NJ marathon 2018

The NJ marathon was my 22^nd marathon, my 4^th 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.

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!

Houston Marathon - Marathon #19

Houston marathon - Marathon#19

Untrained and sore from a half marathon the day before, I finished my first marathon about 4 years ago in Disney World.  As soon as I finished I was put into a wheelchair and pushed away to the medical tent.  The next quarter mile took almost a half hour to walk with every volunteer asking if I was okay and I struggled with walking for 2 days afterwards.  I ended up injured for the rest of winter and spring, not being able to run more than a mile.  You think an experience like that would have ended my marathon career, nope, marathon number 19 in the books!

Preconditions:  This marathon was a C race, pretty much just a workout as I am in the end of my first base building block for the NJ marathon in April.  I debated whether or not to attempt the sub 4 the day before.  I could run about a 4:20 marathon in an easy pace, attempting to run it faster would require some recovery time.  Running it easy was probably in my best interest but I was also looking for some redemption after failing big time to sub 4 during the Chicago marathon.  Plus the mental victory of getting a sub 4 could help motivate future training.  My runs lately have either been at recovery pace (11-12 minute pace at under 130 bpm), easy pace (10:30ish at under 140 bpm) and hard speed workouts.  Not having a long run at marathon pace was my biggest weakness going on to the race.  The day before I spent some time mediating which was new for me.  I got plenty of rest and did a trail shakeout run the day before where I stopped plenty of times to take photos.

Nutrition:  I did a 6 day eating strategy going into the race.  For 4.5 days I focused on raw foods (lots of greens) and then switched to eating more whole grain carbs.  I don't do the huge carb heavy dinners as I prefer having room for breakfast for race day.  For breakfast the morning of the race, I ate 1 banana with trader Joe peanut butter with flax and chia seed mix in a sprouted tortilla, 1 normal banana and 1 apple 3 hours before race start.  I took 2 hammer gel’s anti-fatigue pills an hour before race and a glukos energy gel 15 minutes before race.  Starting at mile 4 I consumed 1 huma gel every 3 miles till mile 19 (6 gels), and ate a bit of gu chews at mile 22 (more for the mental effect).  I drank 16 oz of water, mostly with the gels and took a slip of Gatorade at mile 17.

Gear:  Brooks Pureconnect running shoes (800+ miles on them), salmon hydro handset (it's a 500 ml flask in a body bottle which means it compresses as you drink, the narrow bottle mouth makes it hard to refill but I wasn't planning to refill). 

The plan - My strategy was simple, cruise at around marathon pace for about 20 miles and then run the last 10k hard.  I listened to a few running podcasts the days before the race, one that stuck in my mind was the race recap of the Bandera 100k by Mario Mendoza (who came in first).  He said he saved his emotions for the last quarter of the race and I resolved to do the same.

The course – The Houston marathon course is flat!  Only 200 feet of elevation gain, no cars cutting through the course, weather was mid 30s in the start but warmed to mid 50s by the end so overall pretty good and there was great crowd support.  Only a small stretch at mile 10.5 and around mile 16 felt empty crowd wise but overall there was a good amount of people for a non-world major race.  Your name is also printed onto your bib so people could cheer your name while you run.  The use of a huge convention center as the staging area before walking off to your corrals and as the finishing area was an awesome idea.  Helped keep you warm!

Start line – I met my friend Hong who was running the half marathon inside.  I didn't find any pins in my drop bag so I went on the hunt for some.  Lucky, a volunteer from the drop area had some.  Then the search for the bathroom.  The convention center had quite a few real bathrooms but they were mostly blocked off.  I think there were port-o-potties somewhere but managed to find a real bathroom that wasn't blocked.  I borrowed a Nathan hip belt from Hong's girlfriend, I forgot to bring any sort of belt and my handheld water bottle could only fit half my gels so lucky she had an extra one.  Running with gels in my shorts is doable but uncomfortable.  Hong warmed me about a hill near the end.  In typical fashion I had no idea about anything in the course.  I just knew when looking for trail runs that runners complained about the lack of hills in Houston.  I then I hurried to my corral.  Unfortunately Hong was in corral C and I was in corral B so we split ways here.  In the corral I squeezed my way through to maybe 30 feet behind where the 4:00 pace group was.  Too many people to get closer.  They had a volunteer hold a giant sign for the pace group but as it got closer to the start time, the volunteer went away and I lost where the pace group was.  I'm going to have to pace myself.

