2018 3:20 (and beyond) (Read 582 times)

 

I got lucky and found a water proof (just tested it) LL Bean jacket at Goodwill this morning for $8.  I'll layer that on top of a sweatshirt and then a thin synthetic longsleeve shirt.  I have sweatpants for below.  I bought waterproof shoe covers from Amazon.  Also bringing an old yoga mat, a heat sheet, a disposable poncho, and an umbrella.  Plus the obligatory disposable hand and body warmers.

 

I debated wearing a different pair of shoes to the start but a)  I know myself, and there is a non-zero possibility I would forget my race shoes b) if I get chilled at all, my hands won't work well enough to tie my shoes properly, so better I tie them in my hotel room.

Ha ha. Oh boy. Borderline overdoing it but I know you like to have all your ducks in a row.
If you were to wear a different pair of shoes to the start (why? your shoes and feet are gonna get wet anyway), you would have to throw them out. There's no bag check in Hopkinton.

what oregon said - my fastest Notsob was in the 2015 rain/cold/wind, despite me being much less fit back then than I have been more recently. 2017 was 2 minutes slower and 1000% less fun.

pro-tip: wait til mid-week next week to buy apparel and it will all be half off! Hehe.

 

Ha ha. Oh boy. Borderline overdoing it but I know you like to have all your ducks in a row.
If you were to wear a different pair of shoes to the start (why? your shoes and feet are gonna get wet anyway), you would have to throw them out. There's no bag check in Hopkinton.

 

what oregon said - my fastest Notsob was in the 2015 rain/cold/wind, despite me being much less fit back then than I have been more recently. 2017 was 2 minutes slower and 1000% less fun.

 

pro-tip: wait til mid-week next week to buy apparel and it will all be half off! Hehe.

Yeah, I actually don't think I'm overdoing it - I get VERY VERY chilled when I am still - poor circulation (I sleep with a heating pad all year long).  Really better to bring too much and toss it.

As for shoes, I always save a few pairs of running shoes that are almost to the end of their life span.  I then take those with me when I travel - I can wear them for 1-2 runs, and then toss them rather than pack them for the trip home.  For this race, I have an old pair of Adios 2s (my previous marathon shoe) that I shipped up to Boston with the rest of my stuff earlier this week.  I'm carrying my Vaporflies with me on the plane, but if something really crazy happens, I'll have another pair of shoes that I could theoretically race in up there.

If I was to wear another pair of shoes to the start, I'd wear those and carry the Vaporflies.  But I'd rather just wear the Vaporflies.

Oregon - thanks for the advice - I will definitely heed it.

Jim - they said we can bring yoga mats.  Plan is to wear all my clothes (with pockets) to the start; tuck my (tiny) umbrella, poncho, and heat sheet in pockets, and carry the yoga mat and my food bag.

Pretty much.  I'll stick it all in front pockets.  If they give me trouble, I'll tell them I'm pregnant.

K77 - I think the benefit of dry shoes at the start is that you don't get as chilled waiting around.  Plus, wet shoes from running in rain is different than soaked shoes from walking through mud and puddles pre-race.

For hands, I always wear convertible mitten/gloves (a glove with a hood that you can pull over the fingers to make a mitten.  I bought some waterproofing spray at Target today and waterproofed the top side of the mitten part.  I'll run with those, tucking handwarmers in the mitten hood.  The water proofing should keep the handwarmer dry so it can do its thing.

I've heard that others are wearing surgical gloves or similar to keep their hands dry.

Congrats on the sold house!

Brew - Looks like a fun race! "Wizard sticks". lulz.
I'm feeling more and more compelled to try out that 50k I mentioned a while back. I don't know why. Maybe my decent running volume lately can help me get by even without a run over 14.5 miles in the past 6 months...

DWave - Sounds like you've got things figured out ahead of the big day.

Jim - Any other insights into the Superiors? I've been thinking about picking up a pair myself.

Katia - Bummer about the run, but that's awesome about the house!

