Grandma's Marathon Race Report
Prologue:
My hopes to run Boston in 2014 were dashed over the Christmas Holidays when I developed an Acute Bronchial infection which morphed into a diagnosis of Asthma. It took until March to really be able to run; and then, even easy “jogs” felt like I was racing a 10k. With my doctor’s help, we finally got the medication worked out so that I could run better at the end of March and beginning of April. By then, however, I was starting to look forward to my training for Ironman Mont Tremblant scheduled in August. The plan called for a 20 week training effort which would begin April 1, 2013. How much of those early weeks could I devote to marathon training versus the IM training I would need. Then ,in the last two weeks before the marathon I would have to taper and for at least a week afterwards I would be recovering; a hole of at least 3 weeks in the middle. Oh, well, I will have to wait until next year. ;<(</p>
I worked on my running as well as the swimming and biking, and did not give it any more thought. After the events of Boston this year I was very frustrated that I would not be going. I really wanted to be there to show my support to Boston, to the running community, and to be a part of what I believe will be a very special event. Then, on April 25th I read a blog post from Al Truscott, one of my Endurance Nation teammates. http://bikrutz.org/triblog/?p=1161 Al is one of our “Wicked Smart Members” and he had a similar dilemma: he is signed up for an Ironman on September 22 and figured he had until mid July for a race to qualify, and he found one that fit the bill. I was inspired! If he can do it, I can sure give it a try. After some searching I found Grandma’s in Duluth Minnesota on June 22, just on the edge of enough time to get in some conditioning and just enough time to, hopefully, recover. On April 28 I ran 15 miles, not fast, but a good start. I posted here that I was going to give this my best shot. I followed a combination of the EN "Marathon Hack" and Runners World "Run Less Run Faster."
In April I ran a total of 8 times: 53.6 miles at an average pace of 8:50. I started May off with a Bang doing the Little Mountain 25k Trail Race in the Seattle area and had the biggest running month since 2011. 13 runs for a total of 101 miles. Things were coming along but I sure wished I had another month. On June 3 I did my longest training run, 21.2 miles on the treadmill. It was a bit of a struggle and I certainly had to play some mind games, not only due to the tediousness of the TM, but also due to the length of the run. Was I in condition for this adventure? I had the speed , but I was concerned about the endurance. On June 12 Coach Patrick said “David, the work is done. You need to make a race plan and get ready.” It was time to taper. Ran Monday: easy with pickups; Wednesday 2 miles w/u and 2 miles at 8:00 (slightly faster than race pace) then off until race day. Feeling good, but not exactly overconfident. Wrote Coach and said: “Start with the 3:35 group. Under normal circumstances I would aim for sub 3:30. With my lack of training I think 3:30 - 3:35 will be good. My BQ is 3:40 and I am hoping that 5+' under will be sufficient, although I know that is a risk. I do not want to aim too high and blow up. I plan to wear my Garmin 910 and monitor the pace group pace keeping it at about 8 - 8:15 (3:30 - 3:35.) At 18 - 20 miles I can check to see how I am feeling and if strong pick it up a bit for a time closer to 3:30. If I am struggling, I will try to stay with the pace group. Each mile after I can make the same choices.”
Race Morning: Really did not sleep much pre race, never do. The mind is always going a million miles an hour. We had an hour twenty drive from Hayward, Wi at McCormick House – great place - to the shuttle pick up in Superior which left between 5:30 and 6. Barbara rushed me out of the room at 4:20 and we arrived at 5:40. I drank a bottle of Bolthaus Vanilla Chai as a morning nutrition on the drive. Picked up at Barker’s Island ( I highly recommend this stop.) Used the restroom, filled my sport bottles, grabbed a water and then off we went for about an hour bus ride to the race start. It was fairly crowded but I made my way to a relatively clear spot where I sat for about 15 minutes to relax. Ate a powerbar at about 7. Did my inhaler at 7:15 and took my gear bag over to the drop off at about 7:20 and made my way to the Porta potties. Although there were plenty, it still took quite a while and they announced the 5 minute advance for the wheel chairs and 10 minutes for runners just as I was sitting down. Oops. Did not get a chance to do any real warmup or stretching. Finished my business and made my way to the 3:35 pace group. Started just behind so I would have a little leeway. Here we go. I thought about the reasons I was here and those that could not be. This is something I want to do, let’s give it the best shot. The weather had been forecasting T-Storms all morning but we were very lucky. Race temp was 55 degrees, overcast with fog. Almost perfect running weather!
