New Orleans Rock-n-Roll Mardi Gras Marathon - A Cautionary Tale for the Beginner (Read 663 times)

After Chicago (4:58:38 ), I had decided that an even 11:00 minute pace and a time near 4:50 would be a perfect goal for New Orleans.  However, with the return of cool temperatures I discovered that I actually had gained some speed.  My last 20-miler, 3 weeks before the race was at 10:30 and I decided that 4:35 was going to be my goal as long as we got cool weather (a caveat I would conveniently forget later).  Two weeks before the race disaster struck in the form of an athletic windfall.  I ran a local half marathon with the intention of doing it at marathon pace or a little better. Sort of a training run with a little extra.  Since I run everything at an easy pace, it wouldn't be that hard on me.  Instead I ran 9:17 and PR'd by 17 minutes.  This had two effects: 1)it took a greater toll on my body then I intended (or realized); 2)suddenly 4:20 looked like an achievable goal.

 

So, despite a lack of evidence, I decided I was going to run 4:22. I was going to start at 10 and then stay nice and steady throughout. I've always run very conservatively, but have said I wanted to run a race and struggle to finish so I would know that I hadn't been too conservative.  Sometimes you get what you wish for....

 

We drove 8 hours to NO on Saturday and hit the expo at 3.  If you've done a Rock-n-Roll race then it would have looked very familiar. Big bib number, new fangled "D-tag" instead of a chip, plastic gear check bag and a shirt.  I was surprised by the shirt as the design was pretty low-key.  Shirt itself was grey (black for half marathoners) Brooks.  A little big, but comfortable.  The Expo was smaller than Nashville's, but the size of the field was about half as big.  Other than Brooks and Herbalite, no big exhibitors.

 

Race day began with a mile-walk to the start.  Temp was supposed to be in low 40's, but was high 40's.  The high for the day was supposed to be mid-50s, but it turned out to be mid-60s (remember what I said about cool weather? I didn't).  The familiar row of UPS trucks for bag-check and then into the corrals. I had moved up to the 4:30 corral so was in lucky 13.  They were releasing two corrals at a time, but it still took 29 minutes to get to start.

 

The first mile was down Tchoupitoulas and was the least scenic part of the course. Industrial and somewhat narrow.  Surprisingly, things weren't too congested and not much weaving.  Once we turned into the residential areas the course became more scenic and remained so throughout.  The houses were very impressive, Audobon Park was gorgeous with moss hanging from the trees.  And of course the French Quarter was great. Unfortunately, the track itself was not as nice.  The road surface was very broken up in many places and the roads had a very high crown.  For most of the first half of the race I spent a lot of time watching my feet.  Crowd support was almost non-existent.  I had been warned that this was a problem with previous NO Marathons, and it was true on Sunday.   On the flip side, the bands were good.  There were many water stations that were manned by organized groups: cavemen, Elvises/Elvii, the red dress society and they were very enthusiastic.  The cheer squads were few, but did a great job as well.

 

Like Nashville, the scenic highlights are in the first half of the course where the half marathoners are, and then it gets a more boring in the second half.  Most of the second half (14.5 on) was run in and around City Park with a 3 mile out and back into a residential neighborhood.  Side note: while the course was shared with half-marathoners, after the course split at 3.5 we were always separated either by medians or cones when we were on the same road.  On the upside, the roads were better in the second half.  As one would expect, the course was very flat.  A few very gentle grades. The only really noticeable hill was an underpass at 20/22 on the out-and-back, but it was short.  There were a couple of pedestrian bridges in the last two miles that were only noticeable because it was the last two miles.

 

All-in-all a good race and worth considering.  The course is fast, it is scenic. It's a fun city.  If the roads get fixed, it will be even better.  Good shirt.  Good medal.  There were some logistical issues: bag pick-up was a pretty long walk from the finish and it was a tremendous hike from the post-race concert area to the shuttle buses; but hopefully those will improve in future incarnations of the race.

