Philadelphia 2009 Race Report

Post-race meditations, organized by topic.  As usual, it’s absurdly long, so skip and skim as you like.

 

ESSENTIALS

Thanks to everyone here.  Posting regularly keeps me motivated during the long training periods and your accomplishments and dedication are always a humbling inspiration.

 

Finish 3:36:07 (2^nd best of 7 marathons, but a full 9+ minutes behind my PR)

 

Ran steady 8’s for the first 20, stomach rebelled and had very poor last 10K with numerous walk breaks to get stomach under control.  If anybody has info or leads on managing gag/retch issues during sports competition, I’d greatly appreciate it.

 

TRIP

Uncharacteristically, my DW had major back problems late this week leaving her in some serious pain.  (She’s off for a CT scan tomorrow.)  It made no sense for her to try to take a road trip for just a marathon, so I was flying solo.

 

On a good day, Philly is just over a 3 hour drive, mostly straight up I-95. 

 

It was not a good day. 

 

As I was driving in Maryland, all four lanes of northbound I-95 on the beltway around Washington, DC were shut down--I’d later learn for over 3 hours due to a police chase that ended up in a multi-vehicle pile-up.  Since so many other routes were now parking lots as they overflowed with traffic, I ended up winding my way into DC to catch the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.  Interestingly, this meant I drove the last couple of miles of the National Marathon course heading toward JFK Stadium.  Was this an omen?  Of what?  I don’t know.

 

Anyway, after nearly two hours, I bypassed the accident portion of 95 and headed up toward Baltimore where I reached another major accident causing lane closures and major traffic back-ups.  Just over the border in Delaware, I encountered a third accident—though smaller—causing more delays.

 

The 3-hour trip to Philly was closer to 6 hours of tiring start-and-stop driving.  (Thank goodness my DW and her sore back were not in the car.)  Not a good start.

 

But the rest of the day was uneventful.  My hotel—a bit of a dive I got for a relatively cheap price—was in a great location (and filled with runners).  It was an easy walk to the Expo for packet pick-up and there was a nice Italian place right on the block so I headed there for dinner.  The restaurant was packed with runners and was reservation-only but they were letting folks eat at the bar—which was fine with me; after that nightmare drive I needed a beer.  It turns out the entire bar was full of runners chowing down on pasta and, of course, drinking beer and wine.  At one point, the bartender—who was much bemused by us all—said, “I didn’t know runners drank on the night before a race.”  Without skipping a beat, one guy shoots back, “We’re not runners who drink; we’re drinkers who run!”  This was met with hearty agreement all around. 

 

But in reality, I was good for only two beers, some great pasta, and then off to bed early.

           

WEATHER

In the morning, it was just over a mile walk to the start, which was perfect to loosen up a bit (and was later a great post-race cool-down).  In the pre-dawn darkness other runners were winding their way there.  I realized I was the only one walking comfortably in shorts and a t-shirt; everyone else had jackets, tights, layers of throwaway clothes, even wool caps. 

 

That pretty much encapsulates my problem; I’m a cold-weather runner--which was a key reason I tried Philly (28F at the start last year).  This year, the race was dry and sunny with temps at the start was in the 40s heading up to the 50s.  This is what most people think of as ideal race weather, but it’s about 10 degrees warmer than I’d like.  I wasn’t complaining, though; after the Bay State nor’easter I greatly appreciated not having to do another one in the rain and this was much cooler than some of my Richmond marathons.  Weather was no excuse.

 

TRAINING AND GOALS

“Inconsistent” is the word I’d use to describe this training cycle.  My broken toe this summer meant no running for several weeks.  In retrospect, I may have built-up mileage afterward a bit too fast leading to a few weeks of lethargic running.  With all these interruptions, my peak mileage weeks were abbreviated, etc.  There were some good runs in there, too, but I never felt close to being in top form, so I adjusted my goals accordingly.

 

They were:

1. As usual, have fun and finish healthy.

2. Sub-3:40 (8:24 pace)

3. 3:37:16, which would be my 2^nd best time ever (8:18)

4. Sub-3:35 (8:12)

5. Sub-3:30 (8:01)

With a 3:36:07 (8:15), I managed the top 3. 

