Georgia marathon

The Georgia marathon was my 21^st marathon!  It was my third marathon of 2018, just two weeks after the New Orleans marathon!   It was my hilliest road marathon with 1534 feet of gain (hilliest trail marathon is still the Breakneck Point marathon with 10000 feet of gain).  The course was scenic and the crowds were awesome!  I felt a lot of love throughout the course and I’ll remember it as one my favorite races.

Recovery

Important to this race was to recover from the New Orleans marathon two weeks before.  I took two days off and then ended up running almost 12 miles which was too much.  So I took another two days off.  I hiked the Saturday and did one strength training session with a few boulder sessions.  Kept myself active but didn’t run too much.  I only did 17 miles that recovery week.  The week of the race the focus were on a medium slow run (7 miles) to regain some aerobic fitness on Tuesday and a track workout to practice running fast under some stress (2x2 miles after running 4 200s and then 2x400) on Thursday.  Special thanks to Kelvin for leading that workout and the rest of the queens distance runners for the company! 

Shakeout! – Day before race

I wanted to start my weekend in Georgia off with a sunrise from a mountain.  Found out that many state park s open at 7 am so had to go to a national forest.  In my search I found that Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the AT trail was only two hours away.  Despite it being cloudy and zero chance of sunrise I decided to drive up and do a morning trail run up and down the mountain.  Springer Mountain doesn’t have the best view either but it was more of a symbolic trip.  Shortest route is 2 miles and longest is about 10 miles and I found one that was 4 miles.  Perfect for a shakeout run!

After shakeout, it was a 2 hour drive back to eat lunch at Udipi Café in Duluth (NE of Atlanta) for some south Indian food.  Then to the expo center at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.  It was a tiny expo which made packet pickup quick.  Then the aquarium, 50% off with a promo code from the virtual goodie bag of the race.  The aquarium was similar to the NASA museum in Houston where they are focusing more on experiences rather than simply showing items.  I wanted to do dinner at Herban Fix but there was a 40 minute wait so dinner at mellow mushrooms.  I ended up eating a 14” pizza slice which was a fairly heavy dinner; something I don’t normally do (underestimated how big the pizza was).  Afterwards I did a scout of the starting/finishing area.

Race morning!

Six hours of sleep, a cliff bar mint chocolate bar that had some caffeine in it and a banana to get me to the starting line.  It took longer than I thought to get ready and I got in a 3 minute warmup jog instead of 5 minutes before heading to my corral.  I moved myself a little behind 3:45 pace group.  I planned to run with them for as long as I could.

The entire race is pretty much either uphill or downhill.  I know people always seek flat courses but I find hills to be mentally easier.  For the uphill I breathe in my nose and out my mouth and then was the downhill I breathe in and out my nose and focus on relaxing my breathing a bit.  You could always see the top of the hill on roads so while uphills are slowing you down you know you only have to stick at it for 2-3 minutes and then you got a nice downhill to enjoy.  The course is fairly scenic, a lot of beautiful green even in March!  The temperature started at 55 and climbed to 66 but it was fairly cloudy so I felt like it was near perfect.  I was afraid of getting hot so I sipped half a cup of water and threw the rest on my head at every water station.  There is also a half marathon and the course felt pretty crowded for the first 7 miles where the half marathoners split off.  They did do a good job separating the two races in the end though (otherwise I would have bumped into the walkers of the half near the end).  The course is also not completely closed to traffic and I saw one or two instances where a runner had to stop because a car was going through.  There was also food on the course!  I ate three half oranges and a half of a banana.  Fruit always feels better than gels.  They also had pretzels at one station and the volunteers were singing a rhyme for them (which I found cute) but I didn’t take any.  I used my usual gel strategy of one gel pre-race and then one at mile 4, afterwards one every 3 miles till mile 19.

