My race report for the ING Georgia Marathon and my 1 second BQ miss (Read 702 times)

OK, now that I’m starting to get over the sting of missing a BQ by one second (OUCH!!!), I’ll give my race report. This was my 2nd marathon. My first was last November at Chickamauga (about 4.5 months ago). My time at that race was 3:43:17. My time in this race, on arguably a tougher course, was 3:31:00 (OUCH – there’s that time again – still one second short of a BQ! ). So I improved my PR by more than 12 minutes in 4.5 months. How did this happen? See below, after my brief description of the race itself. First, the highlights of the race. It was mid 40s to 50 and overcast throughout the entire race. Perfect running weather as far as I’m concerned. I had a great ‘support crew’ out there – my wife and two kids, and my two in-laws. They were at miles 5, 13, 23, and the finish. Other highlights include when the race passed through Decatur, within a block of my house, where I saw some friends watching the race. Also, when I passed mile 19, there was another friend of mine playing the drums as part of a drum corps that came out to motivate us. The race was actually ‘boring’ in a good kind of way – I ran an even effort throughout and felt reasonably comfortable until mile 18+, after which it got tough, but in a good, marathony kind of way. The scariest moments for me were for about a mile around mile 18 when my left calf threatened to cramp, and around mile 24 when my right hamstring threatened to cramp. But fortunately, they only twinged a few times and then didn’t complain anymore after that. The “eventful” part was at the end. By mile 24-25, I knew it was going to be very close whether or not I’d make my goal time of 3:30. Unfortunately, I had to weave in and around walking half marathoners. Then, as I’m about 0.5 mile from the finish, a youth race came by with a police escort who forced all the runners to the right, making it even harder for me to weave in and out of happy, chatting, walking, and somewhat oblivious half marathoners! When I got close to the finish, my watch read 3:29, and then 3:30. I was now nearly panicking, as I knew I had less than 60 seconds to finish. The finish was bizarre. Rather than a wide open finish with an obvious and visible finish line in the distance, the course narrowed into a kind of corral that had 3 or 4 right angle turns! The corral was packed with half marathoners and the youth runners. So during what could have been a much better kick if I’d had room to maneuver, I was forced to weave between people, trying not to be rude, but also trying desperately to get to the finish in time. I had plenty of energy to give it a go, but just no room to maneuver. The rest is history – I finished in 3:31:00. Yikes. Despite this crazy finish, I really enjoyed the race. It is a challenging course, definitely, but it passes through lots of great spots in Atlanta, and it was pleasing to the eye, what with all the tree and plant life that was newly coming to life and blossoming. And the crowds were everywhere and very enthusiastic. OK, now my brief summary of the things I did differently this time that helped me improve my time by more than 12 minutes. Mainly, I avoided the many dumb mistakes I made the first time! First of all, for training, I followed Matt Fitzgerald’s training plan in his book “Brain Training for Runners”. I’m not going to describe what the book is all about here, but suffice it to say I liked the main idea of the book and Fitzgerald’s approach worked well for me. Probably the most important change I made was my fueling strategies. First of all, I carbo loaded properly this time, unlike last time. When I looked at the records I kept last time (I kept an xcel spread sheet of carbs, protein, and fat!), I realized that I had screwed up the last time. I had made sure that more than 70% of my calories were from carbs the 3 days before the race, but I didn’t have enough grams of carbs! Apparently, you’re supposed to eat about 10-11 grams of carbs per kg of body weight. For me, that’s 850-900 grams roughly. The most I had before my first marathon was about 600 g – no wonder I hit the wall hard at mile 19. This time I ate 850-930 carbs per day in the last three days. I tried to keep fiber intake constant though, so as to avoid any GI probs (that worked by the way). I also ate more on race day. For my first marathon, 2 hours before the race I had about 80 gram (320 calories) of carbs. This time, I almost doubled it – I was shooting for about 1 g carbs per lb body weight – I didn’t quite make it, but I came close. Also, during the race, I had one accel gel every 3 miles (which was about 20 g carbs every 24 minutes) during the race. Last time I had one gel only every 30-35 minutes. Also, a day or two before the race I just ran, I read in a couple of places that often gels and sports drinks don’t provide runners with enough salts to replace what they lose during the race. The recommendation was to augment what you get from gels with something. My local running store recommended Endurolyte. These are capsules that contain a balanced set of salts, including 40 mg of sodium. So I took one of these 1 hour before the race, at mile 7 (about an hour into the race), and at mile 18.5. I waited until mile 18+ because, to be truthful, it’s not fun trying to swallow a capsule when you’re running your butt off. But at mile 18, my left calf began to twinge and threatened to cramp, so that gave me the motivation I needed to take another capsule. I don’t know for sure, but I think these capsules might have helped me avoid more serious cramping. The other thing I did better this time was I ran an even pace. I even tried to run a little slower than goal pace the first couple miles, then I eased into my goal pace. I tried to keep an even effort throughout, whether on flats or hills. In my first marathon, I went out too fast the first 10 miles, than paid for it later. Finally, another thing that really helped me out was that I brought my own bottled water (about 22 oz amphipad bottle that you carry when you run). My ‘support crew’ had an identical bottle filled with fresh water that we exchanged at miles 5, 13, and 23. That way, for almost the entire race, I had water available to me continuously. I needed every ounce of that water, even though there were 20+ water stations throughout the course, and I used most of those as well. Carrying the bottle made it easier for me to take gels (and capsules) whenever I wanted to, rather than timing it to coincide with the water stations. I guess that’s it. Now, I’m going to take it easy for a while, and when I start getting back out there, I might make a 5k or 10k my next key race, rather than a marathon, to take a break from marathon training for a while. Besides, I think doing that will actually help my marathoning in the end by increasing my core strength and lactate threshold and all that good stuff. Thanks again everyone for your words of wisdom and hope and commiseration about my pretty comical 1 second BQ miss! Ciao for now.

One second? OMG, I thought missing by two minutes was bad. Great report and advice, it pretty much mirrors what I've experienced--proper fueling is absolutely mandatory for a good race. Just one thing, I have read from many sources that you should not eat in a three hour window before the race. Of course that would mean getting up very early.

3 things.... 1. Great race report 2. Great Effort 3. Missing a BQ time by 1s sucks royal ass and my heart goes out to you! Keep up the good work! D

If you apply with that time, you'll get in. People got into the Olympic Trials with a 2:22:01, it's no big deal.

I agree with Adeel... Register and tell your story. There's a pretty good chance you'll get in. Good luck and I enjoyed the report.

I was in a similar situation, and I'm sure it could have been me if race director of the Marathon i raced hadn't started the half-folks an hour ahead of the full ones. I know weaving at the end is not really an option so that cost you. A reasonable person can see that. You ran a great race and it sounds like a lot of people think you can get registered for Boston w/ your time and story. Does anyone else get an image of him running through the half walkers like the cal runners ran through the stanford band? I'm sure if you would have taken a few out like that last band kid you'd have made it. (thought a little humor might help)