Yesterday was my sixth marathon, the New Jersey Marathon.  My marathon times have dropped each time but I felt like I needed structure to my training, so I hired a coach for this cycle, well known in these local parts.  Coach thought I had a very strong base but lacked hard intensity work, so he scaled back my miles a bit and added more intensity.  I did hard runs twice a week (progression and tempo), and ran my long runs on tired legs.  All of my runs were based on time and effort, rather than distance and pace.  Coach really didn't care what my paces were for a given run...he wanted me to stick to set efforts.  That was a big change for me but I really took to it.  As far as mileage goes, I still averaged just a little under 60 mpw for the 10 weeks before taper (only a few mpw shy of what I did last cycle).  I think it felt like a lot less due to my lack of lots of LR's.  All I did for long runs was 15, 17, 20, 20, and they were all done on very tired legs.  Last two cycles I did five 20 milers each time.  Going into this marathon, I was a little worried about my endurance, but I trusted my coach and the process.

I've said all along that my goal was to just run my best, and the finish time is what it is.  I was hoping the finish time would be a BQ (3:15), but that wouldn't define my race.  If I ended up running 3:30, that'd be fine too.  You take what the day gives you.

Race day weather was darn near optimal.  Clear, sunny skies.  Start time temp was 45 and probably peaked in the low 50's during the race.  It felt warm while running but the volunteers were bundled up.  It was a little windy but nothing that was too worrisome.  The race started at the Monmouth Park horse racing track.  Wife and I booked a hotel a half mile from the park and walked to the start.  After the usual pre-race stuff (bag drop, poop drop, warm up), I was in my corral with five minutes to spare.  My strategy was to get out in front of the 3:15 pace group and stay there.  I'd gauge the effort, and adjust as needed, including dropping back if I had to.  A bugler blew his horn for first call, and the first group was off.  Mine followed 30 seconds later.

Miles 1-5:  7:16, 7:14, 7:13, 7:14, 7:19.   I started running and my stomach immediately was unhappy.  I had some intestinal issues the day before but was feeling better before the race.  This was in my stomach, not my intestines.  I just felt pukey.  I worked my ass off this cycle though and decided I was going to push through it today.  What choice did I have?   If I puked or fell apart, so be it.  I had a feeling I was going to be in rough, rough shape after the race, but I'd worry about that later.  My legs felt good though.  I was on the heels of the 1:35 HM pace group but refused to pass them.  No way was I in 3:10 marathon shape.  I stayed right behind them for about three miles, and they eventually pulled away.  For race nutrition, I stuck to my usual strategy:   Perpetuem in my handheld and I took a quirt every two miles, a gel every 40 minutes, and a cup of water from every water station.

Miles 6-10:  7:28, 7:26, 7:19, 7:17, 7:22.   Just cruising along and feeling good, mile after mile, looking around at the sights.  It's a pretty course in an ocean town.  Lots of water views, running around ponds and over inlets, and seeing beach and ocean views.  I started a little fast and dialed it back a hair in these miles.  It is a long race and I wanted to make sure I had energy to finish strong.  My stomach still ached, and all of the race nutrition was just sloshing around in my stomach.  I could feel it.  Not cool.

Miles 11-15:  7:25, 7:24, 7:20, 7:16, 7:25.   I used to buy into the mentality that a marathon feels easy until mile 16 or so, but I no longer believe that.  A marathon is a hard effort for 26.2 miles, but you run it an effort you think you can maintain.  I was maintaining my effort, and it never felt easy.  My legs started to feel a little heavy during these miles but I pressed on.  I crossed the halfway split just under 1:37, which is right where I wanted to be.  I believed I had another 1:37 half marathon in me today.  As the half marathoners turned left to the finish, the marathoners headed right to a 13.1 mile out and back.  Suddenly I was running alone.  I had backed off on the water, and just could not bring myself to eat my last two gels.  I seriously thought I'd puke if I tried to.  I still took in the Perpetuem though.  My stomach had settled into a state that was tolerable.

