Welcome to my redesigned running blog. It seemed appropriate to spruce it up a bit to accompany my renewed training and racing ambitions, now that tenure stress is behind me. After more than half a year of lackluster training and frankly erratic training for years before that, I've decided to fire my old coach (me). I'd always enjoyed coaching myself, so to speak. Figuring out what sorts of training work best for me, learning how to respond to set-backs, setting appropriate goals for myself, and trying to motivate myself to achieve them have always been more than half the fun of running for me. I've never been under any illusion that I'm particularly good at those things, but I enjoy them and couldn't imagine just mindlessly doing workouts, which is what I used to think training under a coach would involve. More recently, however, I've met several people who train with coaches, and I've checked out some blogs by runners much faster than me who have coaches. None of those people mindlessly does workouts. All of them are at least as invested as I have been in those elements of training that I used to think were unique to being self-coached, but they also have additional and often very valuable support, guidance, and inspiration from their coaches. So I have realized for some time that a coach could help me become better at all the things I enjoy about running, including becoming faster and more competitive - if, that is, I found the right coach for me. After running Grandma's a few weeks ago, I was again tossing around the idea of getting a coach when Ryan Vail, who is currently one of the best marathoners in the US, posted on his blog that he is launching a personal coaching business, Prevail coaching. Long story short: Ryan, along with Mike Kilburg, is now coaching me toward my fall marathon goal. So far, after I recovered from Grandma's, we've gradually started to increase mileage with some light fartleks, strides, and hills. I will begin posting my weekly training 16 weeks from my goal race, which is the week after next. Since I will be spending the fall 2014 semester in Rome, Italy, I've chosen the Turin Marathon as my goal race. I'll try to post not just about the details of my training but also more generally about my experiences running in Italy. I might even manage to post some photos, but we'll see about that.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Grandma's Marathon (race report) and update
I haven't posted here in a long time since my training never really got going again after the Philadelphia Marathon last November. In brief, I was too lazy, busy, distracted, and (in late winter) sick to train properly for a spring racing season. But still I had registered for several races and ran them as well as I could. Here are my race results so far in 2014:
March 19: St. Patrick's Day 8k in 36:05 (7:16 pace)
March 23: ChrisForLife Scope It Out 5k in 19:35 (6:18 pace)
April 6: Cherry Blossom 10-miler in 1:05:30 (6:33 pace)
April 27: Pike's Peek 10k in 38:35 (6:12 pace)
May 18: Capitol Hill Classic 10k in 39:48 (6:24 pace)
June 21: Grandma's Marathon in 3:10:33 (7:16 pace)
When I jogged the St. Patrick's Day 8k, which kind of signals the beginning of spring racing season in DC, I had been running again for about a week after having been sick for about a month in February. Four weeks later I let down my team at Cherry Blossom with a sub-par performance on only 5 weeks of not entirely healthy or focused training. My run at Pike's Peek was more encouraging but still slower than both of the previous two years. On the hilly Capitol Hill Classic course, my time was about 20 seconds slower than last year, when I ran it somewhere between race and tempo effort. To put all of this in a bit of perspective, during this time I was not only recovering from a string of February bugs but also buying my first house and nervously awaiting the results of my tenure application (I eventually got tenure). Often in the past I had used running as a way to distract myself from sources of stress in my life, but so far this year I haven't had enough energy even to use running as a distraction. It was at most an afterthought, insofar as I did it at all.
This brings me to Grandma's Marathon. I registered for it months earlier because I wanted to do a marathon before fall but didn't expect to be ready for a spring marathon. So I chose Grandma's because it's in Minnesota, where the weather is still suitable for running a good marathon in late June. But I never got around to training properly for it. My average weekly mileage for the 20 weeks before Grandma's was 34 miles, compared with 65 miles per week for the 20 weeks before my previous marathon last November (Philadelphia) and 61 miles per week for the marathon before that (the MCM in October of 2012). At least my long runs had progressed to 20 miles, and somehow I managed one 20-miler at 6:58 pace 3 weeks before Grandma's. But other than that I was basically just jogging when I could and not really doing any faster running except for the races mentioned above and a couple light workouts in the month or so before Grandma's. So the race became basically a test of two things: my residual fitness from past training, and my new fueling plan developed after Philly and from reading Matt Fitzgerald's book "The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition." In short, as I wrote here in my Philly race report, I decided that I hadn't been running up to my potential (such as it is) in the marathon because I hadn't been fueling adequately during marathon races. So my main objective after Philly was to figure out how to get more carbs into my body during marathons. I didn't do much training since Philly, but I did find time to study and practice this. The result was that at Grandma's I ran only 4 minutes slower than at Philly on about half the mileage and probably much less than half of the training effort. Far from being discouraged by my first non-PR in a marathon after seven attempts, I think that I may have found one - I don't say "the" - key to running a faster marathon, for me at least.
Here is what my fueling plan was at Grandma's. Beginning at mile 3, there were aid stations every 2 miles until mile 19, after which they were every mile. At each aid station, volunteers gave out water and Powerade. I ate a gel immediately before the start of the race, and then I ate a gel with water at every odd numbered aid station (miles 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19) until they started coming every mile. At even numbered aid stations in between those I just drank a cup of Powerade. Let's count carbs for a moment. One packet of my preferred gel (strawberry-banana GU) has 22g. of carbs. I figure that the sports drink served on this course gave me about 7g. of carbs per cup. So at 6:52 pace (3:00 marathon pace), my plan gave me roughly 160g. of carbs in a little over 2 hours, which is basically right in the middle of the 60-90g. range recommended by Fitzgerald's book. After 19 miles my plan was simply to go by how I felt. I had 2 more gels in my pocket but ended up just drinking Powerade every mile instead of eating any more gels. So I ate a total of 6 gels, including the one just before the start, and drank maybe 20 cups of Powerade, which adds up to approximately 272g. of carbs over 3:10 or 86g. of carbs per hour. According to Fitzgerald, that's close to the maximum amount of carbs the human body can absorb (90g.). No wonder I had a gut cramp near the finish line!
