Boston Strong

Ridge to Bridge Marathon

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Location:

Naples,FL,

Member Since:

Mar 29, 2011

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

400m - ATC:  1:08   May '11

800m - ATC:  2:32   May '11

1600m - self-timed:  5:?? 

5k- Vinings Downhill 5k:  18:34  Sept, '11

10.k - Mardis Gras 10k:  39:15   Feb '12

Half - The Scream:  1:23:59  Jul '11

Marathon - Ridge to Bridge:  3:06:23   Oct '11

Completed 13 Marathons & 2 50k & 1 Century ride

Short-Term Running Goals:

Run injury free

Upcoming Races:

Sept. 14: - Erie Marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

Sprint down Boylston Street once per year

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
ST-6 Racer Lifetime Miles: 223.50
Boston Adizero Red Lifetime Miles: 607.00
Boston Adizero White Lifetime Miles: 430.00
Nike Free Lifetime Miles: 362.00
Nike Trail Lifetime Miles: 327.20
Boston Classic Lifetime Miles: 362.50
Adidas Marathon TR Lifetime Miles: 155.90
Vertical Feet Climbed - 2011 Lifetime Miles: 75701.00
Kinvara 2 Lifetime Miles: 31.80
Adios Lifetime Miles: 277.90
Ghost GTX Lifetime Miles: 328.00
Karhu Flow Formula One Lifetime Miles: 166.30
Brooks PureFlow 2 Lifetime Miles: 153.70
Adios II Lifetime Miles: 147.40
Adios 2 Lifetime Miles: 150.20
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.0026.200.001.0035.20
Adios Miles: 34.20Ghost GTX Miles: 1.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.001.007.00

5 miles medium effort with some 1/4 mile intervals. Then went to Spin Class, got off bike after 30 min & did 2 mile progression run on TM, starting at 8:30 down to 6:30, AP 7:30

More miles than planned today, but I guess I would attribute that to nervous energy. Workout felt good & not too strenuous, which I guess is a good thing. Tomorrow rest, Wed 3 miles, Thur 2, Fri 1 ...

Sat 2:XX:XX ... God willing!

Dist Avg Pace

1 7:49

0.25 6:14

1 7:56

0.25 6:09

1 8:01

0.25 5:41

1 7:59

0.25 10:10

AP 7:46

Adios Miles: 7.00
Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.000.000.000.001.00

30 min spin class, 1 mile on tm

Adios Miles: 1.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Saturday forecast: Sunny

Temp @ start, 3,900' el: 37

Temp @ finish, 1,100' el: 51

Temp of river for post race soak: Cold

Temp of beer for celebration: Ice cold!

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.000.000.000.001.00

Ran about a mile around cross country course to cheer Alex on at difft points.  In my pep talk before the race, I told him I wanted him to dig deep and run a fast time to inspire me for my marathon this weekend.  He just smiled and said 'ok'.

He proceeded to go out and run another pr ... 18:52!  Mile 1was 6:00, 2 was 6:12.  Race finished with 350 meters on track, so i had measured off 50 meters, so I could give him a split with 400 meters to go, he hit this point at 17:35, so I yelled to him he had a sub 19in him, & to take it home strong!

He ran the last 400 meters in 77 seconds, a 5:08 pace! Wow, I was proud, i guess we will officially be racing each other at a 5k in 2weeks.  He may think he has me beat ... but I will throw surges at him and try to beat him mentally ... as I think that is the only chance I have!

As we said goodbye after the race, he looked at me and said, "I held up my end of the deal, I expect you to go sub 3, good luck Dad!" 

Ghost GTX Miles: 1.00
Comments(5)
Race: Ridge to Bridge Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:06:23, Place overall: 18, Place in age division: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0026.200.000.0026.20

There is a reason we have back up goals, woohoo, I did it.

Struggled from the start, never felt good.  First 5miles were right on pace plan, 7min/miles ... but they were supposed to be easy, they were hard, and I knew it was going to be a long day! Marathon is a long distance, but it is really long when you are mentally broken 5 miles into the race.

I hung on for a 3:06:23 ... best summarized as a really crappy run, but a good time with a 14minute pr.  Not much cell service up here, but as I sit perched on a cliff overlooking a colorful valley, had a chance to check in.  Will add more later when I get back home, enjoying a beautiful day for now!

Report Update:

Warning!  Sorry, this is way long … I am still trying to wrap my arms around what went wrong … and why I should feel positive about this race and not be disappointed!

I had a pretty simple pace plan, which I followed pretty much to a T the first 9 miles, but this was way harder than it should have been, so the inevitable happened, my pace plan blew up!

