Training overview
This is somewhat of an overview of the first few chapters. I used the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan, which I’ve used successfully in the past. I slowed down, with aid of my watch’s heart rate monitor, to keep slow days slow and fast days fast.
Leading up
On my final 20 mile run, I noticed a hotspot on one of my feet from my shoes – the Asics Gel Nimbus Lyte 3, so I made the decision to test a different pair for the 16 mile run, which are my Brooks Hyperions. After a successful 16 mile run, I decided to go with those. I noticed leading up to the race that my watch was showing much shorter ‘time to full recovery’ times than I had been used to, although it could be because these tend to shrink during the summer due to the heat.
I improved my pre-race food from nothing-ever to sometimes eating a granola bar. It’s not much, but it works.
Morning Of
I had everything laid out. I was prepared for the forecasted rain. In my check bag, I had some band-aids and petroleum jelly in case there were blister issues that I found post-race, and that was in addition to a towel and compression socks. I also used petroleum jelly on my feet in addition to a few other parts to provide some protection. I made a cup of coffee in the Keurig and headed out to downtown at 4:30 AM and arrived at an on-street parking spot without incident. It was a little over a mile walk to the marathon start line area. I used a Port-o-Let, drank some water and then met up with a fellow RunChat runner for a picture.
After that, I entered my corral and took my first Gatorade Gel and waited for the starting ceremonies.
The Race
And we were off! Given the heat, I started from the back of the corral and paced very conservatively. I passed some idiots in the first mile – one that was walking in the middle of the road within the first mile, and also a very young undertrained runner and family that probably should have taken a DNS and did nothing stupid (unfortunately, they did something stupid and it’s all over various message boards).
The first few miles went mostly without incident, with just the sunrise behind the overcast clouds to the east as we were crossing over to Newport and the car-eating-potholes to greet us upon entering Covington. I switched my watch to distance-only (which does show a very small clock on the bottom, but it’s difficult for me to see, and even more difficult since my last eye doctor screwed up my contacts prescription).
As I made my way back into Ohio, I continued feeling good. I was not pushing my ability here. I made my way up to and across downtown, keeping reasonably close to my planned water on odd mile stops and Gatorade on even mile stops. It wasn’t a perfect alternation (W-G-W-G etc), so I let the distance on my watch take the lead. I took my first Gatorade gel at the 5 mile mark, right on schedule.
We made it to the hill and as I was getting ready to take the turn onto Eden Park Drive (maybe 1/4 to 1/3 the way up the hill), I saw the lead half marathon runner coming down the hill. I kept my effort going up the hill without worrying too much about pace. I still felt fine by the top, where I was able to get water and accidentally hit someone with the cup as I was throwing it to the side.
I felt fast after the split where I put down a long string of miles that were all around 8:30. Through this area, I was periodically dumping water over my head and maintaining my hydration and fueling plan. Through this string of mid-8 miles, I took both the 10 and 15 mile gels.
In Fairfax and onto the parkway I started to slow a little. I didn’t feel bad, just a tad fatigued. These miles slowed to the low 9s as I made my way through the East End. I felt good through mile 22, taking my final gel on schedule at 20 miles. Then the sun came out.
The stretch of miles 23-25.5 (or so) are mostly in the sun with only a few places of shade and street trees. My pace fell through this area to the upper-9s and then the low-10s as I made what started to feel like a death march to the finish line. I was able to make a push through the pain to the finish line.
Epilogue
I haven’t decided what next spring holds. Part of me thinks I should drop back to the half marathon and spend a few years concentrating on shorter races before making another try at the marathon.