Short Story

5^th Marathon

3:20:42 (BQ and PR by ~4 minutes)

193/2158 Overall

169/1645 Men

16/204 AG

Getting There

This is marathon #3 of 2013 and 15 weeks after my last one at Grandma’s. At the Duluth race I managed to BQ, but my time wasn’t quite fast enough to get in to Boston in 2014 because of the huge demand (missed it by 57 seconds). After Grandma’s I took 3 weeks to reverse taper and then started a modified Pfitz 12/70 plan with additional miles added.

Over the course of training I averaged in the mid to upper 70’s for weekly mileage and threw in a couple of 90 mile weeks for giggles. I was originally shooting for a 3:20 goal but training was going well and I shifted my workouts to try out a 3:15 goal (7:26 pace). While my speed was there to hit the 3:15 goal, I didn’t think I was quite there yet to hold it for the full 26.2 and mentally settled on running a 3:18.

A buddy from church and I drove over to Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon and grabbed our race packets and wandered around the small expo. We ran into some other friends from our town and chatted a bit before heading to our hotel to check in. I went out for a little 2 mile run to loosen up my legs and then we went to dinner. After getting back to the hotel, I checked the weather and the forecast was for 54 degrees and light winds out of the S/SW – a slight headwind/crosswind. Given the favorable conditions, I then decided to just risk a blow-up and go ahead and shoot for 3:15. So, I hand wrote out a 3:15 pacing chart on the back of a pace-band and tried to go to sleep. It was after 11 by the time I finally fell to sleep and I was awakened at 12:30 by some noisy neighbor in the hallway. The rest of the night I slept fitfully and probably only got about 3 hours of sleep before getting up at 4:15.

Marathon Race Report

I woke and had the obligatory cup of coffee and bagel with peanut butter before we headed out to the parking lot to catch a shuttle bus. Milwaukee is a point-to-point race that starts north of the city in the Village of Grafton. The start is at the high school and they had the whole building opened for us runner to stay warm, stretch out and relax before the race started. There were a few other friends I knew who were running the race and we met up in the cafeteria/commons before I finally headed out for my warm-up. I tried Pfitz’s suggestion of 5 min easy running + 10 minutes stretching + 5 minute jog finish @ MP + 10 minutes stretching. I got done and lined up in the corral in the 3:15ish region about 5-10 minutes before the start – perfect! Unfortunately, there was no pacer for 3:15 (there was one for 3:25) so I would be running this one on my own. Before long we got the gun and we were off and running

Miles 1-5 (7:22, 7:17, 7:32, 7:25, 7:15)

The start of Milwaukee has a gentle downhill and people were blowing by me crazy fast. I kept an eye on my Garmin and ran by feel and managed to run the first several miles pretty much on my 7:25 goal pace. In previous races, I always had a tough time getting into a groove over the first few miles, but this time I felt really good so I’m attributing that to the warm-up. There were a fair number of spectators out on the course already and it was great to see the support so early. I grabbed a water at the first aid station and took my first gel (Strawberry Cliff Shot) just before mile 5. The water tasted a bit funky so I decided to just drink Gatorade for the remainder of the race. Overall, I felt really smooth and on track for the 3:15 goal.

Miles 6-10 (7:27, 7:22, 7:09, 7:12, 7:25)

These miles had some gentle rolling hills and I just tried to stay smooth and easy on my run. I was feeling really good and the pace felt very sustainable at this point. I did have a couple of miles here where I let myself go too fast and I tried to kick it back down to prepare for the later miles. I took Gatorade at a couple of stations over these 5 miles and my second gel at the 10 mile mark. This stretch took us through Mequon and Concordia University. It was an odd feel because the course took us through a parking lot and around the university before settling back on Lake Shore Dr. (I sort of had the feeling that I was being routed down an alley to be mugged – but all was OK

Miles 11-15 (7:25, 7:22, 7:28, 7:32, 7:26)

I was just cruising along through these miles on the course. This race prints our first names on the bibs so it was also great to have random spectators calling out encouragement to us individually. Somewhere around mile 12, there was one woman spectator (she looked like she was out on her morning long run with Fuel Belt) who called out to me that it looked like I was running effortless and smooth – and that was exactly how I felt at the time. It was great encouragement and I thanked her as I sped past. This stretch also took us out on a busier stretch of road and traffic was zipping by for about a mile or so. I generally don’t like running with heavy traffic so I was glad when we turned onto a side street. Again, I only took Gatorade at a couple of stops and gelled again at mile 15.

