2018 Sub-3. No rules. Run. (Read 792 times)

Kram - sub 3 is always good (I would say - always great if you were over 50 like Mikey ), now just have one -two uneventful cycles and get that 2:45.

JMac - wow! That's pretty awesome! Especially with all the taper madness stuff you had Now I would target something like 2:42 before going for sub 2:40. Congrats!

Andres - did you run this marathon for fun - sorry if you mentioned that already - I missed it then.

My week: 40.7 miles total with three 13.5 miles runs at 8:49, 8:58 and 8:32 mpm (Tue, Wed and Sun). Took three days off to heal some bruise at my left feet (lower part, I call it "pillow" part). Don't think I healed it 100% but seems like it doesn't matter for my slower longer runs as I don't use that part much - that's why I probably bruised it during sprints...

*unlurk*

Congrats to Kram and JMac on their races.  Kram, you paced that race incredibly well, the splits were a thing of beauty.  JMac, outstanding effort and congrats on a huge PR, glad I could sort the weather out for you. 

*relurk*

Kram - Great job!  Really nice splits.  Running sub-3 now and using that as a starting off point for your next race should lead to solid races ahead.

JMac - That's a fantastic time.  Great pacing.   You should take a moment to enjoy how well you ran.  Even the elites looked like they weren't having much fun on the hills in the last couple miles.  I don't think I can run your marathon pace for my 5k in 2.5 weeks, so thanks for that :-)

Andres - Solid effort even if you were not in form and focused.  It is nice to just enjoy the experience sometimes and not feel any pressure.

Someone asked if I was on RWOL forums.  Yes, sub 3:10 group a few years ago and some lurking after.  I did join a sub-3 group there early 2017 just before I got hurt.  I was following some of the others that ran Indy as well, aussie, struggler, etc.   Pretty solid by everyone who ran there even if some fail short of ambitious goal times.

JTReeves - Thanks for tracking and posting.  I enjoy reading the updates while I am running.  It is very motivating.  You asked what I did to my hip in 2017.  I'm not sure, but it hurt a lot and for months after.  After I injured it, I ran through it for about 3.5-4 weeks and it just got progressively worse until it was very hard to walk or put weight on.  When I could no longer walk the dogs, I decided it was time to give up.

Thanks everyone. I'm out having a few beers in celebration so I'll report back tomorrow 

JMac that race was tremendous.  2:46 flat on that course is pretty damn awesome.

Some other great race results this weekend.  Love it when people get disappointed in other people s races.  Distance running is hard and some days we have it and some days we don’t.

Heres my week.  106 total

mon 10 8:40

tue 10 with strides 8:38

wed am 10.5 with 40 min at Marathon power 6:22

     Pm 11.5 with 7x5:00 Threshold Power  with 3 min jogs (5:38)

thurs 10 8:40

fri am 10.25 with 40 min at marathon power (6:20)

  Pm 11.75 with 3x17:30 just above marathon power (6:08)

sat 10 8:38

sun 22 as 2 hours and 10 min easy then 10x1:00 on at 5k power (5:20) 2 min off.

Race Report - 2018 NYC Marathon

Cycle 

This cycle, I used Jack Daniels 2Q 55-70 plan. I had a real bummer of a winter after my last NYC Marathon with some odd foot issues. For the 11 weeks after the marathon, I ran a total of 107 miles, so I was in a real deficit coming into my "base" building. Luckily, I was able to get up to a 12 week average of around 45 MPW before starting my 18 week plan.

For the cycle, I ended up averaging 59 MPW over the 12 weeks prior to my taper. I had a couple of very low ones in there, but overall this was my most consistent block prior to a marathon, as I averaged about 7 more MPW than my last marathon. I ran a 58:30 in a 10 mile race just a few weeks before the taper, which indicated to me that I could go for sub 2:50

As with any cycle, a couple of scares. I had a bum left hamstring for a good 6 weeks in this cycle, but it really just required constant rolling to keep together. I got a cold at the very end of the cycle, which forced me to move back my taper to only 2 weeks. Finally, this metatarsalgia came out of nowhere during my taper. It really hurt for the first few days, but thanks to Andres's recommendation for some foot pads, I was able to get the pain level down significantly for the race. It was annoying whenever I stepped on a weird part of the pavement, but didn't end up hindering me as expected.