Now isn't that a bit extreme? Yes, of course. Given my very limited training, I wanted to come as close as I could to testing, as if in a controlled experiment, the effect of maximizing carb intake during a marathon race. The result, I think, is pretty clear. Through 23 miles I was ahead of my marathon PR, such as it is, on approximately half the training. I began fading in mile 17, just as I did in Philly, but not nearly as much as I did then - from 6:52 pace to under 7:10 pace at Grandma's, versus fading immediately to the 7:30s after 17 miles in Philly. By mile 20 I did fade to the 7:30s at Grandma's, but that was 3 miles later than in Philly, which means I was still ahead of my Philly pace, given that I went through the half only 30 seconds slower at Grandma's (1:29:56) than in Philly (1:29:27). According to my Garmin, at the end of mile 23 I was 27 seconds ahead at Grandma's of my Philly time: 2:41:44 versus 2:42:11. Given my pathetic training for the previous 7 months, compared with the shape I was in at Philly, that is incredible and to be attributed substantially, I think, to all the carbs I took in at Grandma's prior to that point. Yes, the residual effect of prior training must be factored in too. But I think that if I had fueled at Grandma's exactly the same way I did in Philly, then I would have finished in a time much slower than 3:10, if at all.
Even taking in maximal carbs does not, by itself, enable you - or me, at least - to run a full marathon well, however. At the 23rd mile marker, I felt dizzy and had to stop. I started running again, or really just shuffling, only when a friend passed me after I had been standing there dazed and then eventually walking for maybe a minute or so. In the final 3 miles I stopped 2 more times: once to walk up a short hill, and then because of a gut pain (probably from all the carbs I had been consuming) shortly before the finish line. I probably lost 5 minutes (versus my Philly time) in those last 3 miles. By 23 miles I was just done, and by then no amount of carbs could compensate for my lack of training. But those first 23 miles were the fastest I have ever run.
So what now? It seems that if I just trained like I did before Philly, and fueled like I did at Grandma's, then I should be able to run a (perhaps significantly) faster marathon than I have done before. That seems so obviously true to me that I won't bother trying to test it as if in a controlled experiment. Of course I will try to take in at least almost as many carbs as I did at Grandma's in future marathons. But I hope to train in the future even better than I did before Philly. My first task, of course, is just to get serious about running again, once I recover from Grandma's. But having done that, I don't plan simply to duplicate the training I did before Philly. That would be too boring. Variables must be manipulated in new ways, and right now I'm inclined to do that mainly by increasing strength work while keeping average mileage about where it was then (which means increasing it back up to that level) but keeping it basically steady instead of taking recovery weeks every few weeks as I did last year. I have ideas about how to do this but will wait to post them when I start putting them into action.
March 19: St. Patrick's Day 8k in 36:05 (7:16 pace)
March 23: ChrisForLife Scope It Out 5k in 19:35 (6:18 pace)
April 6: Cherry Blossom 10-miler in 1:05:30 (6:33 pace)
April 27: Pike's Peek 10k in 38:35 (6:12 pace)
May 18: Capitol Hill Classic 10k in 39:48 (6:24 pace)
June 21: Grandma's Marathon in 3:10:33 (7:16 pace)
When I jogged the St. Patrick's Day 8k, which kind of signals the beginning of spring racing season in DC, I had been running again for about a week after having been sick for about a month in February. Four weeks later I let down my team at Cherry Blossom with a sub-par performance on only 5 weeks of not entirely healthy or focused training. My run at Pike's Peek was more encouraging but still slower than both of the previous two years. On the hilly Capitol Hill Classic course, my time was about 20 seconds slower than last year, when I ran it somewhere between race and tempo effort. To put all of this in a bit of perspective, during this time I was not only recovering from a string of February bugs but also buying my first house and nervously awaiting the results of my tenure application (I eventually got tenure). Often in the past I had used running as a way to distract myself from sources of stress in my life, but so far this year I haven't had enough energy even to use running as a distraction. It was at most an afterthought, insofar as I did it at all.
This brings me to Grandma's Marathon. I registered for it months earlier because I wanted to do a marathon before fall but didn't expect to be ready for a spring marathon. So I chose Grandma's because it's in Minnesota, where the weather is still suitable for running a good marathon in late June. But I never got around to training properly for it. My average weekly mileage for the 20 weeks before Grandma's was 34 miles, compared with 65 miles per week for the 20 weeks before my previous marathon last November (Philadelphia) and 61 miles per week for the marathon before that (the MCM in October of 2012). At least my long runs had progressed to 20 miles, and somehow I managed one 20-miler at 6:58 pace 3 weeks before Grandma's. But other than that I was basically just jogging when I could and not really doing any faster running except for the races mentioned above and a couple light workouts in the month or so before Grandma's. So the race became basically a test of two things: my residual fitness from past training, and my new fueling plan developed after Philly and from reading Matt Fitzgerald's book "The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition." In short, as I wrote here in my Philly race report, I decided that I hadn't been running up to my potential (such as it is) in the marathon because I hadn't been fueling adequately during marathon races. So my main objective after Philly was to figure out how to get more carbs into my body during marathons. I didn't do much training since Philly, but I did find time to study and practice this. The result was that at Grandma's I ran only 4 minutes slower than at Philly on about half the mileage and probably much less than half of the training effort. Far from being discouraged by my first non-PR in a marathon after seven attempts, I think that I may have found one - I don't say "the" - key to running a faster marathon, for me at least.