Miles 16-20 (7:39, 7:43, 7:39, 7:44, 7:46)

Just after the 15 mile marker, we took a right turn back onto Lake Shore Drive and it was at this point that my right calf suddenly tightened up. It wasn’t a full blown cramp that made me stop, but it tightened to the point that I was really worried. I slowed down a bit and tried to shorten my stride to shake the tightness, but that didn’t work. It didn’t help that this stretch of miles is a long straightaway that is also a gentle uphill grade. The rest of my legs were fatiguing by this point but I was still hopeful that my fade would stabilize and I could roll in around 3:18 finish time. I took my final gel at mile 20 and prepared for the long 10k to the finish.

Miles 21-25 (7:44, 7:55, 8:08, 7:58, 8:04)

Just past the 20 mile mark, my breathing started to get heavier and I felt myself starting to tighten up in my right quad. I’m sure this was a combination of the already tight calf and mentally losing focus but I was really concerned about snowballing to the bad side of pain at this point. Rather than push through and risk it, I slowed at this point as I was preparing for the downhill at mile 24. This mile is a long downhill stretch that leaves you still 2+ miles from the finish and I really didn’t want to lock up completely and die over the hope stretch. There were quite a few people walking by this point and I certainly didn’t want to become one of them. The hill came and added some tightness to my quads, but I kept on running towards the finish. Somewhere along this stretch I knew my goal of 3:18 was out of reach and I settled on running it out to somewhere around a 3:20 finish. The only question that I had was how far the finish was from what my Garmin was showing.

Final Miles 26+ (8:15, 7:49)

The final 1.2 miles to the finish was along the lake and through the park. This was a great stretch with lots of folks out cheering and supporting the finishers. I pushed it down just a bit as soon as I could actually SEE the finish line and managed a fist pump as I crossed the line in 3:20:42. Garmin total … 26.42.

Post Race

I got my finisher’s medal and grabbed a couple of bottles of water after the race. I can never eat anything immediately afterwards so just walked around a bit and then headed over to the massage tent to have them work on my calf. This is the first time I’ve ever done a post-race massage and that really seemed to help me out because today I’m feeling pretty good.

Overall, I’m happy with the time since it should hold up to get into Boston in 2015, but I’m disappointed in my race strategy. I really should have listened to my conservative side and just ran an even 3:18 paced race. However, the other part of me says there’s no way you know if you can’t hit 3:15 if you don’t give it a try.

I’m pleased that I was able to self-pace the first part of the race since there was no pacer group AND I was running by myself for most of the entire race. Since this is a smaller marathon I never really had anyone running my exact pace. There were some short segments (a mile or two) where I would have someone to run with, but overall the entirety of the race I was running solo. I think over the final 10k this was my mental downfall because I lost focus and didn’t have the visual cue of a pacer group to push me a bit harder.

I have one last marathon schedule for 2013 that will be in 4 weeks. Part of me says just run it as a fun run and the brash crazy guy says let’s hit 3:18. Only time will tell which side wins.

Epilogue

There were 3 guys from my town who were running Milwaukee and we all managed to BQ. Here’s a photo of us after the race. Thanks for reading.

I commented on the RR in the dailies group already so I will be brief.  CONGRATS!!!!!

Congrats!

Great job!!!  Nice splits, too!!

Out of curiosity......so 2014 BQ isn't a guarantee??  You need to be lower than BQ to......errr......BQ??? 

Congrats on a very well-run race!  I think it's true that you can't get a 3:15 without going for it.  One piece of advice I read once (Hudson, I think) was that you should only achieve your goals about half the time-- if you always hit your goals, you're setting them too low.  You did take a risk, and though you didn't quite hit your goal, you got some great experience running at goal pace-- and of course, a new big PR, and a BQ.  Huge congratulations to you!

Congrats on the BQ, nice RR too.

You may have missed your goal but you still ran a hell of a race, Bruce!  You should have no problem getting into Boston in 2015.

Nice write-up Bruce! Congrats on the fast time and the BQ!