Pre-Race

Andres and I set a plan to meet either in the starting village or the corral. Last year, I arrived at the last minute at the starting village and had to scramble to get to my corral in time. This year, after learning some tricks of how to "beat" the bus line (getting off my cab in a different location), I figured that I would avoid the same disaster this year so we could meet up. Boy was I wrong. I got on the bus at 6:20 and wasn't off until 8:30. By the time I got through the security line, all plans of meeting up with him were out the window, unless we saw each other in the starting corral by chance. I go into the corrals right as it opened, used the restroom, and got back in line. I barely made it back to the port-a-potty in time, as the corrals were just closing around us as I got in there. After ditching some clothes in the goodwill bin, I scrambled to get by the slower folks so I get closer to the front.

Weather was absolutely perfect, in the low 50s throughout. I ditched all of my layers I thought I might need for the first few miles on the bridge as the sun was a bit warm and just went with singlet and shorts.

Plan for the race was to break 2:50. I figured I would go out in 6:25 pace and see how it felt

First 10K - 20:01, 19:04

I was in complete control for the first 5K, exactly where I wanted to be. The bridge itself obviously slows you down the first mile, so it's hard to get out too fast. first mile was 6:50 which was perfect, with 6:10 down the back end.

The second 5K was actually challenging because I had a lot of trouble controlling my pace. I put up 5:57 4th mile. When I saw that, I was convinced the mile markers were wrong because it felt like I was closer to 6:20. However, even after trying to control myself, I put up a 6:08 in mile 5 and 6:06 in mile 6, so I knew that I was going too fast and was just praying that these 3 miles didn't blow up my race later. Even with that knowledge, it was hard to get back to anything near my goal pace. It felt like I had to actually work to slow down. I told myself that now 6:15-6:20 was okay, but anything faster than 6:15 would require me to slow down even further.

Second 10K - 19:22, 19:29

Now I was getting into the groove I wanted, clicking off much more consistent miles (adjusted for hills) and effort. However, right around mile 8 the stomach cramps started hitting me. I had the same issue last year around this time, and I figured they would go away within a mile or two like last year. I was completely wrong. I have never had stomach cramps last for almost 20 miles, but they did for this race. They would migrate a bit, sometimes feeling more like stiches and sometimes like intestinal cramps, but I was working on getting these cramps under control for the entire final 75% of the race. Massaging, breathing techniques, anything and everything. Nothing worked. I really dont' know why my stomach is so bad in races and I'm not sure it's something I'll ever figure out ,but rather something I will always have to deal with.

Third 10K - Half @ 1:22:24, then 19:45, 19:21

I saw the half time and knew it was under 1:23, but I honestly wasn't even thinking about going sub 2:45. My entire plan this race was just to run by feel and not worry about time. I've given the advice to people all the time to stop thinking about numbers and just run your race, so I figured I should follow it myself. If sub 2:45 came, that was great. If it was sub 2:50, that was great too. But I knew I was going to be close if I could hold the pace up and would be willing to try with a hard final couple of miles

The race's first real test is the Queensboro bridge. It is just SO DAMN LONG of an uphill, and often the people around you here slow down so much that it's not very motivating. Even though I've run this race twice before, it still shocked me how long it took to get up that bridge. After getting over it, I always make sure to try to store up energy on the back end and not fly back down it.

On to First Ave and I still felt pretty good. Stomach cramps still bothering me, but nothing catastrophic at this point. I saw my family around mile 17 and gave them some high fives.

Once I got to mile 18 though, I knew I was in trouble. This dull pain in my quads started setting in, which for me are always the first muscles to go in a marathon. I never have hamstring, calf, or other issues. It's my quads that get destroyed. I did see all the Vaporflys around me and wondered if they were doing any better with their cheater shoes (just kidding) but I wish I had a pair at that moment.

This experience of pain setting in this early was more reminiscent of my first marathon than my second. The demons of an impending blow up started to creep in, because I thought to myself "there is no way I can deal with this pain for another 8 miles."

Fourth 10K - 20:02, 20:12

I felt at this point that I had slowed to a crawl. Climbing up the Willis Ave Bridge to get into the Bronx was so painful. I kept telling myself to stick to "Vaporfly boy", a gentelman in front me who was wearing said shoes, which helped somewhat but not really. One thing I've learned about myself over the years is that I'm not a pack runner. I want to run my pace when I want to run it, which means sometimes I will just break away from a pack, and sometimes I refuse to keep up with someone.

