The NJ marathon was my 22nd marathon, my 4th marathon this year and my season A race!
The training
I started training for this race the holiday week 2017 (around Christmas). I started off with 5 weeks of base building, slowly ramping up my mileage. I focused a lot on cross training (swimming, bouldering) at this time. February I added strength training 3x and a core focused bootcamp 1x a week. Then I had about 5 weeks of race (2 marathons + 1 ultra) where cross training went to zero and strength training to 1-2x a week. I had about 6 weeks after the Georgia marathon to train solely for NJ and I wanted to focus on speed but I jumped into training too soon and got a strain. I ignored it at first and continued on but the pain got worse to where it hurt while walking so I went into a 4 week taper (instead of the 2 weeks as I originally planned). I cut my miles by half and skipped a few key workouts. I spent a little more time on swimming and got back to strength training 2x a week. I got to race day with plenty of rest and recovery but not feeling super confident because of the missed workouts. I usually do short one week taper so two weeks was already a lot for me but 4 weeks! :/. The week of the race I ate more salads and greens, two days before I started eating more carbs.
The Day before
After a longer than expected drive (huge traffic different between leaving at 9 am and 10 am!), I made it to the expo with Francis and Neena. Met Cathy + Nate inside the expo and met Rene on his way out. I ended up talking to Rene for a while. I took some notes since he was aiming for 2:50-2:55 marathon =O. One thing I found important was his reminder to hydrate properly the day before, something with the traveling I was forgetting to do.
The expo was super small…even smaller than Atlanta and I got through it in less than 5 minutes. No freebees but they had a cool photo print station. Afterwards we did a shakeout run! The shakeout run the day before a marathon is something I got from QDR. I chose to jog on the beach barefoot for 30 minutes; it gave me a chance to enjoy the beach while I was still in the mood. I was pretty sure that after the marathon the beach would be far from my mind. I only did 2.5 miles in the thirty minutes but that’s okay, it was never the miles that mattered but time on my feet. I also thought of the run as form work (as it been getting warmer I been doing a few short runs barefoot on grass as well). Next was lunch where I got to walk around Long Branch and check the town out briefly before an early dinner on the way back (I drove back to Queens for the night). I got to check out two vegan spots – Karma café and Vegan tree.
Once at home I found my blue sharpie in my archery bag (backup for initialing arrows) and wrote "This is what you came for" on my arm with an arrow pointing forward. I wrote this as my mantra, I chose to come here to push myself to the breaking point - I'm here to dig deeper and find the strength to break through it. It also reminds me that I'm here because I love it. I focused a lot on the love I have received over the years through running. From struggling to just jog a mile without stopping 5.5 years to learning what taper is two days before my first marathon to surviving a 100 miler to my PR streaks of today. It has been a crazy journey and I'm grateful for all the support I have received over the years. I been last place or near last place in quite a lot of races and I'm finally at a place where I’m getting a lot better (still baby steps).
I also prepared a running playlist. Like the Georgia marathon I was planning to listen to music for miles 10-20. In Atlanta I had the two songs that the iphone came with and just hated it. This time I brought jaybird Run true wireless which allows me to play music on one ear (with one ear piece). I also choose songs that people have recommended to me in the past for running. I'm not much of a music fan but listening to those songs reminded me of the person who recommended it. Then my laptop itunes wasn't syncing with my iphone so I had to transfer to dropbox and find an app that could play a playlist off dropbox. I ended up with 4 hours of sleep.
The internal focus the night before gave me the confidence to aim for 3:30. The week before, I debated what time to aim for. I felt that 3:40 was a safe bet, 3:35 was mostly likely doable and that 3:30 was a bit crazy. It adds up to just 12-13 seconds per mile but that add up to a lot over 26.2 miles.
Pre race
I arrived at the race parking lot at about 6 am, took maybe 5 minutes to park. I like coming to the race 90 minutes early if I'm not staying within walking distance to the race. It took me another 10 minutes to gather my stuff; I almost forgot my running shoes! I had plenty of time to go to a real bathroom with a small line (waited like 5 minutes), met Jeff and Gabe, take team photos, do a 5 minute shakeout run (a habit I picked up from Julie during the NOLA marathon), take shelter from the rain with more hanging out, eat a waffle cookie and my gel and get close to the start of my corral. I definitely didn't need any stress of rushing to the start line; the marathon is 100% mental!
