Coach P's Philadelphia Marathon Race Report (2012)
I ran the Philly Marathon on November 18th in memory of my good friend, Chris Gleason, who passed away at mile 25 there exactly one year ago. While this race was about much more than performance, I clocked a 3:03 for my third fastest open marathon time.
More Than Sport
As an entrepreneur in the endurance sports niche, I spend the vast majority of my time working on / in / around athletics. It's an inherently selfish endeavor, save for the odd person racing to raise funds or awareness for a cause.
While I wasn't fundraising, my focus on this race had very little to do with performance. I really struggled to think of how I was going to train, prepare and execute my day…my mind bounced back and forth between being on site to remember Chris and racing the race.
With my mind outside of simply performance, I was able to have a great time connecting with some old friends and quite a few new ones as well. We kept it simple, and the meet up area after the race was the perfect space to enjoy a few beers and memories of Chris.
Stupid Human Tricks
#1 - Gaining Weight: In the six weeks leading up to Philly, I spend 14 days doing nothing as I was recovering from Ironman Hawaii. Then I loosely started training again, sidetracked only by a trip to Ironman Florida to support Endurance Nation.
#2 - Falling Down: I was about to get back on track when I fell while running at night and fractured my forearm, setting me back another week. This left me only 7 days to do any real running before the race. The runs were sluggish at best, and slightly painful, but after a few five milers I felt as though my stride was coming back a bit.
#3 - Dash and Crash: At mile five a fellow runner dropped something and she decided to stop and get it…which is practically impossible. Aside from turning a nice run with friends into an f-bomb festival for her ignorance, she also managed to create a pile up that included me tweaking my fractured arm and, miraculously, losing my Garmin 305 from my other wrist. Awesome.
What You Don't Train For Can Hurt You
Given my mediocre fitness and extra weight, I was unable to run to my potential. Or rather, I ran my best but given my constraint that means my top-end was a 3:03 on the day.
What I didn't count on, however, was just how beat up my legs would be afterwards. As in super sore, worse than any race in memory. I am glad I did it, but man I am not going to make a "non-training" mistake again anytime soon.
Lessons Learned & Next Steps
- A marathon, whether serious or for fun, requires some solid preparation. I must respect the distance.
- If your marathon feels like "work" at mile eight (instead of mile 15), you are in for a long day.
- Navigating aid stations with a bum right hand is zero fun.
- The people who run the pacing groups apparently do not where GPS devices to manage their pace. The 3-hour group at Philly ran 7:00/mile (instead of 6:50s) for the first few miles…but closed it out with 6:40s over the final 10 miles, snapping me off the back!
- Less clothing is more, even on a cold (dry) day.
- You can still race a race even if you aren't at peak fitness.
Despite my promises to the contrary, I am interested in running a standalone marathon in the future, with good preparation. I think if my fitness and execution and weight are dialed in on the right course, I might have an outside chance of cracking the 2:50 mark. Given I race at 185 pounds, that's no small feat, but then again, I don't do this stuff because it's easy.
So here's to many more Mile 25s -- and beyond!
See you at the races,
~ Patrick
Comments
Enjoy some much deserved down time! Heal well and have a great Thanksgiving!
What happens when your brain is in better shape than your body! Sometimes a shuffle is better than a push.
Good on ya for being there for Chris G
Hope your recovery goes well, and have a nice Thanksgiving.
I am very jealous and impressed that you could half-azz your way to a 3:03. Hats off!!!!!
In my single experience at Philly in '09, I too found the pace groups to be worthless. I discovered that the 9:00 group leader (I wanted to break 4) was banking about 0:30/mi for the first bunch of miles, but I didn't hear him say so until around mi 18. And yes, I paid for it. Crappy 4:07.
Next time, I only trust my own watch.