Notes
CIM 2012 - marathon #4 (rain, wind and... running)
Intro
The idea to run CIM was born long time ago, when I lived in Illinois. I had few friends in CA and thought to do both things at once - visit my friends and run the marathon. The fact that the route considered to be a fast one was an additional incentive. No wonder that, when we decided to move to Cali, the first thing I did (of course, after unloading the trailer) was signing up for the race. We were excited to move, but the downside was that I have to pass on running Boston. Well... You can't have everything. That was March and December was long time to wait for - so, my first FM in CA was The Avenue of the Giants on May 5th. I ran very nice race at 3:12, set 11 minutes PR and was ready to start training for CIM.
Training
But before starting the cycle, I decided to spend 2-3 months building a higher base. For the previous cycle I averaged just about 48 mpw and followed Pfitz 18/55 (usually adding 5-7 miles here and there). So, I decided to bild a base of 70+ mpw with a thought to use Pfitz 18/70+ plan. I was very eager to run a lot of miles but the first two-three weeks of 70+ miles were pretty tough. Nevertheless, by week 4-5, looks like, my body adjusted and I started to run more and more every week - 73, 78, 80, 82, 84. The 3rd week of July I ran 102 miles. I even was thinking about taking on Pfitz 12/85 or 18/85 plans :-). I was kind of excited but something started to bother me. Few weeks before 100+ week lower parts of my arches started to feel really bad, like they had some bruises inside. I was very ignorant and I thought it's a normal reaction of the body on increased mileage. I decided to have a recovery week after 100+ and only ran 60 miles. But the pain didn't go away. Plus, I started to have hard time to wake up and run. That was new. I still managed to run three 80+ and 70+ weeks (after century week), but that was it - I totally lost desire to run, my arches were screaming from pain and I didn't care if I will be running CIM or not. I discovered (Swampangel from sub 3 thread told me about that) that the arches pain was PF and then google told me that "that thing" can be with me for a long time. So, I stopped running. For 3 days :-). Then I got worried that I am a wuss and started to run only every other day, and only at a recovery speed. It took me 3 weeks to revive myself a little bit, just by time to start 12/70 plan for CIM race.
Despite to kind of getting my mojo for running back, I still felt that I am not that excited about the race like I was all my previous cycles. I usually followed the plan to a T. The only thing which could make me not to run was sickness. This cycle I was more "relaxed", I just realised (finally) that hitting the roads when your body minds it is just not so great idea. And that I am supposed to feel more or less good physically and even more important - spiritually.So, I was skipping planned runs once in a while - though, I tried not to skip the most important ones.
I am getting closer. Sorry about being verbose. I just want to have some kind of summary of this very different and long cycle.
Training races and target times
After my last FM, I ran 2 10K races - 41:08(hot) and 41:44 (hot and 300 feet hill at the very first mile which totally destroyed me). I also raced 3 HMs (all without tapering for them): 1:30:37, 1:28:17 and 1:30:46. McMillan calculator was predicting something like 3:10 for my marathon, but, as a rule, I usually was exceeding its predictions. So, there was a hope for my 3:05 target time. I actually was thinking about going for sub 3 once, during my crazy unwise "base building" phase. But that was gone right after I got all those running problems in August. So, I decided for 3:05 and, hopefully, for sub 3 during one of my races in 2013 (of course, if nothing happens on 12/21). On a positive side, I was almost hitting all the planned paces during training, running 7:03-7:05 for my MP miles and all the LRs with recommended paces too - 8:20 for first half and 7:40 - for a second half of the LRs.
Race week
Race week was very uneventful. My DW was totally helping me with all my strange requests, like letting me sleep all I can manage and not loading me with any home errands or stuff. Food was also first class. I slept extremely well on Thursday and Friday. I usually don't sleep good the night before the race. But this Saturday I did :-). Three days before race I started to drink my tea with a lot of honey - that was my idea of carbo-loading :-). Actually, despite significantly increased weekly running (comparing to previous cycle - 67 against 48 mpw), I managed to gain some weight - 167 lbs against 164. So, that was not good. Not good was also the news that some crazy storm is coming and going to hit the our area over the week. My hope was that it will manage to go away by Sunday. The idea was simple, Boston weather, NYC marathon cancellation - there is no way CIM could be affected too. Well, there is this "Murphy law" thing that says - "anything that can go wrong, will". So, it did. Turned out, the peak of the storm was exactly at the time we were running marathon - from 6am till 9am.
