October 3, 2015
2015 was my 3rd time applying to run in the St.
George Marathon. I had applied the
previous two years, but did not get picked in the lottery. Their policy is if you apply three years in a
row and don’t get selected the first two, you are automatically in the third
time, hence 3rd time is a charm.
Turns out this year, the race did not sell out before the lottery, so
everyone who applied got in any way!
I had already qualified for Boston at the Phoenix Marathon,
so my goal heading into the race was to improve on my time to get a better
starting position at Boston, and execute the race to be steady in the last 6
miles unlike Phoenix where I dropped off and gave up too much time.
My build up for St George Marathon was about 80% of the running
volume of Phoenix, but with swimming and running, my overall workout volume was
higher. I followed a similar training
plan with four runs a week: intervals, tempo, long run, and recovery. The Thursday group run at Cadence Running was
always either a tempo run or an interval run and is always a challenge which
pushes my limits. DB and PR typically have
hard intervals to follow and sometimes I could not keep up, especially if I had
done a hard session the day before. But
there were some I was able to hang on to.
My weekly mileage was in the high thirties for the six weeks
prior to the race. My last several long
runs I ran goal marathon pace for the last 5-7 miles to simulate running at
pace when fatigued. Two weeks prior to
the marathon I ran 20 miles in Stuttgart in a forest with hills so I could
practice running down long hills late in the run. The last long run was at Tempe Town Lake with
CC, MW, DT, and EK and it was a good workout for me with long stretches of
steady pacing.
On September 30, I received an email saying I did not get
accepted into the Boston marathon. Since
more runners apply to race Boston than they have room for, the runners get in
to the race based on fastest qualifying times for each age group. My qualifying time was 1:51 ahead of the standard,
and in years past it would have been a large enough buffer to get in. This year the cutoff was 2:28, so I missed by
37 seconds! I was surprised and very
disappointed. I was really looking
forward to running in the oldest marathon in the US and the most famous
marathon in the world. I started to
channel my frustration into motivation to run a better qualifying time at St.
George. I was confident in my training
and the course is favorable for a fast time.
I was determined.
My previous best marathon was 3:23 and I set a stretch goal
of 3:16, which is an average of 7:30 mins/mi.
It was aggressive, but I believed I could run that pace. MP asked me why 3:16 and why not 3:15 since
there would probably be a pace group for 3:15. I didn’t have a good answer for
him; I just felt 3:16 was where my fitness and ability was for this
course. I found a pacing plan online
that adjusted the target pace for each mile based on an overall average pace goal
and the difficulty level of each mile. I
studied this plan and worked out the slowest my cumulative average would be so
I could monitor it easily during the race.
I also watched a video online which had a flythrough of the course so I
could study it out. I visualized the
pacing I would need at each stage and I prepared myself mentally for the
hurting I would experience late in the race.
My biggest execution goal was to maintain my pace in the
last 6 miles and not stop to walk, not even through the aid stations. I learned from my experience at Phoenix that
walking does not make running easier afterwards and all it does is waste
time. Walking to complete a marathon may
be an effective strategy for some, but walking does not help when racing. I had trained to build up my ability to run
hard when fatigued and my experience at Ironman 70.3 in St. George showed me I
could keep running when it was very hard.
This race almost did not happen for me. The week prior to the race I found out my
boss needed me to attend a meeting with a key customer in Kentucky on Thursday
and Friday before the race. I tried to see if the meeting could be moved
earlier in the week or if someone else on my team could go in my place, but it didn’t
work out. I managed to find a flight
from Cincinnati to St. George through Salt Lake, but it didn’t arrive until
11:02pm Friday night. KB was originally going
to come with me on this trip, but with my late arrival we decided it wasn’t
worth her driving up or coming up at all.
Normally I have a hard time getting a good sleep the night
before a race due to jitters, anxiety, not wanting to miss the alarm, etc. Knowing this, I try hard to get a solid sleep
the 2nd to last night prior to a race. Thursday night I did get a good sleep and
knowing I had a late arrival, I tried to nap on the plane. On the way to St. George, the last flight was
delayed over an hour and I did not arrive until 12:30am. A short night was getting shorter! Then I couldn’t find a cab at the airport and
started to get worried. I went inside
and there was an attendant at Enterprise.
They only had one car left, but it was reserved. The attendant considered the situation. He said again that the car was reserved, however,
he had been waiting a while and wasn’t able to reach the person with the
reservation, so he decided to give me the car instead so he could go home. My luck was turning. I finally got to the hotel and got my gear
sorted out. My alarm gave me 2 hours of
sleep.
Gear: Newton Gravity IV shoes with Slick Laces, Brooks
socks, Nike shorts, new Slick Laces singlet from my sponsor JB, Cadence hat,
Oakley sunglasses, SPI belt with gels and phone, Motorola S10 Bluetooth
headphones, Garmin 910XT, and dollar store camo gardening gloves.