 

So I went out of the gate right on pace, 9:48. And followed that up with 8 more between 9:53 and 10:00.  In mile 10 I realized I was slowing down.  No obvious reason so I decided we must have been on a slight incline because we started a small downhill and I picked the pace up and got back on course. I hit the 11 mile mark with about 30 seconds in the bank, but my heart rate which had been around 154 was cresting 160 (80% of max).  At the half-marathon check I was almost dead-on: 2:11:04, but a)I had given back my thirty seconds and b)my hear rate was nearing 170.  At this point I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold that pace. 

 

So, I did the sensible thing: I held pace for three more miles. At 16 I was 22 seconds off pace and heart rate was nearing 180.  I struggled through the next two miles at 10:21 and 10:29 and then I was done.  I tried walking a little, but it didn't help much, plus I didn't want to walk too much. I tried to convince myself that I had less than a 10K to go and surely I could hold it together so I picked it up and pushed on.  Then I saw the 20 mile sign.  What a gut punch. How had I lost track? Mile 19 was 11:12, hit the head in mile 20 for a 12:03.  I was walking every half mile or so at this point.  And that's the way it went the rest of the way, less and less running more and more walking. Staged a bit of a recovery in mile 23, but couldn't sustain it.  At 25 I decide I'm running it the rest of the way no matter what.  Then I come upon one of those little bridges and decide it would be OK to walk to the top.  At the top of the bridge I almost face plant as all blood rushes from my head.  Better start running again.  Now both arms go completely numb and I realize I may have a problem.  Thankfully, for the first time all day, I do something sensible and decide its OK to walk.  Walk most of the way to 26 and then shuffle-run in the last .2

 

One quick rant: why do races feel they need to hide the finish line?  This one was the worst. You wind around then you get on this nice straight-away, but the finish is tucked around the corner.  Why can't they put it out there where all of God's creatures can see it?  End rant.

 

Finish time: 4:39:24. Missed my goal by 17 minutes, ran a 17 minute positive split.  Race Log

 

But I PR'd by 19 minutes.  At this moment in the place where my mind is at, that's not good enough, but that's what I'm going to try and focus on.

 

Here are the lessons I learned that I hope every beginner can learn from.  All of these were things I knew and had read, but chose to ignore:

• Don't run an aggressive half-marathon 2 weeks before you try and run an aggressive full-marathon. You may think that you can recover in two weeks because its not much different then recovering from a long training run, but that investment in effort is huge and takes the newbie longer to recover then you'd think.
• Don't drive 8 hours to a race the next day if you want to do your best. That being said, my traveling buddy ran sub-3 so it didn't bother him.
• Don't walk a lot the day before the race. Between the walk to the expo and the walk to find a place that didn't have a hour-plus wait for dinner I put way too many miles on my legs. I felt OK at the start, but not strong.  These first three factors combined to cause that, I think.
• Don't pick a goal for which there is no supporting evidence.  A running coach, with many years of experience, told me I should run 4:30 and I chose to ignore him.  Had I made that my goal I would have likely achieved it and would have had  a more positive experience.
• Don't wait for the wheels to come off to change your plan.  I should have been slowing down at mile 10, not at mile 16.  Giving up a few seconds now is a lot better then giving up minutes later.
• Don't spend 5-6 miles beating yourself up because you aren't making your goals.  Have a plan if things go wrong:  know your happy place and how to get there; engage with the volunteers and spectators; do something. It will definitely make things more pleasant and may improve your performance.
• Don't forget the sunscreen.

A few thanks: to my friend Greg who's willing to wait 2 hours for me to finish (and that's the least thing he does for my running career), to Buckeye from these boards for pushing people to make their 1500-mile goal in the 1500-mile group which made sure I was in the best condition I have ever been in, and to the fine folks in the 1243-mile group who have provided great information, inspiration and support.

I am doing my 1st marathon in about 8 weeks.  I have my 1st HM in 4 weeks which should leave me enough time for recovery.  It's great to read your story because I have butterflies about my 1/2 marathon.  I've only run a 10K and a few 5Ks, but my brother did NYC last year and challenged me.

 

I also plan on running a 9:30-10 minute pace for the HM. I plan on 10-10:30 for the marathon, but the plan does not always happen as you expect on race day.  Do you feel like you went out too fast?