Unfortunately, I failed to charge the garmin so a mile (7:10 for mile 1) into my run, it quit on me. Therefore, the tempo run turned into a tempo by feel run rather than a kill myself to hit a certain split run. That was probably a good idea since I didn't feel too hot out there today. I ended up running the Young Ward extended via Landfill Loop.
I joined Paul for a long run on the TOU course today. We ran over to the finish line and then ran the course back 10 miles then turned around back to the finish. Good solid pace. We picked it up at the end to some 6:20 - 6:30 miles. MP for me.
Last one before TOU! Young ward loop. 1 mile warmup then 9 marathon pace miles then .5 mile cooldown. It felt pretty good, but it will be a miracle if I can average this pace for the last 10 miles of the marathon. We will see I guess.
I joined Jon's work running club for their Blacksmith Fork Training run this morning. Nothing like the motivation of a free shuttle, drinks every 3 miles, and food at the finish. Great gig. I was joined by Jon and Allie. We were dropped off at mile 3 of the TOU course and we ran back to our cars at mile 17. Jon whined the whole way about our pace being too hard while Allie smirked and I half-stepped them the whole way. Good times. I did get in 2 miles at MP after a pit stop to catch up. I also added on at the end to get exactly 14 (obsessed I guess). That run was so short, it probably doesn't even count, but I liked it that way. I can get used to this taper thing.
Well, after crunching the numbers, this year's marathon preparation over the last 3 months prior to the marathon were not as bad as I thought. In fact, the numbers show a decent preparation at least compared to last year. I did a lot less total miles this year, but tried to keep the quality high. The miles I skipped out on this year were mostly the two-a-days and the recovery runs. Quantity is important, but I think quality is MORE important. The key to marathons are the "Big Workouts". I came up close to even in that category. I also have the added benefit of more biking workouts this year. Those are great fartlek style workouts.
I may be able to salvage a decent marathon if I can stay within my limits and run wisely.
I tried to take the kids to the park between rain storms, but ended up forcing them to only have 5 mins at the park due to the thunderstorm rolling in. We made it home just in time, but I was forced to crank out some sub 7 pace pushing the stroller to make it. Phew.
Top of Utah Marathon (26.2 Miles) 02:46:14, Place overall: 14, Place in age division: 2
Slow miles
Fast miles
Total Distance
0.80
26.20
27.00
Top of Utah Marathon -
The day started out rough today with 4 bathroom visits before even leaving the house. 4 stars would normally be a good pre-race count, but I was far from through. Earned another star at the bus loading zone, another right after exiting the bus. I then went directly to the secret bathrooms near the start. Paul dubbed the bathrooms OZ and I spent plenty of quality time there before the start. Plenty of time. This could get interesting...
The weather at the start was ideal. Cool, but not cold. They got us all lined up and the mountain men with their big black powder guns got us going. Things got underway quickly and I was not surprised to see a fast first mile split.
Mile
Split
HR
Comments
1
5:43
162
So, the goal pace for the day was 2:40 (so 6 min pace down the canyon)
The first mile was too fast, but I was now mixing it up with the group I would hang with for the canyon section of the course
2
6:09
172
Compensated a bit too much, but we are doing fine
3
6:02
172
Our group consists of myself, Joe Wilson, one of his buddies (Jason Gubler?), and we had caught up with Brad Phippen.
4
5:47
175
Joe led the group this mile and he got carried away.
5
6:02
174
Still tight as a group
6
6:09
173
Saw the 10K split and wished it was the final 10K pace
7
6:02
174
Fun stuff
8
6:09
172
Touch long, but right on pace
9
5:57
171
Touch short, my memory is pretty fuzzy about all this running.
10
5:42
171
Way short. During this mile, I was dropped by my group. Bad Sign of things to come. Based off my 2:40 goal pace chart, I was right on track.
11
6:42
170
I slowed down, but the previous marker was off so it was closer to 6:13 pace.
12
6:04
169
Trying to take advantage of the tailwind through here
13
6:05
170
The wind is my only hope.... (1:19:12 at the half)
14
5:55
171
Ahh, there is the wind. NICE
15
6:10
171
Hollow Road - 10 seconds per mile off pace now
16
6:25
169
Oh crap
17
6:32
169
OK, so plan b is in order. Plan B? I guess just keep running as fast as possible or die trying.
18
6:40
168
Snuck a glance back at the turn right after mile marker 18 and saw a guy and Nan right on my heels. Double crap - but amazingly, no actual pit stops so I guess the stomach is hanging in there. I do feel really queazy though.
19
6:52
169
Millville Hill section 1. Nan caught, sat on, and passed. Game over.
I did pass Brad here and I also dropped the other guy who briefly caught up.
20
7:00
170
Millville Hill section 2. Way off pace now - A good 40 seconds per mile off.
