St. George marathon. 3:09:52 is a PR for me, report to follow. First, congrats to all of you other fast running bloggers! You have all been motivational to me. Heading into St. George, I had been following the FRB, but had not been logging my own training for far too long. Regrettably, I'd become a lurker.
I really had no idea what time to expect prior to the marathon. I had upped my training, but only peaked at 65 miles. I did make an effort to do more 12 - 16 mile runs than I have in the past. Since last year's St. George marathon I have consistently made an effort to work do some lifting and also work on my core, as I hadn't done anything for years in either area. In terms of general fitness, I feel I've made significant improvements since last year. However, I recognize that still need to up my running. My PR has given me motivation to continue seeking to improve. My taper week consisted of a family trip to Disneyland. I was uncertain what effect this would have. As it turns out, it didn't seem to be too much of a detriment.
Last year I crashed and burned in St. George. I didn't have enough base to recover from TOU in Logan, and got sick heading into St. George. For me, I think it was good that the Grand Slam did not include Logan this year so that I could continue training hard and get a good taper. As a result, fortunately, I had no sickness this year. When I put in for the lottery I stated an expected time of 3:10 though I would have been satisfied with a 3:15 BQ. I also admit, I wanted to be in the front corral, but did not want to feel guilty for putting an overly optimistic anticipated time. I'm glad now that I don't have to feel guilty being up front and able to use the the less-crowded porta-potties prior to the race.
When I began I thought, just hold sub 7:30 miles and I'd hit 3:15. I was pleasantly surprised that two miles at that pace seemed too easy, so I decided to adjust and stay ahead of the 3:10 pace group. As it turns out, this was very helpful to me. In past marathons, I've succumbed too much to the "I better watch my heart rate" so I decided to not run based on heart rate. This enabled me to actually gain a bit of ground on Veyo, which for me was significant. I generally do much better holding pace on the downhills and this was the case. Around mile 17, despite having double knotted prior to the start, I did have to stop one time to tie my shoe, (which was a first for me).
On the uphill around mile 20, I ran a bit with the 3:10 pace group, then gained a bit of ground. I probably pushed the pace a little too early for me, as I started really feeling it around mile 24. I need to work on mental toughness, because at this point, I was content to let up rather than push through the finish. I easily lost 2 minutes during the last two miles, but was able to mentally justify that sub-3:10 surpassed the 3:15 I had really been wanting. I finished very content. My wife and kids missed me finishing. I finally borrowed someone's cell phone after waiting far too long for them to show up at the finish. By that time, my wife had begun to worry that I had really blown up on the course. As a side note, I was on the first bus to the start. However, when I went to claim my "fast pass" to the front of the massage line, the woman "in charge" said too bad. Splits | 1 HR:156 | 7:28 | | | 2 HR:148 | 7:25 | 14:53 | | 3 HR:154 | 6:56 | 21:50 | | 4 HR:155 | 6:56 | 28:47 | | 5 HR:157 | 7:02 | 35:49 | | 6 HR:153 | 6:48 | 42:37 | | 7 HR:153 | 6:45 | 49:23 | | 8 HR:160 | 7:55 | 57:18 | | 9 HR:162 | 7:37 | 1:04:56 | | 10 HR:161 | 7:25 | 1:12:22 | | 11 HR:164 | 7:33 | 1:19:55 | | 12 HR:163 | 7:04 | 1:27:00 | | 13 HR:162 | 6:51 | 1:33:51 | | 14 HR:163 | 6:57 | 1:40:48 | | 15 HR:159 | 6:43 | 1:47:31 | | 16 HR:161 | 6:46 | 1:54:18 | | 17 HR:160 | 6:55 | 2:01:14 | | 18 HR:159 | 7:13 | 2:08:27 | | 19 HR:166 | 7:22 | 2:15:50 | | 20 HR:164 | 7:06 | 2:22:57 | | 21 HR:159 | 6:50 | 2:29:48 | | 22 HR:167 | 7:06 | 2:36:54 | | 23 HR:167 | 6:57 | 2:43:51 | | 24 HR:170 | 6:59 | 2:50:51 | | 25 HR:164 | 8:42 (lame effort)
| 2:59:33 | | 26 HR:158 | 8:35 (pansy)
| 3:08:08 | .2 (.27 on Garmin) HR: 170
| 1:43 | 3:09:52 |
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