Nutrition: Salmon linguine for lunch Friday, then
Chick-fil-A club meal for dinner and nuts and raisins for snacks. In the
morning I took Ionix and Amped when I first got up. Then before leaving the room I had a
chocolate IsaLean shake. I ate a bagel
and an IsaLean bar about an hour before race time. I carried 2 salt tablets and 4 Isagenix gels
(sample products in testing) during the race.
I took water at each aid station starting at mile 3, but no Gatorade. At each station I took one or two small
swallows and sometimes three. I took the
salt tablets at mile 13 and the gels at miles 5, 11, 17, and 22, each right
before an upcoming aid station so I could chase it down with some water.
After I picked up my bib, I met MW at the bus pickup and we
headed up to the start. There were wood
piles for the fire pits and they were handing out space blankets for
warmth. The weather forecast was for very
light winds and the temp around my projected finishing time was low 60s; perfect
running weather! I took throw-away
sleeves and the gardening gloves to stay warm for the first few miles, but as
we were putting our gear bag in the truck I took off my sleeves and left them
too.
There was quite a jam at the gear check-in. I waited too long to drop it because I was
worried about getting cold and still thinking about what to keep. Hearing the countdown, MW grabbed my bag for
me and told me to head over to the start.
I hustled over the fence into the starting chute and noticed the 3:25
pacer go by. I crossed the start line
about 2 minutes after the gun and was glad that I didn’t hurt myself climbing
over the fence awkwardly!
The first 2 miles were about avoiding runners in the dark darting
left and right to gain an open lane. By
mile 3 I was warm so I set my gloves on a table at the aid station. MW later reported that he saw them thereJ It was still fairly dark, but the road was
visible. The running surface was asphalt
and it had a lot of undulation. I worked
to find the smoother lines which seemed to be the tire paths. At one point a woman moving behind me tripped
me and I nearly went down; close one!
I settled into my target pacing and the miles slipped
by. I lost myself listening to the
music, absorbing the scenery, reading the occasional spectator sign, and
enjoying the pace. At about mile 6 I did
a system check: no rubbing, shoes comfortable (love my Slick Laces!), no hot
spots on my feet, and music volume was good.
Upper body was relaxed and hands were not clenched. I felt a bit of tightness in my right calf
and in my left quad. Nothing painful,
but I was hyper sensitive to these minor niggles because I knew what was ahead.
At mile 7 I passed the 3:25 pace group and I was a little
surprised it took me so long to catch them.
Several of the aid stations had a race time display and I noted my start
time was almost exactly two minutes behind gun time, putting me at about the
3:23 virtual pacer in the race. I didn’t
worry about being behind my target at this point because I had decided to stick
to my pacing plan regardless of what was going on around me. So far I was slightly ahead of my target, but
not overly so.
At about mile 8 after Veyo there is a long steady climb continuing
until just past the half way mark. At
the top would be the slowest cumulative average according to my pace plan
computations. I was aiming to be no
slower than 7:45 average at that point of the race and I was actually at 7:39,
so still slightly ahead of plan. There
was no sign of a 3:20 pace group.
Now for the fun.
There is about 2500 feet of descent in the second half and a few shorter
climbs. Many people report the downhill is
a quad killer. I live in Gilbert, which
has about 100ft of total elevation change across the whole city. There are hills in the surrounding area, but
they are not convenient to get to, so the bulk of my training is on the
flat. My run in Stuttgart was hilly and
a good test. I cycle a lot to train for
triathlon and I have done CrossFit for strength training, so I thought my legs
were well prepared for the hills, but it is hard to know until you experience
it. As the road turned downhill, I eased
into a faster pace and tried to keep my legs under me with a fast cadence so I
would not pound on my heels and cause braking.
The sun had come up and was illuminating the canyons to my right. It was stunning to behold and a nice
distraction.
I kept watching for the 3:20 pacer. I actually didn’t know for sure that there
was one, but I thought there would be. I
didn’t think I would catch the 3:15 pacer since I was 2 minutes behind the gun
time, but I thought I would have seen the 3:20 pacer by this point in the race.
I passed each aid station without incident, slowing slightly
to take on some water, but not breaking my stride. It helped that the aid stations always had
the water section after the Gatorade, so I knew where to target my
approach. The Isagenix gels were
pleasant to the taste (apple flavor) and did not cause any stomach issues. My energy level never seemed to drop, so I
felt they were effective. I was sweating
and salty, but not overly so. I never
felt a point in the race where I was struggling for energy or fluid. The strategy of hitting every aid station for
a bit of water seemed to be working.
All systems go. The
miles clicked by and my legs got more and more fatigued, and by mile 16 I could
feel both calves and both quads talking to me constantly now. My descent was going well and my cumulative
average pace was gradually dropping with these fast miles. It dropped as low as 7:26 before the course
started flattening out.
The spectators and volunteers were great and provided some
encouragement. In Snow Canyon the
density of spectators increased and it did not abate much for the rest of the
run.
