The Training:  Hansons Advanced with 2 miles added to each easy run.  Averaged 62 mpw with a peak week of 74.  Going into training I had originally planned to use the 3:35 paces, but I somehow got it in my head that if I could pull off the 3:30 paces, I should.  So I tried.  For a lot of the program the paces felt too hard.  I was exhausted, worn down and wanting to quit.  I ran a 22:17 5k in August which only predicted a 3:37 marathon and was getting discouraged because I didn’t feel like I was seeing improvement from all the work I was doing.  Then 6 weeks out, I ran a tune up half and surprised myself with a 1:37:06.  And I noticed the MP runs were starting to feel easier so I was feeling pretty good about the progress I had made this cycle.

The goal: After my tune up half, I was thinking that sub-3:30 was a safe bet.  I wanted to be fairly conservative since I didn’t want to miss my BQ but I was secretly hoping to pick it up in the second half and pull out a 3:27-3:28.  My plan was to run at 3:30 pace until the half and if I was feeling great, to pick it up slightly and hopefully run a negative split (like I did at Carmel).

Pre-race:  A few days before the race, I was starting to get worried. My legs didn’t feel great and my inner calf/ankle which had been a nagging pain earlier in the cycle started acting up.  But by the day before the race, my legs felt pretty good and I felt like the taper had finally kicked in.

Didn’t sleep much the night before the race. Had a bagel, coffee, and Mt. Dew for breakfast and headed over to the race start.  Forecast was for a perfect 42-47 degrees during race hours and I went with short sleeves, arm warmers and shorts.  (Should have done a tank top, I was plenty warm and tossed the arm warmers by mile 3).

The race:  Headed into my corral and got behind the 3:30 pace group.  Race started and it was pretty congested.  The 3:30 pace group started out pretty slow so I just went off on my own.

Miles 1-7 splits: I was kind of concerned off the bat when MP never really felt easy and I never had that urge to run faster.  I was running at my planned pace but it didn’t feel much easier than my MP runs in training. I was wondering if this might mean trouble later on but I decided to go with the planned pace because I SHOULD be able to do this. (7:55, 7:59, 7:55, 7:58, 7:59, 7:53, 7:57)

Miles 8-14:  I was starting to feel like it was taking more focus and effort to maintain pace by mile 8.  I knew at this point, I was not going to be picking up the pace as I had hoped.  I could hear the 3:30 group behind me, announcing their splits at each mile marker – I was still right on pace but having them on my heels made me a little nervous.  (7:59, 7:55, 8:01, 8:03, 8:00, 8:01, 8:03)

Miles 15-20:  At mile 15, the 3:30 group caught up to me, I felt like running with the group was helping so I went with it.  But then I slowed at a water station and they got ahead of me and I never could catch back up.  By mile 16, I started to slow down.  My legs were feeling very tired and I just couldn’t convince them to go faster (8:11, 8:09, 8:09, 8:06, 8:13)

Miles 21-26.2:  By mile 21, I felt like I was running through mud. I was trying to force my legs to keep moving but it was so. hard.  Everything hurt. I tried to just focus on moving my arms and legs.  I was trying to figure out how much time I could lose and still BQ and was worried that all my training this summer was for nothing.  Around mile 24ish I got bad side stiches on both sides.  I was hunched over trying to keep shuffling along and a woman came up behind me and grabbed my elbow and said ‘you can do this’. And I said ‘No I can’t this sucks’.  She ran in front of me for a bit. I tried to keep up.  Around mile 25, I caught up and passed her.  And she said ‘See, you’re doing it!’.  I figured at the 25 mile marker that I had the BQ, I just had to gut it out for 10 more minutes.  I think my sprint for the finish line was an 8:20 pace. Ugh.  Ended up with a 3:33:15.  (8:27, 8:22, 8:33, 8:27, 8:41, 8:23 and final .27 8:14)

Post Mortem:  I’m not really sure what went wrong.  Maybe my taper wasn’t enough? Maybe it was a bad day? Maybe I over estimated my fitness?  I don’t know.  Would it have been better to have adjusted my pace early on when it was feeling too hard?  I’m not sure.  I’m happy I got the BQ but disappointed that I didn’t run the race that I thought (and still think) I should be capable of.   Hopefully this is good enough to get into Boston because I am not running another one.  At least not for a while.

Thanks DTF.  After my half in Sept I just had really high expectations for this race and can't help but feel like it didn't go anything how I had hoped.  But yes, I have seen good progress the past year and when I look past the disappointment of this race, I can see that I pretty much ran this at my HMP from last fall (which I was thrilled with at the time).

PS - you should join us on fb.

You Smashed it!

So happy to meet you.  DW and I both enjoyed every moment of Indy and I am proud to have shared the course with you.