The Race: The gun went off and it actually took about 1:23 to cross the start line. There was aid at every other mile so I would sip Perform from my Fuel Belt on the even miles and take Powerade at the aid stations on the odd miles. The pacer was running at a good clip, just over 8:00 minute miles. You could really tell as you would go through an aid station and lose 20 yards to him. At about 2 miles I had a little "spit up" either from the Bolthaus or the combination of all the morning's nutrition, but no problem. We hit 10k in 50:20 an 8:06 average. At mile 8 I had to make a quick stop (;<)) but he was still in sight when I started running again and I took about 2 miles or so to catch back up. I wanted to conserve the extra energy. At about 10 miles I could start to feel my quads getting a little heavy. I had not really experienced that in the training, I do not know if it is because I primarily train on the treadmill, or just that day or what? We hit the ½ marathon point at 1:46:54. The crowd was talking about the pace setting up for about a 3:34 finish. I could not believe how large the group was still at that point. I thought to myself that the pace was strong but I felt strong and this was going to be a good day. Other than the quads all else was “cruising.” </p>
I do not know if I was drinking too much or what, but again at 16 miles I had to make a quick stop. This time when I started running, the pacer was lost in the fog and I never found him again. Miles 16, 17, 18 and 19 clicked off at 8:03, 8:10, 8:06 and 7:58. From mile 20 on there are some bigger hills and between the distance, now longer than I had run this year, the hills, and the course in general, I think I lost some focus and slowed down a bit. Although the official result says from 19.3 to 23.1 I passed 110 people and was only passed by 10, my pace was 8:24, the slowest of the race for me. It also started raining at about 20 miles and that may have been a factor as well. At 24 miles you turn and there is a short steep downhill and then back up. My quads were really feeling the downhill and I could not gain any momentum. We went past the 25 mile mark and I was able to pick it up a bit thinking I had a chance to break 3:35….
3:35:29. I made my BQ by 4:31. I do not know if that is good enough to get me in, but I know on this day, with the training I had, the conditions in which we ran, that was about the best I could do! I will just have to leave it at that and see what happens come September when Boston registration opens. Oh, and Garmin says I was “stopped” for 1 minute 11 seconds along the way. If that is what I miss getting in by I guess I have no one to blame but myself. This was a very nice race. I would recommend it both as a marathon to do and as a BQ location. The crowd was a bit sparse, but the organization was great. If it were not for the fog I am sure the scenery would have been spectacular running along Lake Superior.
Official results:
|
Location |
Race Time |
Time of Day |
Pace Between |
Overall Place |
Division Place |
Sex Place |
Age Graded Place |
Passed / By |
|
Time |
3:35:29 |
11:23:59 |
8:19 |
1256/5615 |
42/208 |
977/3272 |
693/5615 |
19/8 |
|
25M |
3:25:31 |
11:14:01 |
8:18 |
1273/5595 |
43/208 |
989/3260 |
700/5595 |
39/10 |
|
23.1M |
3:09:45 |
10:58:15 |
8:24 |
1309/5607 |
43/208 |
1023/3270 |
725/5607 |
110/10 |
|
19.3M |
2:37:52 |
10:26:22 |
8:15 |
1401/5610 |
48/208 |
1103/3271 |
775/5610 |
71/5 |
|
16.2M |
2:12:18 |
10:00:48 |
8:12 |
1476/5608 |
53/207 |
1158/3270 |
817/5608 |
46/32 |
|
13.1M |
1:46:54 |
9:35:24 |
8:13 |
1497/5611 |
53/207 |
1170/3270 |
836/5611 |
60/76 |
|
10K |
50:20 |
8:38:49 |
8:06 |
1479/5612 |
50/208 |
1152/3271 |
846/5612 |
178/184 |
|
Chip Start |
1:23 |
7:48:30 |
1445/5615 |
52/208 |
1124/3272 |
1124/5615 |
||
|
Gun Start |
00:00 |
7:47:08 |
Garmin Connect: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/332665222
Comments
Maybe there is something here to learn about morning of the race nutrition/hydration, for a race which is "only" 3.5 hours long, and which is run in the cool (and wet) of an overcast morning. And the necessity of drinking ever mile, again with those conditions