Here is what my fueling plan was at Grandma's. Beginning at mile 3, there were aid stations every 2 miles until mile 19, after which they were every mile. At each aid station, volunteers gave out water and Powerade. I ate a gel immediately before the start of the race, and then I ate a gel with water at every odd numbered aid station (miles 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19) until they started coming every mile. At even numbered aid stations in between those I just drank a cup of Powerade. Let's count carbs for a moment. One packet of my preferred gel (strawberry-banana GU) has 22g. of carbs. I figure that the sports drink served on this course gave me about 7g. of carbs per cup. So at 6:52 pace (3:00 marathon pace), my plan gave me roughly 160g. of carbs in a little over 2 hours, which is basically right in the middle of the 60-90g. range recommended by Fitzgerald's book. After 19 miles my plan was simply to go by how I felt. I had 2 more gels in my pocket but ended up just drinking Powerade every mile instead of eating any more gels. So I ate a total of 6 gels, including the one just before the start, and drank maybe 20 cups of Powerade, which adds up to approximately 272g. of carbs over 3:10 or 86g. of carbs per hour. According to Fitzgerald, that's close to the maximum amount of carbs the human body can absorb (90g.). No wonder I had a gut cramp near the finish line!
Now isn't that a bit extreme? Yes, of course. Given my very limited training, I wanted to come as close as I could to testing, as if in a controlled experiment, the effect of maximizing carb intake during a marathon race. The result, I think, is pretty clear. Through 23 miles I was ahead of my marathon PR, such as it is, on approximately half the training. I began fading in mile 17, just as I did in Philly, but not nearly as much as I did then - from 6:52 pace to under 7:10 pace at Grandma's, versus fading immediately to the 7:30s after 17 miles in Philly. By mile 20 I did fade to the 7:30s at Grandma's, but that was 3 miles later than in Philly, which means I was still ahead of my Philly pace, given that I went through the half only 30 seconds slower at Grandma's (1:29:56) than in Philly (1:29:27). According to my Garmin, at the end of mile 23 I was 27 seconds ahead at Grandma's of my Philly time: 2:41:44 versus 2:42:11. Given my pathetic training for the previous 7 months, compared with the shape I was in at Philly, that is incredible and to be attributed substantially, I think, to all the carbs I took in at Grandma's prior to that point. Yes, the residual effect of prior training must be factored in too. But I think that if I had fueled at Grandma's exactly the same way I did in Philly, then I would have finished in a time much slower than 3:10, if at all.
Even taking in maximal carbs does not, by itself, enable you - or me, at least - to run a full marathon well, however. At the 23rd mile marker, I felt dizzy and had to stop. I started running again, or really just shuffling, only when a friend passed me after I had been standing there dazed and then eventually walking for maybe a minute or so. In the final 3 miles I stopped 2 more times: once to walk up a short hill, and then because of a gut pain (probably from all the carbs I had been consuming) shortly before the finish line. I probably lost 5 minutes (versus my Philly time) in those last 3 miles. By 23 miles I was just done, and by then no amount of carbs could compensate for my lack of training. But those first 23 miles were the fastest I have ever run.
So what now? It seems that if I just trained like I did before Philly, and fueled like I did at Grandma's, then I should be able to run a (perhaps significantly) faster marathon than I have done before. That seems so obviously true to me that I won't bother trying to test it as if in a controlled experiment. Of course I will try to take in at least almost as many carbs as I did at Grandma's in future marathons. But I hope to train in the future even better than I did before Philly. My first task, of course, is just to get serious about running again, once I recover from Grandma's. But having done that, I don't plan simply to duplicate the training I did before Philly. That would be too boring. Variables must be manipulated in new ways, and right now I'm inclined to do that mainly by increasing strength work while keeping average mileage about where it was then (which means increasing it back up to that level) but keeping it basically steady instead of taking recovery weeks every few weeks as I did last year. I have ideas about how to do this but will wait to post them when I start putting them into action.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
2013 stats (v. 2012)
Total miles: 2687 (2720)
Average miles per month: 224 (227)
Average miles per week: 52 (same)
Average miles per day: 7.4 (7.5)
Number of days off: 59 (55)
Most days off in a row: 5 (3)
Average miles per day run: 8.8 (same)
Average pace: 7:34/mi. (same)
Total number of races: 14 (19)
Number of 5k races: 2 (8)
Number of 8k races: 1 (2)
Number of 10k races: 3 (3)
Number of 10-mile races: 2 (1)
Number of half marathons: 3 (1)
Number of full marathons: 1 (1)
I set new all-time PR's at each of these distances:
5k - 17:58 on 1/6/13 (18:25)
8k - 30:13 on 3/10/13 (30:30)
10k - 37:23 on 4/21/13 (37:48)
10 miles - 1:02:49 on 10/20/13 (1:04:42)
Half marathon - 1:24:39 on 9/14/13 (1:26:34)
Marathon - 3:06:26 on 11/17/13 (3:12:17)
So I trained about the same amount and improved a little at every distance. Remarkably, my modest PR's at two of the three shorter distances were set in the spring on little training after injuring my hip last January. I trained, raced, and improved more at the three longer distances in the fall. That training cycle in roughly the latter half of the year was my hardest and smartest yet. It balanced out the lighter first half of the year to bring my yearly averages roughly even to last year. I ran many fewer 5k's this year compared with 2012, mainly because of that hip injury.
Average miles per month: 224 (227)
Average miles per week: 52 (same)
Average miles per day: 7.4 (7.5)
Number of days off: 59 (55)
Most days off in a row: 5 (3)
Average miles per day run: 8.8 (same)
Average pace: 7:34/mi. (same)
Total number of races: 14 (19)
Number of 5k races: 2 (8)
Number of 8k races: 1 (2)
Number of 10k races: 3 (3)
Number of 10-mile races: 2 (1)
Number of half marathons: 3 (1)
Number of full marathons: 1 (1)
I set new all-time PR's at each of these distances:
5k - 17:58 on 1/6/13 (18:25)
8k - 30:13 on 3/10/13 (30:30)
10k - 37:23 on 4/21/13 (37:48)
10 miles - 1:02:49 on 10/20/13 (1:04:42)
Half marathon - 1:24:39 on 9/14/13 (1:26:34)
Marathon - 3:06:26 on 11/17/13 (3:12:17)
So I trained about the same amount and improved a little at every distance. Remarkably, my modest PR's at two of the three shorter distances were set in the spring on little training after injuring my hip last January. I trained, raced, and improved more at the three longer distances in the fall. That training cycle in roughly the latter half of the year was my hardest and smartest yet. It balanced out the lighter first half of the year to bring my yearly averages roughly even to last year. I ran many fewer 5k's this year compared with 2012, mainly because of that hip injury.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Philadelphia Marathon (race report)
I went to graduate school in Philadelphia and ended up being based there for 9 years, through 2006. So running the Philadelphia Marathon was a great opportunity to go back to my beloved city and see friends, many of whom also ran either the half or the full marathon. I didn't really run when I lived there, except for some occasional light jogging when I attempted (and usually failed) to keep up with my girlfriend (now wife). But it turns out that they put on a great marathon there, with a really good course, enthusiastic spectators, and excellent organizers. I was aiming to run under 3 hours but managed only a 3:06. Despite falling short of my goal, I'm surprisingly not disappointed. Here's how the race transpired, with my mile (from my Garmin) and official splits on the left next to splits from my previous marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon a year earlier:
Philadelphia 11/17/13 MCM 10/28/12
mile 1: 7:04 6:53
mile 2: 6:37 7:02
mile 3: 6:42 6:50
mile 4: 6:44 6:40
mile 5: 6:48 6:50
mile 6: 7:07 6:43
[10k: 42:01 42:38]
mile 7: 6:34 7:01
mile 8: 6:55 6:47
mile 9: 6:45 6:51
mile 10: 7:05 7:10
mile 11: 6:47 6:49
mile 12: 6:46 6:51
mile 13: 6:55 6:53
[Half: 1:29:27 1:30:14]
mile 14: 6:49 7:12
mile 15: 6:49 7:27
mile 16: 6:55 7:13
mile 17: 7:17 7:20
mile 18: 7:36 8:25
[30k: 2:08:42 2:12:09]
mile 19: 7:29 7:31
mile 20: 7:36 7:39
mile 21: 7:36 7:33
mile 22: 7:34 7:41
mile 23: 7:41 7:31
mile 24: 7:32 8:14
mile 25: 7:39 8:22
mile 26: 7:42 8:02
finish: 3:06:26 3:12:17
The splits in these two races do not look all that different. In Philadelphia, I was a tad faster in the first half, but the main differences come in the second half. At the 2012 MCM, I had a sharp stomach pain at halfway after eating a gel right when the course turned into a strong headwind. I immediately slowed down, attempted to regain my pace after the pain subsided a mile later, but then stopped briefly at a water stop (in mile 18) before settling into a pace in the 7:30's, which slipped over 8 minutes in the last few miles when the course turned into the wind again. That was a year ago. Yesterday in Philadelphia there was no wind to speak of and I never had any significant stomach issues. I stayed on sub-3 hour pace through 16 miles but began to fade in mile 17. In fact, I noticed again around halfway that my energy was beginning to flag, after running more comfortably in the first half than I was able to last year. But since I had eaten my second gel around mile 10 or 11, I didn't immediately eat another one when I noticed my energy flagging around halfway. I think I waited until around mile 16 to eat another gel, and by then it was too late. The wall came in mile 17, where my energy plummeted. I fell quickly from the 6:50's to the 7:30's within two miles, and the negative thoughts came rushing into my mind. All that hard training and the same thing is happening again! This is the last time I'm doing this crap! Am I even going to be able to finish? Of course there was also a steep hill right when I felt the worst. But at the next water stop I ate another gel, probably not more than 2 miles after the previous one. Those two gels helped me pull it together, push away the negative thoughts, and settle into a consistent pace averaging in the 7:30's for the rest of the race. When I tried to run faster, I felt fainter and worried that I wouldn't be able to hold the faster pace for long, and my calf muscles also threatened to pull. So I ran as fast as I could without those things happening. By mile 19 or 20, my head was back in it, I knew I could hold roughly that pace until the end, and I calculated that I would probably finish between 3:05 and 3:07. And so I did.
Why did I run 3:06 instead of 2:59? At this point, several explanations occur to me. The main one concerns fueling. Either I should have eaten more gels before hitting the wall (I ate gels with water at miles 5 and either 10 or 11), or I should have supplemented the gels I did eat with gatorade, which I began doing only after the wall came. Because of my experience last year at the MCM, I was afraid of irritating my sensitive stomach, and that led me to err on the side of not taking enough in. That, I think, was my chief mistake in Philadelphia. It's impossible to say what time I could have run if I had fueled better, but figuring out a fueling strategy that works better for me is at the top of my list of things to work on for my next marathon. The other explanations concern training, and here I have fewer determinate thoughts at this point. Last year I was sure, immediately after running 3:12, that I was in shape to run 2:59 if only it had been less windy and if my stomach hadn't gone out on me. But later I started to fault my training as well, mainly for incorporating too little marathon pace running, but also for some other reasons that I tried to address this time around. This time I ran more miles, but not by much due to my extended taper - the last couple weeks of which, however, I think went perfectly. I tried to incorporate some more running at paces faster than marathon pace, but I couldn't handle much of that, and that's why I needed to drop my mileage earlier than planned. I did get in some more running at marathon pace, but I probably need to do still more of that. I'm less sore and worn out after Philadelphia than I've ever been after a marathon, which I attribute to the half dozen 80 mile weeks I ran in the past few months. But no doubt too many of those miles were too slow - "junk miles," as people say - that may have helped my body recover faster but didn't help me much if at all in the marathon itself. I'm not suggesting that I should run fewer miles in marathon training, but that a higher proportion of whatever miles I do run should be quality miles if I want to run a faster marathon. My body couldn't handle any more of that this time around, but maybe it will be better able to do so the next time around.