Miles 1-10
I broke off the race to three sections. I would stick to the 3:30 pace group for the first 10 miles. Then I would cruise the next 10 miles with the help of music and then struggle though the real start of the race during the last 10k. I started the race with Rinchen so we were close to the 3:20 pace group. I had to back off slightly to allow the 3:30 to catch up. They ended up passing by too quickly. I struggled with the pace immediately, it felt more like a half marathon pace but I decided to hang on. I also started chafing immediately, I'm not sure why but I just ignored it. I found two Dashing Whippets and a Van Cortlandt runner going at 3:30 so I paced with them till mile 4 where I lost them. As I approach mile 4 I was ready to eat my first gel but I decided to see if adjusting my shorts would fix the chafing problem which lead to me dropping the gel. Did not stop to pick it up. I usually take a gel 15 minutes before, first gel at mile 4 and then gels about every 3 miles till mile 20. Then I switch over to drinking Gatorade. This race I also ate a waffle cookie before the race because I felt hungry. I guess my two bananas with chocolate 3 hours beforehand weren't cutting it. I was able to keep the 3:30 within sight for this time. Around mile 9 my feet started feeling sore. I had decided to wear my minimalist Topo shoes instead of my 800+ miles wore out Brooks’s shoes mostly because the Brooks shoes had holes in them and it was raining. I knew my feet would get sore but this was a bit early.
Mile 10-20
I was struggling at mile 10 but this is where I would use music! Except that I have no idea how to turn on my earpiece. At mile 11 I even tried looking it up on my phone but got general directions. After fumbling for a bit I decided to just put the jaybird in my right ear and I got it to work at mile 12. I like this setup - being able to listen to music in one ear but with the other ear open I am able to hear everything around me. Mostly the cheers that spectaculars are giving! A runner passes gives me a double high five and then runs on (she had quite the energy). A man says go Queens, best borough to which I cheer at but then he continues and says next to Brooklyn to which I make a face. My strategy was to get through the struggle of pace was by distracting myself. I feed off the energy of spectaculars, swung my arms in dancing motions to some of the songs. I probably was wasting energy but it kept me distracted. Also around mile 10 Kathryn caught up and we run around each other for 3ish miles and then miles 13-15 together before she passed by. At mile 15 I almost caught up to the 3:30 pace group too. At miles 18 and 19 I saw Kathryn and Rinchen at the turnarounds which gave me a boost. Around mile 20 I saw Francis and Cathy for another boost! The turnaround was good mentally for this.
Miles 20 to 26.2
I lost sight of the 3:30 pace group and at this point I was slowing down. It didn't feel like the wall, it kind of felt like I mentally faded. I used mantras and then aimed for the buildings as targets to run strong to and then set another target. Step by step. I caught up to Nate who was also going for 3:30, I wish I saw him earlier and got a chance to work together with him towards our goals. He was struggling at this point. A team in training coach just started running with him and I guess was going to give him some pep talk. The coach told me the course is all downhill from here and I joked that's what I been telling myself. A runner says there is only 4.5 miles at which I dread thinking about. At around mile 22 I see Kenny which gives a big boost. The miles here were pretty empty of people so it was a bit rough mentally, the boost from music had long wore out and my midfoot felt like they had been burnt. At mile 24, feeling the end of the run I started picking it up again. Also there was more of a crowd which helped. At 24.8ish, the ground became a smooth broadwalk and I was able to glide through (much to the happiness of my feet). I run the last mile strong but just 10 feet or so shy from the finish I get a sudden cramp on my right hamstring. It was so painful that it stopped my run and had me hop over the last few steps. Not a great finishing pic :/.
I struggled to walk with the cramp and volunteers asked if I needed help but I figure I just needed some electrolytes. The cramp went away and I immediately caught up with Rinchen, Rene, and Kathryn. They had some awesome finishing times. I got my drop bag and went to the changing tent. Realized I couldn’t pull my clothes on without holding on to something and then I met Mike. I met him before in the easy run with Scott Jurek during his book event. He offered me a seat and we caught up briefly. Air relax boot massage with Cathy and Nate and lunch with some QDR people to end my NJ marathon experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment