Boston, here I come?

Objective: 4 mile run

This morning's run was okay..speedwise I was fine, averaging 7:06/mile and speeding up for the last mile plus, but my legs took a couple miles to loosen up.  They never hurt necessarily, but I was uncomfortable for the most part until the last few minutes.  I'm glad they did feel better eventually, and tomorrow's 8 miler should be no problem. 

Objective: 8 mile run

I was nervous during today's run!  I was picturing the starting line and first 8 miles of the marathon during the outing, and the butterflies were fluttering around in my stomach during the first mile.  Once I clocked that in at 7:15, I calmed down and maintained the desired pace - right around that time for the first four miles, then sped up to 7:01, 7:01, 7:08, 6:58 for the last four.  The total for the 8.14 miles was 58:08 (7:08/mile), which is pretty close to where I want to be at that point next week.  I felt strong as usual, and took a Gu gel at 4 miles to make sure my stomach is ready for them during the race.  I can't believe that the marathon is only a week away..full pre-race write up coming on Saturday. 

17 weeks down, 1 to go! 

Pico and back 

Objective: 3 easy miles

Nothing to it this morning, just went slow and steady at 7:32/mile.  I'm really going to enjoy this last taper week, my legs are feeling fresher every day.

Objective: 4x 400 repeats

Today was the final speed workout before the race, and it went very well.  Aiming for the 1:30 area for my .27m laps, I got 1:32, 1:33, 1:36, 1:29 before jogging home.  This was the first interval workout I did in the morning, but with the shorter distances it wasn't a problem.  One more short run tomorrow and it's off to the airport! 

Objective: 2 mile run

Simple last-run-in-LA before taking off tomorrow, I did a 7:19 and 6:48 while just going smooth and steady.  Just one more run to go....

Objective: 2 easy miles

Well, here we are - the day before the marathon.  The last 18 weeks have been interesting..lots of running, a baby, and lots more running.  I'm here in upstate NY at my father's house with the family to give marathon #2 a shot, and try and BQ by the end of it.  I'm happy with the running portion of my training..I only missed a handful of runs when our son was born, thanks to waking up super early in the morning many times to get outside.  I'm disappointed with myself in the other aspect though - I barely ever made it to the gym, and even gave up on pushups and crunches early in the training.  I don't really have a good reason for giving up on those things, and if I don't get under 3:05 tomorrow I'm pretty sure that'll be the reason.  My 20 milers didn't go well either, due to a variety of reasons (bonked at 14 on one after 10 the previous day, no time after the baby came home, did 16 the day before instead, had to quit at 10 due to a bad stomach), but I'm not too concerned about that..the rest of my training should cover the 26.2.  In order for this to work out tomorrow, I'll need everything to go right - if my stomach is strong, I'll have enough Gu to stay fueled - if I am well fueled, I can ignore the pain that will be in my legs to finish the race strong.  If I feel good but just can't keep up the pace for the whole distance, at least I'll have a new low PR.  Nothing to do now but run the race!

Well, that didn't go as planned.  The short story is that I DNF'd for the first time in a race, and it was terrible.  Here's the longer story:

I was worried about some sinus issues that started on Tuesday..nothing big, but I had some sneezing, which is not a random occurrence for me.  We flew to NY on Thursday morning (the baby did amazing on the plane), and I felt good enough to stay up until midnight to watch the Yankees lose (9 PM for me with the time change).  Friday was an easy day, I walked around some and ate loads of carbs, but started feeling sinus trouble again at the end of the day.  I wound up taking a Musinex before bed to try and get cleared up and get lots of sleep..that worked out well enough for Saturday.  I had a good slow 2 mile run and picked up my packet without a problem (thanks to Dayquil), but got worn down at the end of the day again.  I got up on time and did my normal pre-race morning routing, and felt good when the gun went off.

