PR:  Haven’t run an 8 or 10k for over a year.  Lastyear 5k run on sprint tri’s I ran 8 1/2 and 9 minute miles, so this was disappointing. HR:  Average 172, max 191.  Had 5 peaks over 180prior to the last mile Fuel/Hydration:  20-30 minutes prior to race drank 12oz of Gatorade, 2 cups of water at mile 3.  WW English muffin with peanutbutter and jelly for breakfast Mental:  During race felt good and pumped after firstmile until I saw how slow it was.  Really enjoyed listening to music –it definitely kept me pumped up, but my ipod battery died at mile 4!  Luckily it was right after the last big hill.  The race seemed to whiz by.  I couldn’t believe how fast the time went.  I got really charged up passing people on the hills.  In retrospect that was my big mistake because I let me HR get up too high and started building up lactate too early.  After the last big hill, about 4.5 miles, I could tell I was at t minus 10 minutes or less.  When the finish line came in sight I ran really hard in the 180’s and had moments of doubt about whether I would crash & burn before the finish line.  When a man zoomed past me without about 20 yards to go I found I did have one last spurt left in me!  All in all, a very disappointing time, but hopefully I will learn a lot about managing my HR.

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• 10 Time Ironman Finisher, two time Kona finisher
• 2007 Ironman Canada:  PR for swim, bike & run, 5th AG, Kona Qualifying 11:01 time 
• Second overall Seattle Danskin 2007, fastest bike split: 25.3 mph
• Top ranked Overall Masters Triathlete in 2006 by TriNW
• Top ranked 1/2 Ironman Masters Triathlete in 2006 by TriNW
• Two time Overall Female Winner, Issaquah Sprint Triathlon, 2005-06
• Masters Champion, 2006 Troika 1/2 Ironman
• Top ranked Overall Masters Triathlete in 2005 by TriNW
• Qualified and Competed in Ironman Championship in Kona, 2005 and 2007
• USAT Certified Coach since 2005