 

COURSE

• This is an urban race, obviously.  Downtown Philly feels like an old colonial city—a bit like Boston.  It has a mixture of narrow streets with historical buildings as well as some modern skyscrapers.  For some reason, it all felt a bit non-descript to me, though—probably because I’m just not that familiar with the city.  No real inspiring sights, lots of turns in the early stages, a few turns through some small almost back-alley type streets, some stretches near highways.  This isn’t a race you’d do for the scenery.  But the course was varied enough and you run through a park for a bit (unfortunately with a good size hill that was essentially a switchback) and near a river.
• Finishers included about 7500 marathoners, 7100 half-marathoners, and 1200 8Kers.  The full and half start at the same time and the half runners peel off at about mile 13 to go finish.  One of the best features is that after the halfway mark you head out for nearly seven miles, then turn around and head back along almost the same route.  That means you get to see the leaders coming back as you head out and you see other folks coming out as you head back.  It’s kind of inspiring in both directions.  I was a bit shocked when I saw the first three or four leaders were all white guys.  Where were the Kenyans?!  It just didn’t seem right, somehow.
• This is not a flat course.  The race web site has no meaningful elevation map, which I found odd, but it described the course as “mostly flat.”  Technically that’s true.  It’s mostly flat—except for the hilly parts!  To be fair, the hills are not bad; there are only a few substantial ones but there are a number of additional long, steady inclines that take a toll, the biggest being a 400-foot elevation gain around mile 5.  And the last 10K is mercifully flat.  Still, I like to know my hills ahead of time, and because of the absence of a real elevation map, I didn’t this time.
• Crowd support was pretty good, organized around “cheer zones,” and was especially dense at the finish.  Definitely some noise to feed off of at various points.
• Funny moment: As we ran past Drexel University frat houses, I swear I could smell the stale beer from the middle of the street and said something about it out loud.  The other runners around me cracked up and one said, “Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing!  It must have been a heckuva party!”  Another woman said, “Uh, I think it’s still going on” and gestured to an upcoming frat house front porch with a beer keg perched on the railing and some 8:00 a.m. drinking going on.  Ah, those kids. 

RACE

My plan was simple: even splits.  After a couple of slower first miles, get to 8:00 pace by 10K, stay there until 20, and then try to hang on mile by mile.  Official splits

10K 49:08   (7:54)

Half 1:43:55 (7:56)

30K 2:28:42 (7:59)

All was reasonably well at 30K; after that, not so much.

 

None of this race felt “easy.”  I never had to tell myself, “slow down.”  From mile one I just never got into a groove; it was comfortable but not easy, if you know what I mean.  By mile 18 it started to feel like real work.  If I just ran relaxed, my pace would slow substantially; I’d have to force myself to pick it up a bit.  By mile 20, I was at exactly an 8:00 minute pace but hurting.  Huh?  It surprised me a bit to be feeling this way so early.  This is the flip side of “trust your training;” if your training hasn’t been so great, there’s not much to trust.

 

And then, it happened:  my stomach started acting up.  Here’s how it works for me: if I work too hard due to (a) warm temps or (b) pushing beyond my training, I start to retch.  I never actually toss my cookies, as they say; I just have this sort of gag/retch reaction with dry heaves, which brings everything to an abrupt halt.  I have to stop, walk, concentrate on taking deep “belly” breaths until it’s under control, then ease back into a jog and figure out how hard I can push without triggering another incident.  But once it happens, it usually recurs.  It got ugly fast and just wouldn't go away; miles 22-26:  8:49, 8:57, 9:04, 8:31, 9:38.

 

I’ll admit, it’s frustrating as hell as runners are whizzing past you, your legs are not feeling that bad, your mind says “Go, go, go!  This is what you’ve been training for!” and your stomach says, “Nope, not gonna happen.”  I feel handcuffed.  My stomach was so upset, I couldn’t take my last gel and for the last couple of miles was just jogging in on sheer will power; I had no energy left and had that zoned out feeling from being under-fueled.

 

I wish I knew how to better manage this stomach issue, but I’ve had no luck so far.  (I'm a "gagger" in the rest of my life too; the dentist, bad smells, etc.)  My best analysis is that three variables interact: (1) conditioning, (2) temperature, and (3) pace.  The better my conditioning, the better I withstand warmer-than-perfect temps, and the more I can push pace.  The colder the temps, the more I can push pace to the limit of my conditioning.  And so on.  National Marathon this Spring was perfect temps (30s) + a solid training cycle = big PR.  Today was mediocre training + slightly warmer than ideal temps = okay, but not great race.  By trying to push the pace by staying at 8’s, I triggered the old stomach problems.  I should have pulled back sooner, but that’s the problem; I never know this stomach thing is going to happen until it does.

 

Anyway, I hung on as best as I could and, as noted, ended with 3:36:07. 

 

I was 1613 / 7465 overall, 1309 / 4357 men, 139 / 457 AG—just out of the prize money.

