I have been building towards the Mesa Marathon since August. After the Utah Valley Marathon, I ran very little in June and July to take a deep off season. I did some cycling and swimming as well, but no serious training. In the fall I did the Mesa Sprint Triathlon and Gilbert Half Marathon during the build for the Mesa Marathon. My A goal was to run sub 3 hours, my B goal was to PR, and my C goal was to qualify for Boston.
During the buildup, I noticed
that as the miles mounted, I did not experience the same level of Achilles
tendonitis that I have had in previous builds.
The main thing that has been different this year is the use of both
Newton and Nike shoes for training. I
started using the Zoom Fly and Vapor Fly 4% shoes in March and I think the
variety of shoe structure reduces the repetitive stress.
Another difference in training
this year is that we have run in Las Sendas in East Mesa more often for more
hills, both up and down. In addition to
several long runs in the area, we met frequently on Thursday mornings to do 10
or 12 in the hills. This helped with leg
strength and with uphill pacing.
I continued to avoid dairy the
day before a long run or race and I have had better GI comfort when running
hard. Isagenix discontinued their Amped
Fuel gel, so I have had to find some others that don’t upset my stomach when on
the run.
In August and September, it
took a while for my fitness to develop and get back to running with Matt and
Jeff but then in October and November it started to really develop and I felt
comfortable running sub 7-minute paces.
The Gilbert Half was a real test to see how that fitness was progressing
and it was a big confidence boost to not only set a PR, but do so with a strong
finish feeling good. In December the
miles really started getting up there and some of the long runs were a real
challenge. One in particular was the
first 22 in early January. The workout
was to run 2x6mi at marathon pace 6:50. The first set went well and after short
recovery got started on the second set.
After 3 miles, I had to back off because I started to feel light headed. I tried to get back going after running a
slow mile, but I couldn’t. I finished
the last 4 miles slower than planned and I felt wrecked. In assessing what happened, I believed my
fueling was too light. Previous long
runs had gone quite well and I don’t think I prepared seriously enough for this
workout. My nutrition the day before and
morning of was not adequate and I faded.
Then, 3 weeks later we had a
22-mile run on the course where we did a mile warm up, then 10 miles along the
course at marathon effort, then 4 miles easier effort then a 4x1mi at 6:40 and
a finish with last mile as hard as I could.
I took preparation more seriously and made sure to eat sufficiently in
the morning. During the run, Mark, Jeff
and I stayed together and then Jacob joined us.
I wasn’t sure what to expect in those late intervals. Sometimes Mark and Jacob have a tendency to
bolt off the front, so I was determined to just run my own effort
throughout. I was more confident that
Jeff would be a steady pacer. After the
second interval, I was still feeling quite good and was able to hit the time on
the last 2 intervals as well. At this
point, Jeff and Mark were still with me and we were getting very excited at how
well the workout was going. The last
mile I was able to kick a 6:31. This workout gave me a ton of confidence. My legs felt good and I didn’t experience a
wall. I could hope to feel that well
late in the marathon.
During the last 10 weeks of
training I did not get ill and I was able to get all my workouts in other than
one over Christmas break. I felt the
consistency was really building fitness and strength. Early in the cycle I had started to
incorporate some leg strength exercises.
I found a few workouts to try at home and at the gym but I was not
consistent and I didn’t give it as much effort as I wanted to.
In setting a race plan, I
learned from last year’s race and determined that I would run my own pace early
and in fact I decided to not start the race with anyone I knew. The first few miles I wanted to settle into
marathon pace which should be less than marathon pace effort since they were
downhill. Then I was going to give 45s
on the uphill and then get back into 6:50 range and aim for a first half split
of 1:29:30 to 1:30:30. Coach and I felt this would give me the best opportunity
to run Sub 3, but recognized it came at the price of potentially burning up
late.
Gear: Nike Vaporfly 4% (orange), Wright double layer socks,
Adidas Delancey Loopers singlet, Lululemon shorts, Adidas BAA cap, Plantronics
Backbeat FIT earphones, gloves, arm sleeves, Nathan Exoshot handheld water
bottle and SPI Belt. Maurten and Huma
gels, e-Shot. Warmup jacket and sweat pants for pre-race warmth. I carried the e+Shot and one gel inside my
water bottle so that my SPI belt wasn’t as heavy. Race weight: 186
Nutrition: Peanut butter bagel and banana early morning,
AMPED Nitro before the race, 2 Maurten gels, 2 Huma gels, e+Shot, and water
during the race.
I drove to the parking lot and found a bus for the trip to
the start. My focus this year was to be
ready and to not get distracted by conversations. Once at the start I took a camera to the
start line for live streaming, and then headed to the potty line. I saw several teammates and friends in the
line and near the fire. My headset
worked this year and I got ready to ditch my clothing. The weather was absolutely perfect for
running. It was about 42 and clear and
not a breath of wind. The sunlight was
not on the horizon yet and so the start was fairly dark. As the gun went off, I was alone and ready.
