Notes
OK, a race report.
It's been about 20 months since I've been really ready to attack a marathon on race day. Plenty of excuses as to why that is, but we'll forego that for now.
Even this cycle had it's ups an downs. On many occasions, I let work stress or personal life issues distract me. The base building for this cycle was really just a lot of miles some faster than needed but nothing of any real significance. During this cycle I paced the Chicago marathon 3:04:20, but even that was mostly just a long tempo.
After Chicago, I decided I was ready to give it the varsity try and really concentrate on a marathon cycle. I created the plan, it had 2 speedy days a week and a long run. It's a cycle I have used before.
Early in the cycle on a 4 x mile I noticed a bit of a soreness in my right groin. I shut down that workout then nursed the workouts for a couple days. I really only took out top end and that was enough. After a week it was back to normal and I resumed the cycle. It was a pretty challenging cycle, lot's of MP Tempos some below MP. Lot's of sub MP 1 & 2 mile repeats.
I decided to test my training with the Indy Monumental 1/2 marathon. A group of guys/gals I run with would be there, so why not? It was a pretty good day, about a 2 minute PR and I didn't taper very drastically. I followed that with a hundred mile week and I was feeling invincible.
Then along comes Trent, he sucks, btw. Well were gonna have a nice little get together with RA folk and have Pizza and Beer. Uff Da, at 3a I got home and was hurting the next day. Broken streak. Trent really sucks.
After I got back into training I completed the cycle and was really ready for CIM. I like that course. It sets up well for me. I'd done some significant longer workouts on my hilly course. I was ready.
So the weekend starts and I get to the airport, only to find the airport has a sense of humor. Boarding pass states: "We're just as excited as you about your upcoming flight, unfortunately we cannot check in prior to 24 hours before your flight." Ok, that one's on me. I may have missed timed that by a day.
Anyhow, I go back the next day, and I did get on a flight. I had a burger and 1 beer for dinner and was off to bed. I slept very well, woke up and did a 4 mile shake out with about 4 pickups of about a block. I felt great. I went to the expo and was pleasantly surprised that they granted me an elite (sub-elite) bib. That meant I could line up in front and would have shelter at the start line.
The rest of the day was uneventful and I met the DWRunning team for dinner. Afterwards it was go to bed and wake up. CIM is a point to point so you get up pretty early to bus to the start. Again the DWRunning group arranged to meet and we road the Bus to Folsom, the dam not the prison. We hit the porta potties then we just hung shedding our nervous laughter. I then headed down to the elite tent to find the 2:40 pacer.
I'm ready for this!!!
Ok, the race starts. This is a net downhill marathon, every climb has a bigger drop. The first 4 miles are basically down and 4 was really down. I was seriously holding back here. I would take what the downhill would give me and back off the effort when climbing. I feel like I was being very smart. The race was going very nicely. I was not paying attention to those passing me, nor targeting others for passing. I was just running.
At about 10 miles, I first felt something 'glitch' in my groin, but it wasn't causing me to change anything so I just rolled with it. the hill just past 10 is the only really significant hill on the course, it requires some effort. I feel this coincided with the first occurrence. Once I got up and over all was well for 3-4 miles. At apparently about 14 miles it just gave out. The groin would no longer allow me to run even as fast as 6:30. I tried to hold that for a couple miles to see if it would change, but alas no it did not.
At about 18 I saw Lon, he's a supporter of the DWRunning team, but I did not recognize him. At this point I slowed to a stop. I was just so disappointed/frustrated about what was happening. Only then did I realize who it was and we chatted a few secs. He could not spare me a groin so I soldiered on with mine. I'd work myself back into a running pace then break down to a walk, this continued almost through the finish line. I crossed with the 2:50:40. It's not walking, but it was so not the goal I had in mind.
Ok, enough of that, let's get onto a brief rest and ready ourself for a Spring marathon. Looking like Rotterdam more so than Boston, but we'll see.