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

Nice job weather!  Sub 2:50! wahoooo

Just need to get you some decent weather for one of these.

Thanks for the tracking JT, Congrats Weatherboy!! Cannot wait to hear more about the race from you!

My Week last week, feeling good with the mileage build but still planning on the stepback week this coming week for good measure. Will officially start Buffalo training next week so better to start off on some fresh legs!

Andres: Solid week, especially coming off the flu.

Lela: Nice looking week.  Like the hilly long run!

Thanks again for the warm wishes and tracking everybody!

A bit of a race recap.  Race didn't start until 7 AM and wish it would have been a bit earlier since it was pretty muggy (as expected) when I woke up just before 5 AM.  Looks like it was about 65 with a dew point of 64 just before the start.  Easily warmed into the low to mid 70's with full sun by 9 AM though.

Logistics wise my wife and I stayed at the town center hotel which is literally 1/4 mile from the start and finish line so that was a plus especially for the use of bathrooms beforehand.  Did this last year before my half race here and it worked well.  After a light breakfast and some coffee simply jogged to the start line.  Was a bit concerned about jumping into marathon pace from the get go so I did 2-3 light strides about 10 minutes before the start.  Figured I did that before many of my workouts so why not do this for the race.

Only downside of this particular smaller race is that the full marathon basically repeats the half course (with a few exceptions through town from miles 13-16) so during the first half there were plenty of faster folks to pace myself, but after 18-19 miles it was a challenge as I was constantly running into slower run/walk folks.  Did have a nice surprise that one of my local running buddy's ran a bit in front of me from mile 23-25 to clear a bit of path for me, especially on some of the boardwalks.  Not sure if this was really allowed (hey it's a run for time/charity), although I noticed several folks running with others doing the same.  Plus there were no bike escorts except for the first place male of female so I was kinda in limbo there

Based on my training cycle and some of my big workouts (in mostly recent cooler weather) was looking at a goal pace of somewhere between 6:15-6:18, but plugged the expected weather conditions into some online calculators and was thinking something around 6:22 and going from there.  Gun went off right at 7AM and the first mile was a bit quick as I looked down and saw 6:15 (it felt pretty good) so knew that I needed to back off just a bit in the next few miles.  Miles 2-6 got into a good rhythm clicking off anywhere between 6:24-6:20 and even was chatting with a few of the HM's running alongside me.  Was trying to hit all the fluid stops alternating between Gatorade and water.  This continued the rest of the race.  Plus I basically took a gel every 5 miles on top of that (and I hate them).  Entered the aforementioned boardwalk sections about mile 8 and knew I needed to maintain effort since the pace would drop a bit as there is a bit of meandering back and forth.  By this time the sun was peaking in and out of clouds so the boardwalk sections provided some relief as they are covered with trees (cooler near vegetation).  Once back on the roads I picked it back up and was clicking off somewhere near 6:20-6:22 (although watch time set to auto lap which was likely about 0.1 mile beyond official race splits).

About mile 10-12 is where I noticed the effort level getting tougher than expected.  Didn't think that was a good sign especially before the half point.  Stomach wasn't sitting great, but pushed through.  Had a bit of a slow mile around mile 13 as the half runners split off, but there were a lot of sharp turns through the center of town at that point.  Think I came through the half split right at 1:24.00 so I was fairly pleased as I was targeting somewhere between 1:23 & 1:24 beforehand thinking I'd fade a bit in the last 10K as it got progressively warmer.  Miles 13-18 maintained my pace pretty well, but again the effort level was pretty high at this point.  Stomach was still cramping a bit, but maintainable for the most part.  Also was pretty alone and knew there were probably about 2-3 guys in front of me, but didn't really know or care of position at this point in the race.  About 18-19 miles in I started running into the back of the slower half runners (as I mentioned above).  Took some effort to continuously yell ahead, but oh well.  Definitely was hurting more by mile 19, but the legs seemed to just keep turning over.  Noticed that my mile splits started to fade just a bit creeping into the low 6:30 range by mile 21.  Again entered the boardwalk section by mile 22 and had to run by even more slower runners and walkers at that point so the pace faded even a bit more.  Think it was somewhere in this stretch where I must have passed by one or two more marathoners that were fading more drastically than I was.

Back on the road by mile 23 I got the pace back into the upper 6:20's for a bit.  Was solidly cramping with some side stitches, but the legs felt decent enough to maintain what I had at that point.  Just reminded myself that it was a simple 5K to go.  Like I said above I was surprised to see a friend along the way who then ran in front of me to mostly yell at some of the slower folks which was nice.  He dropped off before mile 25.  Passed what I think was 2nd place at about mile 24 or so and didn't realize how close I was to the leader until I saw the lone bike escort with less than a mile to go.  Like I said I was just trying to run my own time and wasn't really concerned with position up to that point.  Turns out he was fading much more than I realized.  With about a mile to go we had another boardwalk/sidewalk stretch and I was drastically closing the gap by simply maintaining what I had.  Last 1/2 mile was around a lake and ended being side by side with him with less than 1/4 mile to go.  Hammy was cramping up at that point, but was able to pass him as we rounded the final few hundred meters.   He definitely dug pretty deep and got a second wind with 50 or so meters to go and we were side by side before he literally took me right before the finish line.  No regrets as I think I emptied what I had catching up to him.  Pretty close finish for such a small and long race though!  In retrospect having him in the last mile got me in under 2:49 - don't think I would have had that finish otherwise.