21
6:32
171
"Only" 33 seconds slow this mile. I attribute it to my new-found pacers. Scott (redrooster) and Carol Rowe. They were waiting for me at mile 20 after running the 5K. They went 1-2 in that race but apparently went way too slow, because they were full of energy.
22
6:52
173
Working hard, but feel like I am crawling in mud. Scott is resorting to any measure to try and get me to go faster. I want to smack him!
23
6:59
173
Man, this is pathetic. 40+ seconds per mile off pace.
24
6:55
171
Carol peeled off in here. She was getting quite the crowd support being about a min behind Nan. Everyone thought she was going to catch her or something. She felt stupid jogging next to me. Thanks for your help Carol.
25
6:50
172
Slowly catching Joe Wilson. I did catch Adam as he was crashing even worse than me. Lots of misery going on around me.
26
6:45
176
Getting oh so close to Joe. He surges then I surge back to catch up. Will I get him? Scott is practically ready to tackle him for me. He can't figure out why I am so slow....Come on Cody. No, seriously, he kept me motivated perfectly. I almost believed a few of the things he was saying. Almost.
26.2
1:16
181
Joe saw me coming and is trying to hold me off. I give it a go all the way to the line. We are side by side at the line. He gives me an elbow (in a friendly manner) to stay in front of me. Ha! I get the last laugh as I out chipped him. By one second. Phew.
First Half: 1:19:12
Second Half: 1:27:02
Total: 2:46:14 (6:21) 171 ave 184 max
Overall, it was not a great race as I fell apart big time at the end. I sort of expected that, but was REALLY wishing it wouldn't happen. I am happy with how it all still worked out though and I am glad I decided to run it. Now to take some well-deserved rest and stay off the roads for a bit.
Some interesting facts about my race lately.
My last 2 Top of Utah Marathons were within 3 seconds of each other. My Colorado Marathon I ran in May was only 5 seconds slower than today's race.
My last 3 Top of Utah Marathons were within 4 seconds of each other.
Maybe I should take that as a sign to give it a rest, right? Just call me Mr. Consistency.
* Congrats to my buds Paul and Jon as they busted out some spectacular races! I am very happy for them.
Today was a day of payback for all the aid I take from all the races I run. Today I volunteered to mark a section of the Bear 100 course. Does volunteering for one race make up for tens of races I have run. The race starts on Friday and I will be helping Jon and Paul at the Leatham Hollow aid station at mile 20 of the course. The runners should be coming through at about 9am friday morning, so we (my family) are going to camp there the night before for some family fun. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Today was all about marking the correct course for the race. Paul joined me for this task. Our section consisted of right above the Providence Quarry over Millville Pass and down Leatham Hollow. To get to the starting point of marking we needed to do a shuttle and drop off Paul's car at Leatham hollow, then drive to the top of Providence canyon, send my wife and kids home in the car and begin hiking. Once we hit 8K feet elevation, we hit the trail..finally. 11 miles of flagging later, we limped to Paul's car. The middle details were a bit fuzzy, but included lots of rocks, hills, trees, atv's and flagging every 200-400 meters. Our pace was embarrassing, but we weren't in the race. Overall, it was a great day to hit the trails.
My biggest issue was my right calf muscle. It did not recover properly from the marathon and it was super tight before and much tighter now. I walk like a cripple. Oh well, it was worth it.
PM: I was inspired by the Ultra runners of the Bear 100 and so I forced myself to make time for an hour run this evening. I have had to put in a bit of overtime lately and it was good to burn some steam after being at work too much this week. I hit the river trail starting at the Nature Center and went 4 up and back. The bad news is that my right calf is not better yet. It feels like a deep muscle tear way up inside of the calf. I will take some more time off to let it heal up. The uphills are murder on it while the downhills are manageable.
It was time to take down the Bear 100 course that I marked last week. I was planning on doing it tomorrow, but the weather tomorrow scared me. I don't have time later in the week to do it so today was the day. They are predicting snow and I do not want to run up to 8600+ feet in the snow. Whine, Whine.... I was able to trick Jon into joining me this time around. I had my wife drop us off at the Providence Quarry and told her to pick us up in 2 hours at Leatham Hollow. Things went much faster this time. My calf was feeling great and I have fully recovered from the marathon. Our first 2 miles were 20 min/mile pace this time. Sad that that pace was faster than before, but it is pretty steep. The de-marking went faster too. Especially since about a third of the marks were gone or mostly gone. I say mostly gone since the neighborhood cows have been busy chewing on plastic. Things went really well until it got dark. We hit the single track going down the hollow and the sun was long gone. I pulled out my headlamp, but since Jon didn't bring one, things were interesting. We went from 7 min/mile pace and progressively got slower until we stumbled out to the car at 11 min mile pace. Overall, it took 2 hours and 18 mins for the 12 mile run. (11:33 pace) Not bad counting the elevation change and stopping to grab markings every little bit. Unfortunately, Jon had a meeting to be at at 8:30 and we arrived home at 8:28. Yep, he was late.
