Notes
Milwaukee Marathon 2024 - PR by 9s!
Prep - Fitness was phenomenal, but UC had been problematic and on Wednesday I had pretty bad calf/ankle/achilles area pain on my left leg. Nerve pain or calf strain, I didn't know. It hurt bad enough on Thursday that I simply did a single loop around the block for my run. Perhaps my body struggles with tapering as last marathon I had pretty bad nerve pain in my foot.
I picked up my packet Friday afternoon and had pizza with Mom for dinner. My plan was to test the leg out Saturday early morning and decide on racing or DNS then. Of note I'm also signed up for the Brew City Marathon the following Saturday, in Milwaukee, where the long range forecast looks perfect.
The strides in the driveway Saturday at 4am felt okay with only minor pain so I decided to give it a shot. During the race the calf/ankle was a little painful, but it held up. Afterwards I had a nice sized bruise on my calf/ankle - looked like internal bleeding. For race morning I did my standard prep of beet juice, Maurten bicarb, caffeine pill, and caffeinated gel. I started holding a 1/2 liter of Maurten (with a scoop of endurolytes powder). That lasted me about 15k.
Weather was very good - 40s warming into the 60s with slight wind. I did get a bit warm by the end. Course started downtown, went north along Lakeshore drive, then west through some neighborhoods to the Oak Leaf Trail, turnaround around 15k, back past the start and eventually along the Lake on a bike path for a few k before heading west to Harbor Park for the finish. Aid stations were every ~2 miles but only every other station had sports drink (not sure what it was - tasted like nuun so likely no calories). I took two electrolyte pills and drank a little water/sports drink at aid stations and overall was fine from a nutrition perspective.
My plan was to run 3:30s with a goal of 2:33:xx. I started out in 3rd behind two half marathoners (who split off around 4k). By half I probably had a minute lead and was probably around 1:16:15. Right after 25k I started to have gastro issues. This necessitated 4 (yes 4!) holes to be dug over the last 15k. Needless to say my pace dropped into the 3:40s, including the brief stops. During the 40th k I stopped for the final time in a port, and upon exiting had a good sized hill (1 switchback) to go from the bike path up to the city streets to the finish. 2nd place caught up to me just after the hill and we stayed together for maybe half a k. At the 25 mile mark he took off like a rocket. I held up pretty well for the final 2k (3:40s average) but he picked up almost a full minute on me.
I'm quite confident that without the gastrointestinal issues (both actual time stopped and the pain of running with gastro issues and having to search for appropriate places to stop) I would have been in the 2:33s. Should I have waited a week and tried for something faster? No - if you have a chance at a PR you take it. There's no guarantee things (calf/ankle, UC, weather, course, etc.) are going to better. Did the Maurten bicarb cause the gastro issues? I've used it before and at Boston I did have to make one stop though at Lakefront I did not. Does it help? Probably - I've run 3 good marathons with it and several fast shorter races too.
I won a trophy and a $75 gift card to Performance Running Outfitters which I used after the race for new compression socks.
Sub 2:50 every age 30-43
Sub 2:42 every age 35-43
Sub 2:39 at 6 of last 7 ages, 37-43 except 41
Sub 3:00 in 15 straight years 2010-2024
Sub 2:45 in 12 straight years 2013-2024
Sub 2:42 in 10 straight years 2015-2024
Sub 2:39 in 6 of last 7 2018-2024, except for 2022