Race day
It started well. I slept like a baby at friends' house. I woke up a few minutes before the alarm would signal - 4am. The race was at 7am. I ate a big portion of oatmeal. 3 hours before the start. That's it. Then, for some reason, I went to bed again. It is 5 minutes drive from my friends' house to the point where the shutlles pick up the runners and deliver them to the start. But it was still OK, I was laying down until 5am, then did some final preparations, woke up my DW. Our friends woke up too and we had some peaceful early morning talk. Basically, the subject was if I should run or not - because the wind/rain noise outside was scary sometimes. They were kind of serious, but, the idea of quitting never crossed my mind - I was ready to meet whatever it was outside :-). Seriously, there were more curiousity than I ever had. Unfortunately, right at the moment we needed to go, I had a bear attack (my DW never heard this expression, so, she laughed uncontrollably - but it was after the race, when I described this expression to her). So, when we left the house, we were on a brink to be late. Add a traffic jam right before the shuttles place - but I still didn't realize that I maybe in a trouble. I had to get out of the car and easily run a little to the buses. I waited 5-7 minutes before I got into a bus and we went. People were really excited inside the bus. We drove for a few minutes, then I started my Garmin and saw that the time was 6:58am. Everything happened so fast that I didn't notice that it is 6:58. And the bus is still not there. OMG... There was a warning on the CIM's site saying that runners have 5 minutes to start - after that the start line is closed. OMG second time :-). The bus came to the start, somebody hears some sounds (horn or signal) - that was the start of the race. Wow I thought, there will be 7,000 people in front of me, and I kind of targeting 3:05. Plus, I need to leave my gear bag somewhere, Plus, I need to go to a bathroom. Never again, I thought, it will happen to me - preparing for 7 months just to find myself in a situation like this - it's just totally non-adult thing :-).
Got off the bus and totally forgot what I was thinking about there. I heard word "surreal" a lot last few days. Yes it was. You know, I grew up in Russia. It used to be communist state. There were not many movies produced there (comparing to Hollywood) and half of those movies were about World War II. Mostly some tragic stuff - and there were a lot of scenes with a bad / awful weather. When I left the bus, first thought was - "I am in a war movie". Some incandescent light, people wearing vynil bags and fighting strong wind and horizontal heavy rain. Volunteers in plastic raincoats targeting my gear bag, runners running in all directions, plastic bags, coats are all over the place and huge huge crowd 3-4 hundred yards away. Wow... I need to run... But I am already late. So, I decided to go to the bathroom - it doesn't matter if I am late 30 seconds more. There is this huge line of bathrooms, but I still had to wait for another 30 seconds to get into one of them :-). It all happened within 3 minutes, but the feeling was that it lasted for a long time. Unusual darkness only added to the drama . On a positive note, the temperature was about low 50s and the rain was not very cold (at least to my taste).
Ok, I have no idea how late I am but I am crossing the ugly looking starting mats and concentrate on a race. Right from the start I remember that "bus thought" again - never again I am late to the start if I target some time. The road just packed with runners. 4 lanes. And those were mostly the slower runners, I suspect. Again, I had no idea what would be a right strategy, but I was just trying to squeeze between running people and keep 7 minutes pace. I think I repeated words "excuse me" and "sorry" a few hundred times during those wavy running miles. There was no way I could focus on a race, the focus was on getting through this incredible amount of people (that was the largest race for me so far - 6200 marathon finishers and about 850 relay teams). The bad thing was that after couple of miles we turned to the right (Oak Ave, I think) and 4 lanes road became 2 lanes one. I think, it's not a big problem when you start at the head of the race with sub 3 and 3 hours runners, and it's not a problem for runners who are targeting 5 or 6 hours race. But it's definitely a problem for irresponsible runner like me who is targeting 3:05 and starts behind 6-7 hours runners. So, on that 4 miles span I have to run on a sides sometimes, on a wet grass, to pass the slower runners - because it was impossible to do it on a road. One time I almost slipped on uneven side of the road, but all was OK. In any case, only by mile 6, when the route turned south, I passed most of the crowds. All that time, there was no much time for me to think about rain or wind. Rain was still heavy, but the wind was not a big issue (at least to me) and sometimes it was even hitting into my back!. I was also not paying as much attention to my paces because I just was not able to do so many things at once :-). Here are my paces up until the mile 6, when we turned south, to Fair Oaks street:
1 - 6:57
2 - 7:04
3 - 7:00
4 - 7:03
5 - 7:07 (first gel)
That all looks pretty good, but, I think, keeping to those paces just took more efforts from me than if I started like a good boy. Plus, there they were - the rolling hills. Ugh... Was not training for hills (check for the next cycle). Ok, there is no more crowd, I can concentrate on a race, finally. And I have to concentrate really really hard. Because, as soon as we passed mile 6 and turned south, we met our best friend - the headwind. I am not an expert in estimating wind speed - but it was cruel sometimes. I would not say the wind slowed me to the stop ever that day, but that was close. I didn't experience that kind of wind even when I ran along the lake Michigan in Chicago. In addition, we still had that heavy rain. And with that wind, rain felt sometimes like a hail. Plus, I am not sure, but, I think the rolling hills were the longest and the steepest too during that race span. So, not fun. And no chance to run behind somebody - because I still running with slower runners, I don't think I even got to 3:25 pacer at that time. Legs are getting heavy - partially for being soaked, partially from extra efforts. At that time I still had no idea what race it would be for me. I felt I am making too much efforts - and it is not even half point. Here are my paces for miles 7-10.