• 2018 Paris Marathon RR

Race day
Was up at 4 am due to DD2 waking up and couldn’t get back to sleep due to adrenaline. Had a bagel at 5 am and started getting ready. I miscalculated how long it’d take to drop the bag so I had to run to the drop off and then back to the starting line. This is one of the very few things I did not like about the organization: 1. drop off was too far from the starting line, and it was not easy to access. Other than that and a few other things I’ll mention later, organization was superb. It really amazes me how they can have 55,000 runners and make things so quick at the bib pick up, and it can feel so decongested on the course. Similar to Berlin. Anyway, got into my corral with about 10 mins to spare before the start of the race. I was in the “preferential” corral, so got to start with the elites. I stayed at the back of the box though of course.

The course
The course crosses the whole city from west to east and then from east to west along the Seine to finish right at the arc de triomphe. You get to see many landmarks like Notre-Dame, that famous tower thing, the big wheel at Concorde, etc. Also, at both eastern and western ends you run through these huge beautiful parks. It is really gorgeous, but the price to pay is that the weather can be a bit of a lottery.

0-5k - 20:52
The gun went off and everyone was flying down champs elysees. It feels downhill, it’s shaded and it’s very wide so there’s lots of room. I can see how it can be very easy to start way too fast in this race. After seeing a 3:45 min/km pace on my garmin, I slowed quite a bit down, but it was not easy to do this. For reference, sub3 pace is 4:15 min/km. I felt great during the first 5km. Temps were relatively cool (mid to high 50s), and it was shady.

5-10k - 21:03
Here I realized the second point I did not like about the organization: 2. The water stops were not where they were supposed to be. They said every 5km, but the first one was past km 6. And this was a constant throughout the race. I planned on walking the water stations so these were mentally important points on the course for me. I also noticed I was not feeling as great as I thought I was, noticed my right glute / hammy was a bit tight. Anyway, kept running and enjoying the beautiful architecture.

10-15k - 21:11
We entered the eastern park (bois de Vincennes). I loved this stretch since I’d never been to this part of Paris, and it’s beautiful. I had a 30 sec pee stop. I could have probably avoided this in hindsight, and lost that time in vain I believe. But I didn’t want any surprises later in the race where no trees were available for a pit stop. Also, my garmin paused during my stop, so I wasn’t sure what my exact time was for the rest of the race. This made doing math in my head harder.

15-20k - 20:54
We got out of the Bois de Vincennes and back into the city. Crowds were a bit thin in the park, but slowly started increasing again. I was feeling ok, but could feel the temperature increasing.

20-25k - 21:03
Things got hard here. I crossed the half in 1:28:30 and didn’t feel as fresh as I had expected. I had actually felt better at the end of training runs where I had run a HM in 1:27x. This wasn’t very encouraging. Temperatures kept creeping up and my left calf felt like it was going to cramp soon, something I had to deal with for the rest of the race. Another issue I didn’t like: 3. No Gatorade! I was planning on taking ISO drinks to fight cramps at water stations, but there weren’t any. So, no electrolytes for me. At km 22-23 we went down to the Seine and stayed there for about 5k. That was a tough stretch since there was no shade and I was supposed to find my DW and DD2 there, but they couldn’t make it in the end. Crowds were good though.

25-30k - 21:34
First 5k stretch where I was above marathon pace (MP is 21:15 for 5k). At the Seine, we went through quite a few tunnels, which meant going up and down. That was tough. We got out of the Quai and headed into an avenue that runs along the river. Very cool part of the marathon as people made the running path very narrow (but definitely manageable) and crowd support was fantastic. You really felt like a star there. Also, you could see the Eiffel Tower right on the left.

30-35k - 21:55
Not feeling like a star anymore. I noticed my toes were quite sore and felt swollen. I was just trying to not fade much here. Kept thinking to myself that I only had 10k to go and I still was on target for sub3 if I faded only a little. I was trying to run side by side with other runners to draw motivation.

35-40k - 22:19
Suffer fest! Went into the Bois de Boulogne, the western park. To be honest, this stretch was all a blur. I’m really surprised I was able to keep the pace at around 4:2x per km (including a water stop). I don’t think I felt better than in Berlin last year, and then I was running 4:40 min kms at this point. Also, my quadricep started cramping (adding to the calf and the tight hammy).

