Executive summary

Ran the Detroit marathon in 3:40:33, a 12 minute PR. Still somewhat short of expectations. These things are really friggin' hard. And my legs are very sore.

Brief marathoning history

• Oct 2012: Grand Rapids - 4:16
• June 2013: Ann Arbor - 4:06
• April 2014: Martian - 3:52
• Oct 2014: Detroit - 3:40

Goal:

BQ is 3:30. I realized it was a long shot to cut that much time off in a single training cycle. I thought 3:35-3:40 was probably more realistic. But I thought I'd try to train to the relevant paces for 3:30 & see what happens.

Training

This is long, but hoping to get some feedback for next time.

Decided to go with a formal training plan for the first time; picked Hansons Advanced. However literally the day before week 1 was to start, I re-aggravated the injury that set me back ~4 months last summer/fall. Fortunately after a couple weeks of low mileage, it got better. So I missed the first 2-3 weeks but I was hoping that wouldn't be much of a problem as the plan starts pretty easy. Comments:

• Speed: I ended up missing the first 3 of these. Started from the beginning & skipped the last 3 weeks (which repeat some of the workouts). I was told by a few people that it's better to sacrifice these rather than the strength workouts. Used a pace of 6:50-6:55, slightly faster than 5k (based on my single 5k datapoint). Had fun with these, first time I had done any interval workouts. No trouble hitting the paces.
• Strength: Plan calls for MP-10 or 7:50; I targeted this but was often in the 7:40-7:45 range. These mostly went OK.
• Tempo (MP): I felt these were very important as I really needed to train my body to get comfortable with an 8:00 pace. First several weeks it was pretty tough to get it dialed in - a lot of inefficient speeding up & slowing down. But eventually I got the hang of maintaining it pretty well. Although it felt harder to me than I thought it should (I  guess I'm not sure exactly how it's supposed to feel), and after every run I said I could not imagine holding it for 26.2. Some people say "trust the training", on race day you will be tapered & ready to go. Of course as it turned out my gut feel was right.
• Long runs: this is mainly where I diverged from Hansons. I did not feel comfortable with their every-other-week LR maxing at 16. I wanted to get more mileage in, and I didn't feel I was getting enough from just beefing up the easy runs. So I had a LR every week, and where the plan has a total of 3 LR's of 16, I had 8 runs of 17-21. I still targeted the MP+10% (8:48) the plan recommends, typically ended up in the 8:30-8:45 range.
• Race: Hansons discourages racing. However I really wanted to get a datapoint to see where I was. I planned a HM 6 weeks out, and felt if I could run 1:40, it would give me a better feeling about things. I did, and it did. I had a mini-taper/recovery, skipping the Tempo before the race & the Strength workout following. Slight mileage cutback both weeks (for me - but actually matched the mileage in the plan).
• Total mileage: I wanted to juice up my mileage, and I felt pretty good about that. For Aug & Sept I had 308 & 285. For weeks 5-16, the plan averages 55mpw, I averaged 65, including 4 weeks >70. The plan suggests to increase easy runs and warmup/cooldown of quality workouts; I did those plus the extra LR's.
• I was able to stay reasonably healthy, although was certainly pretty worn down & ready for training to end. I still felt everything would have to be perfect to hit 3:30, but sub-3:35 was doable.

Unforeseen circumstance

During a run 9 days before race day, the day after my last quality workout, I tripped on some uneven sidewalk and landed pretty hard on the pavement. Pretty nasty case of road rash but the bigger problem was that during the next day's run, my right knee was extremely painful. I had clearly done something else to it. Maybe just bruised, but it was pretty bad. If the race was that day, no way I could've finished it. Decided the best course of action was to shut it down. I figured any fitness loss at that point would be minimal vs. giving some time to heal. Ended up doing one short run on Thursday to test it out. It felt OK enough that I would go ahead with the race.

Race

Weather: 36 degrees with 30 windchill at the start, clear sky. First day of the year it was that cold, but pretty good conditions for a marathon.

