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2:58:44
For a variety of reasons, I decided to finish my 2010 season with a marathon.
1. I haven't raced in one in 26 years. My last one was a DNF at the 1984 Chicago marathon.
2. I was intrigued by the distance and I realized that if I was ever going to do an Ironman, I probably should have some idea of what to expect.
3. I seemed to have a pretty good run at USAT Nationals.
4. To quote my coach, Daniel Bretcher, I was probably going to experience.."soul crushing, demoralizing pain". Awesome.
I'd been toying with the idea of running a marathon but didn't want to mess up my tri season so I didn't commit to running the race until the ride home from Tuscaloosa on October 26th. The late start left me with two whole weeks of increased mileage and a taper week.
I challenge you to find a three week marathon training plan...
During the two week build I ran 58 and 54 miles and finished it off with a 40 mile final taper week. My longest run was 19 miles on Tuesday of the the first week.
Mentally, I was into it for the first 10-12 days.
On Wednesday of last week, I showed signs of cracking. I left the house with my bathing suit and towel headed to my masters swim workout. About a half mile from home, I did a u-turn and headed to Dairy Queen to replace the swim workout with a Chocolate Xtreme Blizzard...Not a good sign.
Over the next 10 days, it didn't get much better. I hit all the workout mileage and intensity numbers but I did not do well with my diet. Oh well..it was gonna be what it was gonna be. The lead up to my longest running race in 25 years was going to marginalized by my Dairy Queen and donut cravings.
I also spent the final two weeks trying to figure out how I was going to run the race..run even splits for the race, negative split the race (second half faster) or positive split (run the first half faster to have a little time in the bank in case you slow down. I can honestly say that I didn't know how I was going to run the race until the morning of..I decided to try to negative split the race. The first half was very hilly and I figured to try and run controlled through them and then pick it up the last quarter of the race.
Race Report:
For Saturday's dinner, Dottie and I hooked up with Don Hoben and his wife Peggy. Don is a friend from work and lives in Louisville KY. They are 25 states into their quest to run a half-marathon in all 50 states. Both finished on Sunday and can now check off Iowa. Very impressive.
From a weather standpoint, race day in Des Moines was absolutely perfect. Sunny, temps in the high 40's and very little wind. No excuses here.
The race started at 8:00 am. Dottie and I stayed in the host hotel which was on the start line. We were still in our room at 7:30 watching CNN. A one minute commute to the start..that's the way to go. No transitions.. No wetsuits or goggles...no bike. The prep for this race was almost non-existent.
I did a little jog to warm-up, gave Dot a kiss and wished her luck in her race and found the three hour pace group. Ten minutes later, the gun went off and so were we.
For the first three miles both the marathon and half marathon runners were together. At that point, my engine was sputtering. We went out a little fast (6:35-40) but it felt like closer to 6:10-15. I wasn't running smooth or easy and twenty minutes into the race, I figured that the three hour goal I had set for myself was out the door. I just hung in there on the hopes that things would smooth out and I'd soon be hitting on at least 3 of my 4 cylinder engine. At this point in the race, there were probably 12 guys in our little 3 hour pace group. I was surprised there wasn't a lot of conversation or nervous chatter. It seemed like everyone had their game faces on and were just running.
As the race went on, I started to feel better. We entered the hilly part of the course and after one or two hills, the increased effort to climb them seemed to clear out the pipes and my stride and breathing smoothed out. I was hanging off the back of our group and never had any trouble making up distance around corners or coming out of the aid stations. The group was still intact through nine miles and we were already picking up folks who went out faster and couldn't hold their pace. We were averaging 6:50 - 55 minutes per miles through this hilly section and I was in no trouble at all
As the race went on, we hit more and more hills and the group started to thin out. The typical "culling" scenario had a guy start to labor up a hill and you could hear his breathing get ragged. He'd barely hang on and then once we crested the top, he'd gain some momentum to get with the group again. At the next hill, you could hear and feel the guy trying to hang on to the pace but it wasn't meant to be..."snap" goes the rubber band and he was off the back. I tried to guess who would be next to be spit out the back but was never right. As the group went through 13 miles, I started to feel it. Just a little fatigue in the legs and a little pain in my quads. Nothing to be alarmed at. I was still hanging and running smooth. It did cross my mind that we had 13 more miles to go and I had never run this hard for longer than 13 mile... I was definitely in uncharted territory. I took my first shot of goo around this time and there was a definite lift from the calories and caffeine.
As the race went on, the group seemed to stabilize and everyone who couldn't hang was gone by 14 miles. At that point, the race had really strung out. We were running smooth and the crowd was encouraging us as we went by. We stood out because of our pace and the fact that we were running as a pack. It was a very cool sensation. Even though there wasn't any conversation, I definitely felt an energy level coming from the group. We were cruising.
At this point in the race, the course started its downhill run to the flat, last 10 miles or so.. I've always heard that it's not the uphill running that kills your legs, but the downhill sections. That has been confirmed. We hit a section of the course that was downhill for about a mile. I started to feel pain in my quads. At first I thought I was cramping and was worried that I was going to have to eventually stop and stretch them out. But as the miles went on, the sensation went from a cramping sensation to just outright pain. They hurt, but I was relieved as I knew that my quads wouldn't seize up and finish my race.