Mile 20: Now comes
the hurt. I was gearing up mentally to
stay steady and strong. My energy level
was good, my legs were talking louder to me, but not in pain, and the music was
still rocking. My mental math told me I
was on target for my stretch goal of 3:16.
I dared to visualize finishing with a strong BQ time!
Mile 21: I started
passing people more frequently. For many
miles during the race there was little passing as the racers sorted out into
their own individual pacing. Now I was
noticing a few runners would stop at the aid station for a stretch or just to
lean on the table for a moment. There was
also a few walking for stretches. Passed
them and didn’t even think about walking.
Mile 22: I could see
the city below and the St. George Temple in the distance. What a sight.
There was a slight uphill and I worked to maintain a steady pace, easing
off ever so slightly. Others had to slow
more to get up the hill. Passed them
too.
Mile 23: Still
holding my pace and getting really excited.
Legs were screaming at me by now, but responding and my pace was still
steady. Two racers passed me in the last
two miles, but I must have passed dozens in the last few miles. For me, passing is motivating.
Mile 24: The crowds
were getting deeper and the cheering louder.
The hill flattens out and there are a few turns in the last two miles to
be careful of. I could tell I was
getting a little less maneuverable on my feet so I had to take care to avoid
sudden movements. I was not breathing
too heavily, so I felt I was still running within myself.
Mile 25: In the flat
I had to watch my pacing closer as it was easy to slow down too much and not
notice because it took so much effort to stay on pace. I kept looking at my lap average for just the
current mile so I could adjust accordingly and keep as close as possible to
goal pace. At this point, my target
pacing was 7:30, but I was hitting 7:40.
I was excited about hitting that close to target so late in the race. Missing by that little did not become
discouraging as missing by a minute or more in Phoenix had.
Mile 26: Time to dig
deep and embrace the hurt. Almost to the
end. I passed more racers in this
stretch. Some were really
struggling. They were on pace for a
great finish time and the wheels were coming off. I felt bad for them. That was me at Phoenix, but not this time!
Mile 26.2: I can see
the finishing chute. I try to accelerate
to finish with a sprint but I can’t go any faster. I am happy to maintain and stay on my
feet! I started to get really emotional
as I realized I was going to do it. I
crossed the finish line at gun time of 3:19.
I would find out later that my official chip time was 3:16:59!
I threw my hands in the air for nobody but myself and then
stopped about two steps passed the finish.
I put my hands on my knees and a volunteer came to check on me and help
me move out of the way. I gathered
myself, collected my medal, and started to make my way to the recovery
area. I did it... I did it… I qualified for Boston!
The first bottle of cool water and then cold chocolate milk
were fantastic. I found a spot under a
tree and sat down. My legs were
spent. I soaked in my surroundings as
runners came through and met with friends or relatives to start celebrating
their accomplishment. One woman spent
some time making some deposits into the garbage bin, but she was OK after
that. It wasn’t too long before MW came
through. I was so happy to see someone I
knew! He also had an excellent race
finishing at 3:25 and besting his PR by 20 minutes!
I was starting to get hungry so I started to get up. Whoa!
Legs don’t move. No strength to
stand up. MW helped me get vertical, and
then I gingerly started walking to one of the food lines. It felt really good to get some calories in
me, but I was really struggling to get around.
I learned it was better to stay standing and moving.
We took some pictures, checked our official times, ate our
fill, and got our medals engraved.
Planes to catch so we headed out to the car and hotel. I dropped MW off at his hotel and then went to
my hotel for a shower before heading to the airport. I thought I had eaten my fill, but a Wendy’s Spicy
Chicken and Frosty called out to me from the side of the road and I heeded.
I was seated in the plane and noticed a few others that
looked like they had also done the race.
We shared stories and congratulations.
The worst part was trying to stand up after the flight! I could have used a wheel chair.
I looked at my race execution on Strava. I finished within a minute of my stretch goal
time. My average pace was 7:30. The last 6 miles were steady and only
slightly off my target pace. I was
thrilled with the overall race, but most thrilled I was able to stay strong at
the end and I did not walk! I qualified
for Boston 2017 with an 8-minute buffer above the qualifying standard for my
age group. That will definitely be fast
enough to get me in!
My legs were stiff and sore for 4 days after the race. I went to Cadence to use the recovery boots
on Monday for half an hour, which really helped. By Thursday I was able to get out and run
again. I felt lingering effects when running
until about 16 days after the race. At
that point I was able to run distance comfortably, but I still didn’t have the
same top end speed I was used to until about 30 days after.
What’s next? HITS
Palm Springs full triathlon in December and then Phoenix Marathon in
February. I plan to ease up on my
running mileage slightly for the next two months while I ride and swim more to
get ready for the tri, and then I will ramp up again in Jan/Feb for the
marathon. I want to keep working on my
speed, turnover, and mental toughness to finish strong!
No comments:
Post a Comment