All in all no complaints with the pacing or the time especially considering the relative heat an humidity.  I've run in worse, but never at that pace for such a long time.  This one hurt quite a bit and at a much earlier point in the race than I expected.  Was pleasantly surprised to see my legs hold out for so long as I was sorta expecting  to fade when I felt the way I did through the 1/2.  Think those Daniels style LR's, including the threshold work late in those workouts, payed off towards the end since my legs were able to maintain the turnover for the last 10-12 miles.  Pleasantly surprised to only see about a minute positive split overall.  Also learned not to read to much into the taper as I felt like garbage for a good week before the race.  All my easy runs felt sluggish and slow and my marathon pace workouts felt extra crappy.   So now it's time for some much needed recovery.  Stomach still isn't 100%, but that should get back to normal within a few days.  Might try to easily jog later this week, but already set on taking 2-3 days completely off.  Next up is Boston, which is not a goal race for a time, but would still like to at least run with a good effort perhaps pacing with a friend looking to break 3.  Trick will be recovering properly and then building in some mileage and workouts come late Feb and March.

Again thanks for all the support and good luck to those up next

Weekly Summary
Monday, Jan 22, 2018 thru Sunday, Jan 28, 2018

weatherboy - great race in crappy conditions. I've done too many warm marathons, and struggled in all of them.... Don't have time for that anymore.

Lots of Zwifting. 15+ miles of running. I have been running most of my runs too fast, so decided to keep my post-bike run on Sunday slow purposefully on Sunday. Saturday's 3.5 miles was quicker than expected especially after a hard hour effort off the bike.

My biggest hurdle is getting up to run, in the dark, and cold. Don't have time for that  anymore

Weekly Summary
Monday, Jan 22, 2018 thru Sunday, Jan 28, 2018

dcv - I hear you. Age and leg strength. Ugh. I feel the same way about my time on the bike in the fall. It helped the quads but my lower legs were a mess when I started running again and as I progress toward some kind of "running shape" that quad strength is probably gone. I need to do some strugglr lunges! The crossover between the 2 sports, other than cardio, seems minimal. Good luck with the Boston bib. Zwift seems pretty darn cool. Now if they could design the trainer to throw you off to simulate crashing....

Early morning runs - Alarm @ 5 am - out the door 5:11 - 5:12 am. Ha!  I am winning. 

Mikkey - Mag oil - now everyone knows the secret weapon.

kram - Hope the foot/ankle is doing well. I'm amazed by the mileage some of you guys get out of your shoes.

finbad - Nice week!

lela - Another 50+ mile week with some great workouts. Well done.

Andres - Don't stress. The flu will knock you back a bit and it takes a while to recover.

weather - Great race report. Looks like you left everything on the table and what more can you ask? Almost snagged a victory too!. I don't like looped courses that are designed to run into the back of slower racers!

swim - You are one dedicated dude with all that aqua running.

It as nice to have an injury and recognize the need to take a couple of days before doing any lasting damage and then ramp back up all within a week. The right calf is back at 100%. It is like I'm 27 instead of 47!  Wait...now I'll be knocking on every piece of wood I see for a week. Ran easy all week with a decent effort on Sunday. Plan is to build the base through February with an occasional harder progressive run. I would like to do a hometown 5k at the end of April so I may start some workouts in March if things are going well. My left heel/ankle complex is kinda of achy at times. This is the same leg/foot that was involved in the recent stress fracture and that I have had Achilles issues with over the years. Not sure if it is arthritic, radiating Achilles discomfort or achiness in the area of the previous stress fracture? Sometimes it is most uncomfortable in the morning before it "warms" up by walking around. We'll see if this gets in the way as mileage increases.

Weekly Summary
Monday, Jan 22, 2018 thru Sunday, Jan 28, 2018

Looks like everyone is ticking along well.

Weatherboy - cool race report. No doubt the weather sapped some time from you, and would have done lots more if you hadn't got smart with your pacing pre-race. I'm sure that the half marathon folks cost you a wee bit of time too, I had a triple loop at the end of my last marathon and it really messed with me holding pace, not so much weaving around more just holding 6x pace when all around are 7x. That's cool to though because you got a great result and know that you could do more.

A belated congrats to Weatherboy! Impressive run, indeed.