But now it's time to rest, and to plan for the future. Each of the past two years, I failed to let my body recover adequately after a Fall marathon and ended up getting injured in January. This time I'm not going to let that happen. We'll see whether I actually take two weeks entirely off from running, as I earlier vowed to do. It depends on how I feel. But certainly I won't do any sort of hard running, whether training or race, for a month or so. When it's safe to start easing back into harder training, I plan to focus for a while on improving my speed at shorter distances. I'm not sure yet, though, whether I'll remain focused on that through the Spring or whether I'll do a Spring marathon.
Philadelphia 11/17/13 MCM 10/28/12
mile 1: 7:04 6:53
mile 2: 6:37 7:02
mile 3: 6:42 6:50
mile 4: 6:44 6:40
mile 5: 6:48 6:50
mile 6: 7:07 6:43
[10k: 42:01 42:38]
mile 7: 6:34 7:01
mile 8: 6:55 6:47
mile 9: 6:45 6:51
mile 10: 7:05 7:10
mile 11: 6:47 6:49
mile 12: 6:46 6:51
mile 13: 6:55 6:53
[Half: 1:29:27 1:30:14]
mile 14: 6:49 7:12
mile 15: 6:49 7:27
mile 16: 6:55 7:13
mile 17: 7:17 7:20
mile 18: 7:36 8:25
[30k: 2:08:42 2:12:09]
mile 19: 7:29 7:31
mile 20: 7:36 7:39
mile 21: 7:36 7:33
mile 22: 7:34 7:41
mile 23: 7:41 7:31
mile 24: 7:32 8:14
mile 25: 7:39 8:22
mile 26: 7:42 8:02
finish: 3:06:26 3:12:17
The splits in these two races do not look all that different. In Philadelphia, I was a tad faster in the first half, but the main differences come in the second half. At the 2012 MCM, I had a sharp stomach pain at halfway after eating a gel right when the course turned into a strong headwind. I immediately slowed down, attempted to regain my pace after the pain subsided a mile later, but then stopped briefly at a water stop (in mile 18) before settling into a pace in the 7:30's, which slipped over 8 minutes in the last few miles when the course turned into the wind again. That was a year ago. Yesterday in Philadelphia there was no wind to speak of and I never had any significant stomach issues. I stayed on sub-3 hour pace through 16 miles but began to fade in mile 17. In fact, I noticed again around halfway that my energy was beginning to flag, after running more comfortably in the first half than I was able to last year. But since I had eaten my second gel around mile 10 or 11, I didn't immediately eat another one when I noticed my energy flagging around halfway. I think I waited until around mile 16 to eat another gel, and by then it was too late. The wall came in mile 17, where my energy plummeted. I fell quickly from the 6:50's to the 7:30's within two miles, and the negative thoughts came rushing into my mind. All that hard training and the same thing is happening again! This is the last time I'm doing this crap! Am I even going to be able to finish? Of course there was also a steep hill right when I felt the worst. But at the next water stop I ate another gel, probably not more than 2 miles after the previous one. Those two gels helped me pull it together, push away the negative thoughts, and settle into a consistent pace averaging in the 7:30's for the rest of the race. When I tried to run faster, I felt fainter and worried that I wouldn't be able to hold the faster pace for long, and my calf muscles also threatened to pull. So I ran as fast as I could without those things happening. By mile 19 or 20, my head was back in it, I knew I could hold roughly that pace until the end, and I calculated that I would probably finish between 3:05 and 3:07. And so I did.
Why did I run 3:06 instead of 2:59? At this point, several explanations occur to me. The main one concerns fueling. Either I should have eaten more gels before hitting the wall (I ate gels with water at miles 5 and either 10 or 11), or I should have supplemented the gels I did eat with gatorade, which I began doing only after the wall came. Because of my experience last year at the MCM, I was afraid of irritating my sensitive stomach, and that led me to err on the side of not taking enough in. That, I think, was my chief mistake in Philadelphia. It's impossible to say what time I could have run if I had fueled better, but figuring out a fueling strategy that works better for me is at the top of my list of things to work on for my next marathon. The other explanations concern training, and here I have fewer determinate thoughts at this point. Last year I was sure, immediately after running 3:12, that I was in shape to run 2:59 if only it had been less windy and if my stomach hadn't gone out on me. But later I started to fault my training as well, mainly for incorporating too little marathon pace running, but also for some other reasons that I tried to address this time around. This time I ran more miles, but not by much due to my extended taper - the last couple weeks of which, however, I think went perfectly. I tried to incorporate some more running at paces faster than marathon pace, but I couldn't handle much of that, and that's why I needed to drop my mileage earlier than planned. I did get in some more running at marathon pace, but I probably need to do still more of that. I'm less sore and worn out after Philadelphia than I've ever been after a marathon, which I attribute to the half dozen 80 mile weeks I ran in the past few months. But no doubt too many of those miles were too slow - "junk miles," as people say - that may have helped my body recover faster but didn't help me much if at all in the marathon itself. I'm not suggesting that I should run fewer miles in marathon training, but that a higher proportion of whatever miles I do run should be quality miles if I want to run a faster marathon. My body couldn't handle any more of that this time around, but maybe it will be better able to do so the next time around.
But now it's time to rest, and to plan for the future. Each of the past two years, I failed to let my body recover adequately after a Fall marathon and ended up getting injured in January. This time I'm not going to let that happen. We'll see whether I actually take two weeks entirely off from running, as I earlier vowed to do. It depends on how I feel. But certainly I won't do any sort of hard running, whether training or race, for a month or so. When it's safe to start easing back into harder training, I plan to focus for a while on improving my speed at shorter distances. I'm not sure yet, though, whether I'll remain focused on that through the Spring or whether I'll do a Spring marathon.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
October 21 - November 17: The four weeks pre-marathon
Daily details:
Mo: off
Tu: 7
We: 8
Th: 24
Fr: 7 (in Providence, RI)
Sa: off
Su: 9
Week total: 55
Mo: 5 (back in DC)
Tu: 7
We: 20 (averaging 7:10/mi., with the second half steady at around 6:48/mi.)