Miles 15-20:  7:29, 7:19, 7:17, 7:25, 7:30.   I was managing to stay ahead of the 3:15 pace group.  When you're running alone, there is no mistaking the sound of a pace group coming up on you.  I peeked over my shoulder and there they were.  Dammit.  I thought I had more of a cushion, but my Garmin was actually a little off the mile markers.  Someone who can pace a 3:15 group probably knows better and trusts the mile markers, running their splits based on that instead of their watch.  When they passed me at mile 15.5, I thought "There goes my BQ."  This is almost the exact same point in the race where the 3:15 group passed me in Philly.  Knowing that, I was still not convinced I'd PR today.  I decided I'd just let them go and worry about my own race.  It was weird though, because they were not pulling away as I expected.  After about a mile of my being a few steps behind, I decided to hop in with them and enjoy the ride.  After a few miles, I noticed L&O's scrape. was one of the pacers.  I recognized him from some FB pics runmom had tagged him in, his first name, and the fact that he said he's paced here before.  So I pulled up along side, introduced myself, chatted a bit, and continued on.  I wasn't really chatty.  I was approaching the late miles of a marathon and was in a world of hurt.

Miles 21-26.2:  7:08, 7:19, 7:37, 7:44, 7:43, 7:49, 7:35.  The biggest advantage of latching onto the pace group was that they helped block the headwind.  The course hairpin turns at mile 19, and the last 7 miles are straight shot north into the wind.  The wind wasn't terrible, but a 10 mph wind when you're hurting is enough to make you feel it.  And boy was I hurting.  10K to go...45 minutes of running.  My coach always told me on those hard tempo and progression runs not to quit.  I was remembering that during these late miles.  I was battling.  I hung with the pace group until mile 23, and then slowly fell off pace.  I tried so hard to hang on but just could not get those legs to turn over.  I figured my BQ was gone, but  I was still running below my PR pace.  I wanted to run the best time I could, BQ or no BQ.  Once I lost the pace group, I really started to dig.  I have never been in that much pain during a race.  Four miles of hurt that I have never experienced.  With no pace group to block the wind, I had to battle it on my own.  So.much.pain.  Finally the finish line was in sight.  I stopped on the timing mat, grabbed my medal, hobbled over to a railing, and hunched over it for a few minutes, head buried in my arm.  Marathon #6 DONE.

Official time was 3:16:02.  7:25 PR.  Missed a BQ by 1:02 but am really not worried about it.  I'll get it next time.

OA 129/1918

AG 12/203

Master's 23/612

Garmin measured 26.53 miles.  Damn tangents.  I ran the first 26.2 miles in 3:13:44.  Maybe BAA will accept that?    My wife is the best.  I was worried I'd be a sick mess after the race, but DW was all like "Eat this, drink that, let me carry your stuff, drink more."  I felt fine.  Just tired and sore.  I am really, really happy with my race.  I ran this well as I could and I don't think I could have done much better today.  I knew from the start of training that knocking 9 minutes off my PR was going to be difficult.  Considering how hard this winter was for training, I really couldn't ask for much more than this from myself.  I worked my ass off this cycle.

I ran my first marathon in October 2011.  Three and half years later, I've knocked an hour off that debut time.

4:16

3:58

3:45

3:38

3:23

3:16

I like where this is headed.

Congrats!!!  In four years, I expect a 2:16 marathon.   Get on it, already.

Congrats on the big PR, way to push through the pain! And nice job to MBC both for her race and for taking care of you after

BQ will be had this fall for sure!

Excellent work Phil!  It sure looks like you ran the very best marathon you could and a 7+ minute PR is awesome.  I can totally relate to the sloshing stomach distress.   I think it's partly caused by race day nerves (for me at least), but it's one more point  to tack onto the misery index.

Being alone and running into a headwind during the last few miles sounds brutal.   Fantastic job keeping your head in the game and finishing out as strong as you could.  The little demons telling you it's OK to walk or slow down can get pretty loud.

Congrats, Phil!  Well executed!  Sorry about the stomach issues.  And you will get that BQ next time!

I love this.  Awesome race!  Congratulations!

Congrats Baboon!  That's a lot of time to shave off in a few months at this level!   Based on your trend, sub-3 by this time next spring?

Congratulations on the PR!  Sorry to hear about the stomach issues.