Miles 1-6:  These are at the top of the course, rolling hills, up and down & lot of them.  The plan was a 7:00 pace, which I hit, but by the end of this section I knew my sub 3 was out the window.  I was aerobically winded & my legs were really tight, feeling achy, and not wanting to move fast.  So basically, my ‘6 mile warmup’ at a conservative effort, was taking all I had to maintain … not good!  The temp at the start was 32, and I think my legs were rejecting that & extremely slow to warm-up.  I also think the 4,000’ elevation is what was hurting me aerobically, but I was less concerned about breathing heavy, as I knew that I would get that under control.  The problem was, my legs were mot loosening up, and I was about to start 8-9 miles of downhill mega-drop … my legs had to be loose going into this, they were not.  I was not born yesterday, I knew my pace plan was toast at this point, with 20 miles to go.

6:56, 7:04, 6:49, 6:56, 7:00, 7:04

The first 2.4 miles of the course are identical to my Half marathon in July.  In July, I ran that section 34 seconds faster, and felt great … compared to the way I felt yesterday.  On the half, this is where you turned onto the forest service road, which quickly takes you to the descent … for the full, we ran 1.6 miles of hills, turned around and rant them the opposite direction, before rejoining the half course.

Miles 7-14:  Steep, steep downhill!  On stiff hurting legs … uh oh!!  Pace plan was 6:15/mile.  More or less managed this the first 3, but it was hard … I did alot of half mile repeats in the low 5’s in training for this race, 6:15 should have been easy!

7- 6:16, 8 – 6:15, 9 – 6:20

Mile 10 has some uphill, I knew I would not manage a 6:15, but figured I would run a few faster in my planning  … but that was not in the cards yesterday … I ran 3 of the downhill miles in sub 6 in July, with a lot less training.  The first 9 miles I had been just behind a group of 5 guys running together all going for sub 3 … and I think we all basically had the same pace plan as I was only about 30 yards behind them & running the same pace the first 3 downhill miles.  At Mile 10, I was done, and they disappeared, 4 of the 5 hit their goal.  Mile 11 and 12 & 13 were not any better.  Mile 14 I heard footsteps behind me & figured I had to get back on track, so I really pushed and got back down to my goal pace for that mile, but it killed me!  My legs never felt good, and the downhill was only making things worse.   Running mile 14 as fast as I did the way my legs felt was probably pretty stupid … but I was making one last attempt at jump starting my legs.

10 – 7:03, 11 – 6:52, 12 – 6:32, 13 – 7:03, 14 – 6:11

Over the identical 8.2 miles that have 2,000’ of drop, my time in July was 51:13 (6:14 pace), yesterday it was 53:53 (6:34 pace).  To put this in perspective, I ran a 10k 2 weeks ago at a 6:22 pace, which felt comfortable … on rolling hills with no net elevation change!  WTF, I was 12 seconds per mile slower than that, on the section of course that was supposed to be screaming fast, and it was anything but comfortable … when I had done ½ mile downhill intervals at a 5:15 pace that felt comfortable!!

Miles 15-26:  Pretty flat, gradual downhill (500’ drop over 10 miles), with a few small uphill sections, following a creek the whole way.  Pace plan was 7:00, but 7:10’s would have gotten me sub 3 … had I been on pace at that point, although as previous mentioned, I followed my plan the first 9 miles, but it had fallen apart the last 5.

Well, if my spirit was broken at Mile 5 (where I knew I was not having an ‘On day’ to achieve what I believe was a realistic goal … at Mile 15 my body was broken.  The first half of that mile was a continuation of the downhill, at which point the big downhill was behind us, and we had to make a left turn and run a half mile upstream, where we turned around and followed the creek downstream to the finish.  As we made the turn to head upstream, I told the guy who had been on my heels the last mile to pass, and he apologized if he had been ‘pushing’ me, I told him no worries, that was the pace I was supposed to be running to get my sub 3, but it was not my day.  He said he was going for the same, and I wished him well.  At that intersection, I had stashed a Gatorade in a mailbox, so I grabbed it and started walking so I could take a Gel and pour it into my handheld bottle.  This process took maybe 30 seconds which was not that big of a deal, but when I tried to start running again, my legs revolted.  I got passed by several people in this mile long out and back section, and was really struggling.  There was no intense pain, cramping, or major issues … my legs would just hurt all over & would not turnover fast!

Mile 16 was 8:06, (some walking to refuel) but this cannot be happening on a flat section of course with 10 miles to go!  I cannot even begin to describe the thoughts going through my head at this point, but I can say I was questioning if I could even pull out a 3:10, which was my backup, backup goal.  I will say I briefly considered throwing in the towel on my finishing time altogether, thinking it would be quite nice to enjoy an easy 10 mile jog along a beautiful scenic river.  After a mile of this nonsense, I snapped out of it at the 17 mile marker … with some quick math I calculated that if I could hold an 8:00 pace I would finish in 3:11 & surely I could shave a minute somewhere & get under 3:10 … my race was not over yet.  It was hard, but I made my legs turn over faster.