Th: off
Fr: 6
Sa: 7
Su: off (skipped the Run For the Parks 10k)
Week total: 45
Mo: off
Tu: 7
We: 7
Th: 3 x 1 mile on the track averaging 6:13, with 800m recoveries (10 total)
Fr: 6.5
Sa: 12.5
Su: off
Week total: 43
Mo: 45 min. at 6:49/mi. (8 total)
Tu: off
We: 5
Th: off
Fr: 5 x 4 min. at 6:46/mi. pace with 1 min. standing rest between intervals (5 total)
Sa: off
Su: Philadelphia marathon
Total pre-marathon: 18
It turns out that I've done a kind of extended 5-week taper before the Philadelphia marathon, not entirely deliberately. After the Army 10-miler on October 20, I ran easy the following week but did one last long run at an easy pace (7:45/mi.). Almost a week later, I did my final hard long run, this time nailing the 10/10 workout that I couldn't quite pull off in early September. For the last 10 miles of a 20 mile run, I managed to hold 6:48/mi. pace, which is 2:58 marathon pace. It was difficult but gave me a lot of confidence. Afterwards I felt surprisingly ok, but in the subsequent days a tight calf led me to skip the Run For the Parks 10k and to take two days entirely off. Eventually I decided that this was caused mainly or exclusively by some new shoes (Adidas Adios Boost) that I had worn for both the Army 10-miler and the 10/10 workout. I was considering wearing those shoes in the marathon but decided to go with the stiffer Adios 2 instead. The tight calf worked itself out by the time I went to the track one last time for a few mile repeats at tempo pace in order to sharpen up and make marathon pace feel relatively slow. The next day a friend talked me into not doing a 17 miler the weekend before the marathon, as I had planned, and also suggested the schedule I'm following for race week, which is designed to lock me into race pace while allowing a lot of rest. I felt strong on Monday running at marathon pace for a quarter of the race distance, but obviously it seemed difficult to fathom running that pace for four times the distance. At this point, my main task is to prepare myself mentally for the marathon. I have no doubt that my body is ready for a sub-3 hour marathon. My workouts have shown that, and my training has been better than ever, even if these last 5 weeks didn't go as planned. Maybe the extra rest will actually be positive. But the marathon is at least as much a mental challenge as a physical one. I can't fathom running that hard for so long and need to break the race into small chunks, to stay focused on one small chunk at a time, and to remain confident that I can work through bad patches. The weather looks like it may be pretty nice: upper 40's to low 50's with a small chance of light rain. If winds stay light, those are nearly ideal conditions. I'm ready to go.
Mo: off
Tu: 7
We: 8
Th: 24
Fr: 7 (in Providence, RI)
Sa: off
Su: 9
Week total: 55
Mo: 5 (back in DC)
Tu: 7
We: 20 (averaging 7:10/mi., with the second half steady at around 6:48/mi.)
Th: off
Fr: 6
Sa: 7
Su: off (skipped the Run For the Parks 10k)
Week total: 45
Mo: off
Tu: 7
We: 7
Th: 3 x 1 mile on the track averaging 6:13, with 800m recoveries (10 total)
Fr: 6.5
Sa: 12.5
Su: off
Week total: 43
Mo: 45 min. at 6:49/mi. (8 total)
Tu: off
We: 5
Th: off
Fr: 5 x 4 min. at 6:46/mi. pace with 1 min. standing rest between intervals (5 total)
Sa: off
Su: Philadelphia marathon
Total pre-marathon: 18
It turns out that I've done a kind of extended 5-week taper before the Philadelphia marathon, not entirely deliberately. After the Army 10-miler on October 20, I ran easy the following week but did one last long run at an easy pace (7:45/mi.). Almost a week later, I did my final hard long run, this time nailing the 10/10 workout that I couldn't quite pull off in early September. For the last 10 miles of a 20 mile run, I managed to hold 6:48/mi. pace, which is 2:58 marathon pace. It was difficult but gave me a lot of confidence. Afterwards I felt surprisingly ok, but in the subsequent days a tight calf led me to skip the Run For the Parks 10k and to take two days entirely off. Eventually I decided that this was caused mainly or exclusively by some new shoes (Adidas Adios Boost) that I had worn for both the Army 10-miler and the 10/10 workout. I was considering wearing those shoes in the marathon but decided to go with the stiffer Adios 2 instead. The tight calf worked itself out by the time I went to the track one last time for a few mile repeats at tempo pace in order to sharpen up and make marathon pace feel relatively slow. The next day a friend talked me into not doing a 17 miler the weekend before the marathon, as I had planned, and also suggested the schedule I'm following for race week, which is designed to lock me into race pace while allowing a lot of rest. I felt strong on Monday running at marathon pace for a quarter of the race distance, but obviously it seemed difficult to fathom running that pace for four times the distance. At this point, my main task is to prepare myself mentally for the marathon. I have no doubt that my body is ready for a sub-3 hour marathon. My workouts have shown that, and my training has been better than ever, even if these last 5 weeks didn't go as planned. Maybe the extra rest will actually be positive. But the marathon is at least as much a mental challenge as a physical one. I can't fathom running that hard for so long and need to break the race into small chunks, to stay focused on one small chunk at a time, and to remain confident that I can work through bad patches. The weather looks like it may be pretty nice: upper 40's to low 50's with a small chance of light rain. If winds stay light, those are nearly ideal conditions. I'm ready to go.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
September 30 - October 20: Weird weeks
Daily details:
Mo: 7
Tu: 14 on hills (last 4 miles 6:44, 6:42, 6:42, 6:42)
We: 7
Th: 4 x 1k in 3:46, 3:41, 3:38, 3:46 (10 total)
Fr: off (tight hamstring)
Sa: 7
Su: DNF at the Annapolis Striders Metric Marathon (but ran 18 miles)
Week total: 63
Mo: 7
Tu: 14
We: 7.5, 5.5
Th: 8
Fr: 7.5, 5.5
Sa: 8
Su: 6 x 1k in 3:51, 3:47, 3:48, 3:49, 3:47, 3:47 (12 miles total), 5 (pm)
Week total: 80
Mo: 5
Tu: 2 (felt burnt out)
We: off (back hurt)
Th: 8
Fr: 7
Sa: 5 plus 6 strides
Su: Army 10-miler in 1:02:49 (13 total)
Week total: 40
