marathon report

Today's training: 26.2 miles, 4:16:56 (9:48 min/mi), avg 172 bpm

Well, I didn't make my goal of 4 hours. 4:16:56. I'm embarrased to say I hit the wall hard and did a lot of walking the last 3.2 miles. I was trying to keep 9 minute pace (a 4 hour marathon is 9:09). At 19 miles I was at 2:50:20 - 40 secs ahead of schedule. The next mile was 9:57 (including a big hill and a bathroom break). At that point, I knew I couldn't run any more 9:09 miles and I had some hills in front of me, so I was doing the calculation on how much time I could bleed. Next miles were 9:38, 9:45, 9:47.5. Then at the water stop shortly after mile 23 I decide I'm going to walk an extra 20 yards or so after getting my water to gather myself. A lady up the line of volunteers shakes her head and say's "just too hot today." After that I was pretty much done. 11:52, 12:53, 18:08 (yes I walked the whole mile), 4:34 (walked half, jogged half -- could the 26 mile marker might have been misplaced?). I was overheated at mile 25 and the idea of trying to run was a little unsettling.

Some excuse making... I had the misfortune of encountering a freakish heat wave. The start was predicted to be 60 degrees and 80 percent humidty and finish at 70 degrees. It seems like it ended up a little warmer than that. The high was 79 degrees, which seems a little hotter than I'd have guessed, but it was probably in the low 70s at the finish. Anyway, the historical average for today is a low of 36 and a high of 54, so I'm feeling a little snakebit. The wind was also 10+ miles an hour and coming from the south. Since the course mostly consisted of north-south out and backs, you ended up running a lot (including the last 8 miles) with the wind straight in you face.

All that said, my big mistake in the race was going out too fast. However, since my goal was 4 hours or bust, I don't think my strategy was horrible. I knew the hills were at the end and 4 minutes (9min/mi = 3:56) wasn't a huge cushion to go into them with.

I don't have the "base" to run a full marathon at a speed that equates with my shorter race times yet, so that's what I need to work on I suppose. I peaked at 55 mpw, which is plenty I think, but I don't have the years of adaptation built up, so it might take some "exposure" time for me to adapt.

I had already signed up for a half/full marathon 10 weeks from now (you can actually decide which you want to do during the race -- it's two loops). It's supposed to be a pretty hilly race though and it's May 7, which has about the same average temps I saw today (low 56, high 73). I haven't decided which I'll do (half or full). I'll suppose I'll train for the full (same training anyway?) and if the weather is great, I'll think about running it.