I had my last long training run scheduled for today and needed an icreasing pace run, 16 miles easy and 10 miles at goal pace so I decided to do it with the Provo Marathon. There are two weeks left before the marathon, so I knew that I needed to be careful and slow with this one.
We stayed with family in Provo, which the kids loved but was a disaster for race prep. Everybody was up until midnight playing cards and visiting, there's not a whole lot of understanding about this running thing in my family.
I got in a few hours of sleep and headed into downtown in the morning for the race. I was able to sleep on the bus up the canyon all the way to the start, which was sweet. It was a pretty small marathon and not really anybody that I knew. I did talk to Ken Richards at the start and he seemed pretty amped for the race so I knew he could take this race, seeing the field. He asked what I was shooting for and I told him I was using it as a training run to get some pace practice towards the later marathon miles and he laughed and said awesome!
Goal was to stay at a relaxed pace and not accumulate fatigue. Most likely around 7 minute, but I was not going to worry about the speed, just run what felt like a consistant recovery pace was and then get some pace miles in. I'm not sure of splits because I have set aside the Garmin for a while and there were no mile markers until the halfway point. It was probably just above a 7 minute pace because I came through the half at about 1:33, dead on target. For the first 11 miles, there was a huge group of guys and the lead girl who were pacing to get just under a 3 hour marathon. It was a lot of fun to just visit for a bit as we ran and hear how all the different training methods everyone had used. However, eventually I think only two of the group managed to get under the three hour point, probably due to a second half much more difficult than down the canyon for the first 12 miles. That was by far the most enjoyable chunk of miles I've run in a marathon before. When I saw the 15 mile marker I had to pick up the pace by about minute a mile. It wasn't at all what I expected; I just had a lot of energy and none of the overall fatigue that I usually have at this point in a marathon. The pace just clicked in. This is definetely a type of training that I am going to find a way to work in in the future. We'll see how it affects the taper. Right now, a day later looking back, there was so much to learn from that run. It's amazing what staying just 15 seconds above threshold does for your endurance. Holding back for 15 miles in a race is very strange, not to mention how odd it is to run a fast pace through the last 10. When I stopped at an aid station for a banana, the volunteer said that I better get going since I was the second marathoner. That was something to process for a bit since I was balancing in my head my training goal, how far ahead was the lead runner and how fast did I want to run. It wasn't to hard to take the easiest choice, just finishing the training goal.
It was neat passing the lead half marathoners going the opposite direction. Fritz, Fiddy and Teren were just hauling. I still can't believethe times on half marathons that guys run here in Utah. That was a hard half marathon course and there were some great runs. Great job guys, I'm glad I wasn't running that one today!
My 10 miles at pace was right on so I was happy with the run. As always it's just good to finish without breaking something, and in the money! Must be the slowest 2nd place marathon finish in Utah history.
3.5 easy miles in the afternoon with the kids and bikes. | 