15-6:44, 16 – 8:06, 17 – 7:46, 18 – 7:27, 19 – 7:18, 20 – 7:37, 21 – 8:05

Other than passing a guy at Mile 18 who had ‘blown up’, miles 17 to 21 I was all alone, and I was getting passed in Mile 16.  While I had recovered some, I was struggling averaging about a 7:30 pace, and started falling apart again in Mile 21 …  I slowed at a water stop to take another GU and refill my handheld.  One of the volunteers said I was doing great & in 18th place … little did he know I felt like burnt toast.  Typically, I never look behind me in a race, but I was really lonely (this in the middle of national forest, there are no fans & the only runner I had seen in 5 miles had blown up!) and hurting, so I glanced over my shoulder as I had slowed to take my gel.  About a 100 yards back & gaining fast were two runners, the eventual second overall female, and a guy I know who is 48 (my age group) & had won the Masters at the half in July with a 1:22 & run this course in 3:02 last year.  There is no question he is a stronger runner than me, but I also knew he had done a tough trail marathon the week before, he is one of those crazy nuts that has done like 140 marathons … so probably not a big deal to him … but I knew he would not have his ‘A’ game.  He had casually told me at the start line he just wanted to beat 3:10, but also knew he was not going to show his cards to me … we are casual friends … and when it comes to competing for an age group award if I was in his sights, I was a  target.  With 5 miles to go, I was a sitting duck in my current state.  I tried to pick up the pace, but it just was not happening.  By Mile 22, the girl passed me, and although I could not hear Bobby’s footsteps, I knew he was close behind her.

This was my saving grace!  When you are feeling miserable and you get passed by a beautiful  woman, how can you do anything other than try to latch on!  I dug deep and did everything I could to match her stride for stride, and refused to let myself fall back by more than 3 strides. I think she was trying to bury me, because the pace kept gradually getting faster, but I stayed with her stride for stride.  While it was not easy, for the first time in the race I felt like I was starting to hit my stride.  Imagine that, Mile 24 being the first mile where you finally feel like your legs are getting warmed up.  A lot of this had to be mental, where 4 miles earlier I was questioning if I could hang on and hit 3:10, and now I was thinking 3:05 might be possible, although a stretch of my imagination.  At Mile 24 I passed her, and honestly I kept hoping she would pass me back, but I could smell the finish at this point and just tried to maintain my new found pace.  I still had no idea where Bobby was, but I guessed he would be right behind me, figuring he could pick me off in the last mile … so I kicked it up another notch. 

22 – 7:55, 23 – 7:24, 24 – 7:08, 25 – 7:09, 26 – 6:53

The last quarter mile was a loop in a cabin resort area that hosted the finish.  As I entered the grounds, 2 things became clear to me … I was not going to get 3:05 … and I had built enough a cushion that I was going to hang onto 18th place overall, so I slowed down a little and just tried to enjoy the fact and I had made it to the finish and salvaged a good day/performance … no need to collapse to shave a little time.  In hindsight, I should have dug deep, a 6:20 pace the last ¼ mile would have gotten me a 3:05:59 … but does that really make a difference?  There was a 4 mile stretch at the end of the race where I was happy with the way I ran, and that made it a good day.

0.34 – 2:33 (7:28 pace)

Bobby finished 10 seconds behind me, and the gal that saved me was another 12 behind him.  The person in front of me beat me by almost three minutes … and the 3 males that finished behind me were all in my age group … with 5th place in AG finishing in 3:08:01 … so my last 4 miles saved the day …  I would have been really bitter if I would have dropped from 2nd to 5th in the last few miles!

It was a tough day, but I hung in there and ran 85% of the race the best I could.  I think that the bad miles at 16 & 17 and 21 & 22 can in part be attributed to mental weakness, but those ‘recovery miles’ (which I will call them), probably allowed me to finish strong.  Mile 10-13 were really poor performance on the downhill , but that was all my legs would give me, it was not because I was not mentally in the game. 

There is one last thing that played a role in the huge difference between this run & my half on the course in July.  In July, it had rained the night before the race and there was some light rain during the race.  This made the packed gravel roads very forgiving and easy to run hard on.  Also, you could run in tire tracks that had pushed all the loose gravel down into the bed surface.  With the dry conditions we have had, the packed gravel road surface felt like running on concrete … with loose gravel scattered across the surface … throw in the hardened ruts & bumps … and this was nothing short of a miserable running surface.  It was like night & day from July, and when my legs hit this surface at Mile 6, all they wanted to do was cry … but they just laughed at me when I asked them to run fast.

On to Boston ... surely a couple easy recovery weeks ... but soon I will have to put my game face back on and try again.  It is easier when you are already registered for the biggest race of your life ... otherwise I would surely be questioning why I have an addiction to this sport!

Adios Miles: 26.20
Comments(17)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.0026.200.001.0035.20
Adios Miles: 34.20Ghost GTX Miles: 1.00
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