 

Lesson learned: marathons are hard and they don’t get easier.  Oh wait, I already knew that.

 

ORGANIZATION EVALUATION

• For me the biggest appeal of this was was the promise of cool temps and drivable distance.  It's not one I'd do again for any other reason.  (Where are those cold marathons?!)
• Races are huge efforts and, on the whole, this one was well-done.  The race used a color-coded wave start which worked well for no crowding.  (Though why not call it wave 1, 2, 3?  I was trying to figure out is the "black" wave ahead of the "green" wave or behind it?)
• All mile markers seemed accurate.  But there were clocks at only a few spots and they seemed unreliable.  Having started in the second wave, one clock was about 2 and a half minutes ahead of my Garmin, another was more than 5.  Huh?
• Water stops were uneven.  They were spaced anywhere from 1 to 2.5 miles apart, so you had to pay close attention if you wanted to pop an e-cap or gel just before grabbing some water.  Also, they stressed that green Gatorade cups would be used for Gatorade and plain white cups for water, which was a great idea until I arrived at an early stop, grabbed my white cup, moved out of the way past the tables and then realized I had Gatorade in my cup—too late to turn back.  Grrr. I learned my lesson, which was good because at some stops, cup use seemed totally random.  Good idea; poor execution.
• Some of the water stops were under-staffed.  I had to come to a dead stop at two of them to wait for someone to get me a cup of water.  They seemed to have plenty of Gatorade ready, but water was often skimpy.
• Speaking of skimpy, the post-race food was thin.  A single piece of fruit, a tiny (5 oz?) apple juice cup, and some gross mango granola bar (I kept thinking “hospital food”) followed by a tiny Dixie-cup of chicken broth and a soft-pretzel (which was good).  No cookies or other sweets, which I love to bring blood sugar back up.  I also longed for Richmond’s all-you-can-eat pizza!  Hell, for a minute, I was tempted to eat my last GU.
• The medal is nice and substantial—though I never quite know what to do with these things so they end up tossed in a pile.  The long-sleeve tech shirt is nicely functional but has an unfortunate design—a map of the course with an overlay of a giant shoe print which makes it look like someone has run over you with a really big size-15 muddy shoe.  Which, come to think of it, is pretty much how I felt at the end. 

NEXT?

Ah well, I still had fun and I'll try to do it again.

1. I have a local ½ marathon in 3 weeks, which is always a fun race.
2. I’m registered for Boston in the Spring.
3. I’m thinking of running National again, a month before Boston.  I’d make this my “A” race and Boston would be a fun “enjoy the experience” event. Nothing final yet.

 

Tramps!!  You pulled out a nice time meeting your top 3 goals even with the sickness!!  That is strong minded!  The only time I've had stomach issues which affected results was when I had a beer the night before and was pushing it in the race (a half marathon).  Maybe try skipping the beer before??  You could test this by drinking alot of beer before your half marathon and running it hard

 

Congratulations on your 2nd fastest so far! I enjoyed the RR!

 

Steve

Great marathon and report, Tramps.  You sure did well in spite of the stomach issues the last 6 miles.  Congrats on meeting most of your goals.

 

TomS

Congratulations!!!!!   What an excellent race report -- very enjoyable.  I was wondering where you stayed though...just in case I ever need a divey spot in PHL...

 

Second best ever showing in less-than-ideal conditions is some kick-arse work out there on the streets!  Well done!!!

Terrific running Tramps that's a good time Congratulations on your performance!  Stomach problems

 

I remember the Philly waterstops being a mess in 2005 also.   One was 20 feet from a blind righthand turn & there were about 3000 collisions. 

wow Tramps -- you ran an amazing race despite the stomach issues -- awesome report too!! 

hope your DW's back is feeling better!!

Tramps -

.

Sounds like you’re a water runners but most stomachs need to avoid the citric or other acids commonly added to gels as well as the sports drinks for “taste.”   It’s too bad marathons don’t seem to think they are worthy of following the lead of ultras and Ironman events with more customary items such as salty chicken broth, sugary defizzed colas (to say nothing of caffeine), plenty of bananas, and digestible energy bars. 

 

My IM friend’s sensitive stomach gets along fine with the above plus Cliff bars (enough for at least 100 grams of carbos/hour) and water. Maybe your faster pace is your stomach's equivalent of ultra's and IM's too. 

 

Hope the National-run/Boston-fun plan works out. 

 

ps - mabye all the “flat” marathons all over the country were plotted by Erika's Equinox veterans.

You hung tough and hung in there. Kudos.