The course flattened out about mile 15 and the pack was still together. We were not being passed and we were passing a couple of runners every mile or so. We were like PacMen; chewing up runners that had over-cooked themselves. There was only one guy who we picked up that was able hang with us for more that a couple hundred yards. He slid into the group and ran with us till about mile 22 or so. From mile 15 to mile 20 I could feel myself slowly begin to degrade. The pain in my quads was getting worse and it was getting harder to maintain the 6:50 pace that we needed to be at. I was still able to run with the group but it was no longer easy. We went through 20 miles and at that point I let myself believe that I had a shot at breaking three hours. I'd done thousands (well, probably hundreds) of six mile runs and knew how much I needed left in the tank to finish. I though I had what I needed.
Miles 20 - 23 were long ones. The group was still together and we were holding 6:50's but I was continuing to have to work a little harder to stay with them. It was definitely doable but not comfortable. At we got closer to the finish, I was becoming more and more confident in my ability to finish the race under 3 hours. My average pace for the race was 6:48 and it wasn't' going up.
At mile 23, I decided to leave the group and push the pace. It was a "game time" decision. I never set mile 23 as my go time. It just felt right. It didn't feel good, it felt right. Two guys had left the group a half mile sooner and they had put about 100 yards on us. I set my sights on them and began to push the pace. My breathing started to get labored and my form began to fall apart but I had moved the pace to about 6:35-40. I went through mile 23 holding the increased pace but my quads were going into a full scale revolt. I went by the two guys who left early at about mile 24. At this point, outside of an accident or complete implosion, I knew I was going to finish under three hours. As I went through mile 25 I could feel my stride shorten and my pace begin to fall off. I could tell it was the slowest I was running all day. My quads were absolutely shot at this point..I've never felt physical pain like that exercising before. It wasn't the "soul crushing, demoralizing pain" Daniel warned me about so I just kept plugging. I passed one guy at about mile 25.5 and made the turn to the finish line. The crowd really gave me a shot of adrenaline and I was able to finish with a smile on my face.
The smile lasted until the guy who was taking of my chip asked me to stop for a sec. The quads went into full shutdown mode and are still as I write this about 30 hours post finish.
Final time: 2:58:44
Overall place 32nd out of about 1635
Division place: 1st M50-54
Nutrition: A mouthful of water at each aid station and five Gu packs(one every other mile from 13 - 23)
My final thoughts on the race center around my preparation..I guess there's a lot to be said for months of consistent mileage versus lots of long runs. (I've averaged 38 miles a week to this point) My quads probably wouldn't agree with that but I was able maintain a consistent pace for 25 out of 26.2 miles. Also the fact that the last 10 days of my prep for this race were not good. I was not able to control my diet and I'm sure I gained some weight. I was unsure of how that would affect my race and I'm sure it did, but not as much as I thought it would. I guess I gave myself a margin of error from all the running miles I've logged over the past year.
Thanks for reading this. I'll try to be more regular with my future postings...Over the next couple of weeks, I'll try and summarize my 2010 season.
Over the next 10 days, it didn't get much better. I hit all the workout mileage and intensity numbers but I did not do well with my diet. Oh well..it was gonna be what it was gonna be. The lead up to my longest running race in 25 years was going to marginalized by my Dairy Queen and donut cravings.
I also spent the final two weeks trying to figure out how I was going to run the race..run even splits for the race, negative split the race (second half faster) or positive split (run the first half faster to have a little time in the bank in case you slow down. I can honestly say that I didn't know how I was going to run the race until the morning of..I decided to try to negative split the race. The first half was very hilly and I figured to try and run controlled through them and then pick it up the last quarter of the race.
Race Report:
For Saturday's dinner, Dottie and I hooked up with Don Hoben and his wife Peggy. Don is a friend from work and lives in Louisville KY. They are 25 states into their quest to run a half-marathon in all 50 states. Both finished on Sunday and can now check off Iowa. Very impressive.
From a weather standpoint, race day in Des Moines was absolutely perfect. Sunny, temps in the high 40's and very little wind. No excuses here.
The race started at 8:00 am. Dottie and I stayed in the host hotel which was on the start line. We were still in our room at 7:30 watching CNN. A one minute commute to the start..that's the way to go. No transitions.. No wetsuits or goggles...no bike. The prep for this race was almost non-existent.
I did a little jog to warm-up, gave Dot a kiss and wished her luck in her race and found the three hour pace group. Ten minutes later, the gun went off and so were we.
For the first three miles both the marathon and half marathon runners were together. At that point, my engine was sputtering. We went out a little fast (6:35-40) but it felt like closer to 6:10-15. I wasn't running smooth or easy and twenty minutes into the race, I figured that the three hour goal I had set for myself was out the door. I just hung in there on the hopes that things would smooth out and I'd soon be hitting on at least 3 of my 4 cylinder engine. At this point in the race, there were probably 12 guys in our little 3 hour pace group. I was surprised there wasn't a lot of conversation or nervous chatter. It seemed like everyone had their game faces on and were just running.