For the first half of the marathon my focus was on form.  I kept things internal, didn't allow myself to get influenced by any external stimulus.  I focused on cadence and getting into a cruising rhythm.  A four hour marathon is 9:09 pace.  I ran my first mile at 9:10, almost perfect!  Second mile was 9:07, third and fourth were 9:10 once again.  Things were going well and I was a bit proud of myself for being able to pace so well feel.  After the 4th mile I went to get my first gel.  I struggled a bit opening the zipper on my handheld and getting gel.  It was a bit overstuffed which contributed to the problem.  My 5th mile ended up 9:18 but no worries it was the gel.  Mile 6 ended up 9:20 and I started to worry slightly.  Mile 7 was back to 9:11 but miles 8 to 13 were all around 9:20.  A lot of people in my corral passed me.  It was hard to see my cruising pace was not on pace for marathon pace but I keep the consistent effort.  It was too early to try speeding up.  I finished the first half in 2:02:37 which would have been around my PR for a half an year ago.  

After the half way mark, I felt good so I decided to speed up.  I realized that I won't get the sub 4 if I kept the current pace up.  I now allowed external stimulus in, stopped focusing on form and started interacting a little more with the crowds.  This made me feel better and my pace went to 8:40s.  At mile 16 on a short out and back I saw the 4 hour pace group about a half mile ahead of me.  I decided to try to catch them around mile 22.  I started passing the people that passed me as well.  I probably sped up a little too much and as I got closer to 19 miles my pace started creeping back to 9 minutes.  

I was planning to use the emotions at mile 20 to fuel a hard 10k to the finish but by mile 19 I know I was struggling.  I calculated my time and I know it was borderline so I decided to dip into this well now.  I really needed to make it to mile 24, from there I should have enough motivation (from being almost done) to do a final burst of hard effort.  To dip into the emotional well I simply think of family, friends, teammates.  Some people called my name out which helps.  There was a stretch by memorial park where they played music on speakers which also helped (I don’t run with music).  I probably went to using my emotions too early and started fading by mile 24 but I knew I was close to getting the sub 4 and I was going to make full effort to getting it.

Around 40 kilometers (about 1.3 miles left to finish), I told myself family, friends and I started kicking.  I always been good in being able to kick at the end but this time I feel like I dug in deeper than before.  My mind went full focus into running.  I didn't feel hard breathing or fatigue, I just imagined the finish line just around the corner and focused on getting there.  At mile 41 I finally caught up to the four hour group.  The space to pass the group was in a narrow chute area so I said "excuse me" as I approached and passed through.  Someone from the group said "wow" as I passed by.  I had no thoughts at that moment about passing the group but I now realized this was the moment sub 4 was in the bag.  My garmin watch has my last mile at a 5:37 pace, it's hard to tell how much of that is true since mileage is a bit over (going around people, not running tangents and such adds distance) but if it's somewhat true, it would be my fastest mile yet (my last attempt at the mile was about a 6:20 pace).

After the race, we got the usual medals, banana and snack bars and went into the convention center.  There were changing rooms, more snack bars and they also had a hot breakfast but no vegan options.  I was able to find free parking two blocks from the convention center (I did get there early though) so getting out of the area to a restaurant was quick and easy.  Overall I would strongly recommend the marathon!  My 20th marathon is the Rock n Roll New Orleans marathon in March!

Marathon 17 - Chicago Marathon - 5 years of running!

I started running October 5th, 2012 so I always try to do a marathon around this time to celebrate. This time it was the Chicago Marathon, my second World major and 17th marathon.