I found parking within a 5 minute walk to the finish and about 10 minutes to the start line fairly easy (even with my truck).  A 7 am start in March after daylight savings starts means that you start the marathon in the dark but you get a glimpse of sunrise!  I was in corral B which went off 3-4 minutes after corral A.  I immediately lost the 3:45 group getting to the start line; I should have positioned myself right behind them.  I tried to go in with the same mentality as New Orleans where I wouldn’t look at my watch but I found myself looking at my pace most miles.  I didn’t do any calculations about end time or total pace; I guess I was just curious if I was keeping up. 

1-7

The start of the race felt pretty crowded.  That’s usually normal but I found myself weaving through more often than I’m use to.  The course starts of at a slight downhill with a few bumps for 3ish miles and then a short hill.  Mile 4 goes through historic MLK site. 

7 – 16

After mile 7 the course really cleared up with the half marathoners gone.  I could now see the 3:45 pace group ahead of me, maybe .2 miles ahead.  I would have loved to do a surge to catch up but too risky.  There were a lot of people here cheering.  A volunteer or member of the Atlanta track club rode by several times and gave tips multiple times.  It really helped out.  Mile 15 I particularly remember feeling a lot of love from the crowds.  Going through Decatur there were signs giving messages in sequence order.  Like a poem and “keep going” which kept me pretty entertained.    

Miles 16 to 22

Hit the druid hills and there was a lot of uphills with the steepest uphills being around mile 20.  I originally planned to try something I haven’t tried since my second marathon, listen to music!  I was going to put headphones at mile 12 but I felt so good that I finally decided to put them on at mile 16.  I hated it and by mile 20 I took them off.  I was still feeling great at this point but I was slowing down (and I knew it).  I saw the 3:45 pace group at mile 24 at a short out and back, about 3 minutes ahead of me.

Miles 22 to 26.2

Now back closer to downtown.  As my feet started hurting I started to struggle on the uphills around mile 23.  At mile 25 a marathon manic started talking to me.  It was her 31^st marathon and she was trying to do under 4 hours for all 50 states.  We talked a bit about 50 states and then she told me I had a bit more of a go.  With that I sped up a bit to the finish.  I kind of needed someone to tell me I still have a bit more go left.

There was much afterwards after the finish line besides your standard banana, pretzels and granola bars but I enjoyed the journey!

20th marathon - Rock and Roll NOLA

The Rock and Roll New Orleans was my 6th race this year and my 6th PR, beating my marathon PR set only 6 week before!  Conditions were fairly bad for me but through mediation I made it to mile 18 without too much of a struggle.  The next six miles were a struggle and then my toes started hurting causing the last two to be pure suffering.

Preconditions:  The biggest factor going to this race was that I ran a hard ultra 8 days before this race.   I ran the Mount Mitchell challenge, a 36ish mile race with 4,324 feet of elevation gain and my legs were still sore going into this race.  I also moved (across the street to anyone curious) midweek which took time away from some recovery swims and workouts.  I did manage to get in some easy pre-lunch runs and a shakeout run the day before.  The day of my flight we got hit by a noreaster which caused my flight to be cancelled and I got rebooked the following day arriving at NOLA at 6 pm.  The expo ended at 5 pm so I would have missed bib pickup.  It was a stressful morning.  I wasn’t able to find any earlier options but Rock and roll allowed me to do bib pickup on race day.  Having the day before to relax and walk around the city would have been great instead of traveling but guess this happens once in a while.

On the same flight to New Orleans I met Kieran who ran the QDR long run #2 in Alley Pond park a few weeks ago.  He also ran the Houston marathon as well and signed up for this race 2 weeks ago.  We talked for a bit and got a uber into the city.  Then I was off to the hotel and met up with teamate Julie.  Special thanks to Julie for dealing with the hotel booking issue, getting vegan pizza, granola, hammer and vega protein bars, and even a sandwich for tomorrow morning (that's dinner, breakfast and post race recovery covered)!  The race site was a 5 minutes walk from the hotel and we did a practice commute to race start.  Early to sleep afterwards.  Got 7ish hours.  Unfortunately heard a lot of in and other from neighbors through the night so I woke often.  Still felt pretty rested going into the race.

