SS - BMW Dallas Marathon Race Report
Sunday 12/15/2019 - a perfect day to execute a marathon in Dallas, Texas
3 weeks out from completing IMCOZ, and never having performed a stand alone marathon, I made a last minute decision to jump in. I weighed the benefit of having IM endurance in my legs vs. the risk of residual IM fatigue.
My plan below mapped out a 4 hour marathon.
I was well hydrated having taken a handful of salt pills for dessert the night before along with a gallon or so of water.
Race morning I woke up at 5:45 a.m., got dressed, had steel cut oats, berries and a bottle of GE along with coffee.
I arrived at the race site 1 hour before kickoff and sat in my car badgering the Sunday CnC riders over Discord for a while.
I went to the bathroom, lined up in corral "B" and we were off exactly on time at 8:40 a.m. with a mild 55 degrees for the start. Probably around 20,000 combined racers and spectators in attendance.
Mile 1 was just jog along at EZ pace while things warmed up. When your bones, muscles and tendons are 52 years old, warming up the first mile is a good thing........
Miles 2 - 5 I began drinking two small cups of GE at each aid station and trying to focus on a 9:15 pace while temps warmed up to ~60 degrees. Life was good and unicorns/lollipops seemed to be everywhere.
Goal was to hold 8:55 pace for the remaining 20 miles if at all possible. I remained disciplined ingesting GE only at every aid station and life seemed to be manageable and in control through mile 18. At this point temperatures had risen to ~65 degrees.
Miles 19 and 20 came with a noticeable change in RPE. All unicorns, cotton candy, lollipops, smiles and general comments had disappeared. HR went from 150 bpm to 155/156 bpm and pace slowed dramatically while RPE rose......I was being introduced the Marathon WALL. Well, I am a stubborn man. However, while I manage the conversation taking place between my brain and legs during these two miles, I did not realize mile 21 was a steep incline back out of lake White Rock heading home with temps on the way to 70 degrees. As I arrived upon the hill noting what was up ahead, I made up my mind not to walk the hill like the masses where doing......maybe a mistake. Upon reaching the top of the hill at mile 22, I was mandated immediately to the bathroom with HR now at 162 bpm and some dizziness.
Miles 22 - 26.2 were fairly miserable. I drank GE at mile 22 and skipped everything else on the way in. 3 miles of WTF basically.......
Great day, good race, strong effort and feeling lucky to do it, frankly. Post marathon transition for ~10 days and into the OS I go! #YOLO!
Comments
Great effort @Shaughn Simmons , quite frankly I find stand alone marathons REALLY hard & great work getting it done just 3 weeks after IMCOZ, I did a similar thing in 2016 & yes... those last 6 miles sucked 😁
Never a doubt you'd finish.
I've got two questions:
@KARL BONNER - yes, very different experience from an IM marathon to say the least. Thx for the bump my friend.
@Al Truscott - thanks for reading.
What did you learn?
1 - Trust in your fitness - my legs and bones hurt pretty bad by mile 22 and felt like something might tear, crack or fail but I did remind myself that the fitness was there and fortunately I found mile 26.2 without any injuries, just tired sore muscles.
2 - Anytime you run beyond 2.5 hours plus, its going to be hard to fake nutrition, execution and application of fitness by just winging it. Whether you are running and IM marathon or a standalone marathon, going beyond that 2.5 hour mark is going to reveal any mistakes in pacing, nutrition, etc....As I grow older I am finding I do not have the brute strength I once had to overcome my stupidity and lack of race execution skills. Paying attention to detail, your current environment, your needs in the moment, as well as staying in your box can have deliver a huge ROI after the 2.5 hour mark and beyond on the run.
3 - Having completed 2 marathons in the last 3 weeks, I can see that the run is really where most of the damage is done during an IM. As we preach in the haus, everything we do during race day should be in preparation for the 2nd half of the IM run. Day 2 from standalone marathon, I cannot walk up and down steps unsupported. The standalone experience and resulting fatigue reinforces the notion of setting up yourself during the swim and bike of an IM for a successful run.
Will you do another one?
1- At some point down the road, yes, a local one. I can't see traveling and spending $$$ for an event that's going to be over in ~4 hours. I will spend the $$$ for a full distance IM given the challenge, complexity, strategy and length of the race, but not for a 4 hour event. Additionally, the standalone does serious damage and requires 2-3 weeks of recovery time.........I would also need to fit that into a schedule that aligns somehow with my key races down the road as well as the limited Texas training window we have given our heat during 6-8 months out the year.
Thanks for always leading!
a stand-alone Mary only a few weeks after an IM?!? #stupidhumantricks LOL
Way to gut it out SS!