These three weeks did not go so well. I'm not sure exactly what has been going on, whether it's just plain burn-out or some more specific problem(s). Looking back over my training log, the problems seem to have started with not allowing my body to recover adequately from the Clarendon Day 10k on September 28. I didn't run well in that race and, as I typically do in such cases, I acted as if I therefore didn't need as much recovery as usual. So three days later I did a hard medium-long run, attacking up steep hills and (after getting kicked out of Rock Creek Park because of the federal government shutdown) running under marathon pace for the last four miles. My legs were still sore from pounding down the hills in the Clarendon Day race. Two days after that, I attempted to do a 6 x 1k track workout at the same pace (roughly 5:48-9/mi.) that I had run 6 x 800 two weeks earlier. Feeling weak, I couldn't handle the pace for more than a couple intervals and stopped early. Afterwards, my right hamstring hurt in the same way that it did at the end of August, again forcing me to take a day off. A couple days after that was the Annapolis Striders Metric Marathon (16+ miles), which I planned to run at around 6:45/mi. as a marathon pace training run. It was sunny and unseasonably warm that day, and humid way out in rural Maryland. My hamstring didn't bother me, and the pace felt easier than last year, especially for the first 10 miles or so. But after that, when the course started getting hillier and the heat began taking its toll, my strength deserted me. I averaged 6:46 pace for 12 miles but then fell off that pace precipitously. Shortly after the half marathon mark, I decided simply to stop instead of running myself into the ground on what was supposed to be a training run. So I walked and jogged back to my car without crossing the finish line. It was still a good enough workout, but my low energy all week was a sign that I needed to back off or burn out. For the next week, which happened to be quite rainy, I did easy and mostly short runs but still got in 80 miles by doing three doubles. At the end of the week, I figured I was ready for another workout and this time completed 6 x 1k at a slower pace (in the rain). But it was alarming that I simply could not run under 6-minute pace. Two days later I stopped two miles into an easy run and walked back home because I felt weak and burnt out. I just did not want to run, which is very unusual for me. (I almost always want to be running). The next day my lower back was a mess, probably from doing the track workout when my body remained in a weakened state. So I took another day off. By then it was clear that my 80 mile weeks are over for this training cycle. It's time for me to start resting more and get back to feeling strong again. I was worried that I may have blown it, since I've read that once you dig yourself too deeply into a hole there is no way to recover without taking significant time off. So I'm relieved to have run strongly in the Army 10-miler. I can't keep running only 40 mile weeks like I did this past week, but I think maybe I'll do a couple weeks in the 60's without any doubles and only very limited hard efforts the week after next (none this coming week). I suspect that one reason I've never run a marathon time that befits my times at all other distances is that I haven't let myself recover adequately from months of heavy training before a marathon. This time around I hope to feel fresh on race day.
Mo: 7
Tu: 14 on hills (last 4 miles 6:44, 6:42, 6:42, 6:42)
We: 7
Th: 4 x 1k in 3:46, 3:41, 3:38, 3:46 (10 total)
Fr: off (tight hamstring)
Sa: 7
Su: DNF at the Annapolis Striders Metric Marathon (but ran 18 miles)
Week total: 63
Mo: 7
Tu: 14
We: 7.5, 5.5
Th: 8
Fr: 7.5, 5.5
Sa: 8
Su: 6 x 1k in 3:51, 3:47, 3:48, 3:49, 3:47, 3:47 (12 miles total), 5 (pm)
Week total: 80
Mo: 5
Tu: 2 (felt burnt out)
We: off (back hurt)
Th: 8
Fr: 7
Sa: 5 plus 6 strides
Su: Army 10-miler in 1:02:49 (13 total)
Week total: 40
These three weeks did not go so well. I'm not sure exactly what has been going on, whether it's just plain burn-out or some more specific problem(s). Looking back over my training log, the problems seem to have started with not allowing my body to recover adequately from the Clarendon Day 10k on September 28. I didn't run well in that race and, as I typically do in such cases, I acted as if I therefore didn't need as much recovery as usual. So three days later I did a hard medium-long run, attacking up steep hills and (after getting kicked out of Rock Creek Park because of the federal government shutdown) running under marathon pace for the last four miles. My legs were still sore from pounding down the hills in the Clarendon Day race. Two days after that, I attempted to do a 6 x 1k track workout at the same pace (roughly 5:48-9/mi.) that I had run 6 x 800 two weeks earlier. Feeling weak, I couldn't handle the pace for more than a couple intervals and stopped early. Afterwards, my right hamstring hurt in the same way that it did at the end of August, again forcing me to take a day off. A couple days after that was the Annapolis Striders Metric Marathon (16+ miles), which I planned to run at around 6:45/mi. as a marathon pace training run. It was sunny and unseasonably warm that day, and humid way out in rural Maryland. My hamstring didn't bother me, and the pace felt easier than last year, especially for the first 10 miles or so. But after that, when the course started getting hillier and the heat began taking its toll, my strength deserted me. I averaged 6:46 pace for 12 miles but then fell off that pace precipitously. Shortly after the half marathon mark, I decided simply to stop instead of running myself into the ground on what was supposed to be a training run. So I walked and jogged back to my car without crossing the finish line. It was still a good enough workout, but my low energy all week was a sign that I needed to back off or burn out. For the next week, which happened to be quite rainy, I did easy and mostly short runs but still got in 80 miles by doing three doubles. At the end of the week, I figured I was ready for another workout and this time completed 6 x 1k at a slower pace (in the rain). But it was alarming that I simply could not run under 6-minute pace. Two days later I stopped two miles into an easy run and walked back home because I felt weak and burnt out. I just did not want to run, which is very unusual for me. (I almost always want to be running). The next day my lower back was a mess, probably from doing the track workout when my body remained in a weakened state. So I took another day off. By then it was clear that my 80 mile weeks are over for this training cycle. It's time for me to start resting more and get back to feeling strong again. I was worried that I may have blown it, since I've read that once you dig yourself too deeply into a hole there is no way to recover without taking significant time off. So I'm relieved to have run strongly in the Army 10-miler. I can't keep running only 40 mile weeks like I did this past week, but I think maybe I'll do a couple weeks in the 60's without any doubles and only very limited hard efforts the week after next (none this coming week). I suspect that one reason I've never run a marathon time that befits my times at all other distances is that I haven't let myself recover adequately from months of heavy training before a marathon. This time around I hope to feel fresh on race day.