I ate a little bit of granola and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast 2 hours before.  I brought 6 Science in Sport gels with me to the race.  I got to use a few of them on my ultra the week before and while I think it has too much of a sugar taste I should finish my stack before buying more gels (I would probably think differently if this was my A race).  Got my bib without any issue and got a .6 warmup run in before the race.  I started doing warmup runs before races since the 2 mile race in Van Cortlandt I did with Kevin and Maria.  Before that, I didn't do any warmup runs or drills before a race.  I think it's been helpful!

Going into the race I had no idea what pace to run.  I told some of my friends that I was going to do a crash and burn where I would attempt to run the race for a massive PR and then hit the wall and struggle through it.  I figure the experience would help me for my A race in NJ in the end of April.  However, still being sore from the ultra brought back painful memories of the Chicago marathon where I attempted to PR in the marathon distance two weeks after my 100 miler.  Julie was aiming for a 3:36 goal and I decided that I didn't want her to wait too long for me so I should go for the crash and burn.  I would hit the wall and I would struggle to finish the marathon but that's okay.  

To delay hitting the wall I decided to not look at my watch at all (of course I could hear my watch beep and see the mile markers but I would not think about the distance left).  I wanted to just focus on moving right now.  I tried to not think at all.  Here and there I would change up my breathing (in and out of nose, mouth and mix of the two) and think briefly on cadence.  Sometimes I focused on relaxing my breathing, relaxing my arm swings and just stared far ahead, looking at the branches of trees.  My idea was that if I was running more relaxed I could delay hitting the wall.  I might have listen to a podcast about Japanese runners on my flight to NOLA.  I had to remind myself of this plenty of times during the race.  

The race started with an out and back along St. Charles street.  I remember mostly thinking about how unique the trees were in this stage.  Then it goes quickly through some of the touristy places of the till it hits the corner of City Park.  Then it follows City park and does two out and backs along Lake Pontchartrain before heading back along City Park and ending in the park.  A lot of the later miles had no shade and were on the boring side.  The course was very flat with a few small 30-40 feet gains from a few small bridges.

The race was hot!  It started in the 60s and ended in mid 70s but it felt hotter.  I ran in North Carolina the week before and NYC had a few spring days so I thought I was ready for the heat.  That quickly become untrue.  As always with heat I started consuming gels more often.  The race had three gel stations and at the first one (around mile 4) the gels were in a box.  Not wanting to lose speed I quickly reached in the box for a gel.  I ended up grabbing five and just ran with them in my hand.  I usually do one gel after 4ish miles and then one every 3 miles after but from miles 10-20 I was consuming one every 2 miles.  I grabbed another gel on the course as well and ended up only using two of mine.  After mile 20 I started drinking gatarode instead of gels and throwing a water cup over my head at every water station.

I was able to run at what I felt was a sub 3:50 pace for 18 miles.  Then I struggled to maintain pace for two miles before my brain started to slow me down.  After 20 I lost my meditative state as well and just struggled.  I'm normally pick it up after 20 miles but i wasn’t mentally strong enough.  I been here before so I kept moving, only thing I could do.  I definitively got passed by a quite a few people.  With 5k to go I broke my rule of not looking at time and distance left.  I realized I was comfortably in PR zone but still couldn't get myself to finish the last miles strong.  With 2 miles left, my toes started hurting and I couldn't block it out.  At the last bridge I noticed I was heel striking the ground, my running form was breaking down (something that has happened in my early marathons but not anytime recently, I blame it on my ultra the week before).

I saw Julie three times during the race and always tried to cheer her on.  I saw Kieran twice as well and waved.  He was pretty fast (he got a 3:16 something marathon).  I caught up with Julie around mile 16 and tried to tell her what I been telling myself the whole race about not thinking about distance or looking at watch.  Talking to her made me feel a lot better.  I started to encourage other people as I passed afterwards for a bit.  At around mile 18 I met a man from Mississippi who was doing his second marathon, also going for sub 3:50 and we talked for a bit before he had to slow down at a water station.

I was able to make a final push, sub 8 minute pace upon seeing the finish line.  Sadly that was only a .2 distance but I finished with a little more than a 4 minute PR.  Not too shabby!