The first two miles were fairly dark. I kept to the left of the line of cones down
the center of the road and worked on staying relaxed. I quickly settled in to marathon pace around
6:50 and got ready for a nice run. This
year I was not stressed out about running with teammates. I knew there would be plenty of racers around
me to help me stay steady and I did not know what some of the others would do
for pacing, especially two of the others aiming for 3-3:05 range. So, I focused on running my own race.
Just after mile 4, the course turns right and starts up a
hill. I have practiced this climb many
times and knew exactly where to keep my pace to avoid working too hard. On the climb I approached Jeff and had a brief
chat with him. He was aiming for 3:07 to
qualify for Boston. At the top of the
hill I sped up and let the hill carry me down.
This was the fastest section for me at 6:38. I came up on Blake S and
had a chat with him. He was aiming for
3:08 as that is what he ran 25 years ago to qualify for Boston.
The section north on Power was slightly windy, but that was
expected. I tucked in behind some
runners to conserve energy. Then at
about mile 10 I came up on Mark who was also aiming for Boston. Just at that moment he got out his phone to
have it play CCR. That was random! Shortly ahead I came up on Jacob, also aiming
for Boston and potentially sub3. He was
running well and looked very comfortable.
I thought about staying with Jacob or Mark as I have trained a lot with
them. I knew that they were aiming for
1:31 or slower on the first half and that was a little slow for me to have my
best chance at sub3. Their A goal was to
qualify so it was better to be conservative.
I nudged ahead and looked forward to crossing the half way mark.
I was aiming for 1:30:30 to 1:29:30 on the half expending as
little energy as possible. I ended up
with 1:29:15 split, which is a PR for me at that distance. I felt very good about the execution as I
never had to work hard and I kept my pace in comfortable range. At this point no discomfort, no niggles, and
I had 2 gels in me already. I was still
wearing gloves as it was cool enough and I like having them on to wipe my
face. Also, carrying the water bottle
was new this year. The Maurten and Huma gels
were nice to take down and did not cause any GI discomfort.
The course flattens out and heading down Val Vista and then
Brown I was steady at 6:48-6:50 for several miles. Mile 19 was 6:57 and 20 was 7:03 and it was
here that I started to feel soreness in my quads. I made the turn down Mesa Dr and hoped that I
could shake it off and keep up my pace.
At this point, I was not suffering throughout my body like I have felt
in previous marathons. The soreness was
very localized on both quads, although on the left leg it was a little further
to the outside edge. Mile 21 was 7:16
and then I made the turn onto 1st St.
At this point I knew that my sub3 attempt was doomed. Not because I had lost the time, in fact I
was only a few seconds behind, but because the pain in my quads was not going
away, it was getting worse. I tried
every mind trick I know to embrace the suck, focus on my goal, run the mile I’m
in, think of family members each mile, but I could not run faster. Maybe I let my mind tell me that I couldn’t
run faster, I don’t know. But the pain
was there and try as I might, I could not sustain any faster pace. A few times in mile 21, 22, 23 I can see in
my run data that I sped up, but I could not hold it. 3 weeks prior during the 22-miler on this
course I didn’t experience this pain at all. I was stumped.
Miles 22-24 were all around 7:40. During mile 23 Jacob
passed me and then during 24, Mark passed me.
Both looked like they were running very well and on their way to
BQ. During mile 25 I stopped to try and
stretch out my quads for some relief, but the pain did not abate and I could
not get going fast. I saw my PR slip
away and at this point I focused on continuing to move at any pace to finish
out as best as I could. Mile 25 was 9:05
and mile 26 was 8:37.
Along the finishing chute I saw a bunch of Loopers cheering
me on and then I saw my parents and Kandyce.
I smiled and my eyes welled up.
They all thought I was breaking the tape; I knew I had missed my
goal. I crossed the line in 3:07 range
and quickly found a seat to recover. A
few minutes later Blake S came through and then Jeff came through. Both missed their goal and were in rough
shape. What a sight we must have
been! Blake was pleased to finish and
qualify. Jeff was not responsive at
first. He left it all out on the course!
With a chip time of 3:07:13, this was my 2nd
fastest marathon. I was 5th
in my age group out of 135 and I qualified for Boston with a 17-minute
margin. Although this was a step
backwards, I proved to myself that last year was not a fluke. This is the 3rd time running sub
3:10. I also had excellent execution on nutrition and avoided GI and
cramping. The biggest win was
identifying my next weakness to work on.
I need to do more leg strengthening and hill running.
