06.23.08
getting the beat-down.
Another marathon, another disappointment. I guess 7 weeks (really 5 weeks before the taper) is not enough time to train for a fast marathon. I did run a decent 19 miles (1:44:35), but had nothing over the last 7 miles. This time, ambitious pacing was not to blame, rather dehydration and near-cramping legs (probably due to the dehydration). I ran overly conservative in the early going and at about 14 miles felt like a million bucks because of it. My breathing was always very steady and not too hard. Then slowly the monkey climbed on and I went 5:50, 5:53, 5:56 to mile 22. During mile 22 was a steep hill, which I felt like I crawled up, and I was starting to unravel. The “wall” in a marathon is unlike any torture I have ever experienced. Slowly you lose focus, you veer inexplicably, going downhill hurts worse than uphill…and on this day I started to get chills. Chills are not a good sign in such hot, dry conditions and they scared me. At mile 24, I stopped and walked for 20 seconds (my third such walking break of the day), fearing I was about to go down. I chugged down two cups of water and poured another on my head. I felt good enough to go 2 more miles and the crowds were loud and raucous enough to keep me going. I have never wanted not to be running more in my life than those last two miles of the race. It must have been a sad homestretch to watch as another guy, who was hurting even more, and I shuffled into finish not wanting any part of silly competition - this was survival, far more important. A sprint who have sent my quivering left hamstring into an inexorable cramping spasm.
So, what did I learn? Like I said, I am not sure I trained very effectively for this race, which I knew was a possibility beforehand. A longer build-up and higher mileage are necessary. Also, I think that during a marathon training phase, you must run at marathon pace as much as possible and not spend time running much faster than half marathon pace. The difficulty is not in the pace, rather the distance, and covering distance at pace is critical. I also learned that I might not be as good a marathoner as I am 5k-half-marathon, and I am ok with that if it is true.
Before I make this determination. I just want one more shot with proper build-up, better training, and could somebody give me some decent race day weather(75 degrees at finish - pretty hot for a marathon) and some people to run with (alone after 3 miles) for once!
The facts - there was a stiff headwind out of the west. the is course is point to point and heads WSW, so the head wind was pretty constant. temps around 70-75 for the race, sunny and dry. 5:30. 5:29(10:59), 5:24 (16:24), 5:32(21:56), 5:23 (27:19 5 miles), 5:25(32:44), next 2 in 11:19(44:04 8 miles) (during the 7th mile I had to stop bc I started to feel light headed and couldn’t catch my breath, a worrisome thing. I recovered and started running again), 5:28(49:32), 5:22(54:54 at 10), 5:34(1:00:29), 5:23(1:05:52), 5:30 (1:11:22), 5:22(1:16:45), 5:30(1:22:15), 5:31(1:27:47), 5:32(1:33:19), 5:41(1:39:01), 5:34 (1:44:35), 5:50(1:50:26 at 20 miles/5:31 pace), 5:53(1:56:20), 5:56(2:02:16), 6:08(2:08:24), 6:41(2:15:06), 6:14(2:21:21), last 1.2 7:32 - 2:28:53, 5:40 pace, 21st overall, a 3 minute PR but a 5-8 minute disappointment. ah well.
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Marc said,
June 25, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Hey Brent. I saw your splits over the last bit on the Grandma’s web site and knew you had to have been suffering. The light-headed bit around mile 7 is a bit worrisome. You could not have been dehydrated so early, could you have? I wonder what that was about?
You have bad luck with weather too. Sorry about this…I think these races take both luck and training, and though you are hard on yourself about your training, I think it’s largely the former that’s getting you down.
Keep the faith!