The first 9 miles were a piece of cake..the weather was still nice and cool, my legs felt great and I was effortlessly snapping off 7 minute miles.  I planned on doing 7:15 for the first 4 miles, but was shocked to see the faster times at each marker..I didn't feel amped up on adrenaline, and I really wasn't working hard at all.  I saw my family right on time after finishing a Gu gel at mile 8 and gave a thumbs up..everything was great.  I got water earlier than usual, according to the plan.  I knew it was going to get hot so I was really trying to be smart about it.

My mile 10 time slowed to 7:15...odd, I thought, but I still feel fine.  Mile 11 was also 7:15.  Hmm, well, no problem..I wanted to do some at this time earlier, so I'm still doing fine.  I realized I'd have to pick up the pace and get down in the 6:40 range for as long as possible..so I pushed a bit harder through mile 12.  7:18.  Uh oh.  The time itself wasn't so bad, but I had to try hard just to get there.  Now I could feel myself slowing down and I was worried.  I hit the halfway point at 1:33 (7:49 for mile 13) and knew that my BQ try was not going to happen.  The next meeting point for my family was around 14.5 - I kept up my stride through that point, but was now over 3 minutes off my desired pace and slowing even more.  When I was safely past them, I pulled over to adjust my shoes/collect myself.  Blisters were forming on the tops of each pinkie toe and I felt pretty awful.

The next 6 miles were spent alternating between walking and jogging - I'd pick it up for a couple of minutes (around 8:00/mile during those times) but have to stop.  My legs weren't the problem, it was everything else.  It was hot and I felt like I was going to throw up, unable to get the sweetness of the Gu out of my mouth.  Finally around 20.5 I couldn't take it anymore - running wasn't going to happen, and my family/friends were going to get worried if I strolled in over an hour later than planned.  I pulled over and asked a spectator for a phone..naturally neither my wife nor father answered their phones when I called.  I told the fan that I actually wanted to quit but didn't know how..there were no vehicles around to transport me.  She graciously offered me a ride (she was going to the finish line later anyway) and I accepted it.  I was dropped off about half a mile from the finish, and had no intentions of crossing that finish line, but figured I should jog anyway.  As I passed mile 26, I realized that the only way my cheering section would see me was if I did go through the finishing chute...so I wound up "finishing" anyway.  I feigned happiness for the crowd's sake and even accepted the medal.  As my group came over to greet me I was quick to tell them that I quit earlier, so they shouldn't get too excited about the 3:15 on the clock.  I emailed the race director to move my name in the standings to join the other DNF'ers, which will hopefully be done soon.  There were plenty of others in that group, and several with similar 13.1/17.5 mile split times as me, so at least I wasn't alone.

So what went wrong?  A lot of little things, I guess.  The head cold played a large role, as did the heat (I had a neck full of salt by mile 18, temps were in the upper 70's by the finish).  I feel like I have been getting enough sleep, but the baby does interrupt that sleep pretty much every night.  The Gu tasted good at first, but that taste really stuck in my throat and I couldn't have any more.  My legs held up just fine and I believe I carbo-loaded properly.  I trained well and felt good heading into the race, and it just didn't work out.  I was sore afterwards of course, but not nearly as much as when I ran (and completed) San Diego in 2009.  Worse was the rest of my body..I couldn't eat much until Tuesday morning, and just generally felt like crap in my stomach/lungs region.  I'm back in LA now (Wednesday) and actually plan on running a couple of times this week..nothing hard, but something to keep my legs fresh.

Of course I'm disappointed with the result of this race, but I believe there's nothing that I could have done to make it better.  I fought as long as I could, and just couldn't go on any farther..I suppose it could happen to anyone at any time, and it's just unfortunate that it happened to me on race day.  Nothing to do but move on from here.

My legs have felt okay since the race so I figured I'd get a few miles in today, but once I got going I realized my left leg in particular was still recovering.  It felt better as I went along, but I definitely need some more rest before getting back into it fully.  I did a steady 7:30/mile pace, and could have gone faster...but with no race looming there was no point in pushing any harder.