As the race went on, I started to feel better. We entered the hilly part of the course and after one or two hills, the increased effort to climb them seemed to clear out the pipes and my stride and breathing smoothed out. I was hanging off the back of our group and never had any trouble making up distance around corners or coming out of the aid stations. The group was still intact through nine miles and we were already picking up folks who went out faster and couldn't hold their pace. We were averaging 6:50 - 55 minutes per miles through this hilly section and I was in no trouble at all
As the race went on, we hit more and more hills and the group started to thin out. The typical "culling" scenario had a guy start to labor up a hill and you could hear his breathing get ragged. He'd barely hang on and then once we crested the top, he'd gain some momentum to get with the group again. At the next hill, you could hear and feel the guy trying to hang on to the pace but it wasn't meant to be..."snap" goes the rubber band and he was off the back. I tried to guess who would be next to be spit out the back but was never right. As the group went through 13 miles, I started to feel it. Just a little fatigue in the legs and a little pain in my quads. Nothing to be alarmed at. I was still hanging and running smooth. It did cross my mind that we had 13 more miles to go and I had never run this hard for longer than 13 mile... I was definitely in uncharted territory. I took my first shot of goo around this time and there was a definite lift from the calories and caffeine.
As the race went on, the group seemed to stabilize and everyone who couldn't hang was gone by 14 miles. At that point, the race had really strung out. We were running smooth and the crowd was encouraging us as we went by. We stood out because of our pace and the fact that we were running as a pack. It was a very cool sensation. Even though there wasn't any conversation, I definitely felt an energy level coming from the group. We were cruising.
At this point in the race, the course started its downhill run to the flat, last 10 miles or so.. I've always heard that it's not the uphill running that kills your legs, but the downhill sections. That has been confirmed. We hit a section of the course that was downhill for about a mile. I started to feel pain in my quads. At first I thought I was cramping and was worried that I was going to have to eventually stop and stretch them out. But as the miles went on, the sensation went from a cramping sensation to just outright pain. They hurt, but I was relieved as I knew that my quads wouldn't seize up and finish my race.
The course flattened out about mile 15 and the pack was still together. We were not being passed and we were passing a couple of runners every mile or so. We were like PacMen; chewing up runners that had over-cooked themselves. There was only one guy who we picked up that was able hang with us for more that a couple hundred yards. He slid into the group and ran with us till about mile 22 or so. From mile 15 to mile 20 I could feel myself slowly begin to degrade. The pain in my quads was getting worse and it was getting harder to maintain the 6:50 pace that we needed to be at. I was still able to run with the group but it was no longer easy. We went through 20 miles and at that point I let myself believe that I had a shot at breaking three hours. I'd done thousands (well, probably hundreds) of six mile runs and knew how much I needed left in the tank to finish. I though I had what I needed.
Miles 20 - 23 were long ones. The group was still together and we were holding 6:50's but I was continuing to have to work a little harder to stay with them. It was definitely doable but not comfortable. At we got closer to the finish, I was becoming more and more confident in my ability to finish the race under 3 hours. My average pace for the race was 6:48 and it wasn't' going up.
At mile 23, I decided to leave the group and push the pace. It was a "game time" decision. I never set mile 23 as my go time. It just felt right. It didn't feel good, it felt right. Two guys had left the group a half mile sooner and they had put about 100 yards on us. I set my sights on them and began to push the pace. My breathing started to get labored and my form began to fall apart but I had moved the pace to about 6:35-40. I went through mile 23 holding the increased pace but my quads were going into a full scale revolt. I went by the two guys who left early at about mile 24. At this point, outside of an accident or complete implosion, I knew I was going to finish under three hours. As I went through mile 25 I could feel my stride shorten and my pace begin to fall off. I could tell it was the slowest I was running all day. My quads were absolutely shot at this point..I've never felt physical pain like that exercising before. It wasn't the "soul crushing, demoralizing pain" Daniel warned me about so I just kept plugging. I passed one guy at about mile 25.5 and made the turn to the finish line. The crowd really gave me a shot of adrenaline and I was able to finish with a smile on my face.
The smile lasted until the guy who was taking of my chip asked me to stop for a sec. The quads went into full shutdown mode and are still as I write this about 30 hours post finish.
Final time: 2:58:44
Overall place 32nd out of about 1635
Division place: 1st M50-54
Nutrition: A mouthful of water at each aid station and five Gu packs(one every other mile from 13 - 23)
My final thoughts on the race center around my preparation..I guess there's a lot to be said for months of consistent mileage versus lots of long runs. (I've averaged 38 miles a week to this point) My quads probably wouldn't agree with that but I was able maintain a consistent pace for 25 out of 26.2 miles. Also the fact that the last 10 days of my prep for this race were not good. I was not able to control my diet and I'm sure I gained some weight. I was unsure of how that would affect my race and I'm sure it did, but not as much as I thought it would. I guess I gave myself a margin of error from all the running miles I've logged over the past year.
Thanks for reading this. I'll try to be more regular with my future postings...Over the next couple of weeks, I'll try and summarize my 2010 season.