40-42.2 k - 10:20
I needed to run this stretch at MP and I’d get a sub3. I was not sure of this due to the bathroom break, but I knew it was close. The fact that my brain was not working properly at this point did not help either. At km 40.x the 3 hrs pacers passed me. That was a big psychological blow. I tried a few MP bursts, but could only keep the pace for 100-200 meters tops. I then knew sub3 was out of the question so I just focused on not walking or quitting. After some grueling 2 kms, the crowd got louder so I knew we were close. We turned right and I saw the finish line. I tried “sprinting” and after 20 secs my right hammy cramped really bad, so I just got through the last 100 m as I could. Funny, the exact same thing happened in Berlin. A hammy cramp 100mts away from the finish line. I’d like to think that means I gave all I had.

After
Feeling very weak I ate as much fruit as I could and drank as much water as possible. Walked very slowly to get my bag and then onwards to meet DW and DD2. That walk took 25 mins. They should definitely think about making it shorter.
Found a restaurant 2 blocks away and had a beautiful burger. After that I felt quite well and we spent the whole afternoon walking around.

What I learnt
I think I was in sub-3 shape this time (not by much though), despite the weather, but I just wasn’t smart about a few things/details. The bathroom break, the progressively longer stops at water stations, the lack of ISO drinks to deal with cramps.
I’m also still figuring the distance out mentally. While I feel I did much better than in Berlin in this regard, there’s still room for improvement. In the las 2 kms after I was passed by the pacers, my pace dropped way too much.

The way forward
First, buy bigger shoes.
Then, register for the next sub3 attempt: probably Amsterdam in October. Flat, supposedly cool, and large enough.

Jim -- the tunnel is pretty funky. It felt as though it was something that had to do to connect the dots and finish the race. Although I wasn't thinking very clearly at the moment. Your comment on running at altitude and lacking energy is spot on.

The getting invited to Barstow story is great. In our dreams. I got passed late in the race once when I was going fast by a guy who probably had 10 years on me, and he had a funny colored bib. I always wondered about special treatment for older elites. Cool.

DW -- starting with dry shoes even when you are going to get soaked is definitely good. Good luck staying warm and dry at the staging area! Your question on timing is tricky because you get cold. I always went early to get under the tent and stayed warm and drying with layers of clothes, garbage bags and cardboard from the shot block packaging. I would lie completely flat watching the crowd get bigger. But you need to balance your time there if you tend to get cold. Maybe someone else (not me) knows how early you need to get there to be sure of tent space. Or, you could just be an ass and just muscle your way in later.

Update -- I've read what everyone else has written. Still, I think the tents are better than what most have said.

Katia -- forget the race; you sold your house! Congratulations! It took us a lot longer than that (although we sold our first house the day it came on the market, which was nice). Not sure how the weather is going to effect your pacing.

Jamie -- your strategy sounds right to me. My only thought is that I've never run it even (other than sandbagging the first half) because of the hills at the end. Good luck! I always went mid-day Sunday. Crowds can be fun and exciting.

Max -- get healthy and qualify for 2019. At least that's what matters to me.

Dad -- that's a smoking mile. That's gotta be fun.

PEDS -- we aren't good enough for it to matter. That's strange.

Barstow people and RLK -- yep. Be careful at the end to get warm as quickly as you can. 2015 was cold and raining and I ended up shivering and shaking so much that someone (a nice Canadian, of course) had to help me get a hot coffee at the shop around the corner from the finish. I couldn't do it. Be careful.

I've had some bibs in the mid 1,000. I used to dream about getting three digits.

Pesto -- great RR. I can see that you are getting your mental and pacing strategy a little better every time, and you are basically some good weather away from a sub 3. That's excellent. Thanks for the Paris RR -- I hope that's in my future. I didn't know that it was so big, and now I am going to take a closer look at the elevation chart. But forget Amsterdam -- let's do a meet up in Valencia, Spain on Dec 2. Here's the link. The course looks really cool, weaving around the port. For me, it misses Thanksgiving (unlike Florence) so we can see the kids and I can taper Thanksgiving weekend. It's supposed to be flat and the whole race should be in the 40's.

https://www.iaafvalencia2018.com