Is running the entire 26.2 a reasonable goal?
I've hesitated to post this goal that I have. IMCDA will be my 4th Ironman. In the previous three I have walked some of the marathon - the good news is I have walked less with each IM (IMCDA, IMMOO and IMSG - yes, I walked A LOT less at IMSG). Anyway, a goal for me, probably THE goal is to not walk the marathon (except for aid stations and any unplanned visits to the Butt Hut). This is why I fired my $$$ coach, this is why I bought some EN plans, this is why I did the OS and this is why I became an EN subscriber. I did all of this because I believe that it is possible for me to run the marathon and run it well.
So the question is...does this goal make sense and is it possible? My belief is that 90% of it comes down to execution and not being an idiot when I'm out on my bike. I know IMCDA and I know the run course (and yes I know it has changed = more uphill). This is what's motivating me this year - to run the whole run.
Comments
It's absolutely reasonable. If you pace the bike correctly, nail your nutrition and don't booger the early miles of the run, you have a great shot at it.
All that the training plan and race execution will do is to put you in a position to be able to chose to continue running when it gets really hard. It will not be the easy Choice. It will hurt lots. That is the time for the "one thing" and having a plan for what you are going to rely on when the body debates the mind. You will be very alone when that debate happens and it will be all up to you to decide what happens next. I like the term suckitupituide. How much are you going to bring to the table will be the biggest factor in determining if running the entire time happens or not.
I went into my first Ironman last year without any major split or overall time based goals, although I ended up with a few essentially derived from the first. First and foremost, my goal was to run the marathon. In my definition of running, I planned for some 'tactical walking' such as in portions of the aid stations to take in some calories but heeding RnP's advice about getting moving again.
On race day, I found out just how incredibly difficult it is to keep moving. First few aid stations I grabbed a cup and kept on going, soon I began taking the coaches advice about only walking a set number of paces (at aid stations) then running again. Later though, I really began to suffer and started walking larger sections of the aid stations, and once I convinced myself that I really had to pee just so I could stop, def. didn't need to pee, just was searching for any excuse.
As the others will attest, and you are certainly aware of given your greater IM experience than myself, it is enormously mentally difficult, perhaps more mental than physical. I do agree that it is predominately about execution not fitness, but even with good execution it is still a tough mental battle. I've since debated quite a bit whether or not it was a good idea to afford any concessions whatsoever. Once you say it's ok to walk part of an aid station, it's oh so easy to extend that to the whole aid station. Once you decide to stop running for any moment in between aid stations, you are on a slippery slope to doing a whole lot more walking than running.
In either case, I still tell myself at least that I ran the marathon, aid stations aside, but it is definitely the area that I feel most motivated to improve on in the future. I may be able to say I ran the marathon, but my next major goal is to say that I raced the marathon, I think there's a difference.
You've given me some things to think about. When I talk about running the entire 26.2 marathon I'm talking about running it minus walking through aid stations to consume fuel and/or hitting the bathroom (if needed). Your observation though about it becoming increasingly tempting to walk "just a little more" here and there in an aid station is a good point.
What I need to to is recreate my most recent race execution and mentality, which was at Calif 70.3. I will be the first to recognize and admit that a 70.3 run is nowhere near the same difficulty as an IM. But I've been in 70.3 races before where I slowed and walked the aid station for a few steps with the excuse that I needed to get refueled. At Calif 70.3 I had a vendetta against a previously poorly executed 70.3 run and I wanted to run/race that sucker. So I barely slowed to fuel and just kept moving. Never once thought about slowing because I knew that once I did I would cave in.
These little games go a long way in helping you continue to run vs walk.
http://members.endurancenation.us/GroupsView/tabid/102/asg/50/showtab/groupforums/Default.aspx
Awesome. I find out about more cool stuff on EN every day. Thanks for the invite.
@ Jim - Not only is it a reasonable goal, it is your PRIMARY goal for the race. Think of everything you are doing, all of your training, nutrition planing, and race execution as being focused on this ONE thing.
I wrote myself a little blog entry about this Saturday night (to start my motivation towards that goal), I'll reproduce a bit of it here (it's actually a part of a dialog I had with an ENer who's racing IM SG, whom I rode with this weekend).
...what you want to be doing is start out at a pace so ridiculously stupidly slow that it feels like easy pace for a turtle, or for your grandmother. Then, after about 3-6 miles, you’ll find yourself going the same speed, but now it feels like the usual easy pace. As the race progresses, if you maintain the same speed, you should be ‘feeling’ yourself work through marathon pace, half marathon pace, until, in the last six miles, you are at the feeling of TP, or 10K pace. And, if you’ve timed things right, you can get into 5K zone in the last 2-3 miles, and IP, or what seems like all out, in the last 1/4 mile.
... you’ve got to uncouple in your mind the association you’ve learned between rate of perceived exertion and speed. There are two really hard parts about this. First, at the start, we don’t spend very much time at ‘easy pace plus 30 seconds’, so going that slow requires a fair amount of mental effort and attention. And then, at some point between 10 and 20 miles – it’s different each time, it seems – a war starts in your head. A war of belief, part of you knowing you can and should go faster, and part feeling you can’t and don’t want to.
My resolution to that war is to just get out of the line of fire – ‘I’ simply drop out of the conflict, and let my body win. My conscious mind’s only function is to remind my body it CAN up the effort level if it starts to slack off. But the less attention ‘I’ pay to effort, the better I do. I just check my mile splits, and use them to confirm my body is doing what it can.
Other people, though, when they let their body ‘win’, find that means slowing down or walking. Those folks – you may or may not be one of them – need to have a very POWERFUL pre-programmed motivation for continuing to increase their perceived rate of effort. Our coaches call that the ‘one thing’, and I do use that, but mine is pretty simple – time. I have a time which I commit to within the first three miles of the marathon, based on a belief (a) I know how to run *easy* enough at the start and (b) I know I have trained to be able to maintain that speed/pace thru the whole race by gradually increasing my perceived level of effort. I use those mile splits as my ‘whip’ to keep upping the ante...
As Tucker says, come on over to the IM CDA group; part of what we do is mutually reinforce our beliefs that we WILL be able to execute the race to only walk the aid stations.
Good stuff below.
I have run 5 stand alone marathons and flamed during each. Walked a lot at everyone. No plan. And I am inherently not a runner.
At IM CdA 2009 my "One Thing" was to run the whole marathon. Following the EN race excution plan I paced properly on the swim and the bike and other than the 30" walks at a few aid stations to fuel, etc. I ran the WHOLE frigging marathon. Finshed strong and after mile 18 I had 170+ Road Kill. I passed about 7 % of the overall field.
So if I can do YOU CAN do it!
John