2011 Goal of Sub-3:00 Marathon (Read 8006 times)

I didn't have the courage to post in here before, but I ran MCM this past weekend, and wish I would have spoke up earlier.  I went out on my third try at sub-three and, just like this year at  Boston, by mile 5 the pace felt high and unsustainable.  I was going to pull back, and one a whim decided "screw it, I'm running this pace until I burn up, I'm fine with DNF"  I kept waiting for the wheels to come off......only they never did.  The miles kept ticking by and it never got hard, I sprinted the last 50 yards to finish in 2:57:15, a pr by about 3:30, and felt better than I ever have finishing a marathon.  I was fatigued, but clear headed, and nothing was painful or sore.  Twenty minutes after finishing I jogged across the street without even thinking about it.  Today, two days later, nothing is sore....I feel completely normal.  I'm not sure what happened but it was awesome!

THIS happend.

 

Congrats.

+1 Well said

THIS happend.

 

Congrats.

So the secret formula has now been released to the running world, an extra large helping of consistency.  That is a huge, and hugely awesome run and PR.

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

Great run, DG.  Congratulations.

I didn't have the courage to post in here before, but I ran MCM this past weekend, and wish I would have spoke up earlier.  I went out on my third try at sub-three and, just like this year at  Boston, by mile 5 the pace felt high and unsustainable.  I was going to pull back, and one a whim decided "screw it, I'm running this pace until I burn up, I'm fine with DNF"  I kept waiting for the wheels to come off......only they never did.  The miles kept ticking by and it never got hard, I sprinted the last 50 yards to finish in 2:57:15, a pr by about 3:30, and felt better than I ever have finishing a marathon.  I was fatigued, but clear headed, and nothing was painful or sore.  Twenty minutes after finishing I jogged across the street without even thinking about it.  Today, two days later, nothing is sore....I feel completely normal.  I'm not sure what happened but it was awesome!

You didn't have the courage to post here, but you had the courage to keep pushing during the race.   And that is all that counts!  Congratulations on the breakthrough and the PR!  What was your pace through 5 miles?  And what was the trigger in the mind to keep on that pace, instead of backing off?  Obviously, as others have pointed out, you were prepared physically.  How did you get your mind in the right spot?

Thanks everyone for all the congrats etc!

What was your pace through 5 miles?  And what was the trigger in the mind to keep on that pace, instead of backing off?  Obviously, as others have pointed out, you were prepared physically.  How did you get your mind in the right spot?

 I was remarkably even across the whole race.  The first 5k was the slowest of the whole race, but only by a few seconds.  My second half was only 32 seconds slower than the first half.  Part of that was because around mile 24 I realized I was going to sub-3 easily and I pulled back a little just to play it a bit safe.  As far as getting to the right mental spot.....I really thought I was going to DNF and I was cool with that.  I have never done it, but it sounds somewhat honorable to me to be willing to run to the point where your body fails.

DOPPLE BOCK...you are probably right.  Over the last couple months I have been considering that I am likely a bit of a mental wimp.  Easy pace on training runs never feels truly easy.  Tempo efforts coming up the next day make me feel a bit anxious.  I have a pit in my stomach before a 5k knowing what is coming.  Everyone says the first 10 of a marathon should feel easy and light....it is not, I am working.  All that said, race results say I am running the correct paces......my brain perception of effort is just wimpy I guess.

Congrats, DG! Looking forward to your log entry to read a little more detail...

Thanks for the walk down memory lane. MCM '08 was my first sub-3. I can imagine you running around the D.C. landmarks and passing many runners in that second half. 

Pretty sweet to place in the 100s in a race with 20,000 finishers. Lots of room to run for a runner at your pace.

Not a bad consolation prize - Nice effort 

Official time of 2:47:31 at Two Cities Marathon.  About five minutes slower than I wanted, but it's not surprising based on my training.  I'm likely going to have to take some time off to fully heal my left Achilles which made me miss a bunch of runs during this whole training period.  I would have liked to at least PR, (<2:44:51) but I'm happy I didn't completely blow up and have to walk it.  Maybe next year.

 

How did all the NYC runners do?