As I passed the 20 mile marker, I noticed I was still putting up a little under 6:30, which gave me some hope that maybe I was going to be okay. But I was just waiting for the moment that this pain turned into redlining with a full walk or slow down needed. I didn't really care about my mile splits after this point, as I was in complete survival mode. Surprisingly, I wasn't too mad at myself for those fast early miles. Sure, they probably contributed to this pain setting in earlier than it should have, but I don't know that it was really going to cost me that much. All I cared about was just getting 1 mile done at a time.

Then, the Fifth Ave hill came. I was dreading this thing the second the pain set in, as I was afraid it would be the final nail in the coffin. However, it wasn't as steep as I remember. It was incredibly long, but I was doing okay getting through it. Plus, once I got to the top, I was just so happy that it was net downhill the rest of the way.

Within the park, I felt like I was doing a recovery jog, that's how slow I felt. I couldn't believe I was running anywhere near 7:00, let alone 6:30. I was a tangent taking machine at this point because I wanted the race over so badly. I seriously never considered what my time was going to be until I was at mile 25, at which point I realized sub 2:45 was dead but I had a great chance at 2:46-2:47. As I said, I had no aspirations of breaking 2:45 with this race so that was uplifting.

Once I got through the park, within the last mile some idiot shoved me trying to get between me and a barricade. In any normal circumstance, I would have cursed this guy off, but I had so little energy I just looked at him. Luckily I didn't fall because I don't know how I would have restarted my legs. Anyway, I got into the park one last time and had nothing left to push, so just tried to hold on for the finish.

Finish - 2:46:17 and an 8 minute PR!

Let me tell you people something: POSITIVE SPLITTING IS HORRIBLE. I can't believe anyone on this forum thinks this is a good approach. I only positive split by about 90 seconds, which actually is pretty good all things considered, but it was a horrible way to run a race. Honestly, I cannot believe the split was only 90 because with how horrible I felt starting around mile 18, I was sure a full blow up was coming. I have no idea how I held on at all. It sure as hell felt like I was falling apart, but I guess 90 seconds is actually pretty good for a positive split.

Takeaways

Few things I want to work on for Boston:

1) More miles. Definitely excited to move up to the 71-85 plan.

2) I wonder if quad strengthening would help me given they are always the first thing to give out on me, with no other pain ever surfacing. I might focus on some squats over the next month or two during my low period before mileage really builds up. I'm especially worried about this given the Boston hills

3) More MP work. I obviously struggled in the second 5K to hold my pace, and I need to get better in tune with what it feels like. Granted, that is very difficult to do in the summer when MP is always off by 20+ seconds because of the heat, but that won't be the case in the winter

Big thanks to JT for tracking and all of the support. I've learned so much on this forum over the past 2 years and I will continue to do. Also, thanks for listening to me complain all the time about my injuries or slow workouts or heat or anything else. I'll try to keep it to a minimum for the next cycle 

JMac:  Awesome race report.  Sounded somewhat similar to how I felt when I ran my sub 2:49 in warm conditions last winter where I also positive split by around a minute or so.  For that race I felt like at any point the wheels would come off from mile 16-17 onward, but somehow just hung on to a near 6:30 pace.  I think those Daniels mixed LR's are the key in those.  Also, I gotta say a 2:46 and change with the mileage you put in is pretty insane as well.  For me I think I would need at least 75-80 miles over the course of a multi-week training block to potentially think about throwing down that time.  Agree with others that a 2:40 could be within reach with a bit more mileage.  Just take care of your body though!  Anyways - awesome work!

Andres:  Way to tough out the marathon!  Any finish is worthy of a hearty congrats in my book

Kram:  Awesome splits!  Faster times are ahead again.

BGS: Good luck this weekend!

Me:  Happy with the volume coming off my short trip up north. Also happy with the sort of peak HM workout of 2 X 5K at threshold pace on Saturday where I avergaed somewhere in the mid 5:40's on both reps.  Don't think I could quite sustain that pace for my upcoming half (?), but perhaps hoping I can put together something within 5 seconds or so of this pace.  Other quality day was on Wed where I ran some more bridge/hill repeats, but paced 4 out of 5 at close to 10K pace since I was still feeling the previous few days.  Plus even had some nice climbing (by my standards) on my Monday run.  Goal race is on 1 Decemeber so have a couple more big workouts to assess pace and fitmess coming up in the next 10-14 days.  Thinking of a 4 X 2 mile, 6 or 7 X 1 mile, and 4-5 straight miles at threshold before tapering back?  Some cooler weather would be a nice bonus as well!

Weekly Summary
Monday, Oct 29, 2018 thru Sunday, Nov 04, 2018