A Goal: 3:55
B Goal: sub 4 hours
C Goal: sub 4:04

Preconditions: The lingering 100 miler. I know I didn’t fully recover but I could walk fine and ran 1.5 miles on soft track last Tuesday and it felt good. I did expect something to start hurting but was pretty confident that I could make it to 20 miles and then just push through the last 10k. I’m usually nonchalant about marathons but this time I knew so many people running and talking to them about it made me want to do well. My goal was suppose to be easy, sub 4 which is a 4 minute shave off my previous PR. I have done 20 mile runs at marathon pace the day after another long run day so I thought I had it easy.

Breakfast - bagel with peanut butter, banana, clementine, Yerba matte

Starting line - A bit grateful that we found a real bathroom before the race and got some sunrise photos. I ended up a little late to meet QDR at gate 4 but managed to say hi for a bit. Dropped my bag and then went for more sunrise pictures. I decided not to carry my jacket (it folds up really small and could sling around hand). I had to go to bathroom but the lines were huge. I determined that I wasn’t going to make the corral cutoff if I waited in line so I held it in. I went for the 3:55 pace group in my corral. I shivered a bit waiting for our wave to start. I had two bluff like scarves, I used one as a light hat and another to cover my face to help keep warm a bit. On the walk to the start line I lost the 3:55 pace group.

Miles 1 to 6
Immediately as soon I started running I struggled with marathon pace. Okay, I haven’t done a real run in two weeks so maybe I just need a warmup. I saw Jessica and Evelyn at mile 1 which gave a boost! A little afterwards I realize I was getting hot and took off my bluffs and tied them around my wrists. Around mile 2 I started feeling that my quads were off. I didn’t think much of it. At mile 3 the 4 hour pace group caught up. I decided to stick with them. Around mile 6 my quads felt well used. It felt like I was at mile 20 of a marathon. I realized at this point that I was still pretty sore from the 100 miler two weeks ago. All 6 miles felt very crowded.

Mile 6 to 13.1
I always had the 100 miler as an excuse for a bad time but I was determined to not let that be. I chose to keep going at marathon pace. I did start drifting away from the pace group. Around mile 8 a man also running said “go QDR” which lifted my spirits and got me back to the pace group. I struggled however and the race went into tunnel vision model. My only focus was running to keep up. I missed Jessica and Evelyn at mile 12 and I pretty much wasn’t aware of much of my surroundings.

Mile 13.1 to 20
The pain of my quads started hurting louder and I started to slow down. I gave up my time goals at this point. I just needed to make it to mile 20, then I could push a 10k. Mile 13-14 was pretty quiet but the crowds were pretty strong for the most part. I passed Around mile 16 I started feeling tremulous pain from the quads. I always thought my shin or a joint would bug but not my muscles. I couldn’t take my mind off it so I just struggled. I decided to take it easy to allow myself to recharge for the last 10k. I started taking Gatorade at the water stations (I usually just carry and use my 16 oz water bottle). I think I saw Julie at mile 16 (the miles are pretty much a blur) which helped give a boost. At mile 18 I started run walking. My run was also more like a limp. I just couldn’t get the pain of the quads out. I tried mediation, focusing on just my breath but wasn’t able to get into a rhythm.

Mile 20 to 26.2
Usually in a marathon mile 16 to 20 are the toughest and then I get a second wind at mile 20 till about mile 22. Then it’s a bit of a struggle till 24 and then I try to finish strong. I did get a small boost at mile 20 but missed Jessica and Evelyn again. Boost was short lived and I went back to run limp walking. I saw Julie again...mile 22? I’m pretty sure at this point my face was showing a lot of pain which I don’t like showing others but it’s still nice to see people! I got into a bit of a mediation groove, starting with focus on breath and then eventually focusing on nothing. Just looking ahead and moving. That last about a mile. I gained another boost getting close to the 5k mark but short lived again. Even though I was almost done I couldn’t get my body moving. I hated my brain for sending me the pain, I had energy but the pain was so much I couldn’t get myself to run at a decent pace. I wasn’t upset at not making a PR, I was upset because I felt like I could give more but couldn’t mentally overcome the pain of the quads. I started being able to pick it up a bit at mile 24. It helped being able to see far down and knowing you were pretty close. At the 40k mark I was able to get into a normal running pace and started passing. Lucky it wasn’t too crowded, I found it easy to pass. I got into a sprint the last 200 meters.