Army 10-miler (race report)
The Army 10-miler is HUGE with some 26,000 people listed in the results, and the announcer at the start line was talking about 35,000 registrants. Its course shares some features with the Marine Corps Marathon, including a start/finish area by the Pentagon and the Bridge of Horror near the end of the course. This was my first time running it because for the past three years, since I got serious about running, I have done the MCM the following weekend instead. The only other 10-miler I've done recently (twice) is Cherry Blossom in the Spring. The Cherry Blossom course is flat and fast, though wind can be a factor by the Potomac river. By comparison, the Army course is slower because it is nearly as exposed to wind but hillier, and its size makes the course more congested near the start. Even though I was one of only 500 runners wearing a yellow bib, which was supposed to get me a place just behind invited runners at the start line, in fact I was surrounded by runners whose bibs were every other color (including colors that meant they were supposed to start in the second wave). Several minutes after the start I was still passing women wearing trash bags and groups of people running four across at well over 7 minute pace, and for at least the first mile I had little control over my pace. I ran about as fast as I could without expending way too much energy weaving between people. But just as I was about to conclude that this race is a poorly organized joke, like the RnR USA half, the runners on the course started thinning out so that I could pass more easily; and by the time I had finished climbing the most significant hill of the course on Virginia Avenue, I was ahead of pretty much everyone who had either started too far up or way too fast for their ability level. I had no real plan going into this race, not knowing what to expect after my DNF at the metric marathon two weeks ago and very uneven training since then. So in a way it was a good thing to be forced into starting slowly to see how I felt. I felt strong - not particularly fast, but not slow either. So after a few miles I decided not to push the pace hard but to run a moderate pace that I could hold steadily the entire way in order to make the race into a test of strength. As my splits below show, I passed that test. I did not quite run all out. When some turns and wind slowed my pace slightly in miles 7 and 8, I was especially pleased to find plenty of strength remaining to get back down to my original pace over the Bridge of Horror and through to the finish. Here are my splits this past April at Cherry Blossom side-by-side with my Army splits today:
Cherry
Mile Blossom Army
1 - 6:11 6:21
2 - 6:11 6:14
3 - 6:05 6:13
4 - 6:04 6:15
5 - 6:17 5:58 (not right)
6 - 6:22 6:14
(10k split 38:52 39:02)
7 - 6:26 6:23
8 - 6:23 6:18
9 - 6:18 6:15
10 - 6:21 6:14
Finish 1:03:01 1:02:49
(Note that these may not add up exactly because the mile paces are from my Garmin, while the 10k split and finishing times are the official ones. Both courses measured 10.07 miles on my Garmin, which gives me average paces of 6:16 for Cherry Blossom and 6:15 for Army). Basically, I ran a little faster today, on a slightly harder course, with I think a more measured effort, by starting a bit slower and holding my pace almost steady the entire way. Unlike at Cherry Blossom, I negative split the Army course today: at the 5 mile marker my watch read 31:27, which means that I ran the second half in 31:22. The next time I run the MCM, I'll have to remember zipping over the Bridge of Horror today, where I passed dozens of people who were slowing down. After my DNF two weeks ago, I'm relieved that this race turned out to be a good sign for my prospects in the marathon four weeks from now. Though I'd like to run 10 miles faster than this, I don't need to be able to do it right now in order to run a 2:59 marathon in four weeks. What I need is strength, a lot of miles in my legs, and the right balance of rest and sharpening. I'm working on that last thing.
Cherry
Mile Blossom Army
1 - 6:11 6:21
2 - 6:11 6:14
3 - 6:05 6:13
4 - 6:04 6:15
5 - 6:17 5:58 (not right)
6 - 6:22 6:14
(10k split 38:52 39:02)
7 - 6:26 6:23
8 - 6:23 6:18
9 - 6:18 6:15
10 - 6:21 6:14
Finish 1:03:01 1:02:49
(Note that these may not add up exactly because the mile paces are from my Garmin, while the 10k split and finishing times are the official ones. Both courses measured 10.07 miles on my Garmin, which gives me average paces of 6:16 for Cherry Blossom and 6:15 for Army). Basically, I ran a little faster today, on a slightly harder course, with I think a more measured effort, by starting a bit slower and holding my pace almost steady the entire way. Unlike at Cherry Blossom, I negative split the Army course today: at the 5 mile marker my watch read 31:27, which means that I ran the second half in 31:22. The next time I run the MCM, I'll have to remember zipping over the Bridge of Horror today, where I passed dozens of people who were slowing down. After my DNF two weeks ago, I'm relieved that this race turned out to be a good sign for my prospects in the marathon four weeks from now. Though I'd like to run 10 miles faster than this, I don't need to be able to do it right now in order to run a 2:59 marathon in four weeks. What I need is strength, a lot of miles in my legs, and the right balance of rest and sharpening. I'm working on that last thing.
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