7:30 am - Mill Race Marathon - "TRAIN!!" and Side Cramps :(
Great weather this morning - about 55 degrees at the start and lo humidity. I felt great at the start line. Away we went down Washington in downtown Columbus and turning left in to Mill Race Park. We get about half around the loop and hear the funniest thing - a train whistle! Knowing that the train tracks cross the course ( and block it), I take a disbelieving look toward the downtrack location that the whistle came from. Sure enough, a train! :( So, the pace we were running would've put us right in front of the train, so we stepped on the gas just a bit and literally crossed 100 feet in front of the slow moving train. Not so lucky for the 4000+ people behind us. What a scandal - the city coordinated with the railroad properly before the race - the train conductor is quoted as saying " I thought I could make it through before the race would cross"... Anyway, kind of non-factor for my race, fortunately, other than the 6:18 second mile I had to throw down to beat the train. After calming the heart rate back down, I was feeling good and hitting every mile split fast or right on:
Miles 1 - 13.1: 6:23, 18, 6:24, 26, 21, 20, 24, 22, 23, 25, 24, 27, 27, 29 -- 1:23:48 for my GPSed half split.
So, the often made comment applies here- my GPSed distance at the timing mat for the half mark was 13.4 already.
Its beside the point really, anyway because at this point, I was already feeling those nasty gels just sitting in my stomach and not moving - uh oh :(. Not 30 seconds later, "my left side gut knotted up" (I know- very technical) and became very painful very quickly. I walked through the mile 14.5ish water station and lifted the hands over the head trying to get rid of it. No luck. So the long jog and slog and sour stomach for the rest of the race proceeded. The knots/stitches did not go away for 3-4 miles and I found myself jogging in the 7-8minute range most of the way. Broke down and walked 2 or 3 more times. Looks like on the pace graph that I stopped 3 times. Here's the splits after it got ugly:
7:13, 6:46, 6:58, 7:19, 7:43, 8:00, 8:26, 7:11, 7:09, 7:30, 7:51, 8:02, 3:51 for 0.46mi. Meaning that I ran about 1:40 for the second half :)
Finished in 3:03:40. Not a good race, but an intersting day.
No more of this eating gels early on in the race - I'm carrying 2 (max) with caffeine in them, and only eating them if I feel like I'm hungry or depleted.
I'm going to experiment with some other gels here in the next couple weeks. Honestly, in my longest/best training run in this cycle (18mi. @ 6:28 avg.), I only drank gatorade, some water, and 2 gels. I'm going to do more to find a better balance on the calcium and sodium intake maybe - read this somewhere about what could cause gut cramps like I have been: "... imbalance of blood electrolytes (such as calcium, potassium, and sodium)" Several folks have recommended sodium pills to balance gels
This was a good training run, all the same, and Columbus, OH Marathon seemed to always be the more realistic "A" race anyway with the way the heat really wreaked havoc with Mill Race last year. Its likely to be 10-15 degrees cooler, and hopefully I'll sort out the gut issue.
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/599914190
Mill Race Start - QuaffON guys
Me pointing at the train...
Mill Race - Mile 14ish
And the Finish (last 12 miles)...
| 