Afterwards I struggled with walking. I would walk a few steps and then stop to take a break. I sat down for a few minutes before getting politely kicked out. I got some ice but it didn’t help much. There was a lack of vegan recovery food options so I didn’t get much in food other than some fruit. I did pack recovery food in my drop bag just in case. Close to bag drop I talked with another runner who struggled with the marathon. He wasn’t able to train for it and suffered. After getting my bag I saw that the changing porter potties were gone so I used a regular porter potty. After changing I felt my spirits and energy come back. I met Jordan for a bit and then headed to the reunion area.

Looking back now, I knew I wasn’t fully recovered. I just didn’t know how bad. Your body is pretty good at hiding pain and my foam roller stretching didn’t reveal anything besides the general stiffness. I guess I should have dialed the pace back. I been PRing with almost every race this year and it may have gotten to my head a bit. Time for a long recovery and then get back to it (I imagine a younger version of me would have signed up for a marathon in a month to try again but I’m happy with my performance overall this year). I’ll focus on adventures for a bit before making a come back in the Houston marathon in January!

Course wise, this was my easiest marathon of the year but my quad pains make it mentally the toughest. The crowds and volunteers were simply amazing! In love with the people of Chicago!

Rock and Roll DC Marathon

D.C. Marathon - Marathon #15

Pre conditions: A 50k trail race and an average of 5 hours of sleep the week before left in pretty bad shape for this race. While I did hikes that reveled my quads were pretty burnt out I didn't do any recover runs opting to just rest when I could. 3 hours of sleep before race but has a great breakfast thanks to Jessica.

Mile 0.05 - I tell the twins that we only have 26.1 miles left.

Mile 1 - "Twenty five point freaking two left!" I lose The twins due to bathroom. Wasn't going to be able to keep up anyway so I decide to run with the 4:25 pace group. By this point I already felt off with my calves. The pace was slightly above my comfort pace but I decided to stick with and look forward to hitting the low point. With proper nutrition and pace you could avoid the "wall" but not so much in ultras. I wanted to get some experience of hitting my low point and pushing through it.
Mile 6 - I see the twins briefly and then lose them and the pace group on the hills. The crowd support on the was spectacular though! My quads burn on the uphills and hurt on the downhills.
Mile 9 - I catch up to the pace group. I feed off the energy of the pacers.
Mile 12 - High five with Ramona! I think that's the first I seen my name on a poster board before too.
Mile 13 - I lose the pace group while refilling my water bottle. Already pretty tired I start focusing on my right foot striking the ground.
Mile 17 - I briefly see the twins and get more high fives on a turn around. They are followed by the pace group. Maybe two minutes ahead. The turnaround has a band playing too. My energy level goes up and I'm struggling to calm myself as I really want to start kicking.
Mile 19 - I meet an older Asian man who says this is his 325th marathon. It's all about the training he says. I get pretty motivated by this. I focus on long breaths in and out of my nose.
Mile 20 - Seeing the 20 mile makes me happy. Normally I get my second wind here. I do feel better but the feeling only lasts for a mile. The rest of the race will be a struggle.
Mile 24 - My thoughts turn to friends and family who have supported me through the years and I draw motivation on this.
Mile 25.9 - Near the end I don't feel like kicking but I see a fellow person of the 4:25 pace group kicking so I have no choice but to try to.
Mile 26.3 - Finish. Two volunteers check on me. Better than my first marathon 3.25 years ago where I was on a wheelchair for a bit and every volunteer checked on me. I ended up short of a PR by a few minutes, not that I care about silly stuff like that.