One of these days we'll have to go around the world to meet each other face-to-face instead of up the road.
@Shaughn Simmons Way to get it done after IMCOZ. Enjoy a few days at the end of the year to reflect on your accomplishments! I can't wait to follow your build to IMSG.
KMF
those last miles in a mary are always interesting. Congrats on the finish and putting yourself out there. Very enjoyable RR to read as well. See you in the OS!
Congrats on a strong marathon. Your last six miles were very typical, especially for your first open and you managed them well. It takes a few races to figure out ( in training and execution) how to finish at goal pace or faster. Agree with all your comments on an open marathon and recommend at least 2 weeks of no running (actually that's a Coach P rule)
@Scott Alexander - lol - so true about flying half way around the word to meet face to face....can I talk you into a May IMSG?
@Jeff Phillips - thanks for reading and commenting.......... What are your 2020 plans?
@scott dinhofer - thanks brotha, looking forward to inflaming our legs together this OS!
@Derrek Sanks - I appreciate those comments and reassurance regarding the last 10K experience of a standalone marathon coming from you! I am standing down from the run for at least 10 days! See you in the OS my friend!
Way to get it done and congratulations @Shaughn Simmons ! A marathon after an IM and a hot IM at that has to be tough. I liked your comment “ All unicorns, cotton candy, lollipops, smiles and general comments had disappeared.” At least you had that for 20 miles :). You might be able to work in a fun marathon in a city you travel to for work since it’s much easier to fit in compared to an IM (if you wanted to). Way to lead!
@Tim Sullivan thanks reading and chiming in. That's a great suggestion to consider a marathon in some location where your work travel brings you. I will consider if it fits in the bigger picture/plan at the time!
Interesting choice to race this. But might as well use the fitness to do things. which is the point i guess.
we should pick an EN marathon to do as a team.
see you soon.
@Shaughn Simmons solid race coming off an IM. 3miles of WTF is a long time to be thinking about it, then again not that long in reflection mistakes in an IM.
Some thoughts below on the numbers you provided.
Perhaps some lingering fatigue from the IM but also you were faster that you 8:55 pace from mile 7- 12 so did not really give yourself and opportunity to building to the race, lollipops and unicorns were to big and bright. Given the 1' slow down at mile 19 and then the 14' mile 22 some truly strong mental toughness to finish the final miles at a similar pace to mile 19.
From memory also given the 142 HR at mile 6 was it , and a cap of 140 for the recent IM versus the 150 and 155+ you were seeing in this marathon, I'm thinking without having some dedicated higher end tempo runs, mile repeats and 800's for marathon training you were running too hard early on for your fitness or again still fatigued. I've just been watching some WKO 5.0 tutorials and thinking of the time to exhaustion you were too close to your running FTP. That 10 BPM over the IM cap then it jumped up 5-6 beats was too much above your diesel engine IM training level.
Maybe a Stryd would provide additional metric(s) in addition to HR/RPE particularly for the hills. It would be interesting to see your HR data along side those splits along with some elevation information. Were the 8'46" at mile 8 and 10 comparable or was the effort of one substantially more. Unless you have a very flat marathon course setting a 8'55" target can be problematic for execution. At the lower temps of the marathon you just did the Stryd it could be more of a tool, hot races like IMCOZ HR/RPE would have to rule the day unless you can train in those conditions on a regular basis and have good data. You use bike power very well perhaps a tool to look in to.
@Gordon Cherwoniak - thanks so much for reading and chiming in! My first standalone marathon - was interesting to say the least.
I wouldn't compare IM HR targets with marathon targets in terms of HR because IM is a ~11-12 hour event vs. ~4 hour marathon. Simply you can run that engine at a much higher intensity for 4 hours vs. the intensity you would manage at 12 hours.
Main issue was that I was trained for IM racing which included both bike and swim load in the training vs. a standalone marathon plan that would not have any swim/bike load in the training and, as a result, allow for more intensity/TSS build on the running discipline.
You can focus on 800s for marathon training which has proven to be effective, but trying to fit that into an IM plan with swimming and biking would be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
In other words, you have to pick your poison, is it going to IM or marathon?........... and I chose IM, then used some the endurance to run a standalone marathon and got what I got.
The main thing I did learn from doing a standalone is how much fatigue and hurt comes from the marathon which refocused my IM racing strategy going forward in terms of adhering to EN guidance of managing IM race day as if everything you do is done to set you up for the back half of the marathon leg - The Hurt Locker!
@Shaughn Simmons I think you made my points much clearer and we agree. Perhaps I should not respond at 1am after falling asleep on the couch watching the basketball game I recorded.