6 - 7:09
7 - 7:16
8 - 7:25
9 - 7:17
10 - 7:03
By end of mile 10, I can see that my total pace is 7:09 and I start to realize that getting sub 3:05 would probably be a problem. That would mean I should run faster than before, probably a lot of sub 7 miles. I doubted it would happen, so, I adjust my plan a little bit and decide that I have to catch 3:10 pacer. I know I started 2-3 minutes late and if I get to 3:10 group, that means my finish time would be something in a range of 3:06-3:08. Which I would be really happy with, considering the circumstances :-). So, after mile 10 we turn to the west direction and there was no strong headwind anymore since then. Or, at least, after mile 6-10 stretch, no wind would be considered strong enough for me :-). I would also say, that by mile 11 the race conditions became pretty comfortable (again, imo) - it was still raining, sometimes heavily, but it was kind of warm and it was not really an issue. The totally soaked shoes (after mile 1, I think), sometimes pretty deep water on the roads, non-stop rolling hills and chaffing clothes - that's the only minor issues I had for the rest of the race. Though, the rolling hills also almost stopped after mile 18, I believe. Here are the paces for the mile 11-18:
11 - 7:00 (second gel)
12 - 7:06
13 - 7:09
13.1 mark - 1:33:45
14 - 7:00
15 - 7:06
16 - 7:01
17 - 6:56
18 - 7:15 (third gel)
When I saw 7:09 total pace by mile 11, I realized that I need to do some extra efforts to have a decent PR, so, turning to west and having no strong wind was a big help and I really hit the target pace during those miles. Discrepancy in paces, I think, due to a race profile. At this span I started to pay more attention to what is going on around, but still keeping the focus. I would say, the whole race there were always people on a sides, supporting, cheering and it was amazing - considering the weather. I am so grateful to all those spectators, I can't say - that actually helps quite a bit to see and hear support and cheering. I could only imagine what kind of support we would have with a better weather. I also think there were not enough volunteers on some water stops, but that is, probably, expected and it was not a problem, for me at least, because I didn't take water every station. Right around mile 18 I noticed that I am running with some much younger guy and we were already together for a quite awhile. So, I decided to ask him what is his target time and he said - "oh, I am running a relay". Wow, I thought - I am not bad, if I am runnning with some young relay kid at mile 18 :-). Right at that moment I saw another younger guy ahead, with a russian/ukranian last name on his back. So, I catched him and asked if he is russian. He says, yes and he also turned out to be from a relay team. After short talk, I passed him with a repeated thought of how good I am passing much younger relay guys :-). Anyway, I ran with this american runner for next 3 miles and those were the fastest 3 miles I run at this race :-):
19 - 7:01
20 - 6:55
21 - 6:59
By mile 21 my relay friend tells me he can see 3:10 pacer. So, I am kind of relieved but I know I am running faster pace than I am ready for at that moment, so I am telling the guy to continue his strong race and we wish each other good luck. It took me probably another mile to get to the 3:10 group - because they were definitely not running 3:10 pace. I think the pace for 3:10 supposed to be 7:14 and, as you will see below, none of the last miles were 7:14 miles :-). I guess they used smart pacing (running faster last miles), and it took some efforts from me to keep that pace. Still - it was much easier to run with the group. Here are the paces:
22 - 7:12
23 - 7:08
24 - 7:05
25 - 6:58
26 - 6:57
0.37 - 6:43
Last few miles I can remember three things - my shoe lace has to be tied (and I lost about 10-15 second, I guess - grrrr....), 3:10 pacer lost his pace pennant (right word?) after mile 25 and I never saw him again. Also, I started to breathe really heavy but with some kind of high pitch which was, I think, scary for some runners whom I was passing :-). But I really didn't care - I knew this will only last for a mile or so, and I hit those sub 7 paces and get to the finish line when the clock was showing 3:09:59. Turned out that I started 3 minutes 19 seconds late, so my final time was 3:06:40 (50 seconds negative split). I saw my DW finally (due to the bad road conditions and not knowing the local roads we didn't meet at the planned 2 race points) and I was really really very happy to see her. I was also happy that I withstood all the intricacies of this race and never really had a thought about quitting it. My legs were heavy since mile 10, but they stayed functional all the way to the finish. I guess the training still worked after all :-).
I am really sorry for this extremely long and, probably, sometimes extremely boring report, but I just wanted to put everything in words about this special race before I forget. In addition, I am asking for some forgiveness if you find some unusual expressions - I am defintely not a native speaker (and will never be :-) - I started to learn English more or less seriously when I was about 27-28 years old :-( (and school was not a big help in it :-(.
What is next?
LA marathon on 03/17/13. When I signed for it, I hoped it would be another fast course, but, looks like, it is harder than CIM. So, I have to believe that at least the weather will be OK for the race. Because, every marathon for the next year I will be targeting as a sub 3 marathon. I also signed for a marathon The Avenue of the Giants on 05/05, but it's too early to think about it.
Again, thank you very much for getting to this point. Click Like (or Dislike), if you get here, so I would know number of people who really read it :-) (and maybe trying to keep it shorter next time :-).
Here is the link to the video my DW created from the CIM marathon and the way she saw it during the race was happening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJuFoLWn-nc