Pacing strategy: With my knee, I kind of figured 3:30 was out the window. Maybe 3:35 though, and I would've been OK with any 3:3x. Decided to ease in with a ~8:30 1st mile, ~8:15 2nd mile, then if I felt good, get to 8:00ish. I ended up feeling pretty good. Pretty early on (maybe 4-5), my knee started to hurt. Also my right hamstring tightened up; I wonder if that might be related to my long layoff. Both were pretty uncomfortable but did not seem to affect my pace too much

1 - 8:28

2 - 8:09

3 - 8:14

4 - 8:02

5 - 7:49

6 - 7:59

7 - 7:53

8-9 ?? - going through the tunnel between Canada & US, under the Detroit River - no Garmin.

10 - 8:04

11 - 8:03

12 - 8:06

13 - 8:04

14 - 8:01

15 - 8:02

16 - 8:08

17 - 8:19

18 - 8:03

I started to wear down somewhat at 16-17, although able to recover for 18, then slowed a bit again.

19 - 8:23

20 - 8:23

21 - 8:22

I had been just behind the 3:35 (8:12) pace group, but lost them at some point. Then the wheels came off.

22 - 8:47

23 - 9:17

24 - 8:56

25 - 9:16

26 - 9:24

0.2 - 8:37

Finish - 3:40:33 - 12 min PR

AG 62/406, OA 557/3961

Goes without saying I was disappointed with mile 22 on. The 3:40 (8:24) pace group came up behind me around mile 24, I figured I ought to be able to stick with them till the finish, but I was just completely out of gas. Legs stiffened up pretty badly, but the fatigue was the bigger factor.

Postmortem

1. Regardless of hitting the right paces in a plan, there's only so much time you can cut off in a single training cycle. I don't have enough accumulated mileage history to make the McMillan calculator work on my 1:40 half. I didn't have a 3:30 in me, so should have been more conservative with pacing, and might have reduced the fade & ended up with a better time overall.

2. I wonder if I could've pushed myself harder when things got tough at the end. Hard to say. The fatigue was not really as bad as I've had in previous marathons.

3. No idea of the effect of the idle final week, but couldn't have been good. Although under the circumstances I don't regret it.

4. If I have another good training cycle, I think I should have a shot at 3:30 in the spring. Just repeating something similar may be a good start, but I encourage any suggestions.

Congrats on the 12 minute PR, like you and D said, with another good training cycle and maybe a couple more attempts you will reach that 3:30:00 goal

Well done, Dave. Considering your injury 9 DAYS before the race I think it went ok.  Also, you said your knee hurt and hamstring acted up only five miles in. To put up with that pain and/or discomfort for 20 miles is a big accomplishment in itself, and for that you earn a Cadillac.

Overall, how did you like the Hansons plan and would you use it again? I am very OCD with marathon training and if I am following a plan I will stick to it exactly how it is written. You felt you needed extra miles so you added some. Do you have any regrets altering the plan or would you do it again?

You didn't BQ, but you will have other chances. A 12 minute PR is just MASSIVE and that is something to be proud of.  Good, good, stuff. It was fun following your training and I have no doubts you will only get faster.

PRs in the full and 1/2 in the last month and a half.  Not bad.

You think you'll do Glass City?

Dave, that is one heck of an accomplishment.  12 minute PR, and almost 26 minutes faster than your 2013 race.  Outstanding.  Oh, and while running through pain from a fresh injury, no less.

3:30 is not out of reach.  Congrats!

I also ran my 4th in 3:40. The difference between us is that you are progressing with much bigger jumps. I have no advice or tips, as I think you did everything right. You should be proud of yourself. Congratulations!

Congratulations on the PR. You have made great progress in each of your races.  You're very close to your 3:30 goal.  Next time.

Maybe not the end resulted that you wanted, but still a pretty big jump in six months.  Certainly taking 9 days of URD leading into the marathon didn't help.  They say the second half of the marathon starts at mile 20, and it looks like you experienced that.  You certainly held that shit together much longer than I did in my last marathon.  I wouldn't say your wheels came off...it just looks like you got tired.

I don't know anything about Hansons, but your training has been solid.  You've really only just started your speedwork, too.  Give that another 6-12 months and your races will reflect it.  You're going to keep getting faster for the foreseeable future and that 3:30 is just going to be a blip in your rear-view mirror.

You did good, Dave.