Perfect day - 40 to start - little to no wind - sunny. I will write a full report later but I am happy with my time. I knew sub 3 would be a big stretch. The first 13 miles consisted of rolling hills so I ran this conservatively. I tried to pick it up on the back half. I managed a 2 minute negative split but could not push any more. I am very happy though. This is another PR - so that is 3 PRs this year. As long as I am making progress towards a sub 3:00 I know I am doing the right training.
RACE Report:
NOTE: I have never
had so much fun leading up to a marathon.
We went out with a big group from our running club. It was a great time going out to eat,
celebrating all of our good races, and hanging out after the race.
Training: I pretty
much followed my training plan for Iowa with a couple of tweaks here and there
to experiment. The base of my plan
consists of 1 medium long run of 12-15 miles, 1 Gazelle interval session (total
12 miles inc. easy miles), and a long run @ MGP +10-30secs, some with
progressive finish and some with MGP. For
a couple weeks I ran very easy at lunch on one of the Gazelle workout days to
make a 17-18 mile day. This seemed to
work well and I recovered in time for next workout. I also tried 14 mile progressive runs on
Tuesdays for a couple weeks. These were
very taxing and left me a bit fatigued for Thursday’s workout. I would run these again but spread them out
throughout training and maybe run easy on Thursday. I also ran the RFTW 10 mile race and the San Antonio half
leading up to this marathon. This disrupted
my long run schedule but I think the race experience was invaluable. I continued to use the workout pace
calculator to determine interval paces as well.
I wasn’t to fanatical about mileage.
I had a couple weeks in the 70’s but most in the 60’s but did not bother
with recovery weeks. 4 runs of 20 miles
- all other long runs were 16-17 miles until taper.
I did the Aussie carb load plan again and it worked
well. Around 800g of carbs on
Saturday. We drove to a local track
first thing in the morning and did 1.5 easy followed by 1000m all out. After that we immediately started the carb
load. I had a Gatorade pro Prime and
bagel and then went back to the hotel for free breakfast. I sat with a couple runners one who was
shooting for 2:35 and the other 2:45. I
told them that the Ultima drink at the race did not have any carbs in it. They said they would adjust their Gu
strategy. Out of all the positives of
this race the non-carb drink – and the lack of communication about it – are the
only negatives.
Race Day:
Nutrition: Up at 4
am. I.5 bottles of Gatorade Prime Pro to
get in 100g of carbs 3 hours before the race.
I did not consume any other carbs until mile 2 of the race. I took a Vespa 35 minutes before the race and
again at the half. I don’t know if it
really works or not but I have used it for my last 3 marathons and have never
hit the wall. After that I had a power gel about every 4 miles. I think I had 5 over the rest of the
race.
Strategy: Mistake # 1
– I did not have my exact paces written down.
Coach told me to be at 1:31 at the half and try to run a 2 minute
negative split. I figured that would be
a 6:57 average and that is what I tried to stay at. However, I did not figure out what that
equated to on the second half and winged it, thinking somewhere in the
6:40’s. Next time I will know the exact
paces I need to hit.
The race: It was a
gorgeous day in the low 40’s. We were picked up from our hotel in school bus
and taken to the start. Our bus driver
got a bit lost but we arrived with plenty of time. It was cold outside and they let you stay on
the bus as long as needed. You could get
off and come back on, too. The start was
extremely well organized. With about 35
minutes to go I took a Vespa CV-25. I
don’t know about this stuff but I have used it 3 times now and had good races,
so I plan on keeping up the tradition. I
also take one at the half way point as well.
I had my race ready shorts on and the pockets were filled with plenty of
powergels and 2 ishuffles, just in case one failed on me. I had a
long sleeve and gloves that I tossed around mile 4. I lost my sunglasses here
because they were on my head. I did not
notice until around mile 14-15 when I went to put them on. I ran
the hills conservatively to save energy for the end. I even focused on taking it easy on the
downhill sections so I would not tear up my quads. I tried to keep my overall average pace at
6:57 but I was a bit off and hit the half at 1:31:46 – MISTAKE #2 – forgetting
about chip time. At this point I was
really at 1:31:30 – but thought I was almost 2 minutes behind and this was
mentally discouraging. Next time I will
have total elapsed time on my watch. I
started picking it up from here and was able to hit some 6:40’s but the average
pace time comes down slowly! It felt
like I was not making progress.
At mile 20 we crossed a bridge with a slight up hill and
then it was flat as could be all the way into town. This is a straight shot into downtown with
old Victorian houses on both sides and large trees on both sides. This came in handy in keeping the sun
off. It seemed like the entire last
miles were covered with shade. I tried
to keep the pace up but faded every so slightly. At 24 I felt a slight twinge in my calf. At this point I had to make a decision – I
knew I had PR’d – do I just hold on and cruise in and finish or push it and
take the risk of a cramp and possibly a miserable 2 miles. I took option 1. I faded here but I was OK with it. I probably left 30 seconds out there by not
pushing as hard as I could have. MISTAKE
# 3 – see Mistake #2 – if I had total time I would have known I could get under
3:02. I would have found a way to make
up 16 seconds. I know I had it in me
because I ran a 6:11 pace for the last quarter.
Oh well, I don’t think a competitive runner is ever truly happy with
their time. J Still, I managed over a 5 and half minute PR
over my June marathon. Last October I
ran a 3:27 in Steamtown, so to come so far in a year has been pretty
amazing. At least now I feel like I only
have 2 minutes to get to a sub 3. Well,
that’s 3 marathons in one year. And now
I have to start training for Boston!
Maybe I will take a break soon.
Splits: 1. 6:57, 2.
6:58, 3. 6:56, 4. 6:56, 5. 7:04, 6. 6:55, 7. 7:08, 8. 7:02, 9. 7:03, 10. 6:50,
11. 6:57, 12. 6:54, 13. 6:56, 14. 6:52, 15. 6:58, 16. 6:48, 17. 6:47, 18. 6:48,
19. 6:50, 20. 6:48, 21. 6:47, 22. 6:52, 23. 6:55, 24. 6:57, 25. 7:06, 26. 7:19,
.27 @ 6:11. In the end, I ended up running what most of my MGP runs were like. Next cycle I will need to keep those training paces in the high 6:40's for a chance a sub 3, I believe.
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